Depression is flourishing. Less, of course, like a bank of daffodils and more like an irruption of dry rot: hidden, silent, pervasive, and a vast drain on national and universal wellbeing. According to The Depression Report produced by the London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance in June 2006, depression and chronic anxiety cost the UK £12bn a year in total loss of output. In Britain, nearly 9 per cent of adults suffer from some form of depression in any given week.

    抑鬱症在泛濫。 當然
，不那麼像一堆水仙花，而更像是幹腐病的爆發：隱秘

、沉默、大麵積肆虐
，對國家和全世界福祉帶來巨大消耗。據2006年6月倫敦政經學院(London School of Economics)經濟效益中心(Centre for Economic Performance)製作的《抑鬱症報告》(The Depression Report)稱
，抑鬱症和長期焦慮導致英國每年產出總量減少120億英鎊。在英國
，每周都有近9%的成年人遭受某種形式的抑鬱症困擾。

    Why is it on the rise? Human misery has always caused depression, and there are now many more humans alive to endure misery than in the past. For those whose lives are not materially miserable, depression can be, paradoxically, a consequence of better education and the global communications revolution combined with a sympathetic imagination. Family breakdown and the hyper-mobility which cuts social roots are further factors

    yiyuzhengweihehuizengduone？renleidekunanzongshihuidaozhiyiyuzheng，errujinhuozherenshoukunanderenyaobiguoqugengduo。duinaxiebingfeiwuzhishenghuokunkudereneryan，maodunzhichuzaiyudaozhiyiyuzhengdekenengshigenghaodejiaoyu、全球通信革命再加上富有同情心的想象。家庭的瓦解和割斷社會根基的高度流動性則是更深層次的因素。

    According to statistics assembled by the Samaritans, only 20 per cent of sufferers from depression ever seek medical help. The rest, if they do anything at all other than make the lives of intimates dank, will self-medicate. The self-medication of overwhelming choice is alcohol: the favourite drug of the non-Muslim developed world. The sensation of short-term wellbeing provided by alcohol is inexpensive, widely available and culturally acceptable. Yet alcohol and depression are closely linked, with 40 per cent of heavy drinkers showing depressive symptoms. Given that 38 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women in the UK drink above recommended limits, the size of the problem is unsurprising.

    據撒馬利坦會(Samaritan)整理的統計數字顯示，僅有20%deyiyuzhenghuanzhezengjingxunqiuyiliaojiuzhu。qitaren
，yaoshizijizhendehuixiangxiangbanfa
，erbuzhishirangqinmiairenrizinanguodehua，zehuizijiyongyao。juedaduoshurengeizijikaideyaofangxuanlejiujing——非(fei)穆(mu)斯(si)林(lin)發(fa)達(da)國(guo)家(jia)的(de)首(shou)選(xuan)藥(yao)物(wu)。酒(jiu)精(jing)帶(dai)來(lai)的(de)短(duan)期(qi)良(liang)好(hao)感(gan)覺(jiao)不(bu)貴(gui)
，到(dao)處(chu)都(dou)可(ke)以(yi)買(mai)到(dao)
，在(zai)文(wen)化(hua)上(shang)也(ye)能(neng)接(jie)受(shou)。然(ran)而(er)
，酒(jiu)精(jing)和(he)抑(yi)鬱(yu)症(zheng)有(you)著(zhe)緊(jin)密(mi)的(de)聯(lian)係(xi)
，40%的酗酒者都有抑鬱症狀。鑒於英國38%的男性和16%的女性飲酒量都超過推薦標準，因此抑鬱症的規模也就不足為奇了。

    Alcohol itself, following the initial rosy flush, is a depressant, and can cause depression in those who would otherwise not be depressed. The advice from the Royal College of Psychiatrists to those prone to depression is unambiguous: “Beware alcohol!” 

    酒精本身，在讓你的臉色開始變紅之後，就成了鎮靜劑

，可能會導致本來不抑鬱的人患上抑鬱症。皇家精神科醫學院(Royal College of Psychiatrists)給那些有抑鬱傾向的人提出來十分明確的建議：“小心飲酒！”

    I am an alcohol worker, in that around two-thirds of my professional life involves tasting, drinking, talking or writing about alcohol, and my experience corroborates the findings of experts in this field. 

    我是一名酒工作者
，因為我職業生涯的約三分之二都在品酒、飲酒、談酒或寫酒，我的經驗證實了該領域專家的發現。

    The social context in which alcohol is consumed can be benficial when depressed but downing half a bottle or more may dramtically darken the hours which follow. 

    喝酒的社會環境，在感到抑鬱時可能是有益的，但喝下半瓶或更多酒可能會讓接下來的幾小時變得昏天黑地。 

    I greatly enjoy entire days spent tasting wine when judging wine competitions for their sensual challenges and rewards. But thanks to the alcohol ingested during the process and the loss of vital fluids consequent on repeated acts of spitting, I usually feel drained and depressed afterwards. The best therapy is glass after glass of green tea. True drunkenness and its aftermath are unredeemed horror, both physical and mental.

