话说在这个周末的《国际先驱论坛报》读书版上的一篇书评配了这样一张照片：

这是2008年4月英国当时的首相戈登•布朗在联合国安理会打盹的情形。不过这本书评所介绍的书的主题不是“打盹”，而是“无聊”—— “Boredom——A Lively History”（《“无聊”之有聊历史》，作者Peter Toohey）。说起“无聊”的历史，18世纪之前英国人认为无聊是法国人的毛病，所以遇到乏味的人或者事就指起为French bore（法兰西烦）。但是，18世纪英国作家拜伦认为，这个无聊的毛病其实是很英格兰的，只不过是法国人找到了一个词汇（ennui）来描述这种“睡觉都赶不走的哈欠”——即“无聊”。

但是，也许法兰西式的“无聊”和英格兰式的“无聊”有所区别。《无聊》一书的作者Peter Toohey把无聊分为两类，一类是“简单性无聊”（simple boredom），另一类是“存在性无聊”（existential boredom）。顾名思义，前者比较单纯，就是烦躁、单调的心境。据伦敦New Economics Foundation在2009年的一份调查显示，英国人深陷无聊情绪，在22个欧洲国家中是排在第4位。说起“无聊”定量排序，1986年美国俄勒冈大学心理学家Norman D. Sundberg与他的学生Richard F. Farmer发表了一篇定量研究无聊的学术论文，提出了由28个问题组成的“无聊倾向量表”（Boredom Proneness Scale，简称BPS），可以量度一个人是否处于“无聊”、“正常”、“亢奋”的状态（这28个问题附在本文后面，各位可以自己测试一下，得分在81 到 117之间您就算正常人一个）。

而第二种“无聊”——即所谓“存在性无聊”——实际上不是情绪问题，而是哲学观点问题，也就是说对生命意义的看法。Peter Toohey认为在法国18世纪大革命间出现的“启蒙时代”之前，世界上基本上没有“存在性无聊”这种东西。而且，“无聊”这种说法本身也可圈可点，19世纪爱尔兰作家王尔德认为，要是某人告诉你他感觉很无聊，他的意思其实是说：你别烦我了，我不会和你解释我到底在想什么。

话说回来，本文开始那个照片上的布朗大叔，他其实不是无聊，而是困倦，就是那种睡觉可以赶走的哈欠。这么说的根据是，布朗大叔和别人解释过为什么他在公众场合睡成了那副模样：他说他有俩幼子——one late to sleep, the other early to rise。

附录：
Boredom Proneness Scale
 
The statements can be answered using a 7-point format from "1" (highly disagree) , “2” (disagree), “3”(somewhat sagree), “4”(neither agree nor disagree), “5” (somewhat agree), “6”(agree) "7" (highly agree). 

    1. It is easy for me to concentrate on my activities.
    2. Frequently when I am working I find myself worrying about other things.
    3. Time always seems to be passing slowly.
    4. I often find myself at "loose ends", not knowing what to do.
    5. I am often trapped in situations where I have to do meaningless things.
    6. Having to look at someone's home movies or travel slides bores me tremendously.
    7. I have projects in mind all the time, things to do.
    8. I find it easy to entertain myself.
    9. Many things I have to do are repetitive and monotonous.
    10. It takes more stimulation to get me going than most people.
    11. I get a kick out of most things I do.
    12. I am seldom excited about my work.
    13. In any situation I can usually find something to do or see to keep me interested.
    14. Much of the time I just sit around doing nothing.
    15. I am good at waiting patiently.
    16. I often find myself with nothing to do, time on my hands.
    17. In situations where I have to wait, such as a line I get very restless.
    18. I often wake up with a new idea.
    19. It would be very hard for me to find a job that is exciting enough.
    20. I would like more challenging things to do in life.
    21. I feel that I am working below my abilities most of the time.
    22. Many people would say that I am a creative or imaginative person.
    23. I have so many interests, I don't have time to do everything.
    24. Among my friends, I am the one who keeps doing something the longest.
    25. Unless I am doing something exciting, even dangerous,I feel half-dead and dull. 
    26. It takes a lot of change and variety to keep me really happy.
    27. It seems that the same things are on television or the movies all the time; it's getting old.
 
    28. When I was young, I was often in monotonous and tiresome situations.