题目：In some countries, many more people are choosing to live alone nowadays than in the past. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?
在世界上的很多国家，跟过去不同，越来越多的人选择一个人居住。你觉得这是一个好的变化还是不好的变化？
英文：
It is a trend that many more people are choosing to live alone nowadays than in the past. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in China, the percentage of people living alone increased from 6% in 1990 to 16.4% in 2013. I think it is more about positive development than negative development.
To begin with, much of the public concern about living alone as a misery experience. They have the following reasons:
1 wasting money
People who live alone dare to spend more money on consuming since they don’t have family members to afford. This phenomenon is called single economy.
For example, singles take 28.6% of the people who buy luxuries without thinking over. Also the 31.6% of singles spend money most on entertainment and gatherings. They have less will to save money and buy insurance. Their attitude is enjoying while one can.
Also living alone means higher daily expense, such as rents, water charges, gas charges and so on. It is really not very economic.
2 lack of emotions
Living alone is most common in elderly people and young people in their twenties. Both of them are bearing loneliness and emotion shortage.
A social worker in Shandong Province, China, tells a story: he helped a 70-year-old lady whose children were all living far away -- one in Yunnan, and the other in Japan. She lived in a bead house, but she thought she was in prison. So finally, she was suffering from depression. She was an example of “Empty Nester”.
Similarly, young people who live far from parents or relatives, in single mode, and rent a room alone are called “Empty Nest Youth”. They work hard and live in quite bad environment. What’s more, they have emotion shortage. They don’t have much time and money to hang out with friends, hard to find new friends, nevertheless a boyfriend or girlfriend.
But, as the famous proverb says in China, practice is the sole criterion for testing truth, the phenomenon of living alone has many benefits since it is more and more spread.
1 convenience and freedom
Living alone means we can decide when to get up and when to go to sleep. We can cook, dance or watch TV in midnight; we can raise a pet; we can eat food which has special smell. We can enhance the quality of sleep since no disturb by others. We can work a long time as long as we have creations and are not sleepy. It is great that we don’t need to waste time on quarreling with roommates.
2 independent and controllable
Living by oneself can train us the ability to be independent which is very precious and fundamental in society. The working pace is very fast and daily consumption is quite high nowadays. So we cannot relay too much on others to take care of us if we are not children.
The feeling of controlling life is terrific. We can decide where to put the furniture, when to eat a meal, and whether to cook a meal or order a meal on the Internet. It is a choice from the balance of money, time and energy. We don’t need to do every piece of housework, but to buy services if possible.
In conclusion, I think it is a development that more people choose to live alone for a time. As long as they are healthy and independent, living alone can let them focus work and enjoy life.
This phenomenon is due to economy development, technology improvement and human thought changing. We can show our true needs better than ever. It is a truth that more people are happier by living alone. And also we come up the methods to deal with the problems of wasting money or emotion shortage. Finally, we are more likely to live alone longer and better, and at the same time have close connections with the world and other people.
中文:
越来越多的人选择一个人居住是流行趋势。根据中国的民政部的统计，全国独居人口从1990年的6%上升到2013年的14.6%。我觉得比较起来，独居人数变多更像是一个好的变化。
首先，大部分人会觉得独居是一个很悲惨的经历。有如下原因。
1 浪费钱
独居的人敢在消费上多花钱，因为没有家人要养。这种现象叫做单身经济。
举例来说，不经三思就去买奢侈品的人独居的占28.6%，31.6%的单身的人会把大部分钱花在娱乐和聚会上。他们更不太会想去存钱或者买保险。他们的心态就是今朝有酒今朝醉。
同时，独居意味着更高的日常开支，包括房租，水费，燃气费等等。这都很不经济的。
2缺失情感
独居最常见的就老年人和二十几岁的年轻人。这两个人群都在承受着孤独和情感的缺乏。
一位中国山东的义工讲述了这样的故事：他帮助过的一位70岁的女士，有两个孩子，但都住得很远，一个在云南，一个在日本。她在养老院居住，但觉得自己像被关进了监狱。最终，她得了抑郁症。这样的老人被叫做“空巢老人”。
类似的是，远离父母或者亲人，单身，自己租房住的年轻人，被叫做“空巢青年。”他们很努力地工作，但生活环境并不好。更麻烦的是，他们也很缺失感情。他们没有足够多的时间和钱去和朋友们出去玩，也很难交新朋友，跟不要说找男朋友或者女朋友了。
但就像中国有句名言，实践是检验真理的唯一标准，独居这个现象现在传播得越来越广，那它还是有很多好处的。
1 方便自由
独居意味着我们可以自己掌握何时起床何时睡觉。我们可以半夜起来做饭、跳舞、看电视；我们可以养宠物；我们可以吃有奇怪气味的食物。我们能够提高睡眠质量，因为没人打扰。我们可以想工作多久就工作多久，只要自己还不困还有创造力。终于不用浪费时间在和室友吵架上了，这简直太棒了。
2 独立和掌控
居可以训练我们的独立能力，这在社会中非常的宝贵和必要。现代社会工作节奏太快，生活成本又高。我们寄托于其他人照顾我们不太可能，我们又不是孩子了。
掌控生活的感觉是很奇妙的。我们可以决定家具怎么摆，什么时间吃饭，是自己做饭还是互联网点餐。这是钱、时间和精力的平衡之后的选择。我们不必每件家务都做，合理地购买服务也是可以的。
总结一下，我觉得越来越多的人选择独居一段时间是一个进步。只要他们健康和独立，独居就让他们能更专注于工作和享受生活。
独居的现象是源于经济的发展，科技的进步还有人么观念的转变。我们从来没有像现在这个时候那么敢于呈现自己真实的需求。事实上，很多的人通过独居变得更快乐了。同时，我们也在找方法去克服独居花费高和情感缺失的问题。最终，我们更可能独居更长的时间，有更高的生活质量，于此同时还保持着对世界和他人的密切的联系。
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