According to some social surveys, we can see that theonly child in most Chinese families feels lonely in some ways. Why the onlychild feels lonely? Is loneliness a terrible thing?

从一些社会调查中我们可以看到，大部分中国家庭的独生子女在某些方面感到孤独。为什么独生子女会感到孤独呢？孤独是如此可怕的事吗？

Compared with the western, the Chinese children areshyer in communication, which is a reason to make them lack of friends andcompanies. On the other hand, as the only child in the family, they can’t enjoythe happiness from brother or sister. When they meet some troubles, they haveto deal with them by themselves; they can’t get help from their family fellows.Therefore, compared with the children who have brother or sister, the onlychild would feel lonelier.

与西方国家相比，中国孩子在沟通方面更羞涩，这也是致使他们缺乏朋友和同伴的一个原因。另一方面，作为家里唯一的孩子，他们不能够享受有兄弟姐妹的快乐。当遇到困难的时候，他们必须自己解决；他们不能从家庭成员那里得到帮助。因此，和那些有兄弟姐妹的孩子相比，独生子女会感觉更孤独。

However, is loneliness completely a bad thing?Obviously¹, the answer is no, because loneliness also can bring something goodfor them. It is reported that the only child possesses more advantages thanother children in personality and in thought.

然而，孤独是否完全是件坏事呢？显然，答案是否定的。因为孤独夜能够给他们带来一些好处。据报道，独生子女在性格和想法上比其他孩子更有优势。

Firstly, the only child is more independent in personality.Lacking of help from others, they are used to dealing² with all kinds of thingsby themselves as much as possible. Thus, the only child would be moreindependent in life and they can endure³ more setbacks and pressure. Inaddition, when they leave their parents and start to live alone, they would meetfewer difficulties. But the precondition is that they don’t rely on theirparents deeply.

首先，独生子女在性格方面更独立。因为缺少别人的帮助，他们习惯尽可能地自己解决各种事情。这样一来，独生子女在生活上会更独立，而且他们更能承受挫折和压力。另外，当他们离开父母独自生活的时候，他们会遇到更少的困难。但是，前提条件是他们没有深深依赖于父母。

Moreover⁴, theonly child has wider horizon than others. As the only kid in the family, they can enjoy better conditions in lifeor in education, and they have more opportunities to get in touch with freshthings and accept higher education. In this premise⁵, loneliness gives them moretime and space to think after study. As the saying goes, genius is the productof the loneliness. Einstein is a good example. Therefore, on the one hand, theonly child feels lonely. But at the same time, one can enjoy loneliness whenthinking. Loneliness brings more chances to think of meaning about life andfuture.

此外，独生子女比其他孩子见识更广。因为他们是家里唯一的小孩，他们在生活或教育上享有更好的条件，而且他们有更多的机会去接触新鲜事物以及接受更高等的教育。在这一前提下，孤独能够使他们课后有更多的时间和空间去思考。常言道，天才是寂寞的产物。爱因斯坦就是一个很好的例子。因此，一方面独生子女会感到孤独，但同时思考的时候也能享受孤独。孤独带来给多的机会去思考生活的意义和未来。

In a word, the only child feels lonely but also canget some benefits. Learning⁶ to enjoy loneliness, one would be easier to tastethe real life.

总之，独生子女会感觉孤独，但是也能够得到一些好处。一个人学会享受孤独也会更容易体会到真正的生活。