    在zai給gei酒jiu類lei競jing賽sai做zuo評ping委wei
，評ping判pan他ta們men的de感gan官guan刺ci激ji和he獎jiang項xiang時shi
，我wo非fei常chang享xiang受shou花hua整zheng天tian時shi間jian品pin酒jiu。但dan在zai品pin酒jiu過guo程cheng中zhong喝he下xia的de酒jiu，以yi及ji其qi後hou反fan複fu吐tu口kou水shui所suo損sun失shi的de生sheng命ming液ye，通tong常chang都dou讓rang我wo在zai事shi後hou筋jin疲pi力li盡jin而er且qie抑yi鬱yu。解jie酒jiu的de最zui好hao辦ban法fa是shi一yi杯bei又you一yi杯bei地di喝he綠lv茶cha。真zhen的de醉zui酒jiu及ji其qi後hou果guo都dou可ke怕pa得de無wu法fa挽wan回hui
，在zai生sheng理li上shang和he心xin理li上shang都dou是shi。

    Yet there are nuances which sensible blanket advice necessarily overlooks. The balance of evidence is that small quantities of alcohol are physically beneficial, and physical health promotes mental wellbeing. 

    不過
，明智的普遍性建議必然有忽略的細節。客觀地說，少量飲酒對身體有益

，而身體健康會促進精神健康。

    More important, though, is the understanding that not all alcohol is alike. For me, red wine – and particularly dense, dark, extractive and tannic red wine – will raise spirits, if taken in small quantities, in a no less satisfactory way to that of the neurotransmitter-lubricating SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), such as Prozac, or Citalopram, which are the usual prescription. A small quantity of vodka and Red Bull, or gin and tonic, does not achieve the same effect.

    但更重要的是要明白

，並非所有的酒都是一樣的。對我而言
，紅酒——特別是濃鬱
、深色
、萃取且含有丹寧的紅酒——可以提神，假如少量飲用，其效果可媲美潤滑神經傳遞素的選擇性5-羥色胺再攝取抑製劑(SSRI)
，例如百憂解(PROZAC)或者西酞普蘭(Citalopram)
，這些都是常見的處方。少量的伏特加和紅牛(Red Bull)
，或者杜鬆子酒和湯力水都達不到相同的效果。

    The area is under-researched, yet it seems at least possible that this is an additional benefit of red wine's phenolic compounds – those same compounds which are already thought to be behind the other benefits of moderate red-wine consumption in preventing heart disease and strokes, keeping the neurotoxins associated with Alzheimer's at bay, retarding or inhibiting certain cancers and decreasing the likelihood of thrombosis. Phenolic compounds are derived from grape skins – and, when not drinking, I try to eat dark-skinned table grapes (though the quality of the bloated waterballs sold as table grapes by British supermarkets is execrable).

    這一領域的相關研究還不夠充分，但似乎至少有一點是可能的：這是紅酒酚化合物的額外益處——人們認為
，適度飲用紅酒的其他一些好處，也是這些相同的化合物在起作用，像預防心髒病和中風，阻止與阿爾茨海默氏病(Alzheimer)相關的神經毒素，延遲或抑製某些癌症，降低患血栓症的可能性。酚化合物來源於葡萄皮——在不喝酒的時候，我會去吃深色皮的鮮食葡萄（雖然英國各超市拿來做鮮食葡萄賣的“發脹水球”質量糟透了）。

    There is something more fundamental and more impalpable at work, too. All of our nourishment comes from earth and sky, and in no other food or drink substance can one get quite the same sense of tasting soil and stones and light as from dark red wine. SSRIs are no doubt a dandy invention but the drug feels alien in the blood, with a strange lurching sensation which rarely goes, whereas a glass of good Madiran or Bandol not only feels wholly tonic but brings, for an hour or two and without unpleasant regress later, a sense of universal connectedness, wholeness and compassion which briefly fills the void.

    qizuoyongdehaiyouxiegengweijiben，gengweiwuxingdedongxi。womendeyingyangdoulaiziyudixiahetianshang，zaiqitadeshiwuhuoyinliaodangzhong
，renmendouwufahuodeheshensehongjiushipinchangdaodeturang、石頭和光的感覺。選擇性5-羥色胺再攝取抑製劑
，無疑是一流的發明，但藥物在血液裏的感覺是陌生的
，還有一種揮之不去的奇怪挫折感
，而一杯上好的Madiran或者Bandol不僅感覺讓人完全精神振奮
，而且會帶來一兩個鍾頭的普遍聯係感

、圓滿感以及暫時填補空虛的悲天憫人感，事後也不會令人不爽地抑鬱再現。