明星爲何偏愛在夏天分手 Why Did So Many Famous Couples Break Up This Summer?

Summer lovin’, had me a blast. Or that’s the idea, anyway.

夏日迷戀，讓我澎湃。或許這只是一種幻想。

In song, the lazy months of beach trips and top-down country jaunts are supposed to be a golden time of the year for romance. But in celebrity circles, the summer of 2015 may be remembered as a buzz saw for famous lovers: a grim season that sliced several of Hollywood’s most celebrated couples in half.

在歌中，在這悠閒的幾個月裏，人們往往去海灘或在鄉間遠足，本應是一年中談戀愛的最佳季節。但是在名人圈，2015年的夏季卻十分陰冷，它像一把圓鋸，把好萊塢最著名的幾對情侶分開了。

It kicked in to gear with the endlessly dissected Ben Affleck-Jennifer Garner separation in June; continued with the unplugging of the first couple of ’90s alt rock, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale; and culminated in the news over Labor Day that Jon Hamm was splitting from his girlfriend of 18 years, Jennifer Westfeldt. At least 24 star couples, many of them tabloid staples, have gone down for the count since Memorial Day, according to a recent US Weekly timeline on the topic.

今年6月，本·阿弗萊克(Ben Affleck)和珍妮弗·加納(Jennifer Garner)結束戀情，引起媒體的無盡評論；之後，90年代另類搖滾的頭號情侶格溫·斯蒂芬妮(Gwen Stefani)和加文·羅斯代爾(Gavin Rossdale)分道揚鑣；最後，在美國勞動節，喬恩·哈姆(Jon Hamm)和交往18年的女友珍妮弗·韋斯特費爾特(Jennifer Westfeldt)分手。根據美國週刊(US Weekly)的名人分手大事記，從陣亡將士紀念日(Memorial Day)起，至少有24對明星情侶分手，其中很多是八卦小報的固定報道對象。

While all these flameouts were presumably a coincidence, Howard Bragman, a veteran Hollywood publicist, said the relative quiet of summer can serve as a useful shield of sorts for stars looking to duck the worst of the press coverage.

雖然這些可能只是巧合，但是好萊塢資深公關員霍華德·布拉格曼(Howard Bragman)說，相對平靜的夏季是一個有用的盾牌，明星可以藉此躲開最糟糕的媒體報道。

Publicists, for instance, have long labored to keep bad news under wraps until Friday afternoons or holidays, in an attempt to duck the news cycle, Mr. Bragman said. By the same logic, celebrities and their handlers may reap some strategic benefit by holding off announcements of a split until many gossip consumers are away on vacation or lounging on the beach.

布拉格曼說，比如，長期以來，公關員們都努力把壞消息保密到週五下午或假期才公佈，以躲開新聞週期。按照同樣的邏輯，爲了獲得戰略優勢，名人和他們的智囊團會等到喜歡看八卦新聞的讀者去度假或者在沙灘上曬太陽之後才公佈分手的消息。

Historically, Mr. Bragman said: “summer is not prime media season. TV ratings trend lower and magazine and newspapers have generally lower circulation.”

布拉格曼說，從歷史上看，“夏季不是媒體的旺季。在這個季節，電視節目的收視率和雜誌、報紙的發行量往往偏低。”

While such talk of the news cycle means far less in the era of social media, when bad news has a way of finding any electronic device at any hour of the day, the sheer volume of celebrity breakups this summer “may have encouraged some whose relationships were fraying to jump in, hoping they would be lost in the shuffle,” Mr. Bragman said.

不過在社交媒體時代，有關新聞週期的這種說法就沒那麼奏效了，壞消息總能想辦法在一天中的任何時候傳遞到任意一臺電子設備上。但布拉格曼也說，今年夏天分手的名人太多了，“有些感情變淡的情侶藉機分手，希望在混亂中被人們忽略”。

But the news cycle is only one reason summer may prove the best time, relatively speaking, for Hollywood power couples to achieve celebrity mitosis. Stars have to consider work-life balance, too, said Rachel A. Sussman, a New York psychotherapist and author of the 2011 book “The Breakup Bible.”

