It has long been a mystery to men why so many women enjoy watching tear jerker movies with their friends.
长期以来，男人们对女人喜欢跟朋友一起看苦情片感到不解。

But now scientists have come up with a suggestion – sharing sad emotions helps women bond.
现在科学家有了解释：分享悲伤的情感让女人们惺惺相惜。

A research team at Cardiff University found that by sharing their emotions women found the happy parts of films more joyful and the sad bits less sad.
卡迪福大学的研究小组发现，通过分享情感，女士们觉得电影中高兴的部分更加令人愉快，而悲伤的情节看起来没那么悲伤。

Job van der Schalk, a psychologist at Cardiff University, said: ‘Our findings suggest that a negative emotional experience such as watching a ‘weepy’ is more positive when it is shared with a friend.
卡迪夫大学心理学家范德沙克说: “我们的研究结果发现，在和朋友们分享一些消极的情感体验（比如看一场哭戏）的时候，取得的效果更加积极。

‘And, at the same time, a positive emotional experience, such as watching a ‘romcom’, should equally be more pleasant when shared.’
而且同时，分享积极的体验比如跟朋友一起看一场浪漫喜剧，感受到的快乐也更多。

The study involved 30 pairs of female friends aged between 20 and 33 who were shown emotionally powerful images and asked to rate them on a scale from ‘very negative’ to ‘very positive’.
这次研究的对象为30对年龄在20到33岁的女性朋友，研究人员让她们观看产生强烈情感的影像，让她们把看到的影像按照从 “非常消极”到 “非常积极”的程度进行评价。

The scientists put one of each pair in a brain scanner to monitor their reactions, and the volunteers were also asked to view and rate the images while on their own and also while together.
研究人员给每一对志愿者中的其中一位带上大脑扫描监测器，他们让这些志愿者在单独观看图像和跟朋友一起观看图像时分别对图像进行消极或积极的评价。

The researchers found the images were seen more positively when the pairs were together, The Sunday Times reported.
研究人员发现参加实验的一对朋友在一起的时候，他们看待图像的态度更加积极。

The study, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, said: ‘When people go to the cinema to watch a film, they ... anticipate a positive subjective impact of sharing this emotional experience.’
这一研究发表在《社会认知与情感神经科学》的期刊上，报告指出：人们去电影院看电影的时候，他们期待的是一种积极的主观的情感分享体验。

And Hollywood success seems to back the theory.
而好莱坞的成功似乎验证了这一理论。

The 2008 film Marley and Me, which surrounds a couple’s relationship with their dog, took £160m at the global box office, and last year’s film The Fault in Our Stars - about two teenage cancer patients who find love - took more than £200m.
2008年上映的电影《马利和我》，情节围绕着一对夫妇和他们的狗展开，该电影在全球获得了1.6亿英镑的票房。去年上映的一部关于两个癌症少年寻爱故事的《星运里的错》获得了超过2亿英镑的票房。

Aggie Romeril, 22, a London beauty manager, said: ‘I think we’re a “stream it and weep” age. You scroll through Netflix, find who’s got the biggest laptop and bundle into a housemate’s bed for a sob session.’
二十二岁的伦敦美容经理艾琪·罗默里尔说：“我觉得我们处在‘看了哭一场的’年纪。我们在Netflix搜寻影片，找一台大屏幕的手提电脑，然后钻入好友的床上看着电影哭个够。