Love and Life 愛與生活：A Secret to Strengthen Marriages 一起看電影的小秘密

這篇有趣的文章，擷取自《經濟學人》Intelligence Life專欄，探討關於夫妻「一起看電影」能維繫感情，箇中究竟又藏有什麼秘辛呢？

This article is partly quoted from The Economist, along with translations placed below each paragraph. It's talking about how watching movie together can strengthen a couple's marriage. 

(這張照片是在香港一間輕食店拍的，用咖啡豆排成的愛心實在是太可愛了～)

Movie-Watching Together Strengthens Marriages 「一起看電影，維繫好婚姻」

by Christie Nicholson

Keeping a marriage together takes effort（需要努力）. And care. And maybe even watching classic romance movies, like The Way We Were or Husbands and Wives. And this is because of the conversations such movies can start.That’s the finding from a study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology...

維繫婚姻並非易事，該怎麼做呢？雙方的共同努力、彼此付出關愛，或者...一起看部像《往日情懷》or《賢伉儷》一樣的經典浪漫片吧！為什麼呢？因為看了浪漫電影後，據中的情節、角色關係等等，能開啟雙方「愛的對話」...


Psychologists found that encouraging couples to watch romance flicks（浪漫片, flick 電影） and then discuss them cut the divorce rate in half（離婚率下降五成）.

心理學家研究指出，夫妻一起看愛情片並討論當中劇情，能降低五成離婚率。


The researchers divided 174 newlywed couples（新婚夫妻） into three programs: active listening, where one spouse listens and then paraphrases back what they heard; or compassion training, doing random acts of kindness for your partner; or watching a movie a week for a month.

研究將174對新婚夫妻分成三組：「積極傾聽組」（悉心聆聽配偶所說，並以換句話說方式重複對方所說的話）、「同理心訓練組」（隨機地為對方做貼心的舉動）、以及「電影欣賞組」（連續一個月，一個禮拜一起看一部電影）


The movie-viewing couples discussed each film after watching it, guided by questions about the characters. Questions like: “Were they able to open up and tell each other how they really felt, or did they tend to just snap at each other with anger（對彼此發脾氣）?”

實驗結果，電影欣賞組的夫妻會在觀影結束後，會一起討論電影中角色的問題，如：「他們是不是能夠對彼此坦開心胸、並說出自己真實的感覺？ 還是他們就是比較習慣對彼此發脾氣呢？」

All three programs worked very well, dropping the divorce rate after three years to 11 percent... But the movie program is much more accessible（比較容易取得） and cheaper than counseling（諮詢）.

三組的實驗結果都相當良好，並有效降低的離婚率...但「電影欣賞組」用的方法輕鬆簡單，不旦容易實現，也比去婚姻諮商來的經濟實惠多了！

The researchers note the magic is not really in the movies, but rather the time that couples take to think about behavior. But hey, maybe sitting together in the dark helped too.

說穿了，真正神奇的並不是電影，而是他們「花了時間」一起思考問題、討論劇情，並從中獲得某種一致的想法、共識的同時，更了解彼此。但也不否認，兩個人一起坐在暗咪摸的電影院也是有幫助的啦（笑）！


文章來源：http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/movie-marriage-therapy/