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Instant messaging world confirms six degrees of separation 即時訊息印證六度分隔理論

Right: Researchers predict that social networking Web sites like Facebook will lead to more social connections between people. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, pictured at his office in Palo Alto, California on Feb. 5, 2007. 右圖：研究團隊預測，像Facebook這類社交網站將使人與人間建立更多社交關聯；去年二月五日，Facebook創辦人馬克．祖克堡在加州帕羅奧圖的辦公室中留影。照片：美聯社 PHOTO: AP

Astudy of billions of instant messages has validated the idea that there are about six degrees of separation between any two people on the planet.

A team at Microsoft studied 30 billion instant messages sent by 240 million people in June 2006 and found that, on average, any two could be linked in 6.6 steps.

“We’ve confirmed that it is indeed a small world,” said Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz.

“Over the next few decades, new kinds of computing programs will help make the world even smaller, with closer social connections and deeper understanding among people.”

“To our knowledge, this is the first time such a large social network has been available to validate the well-known six degrees of separation finding.”

The researchers say that they couldn’t read the contents of messages and that information about people’s identities was removed.

The six degrees of separation idea comes from a 1969 study by Stanley Milgram and Jeffrey Travers. They asked nearly 300 people in the US state of Nebraska to send a letter to someone in Boston through acquaintances.

People were considered one degree apart from a friend, two degrees away from a friend’s friend and so on.

While most of the letters didn’t make it to the person in Boston, those that did arrived with an average of 6.2 degrees of separation from senders.

The results have inspired a play, a film, a game, and a Web site launched by actor Kevin Bacon. (AFP)

一項針對數百億通即時訊息進行的研究結果證實，六度分隔理論的概念確實存在於全世界任兩人之間。

微軟公司一組研究團隊針對二ＯＯ六年六月間，兩億四千萬人傳送出的三百億通即時訊息進行研究，結果發現任兩人之間，平均透過六點六個人就可以建立起關聯。

微軟研究員艾瑞克．賀維茲說：「我們證實了這個世界真小。」

「未來數十年，新的電腦程式將更縮短地球村的距離，讓社交關係變得更密切，人與人之間也能更深入了解。」

「據我們所知，這是首度有人利用這麼大範圍的社交網絡，來證實知名的六度分隔理論。」

研究人員表示，他們看不到訊息的內容，而且民眾的個人資料也都被刪除。

六度分隔的概念是史丹利．米爾葛倫和傑弗瑞．崔佛斯在一九六九年所提出。他們請美國內布拉斯加州的近三百名居民，透過認識的人將一封信轉寄給在波士頓的某人。

和朋友間的關係是一度分隔，和朋友的朋友間的關係則是兩度分隔，依此類推。

然而大部分的信並沒有被轉寄到波士頓那名人士手中，至於寄達的那些信，則平均透過六點二個寄信者中介。

這些結果也成為戲劇、電影、遊戲及一個由影星凱文．貝肯所架設的網站的靈感來源。

（法新社／翻譯：袁星塵）

TODAY’S WORDS 今日單字 1. instant message n. 即時訊息 (ji2 shi2 xun4 xi2) 例: My cousin sends his girlfriend hundreds of instant messages per day. (我表弟每天都傳幾百則即時訊息給他女友。) 2. validate v.t. 證實 (zheng4 shi2) 例: The evidence validated the police’s suspicions. (這個證據印證了警方的猜測。) 3. acquaintance n. 相識之人 (xiang1 shi4 zhi1 ren2) 例: Bill is an acquaintance of mine. We’ve met at parties a few times. (我認識比爾，我們在一些派對上打過照面。) 4. inspire v.t./v.i. 賦予靈感 (fu4 yu3 ling2 gan3) 例: The travel book inspired Jill to make a similar journey. (這本旅遊書讓吉兒興起來趟類似旅程的念頭。)

SAY WHAT? 說說看 The expression it’s a small world is most commonly used when people meet a new person and then discover that they have a mutual acquaintance. For example: “I sat next to a woman on my flight back from Houston. After talking for a while it turns out that her sister was my grade school teacher. It really is a small world,” or “Dan bumped into his milkman’s brother when he was mountain climbing in Nepal last year. It just goes to show that it’s a small world.” 「it’s a small world」 這個說法最常用在認識新朋友後，才發現大家竟有一個共同朋友的情況。例如：「我從休士頓搭飛機回來時，隔壁坐了一位女士，我們聊了一會兒後才發現她姊姊是我小學老師，世界真的好小」或是「丹去年去尼泊爾登山時，無意中遇到幫他送牛奶的人的弟弟，這證明了世界真的很小」。

OUT LOUD 對話練習 Mo: I’m worried about Kelvin. I think he spends too much time sending instant messages. Nancy: You’re right. He told me he sometimes spends five hours per day on line. Mo: You don’t know the half of it! He’s also a text message junkie. He had a row with his girlfriend entirely by text message. They sent over 100 texts to each other in under an hour. I think they’re going to break up. Nancy: I don’t think so. It sounds to me like they’re a perfect match! 莫：我很擔心凱文，我覺得他花太多時間在傳即時訊息上了。 南西：你說得對，他跟我說他有時會一天花五小時在線上。 莫：還不只那樣！他也是個簡訊狂，他跟他女友透過簡訊大吵了一架，他們在一小時內互傳了一百多則簡訊。我想他們就快分手了。 南西：我不認為，聽起來他們根本是天生一對！ You don’t know the half of it　還不只那樣 This expression is said to a person who isn’t fully aware of the facts of a situation. 這個片語用來表示一個人並未全然了解真正的情況。

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