對好萊塢的著名情侶們來說，相對而言，夏季可能是分手的最好季節。不過，新聞週期只是其中一個原因。紐約心理治療師蕾切爾·A·薩斯曼(Rachel A. Sussman)2011年出版了一本名爲《分手聖經》(The Breakup Bible)的書。她說，明星們也得考慮工作和生活的平衡。

Any breakup is a major stress trigger in life, she said, and it is best not to attempt it at a time when professional obligations are cresting. Unless the stars in question are promoting a summer blockbuster, summer is often a relatively quiet season, removed from film festivals, awards season, holiday releases and the like.

薩斯曼說，不管是誰，分手都會給生活帶來很大壓力，所以最好不要嘗試在職業責任最大的時候分手。夏季通常是相對安靜的季節，沒有電影節、頒獎禮和假日電影上映等活動，除非這位明星正在宣傳一部夏季大片。

“If you’re shooting a film or promoting one, you don’t want to do anything that is going to distract you,” Ms. Sussman said. “Celebrities will put off a breakup or a divorce until a time in their career when they can go on the down low.”

“如果是在拍電影或宣傳電影，你不想因爲任何事情分心，”薩斯曼說，“名人們會把分手或離婚推遲到事業中可以承受心情低谷的時間段。”

Regardless, if celebrities were choosing summer as a strategically sound time to split, it would run counter to the behavior of most mortals, who tend to confine their romantic misfortune to the colder months, according to some recent inquiries into the topic.

不管怎樣，如果名人們認爲，從戰略上講，夏季是分手的合理時間，那麼，這與大部分普通人的做法正好相反。根據最近的一些關於這一話題的調查，普通人往往把自己情場挫折放在較冷的月份。

Writing in Time magazine in 2013, Marina Adshade, an economist in Canada, cited the period of the two weeks leading up to Christmas as the most popular time for breakups because couples are bombarded with evidence on how much the other is invested in the relationship. That is, partners take note of the care put into their gift, say, or the willingness of a beloved to sit through another rubber-turkey dinner at Aunt Mary’s house.

2013年，加拿大經濟學家瑪麗娜·阿德史德(Marina Adshade)在《時代》(Time)雜誌上指出，聖誕節前兩週是最常見的分手時間，因爲戀人們會在這段時間集中感受到對方在這段感情中的投入。比如，用心挑選禮物，或者願意在戀人的瑪麗阿姨(Aunt Mary)家忍受另一頓感恩節晚餐。

And a post on , the popular urban-legend-vetting site, cited January as a famous relationship minefield, because couples who have put off the big decisions until the new year are finally ready to act. “January, therefore, racks up not only all the unpairings that normally would have accrued to it, but also many of those of mid-November through December,” the post reads.

闢謠網站上有個帖子說，1月份是著名的戀愛雷區，因爲那些把重大決定推遲到新年的情侶們最終開始行動。“因此，在1月份分手的不僅包括那些在這個月感情自然走到盡頭的情侶，還包括很多在11月中旬至12月已經有點想分手的情侶。”

For most people, summer traditionally was the most unlikely time of year for struggling couples to pull the plug, said Bernard Clair, a prominent New York divorce lawyer. In those relatively carefree months, he said, “people are no longer cooped up under the same roof, the kids are away at camp, so the arguments between spouses rarely reach Level 7, the red zone.”

紐約著名的離婚律師伯納德·克萊爾(Bernard Clair)說，從傳統上講，大部分感情出現問題的情侶最不可能在夏季分手。他說，那幾個月相對悠閒，“人們不再被禁錮在同一個屋檐下，孩子們去參加夏令營，所以夫妻間的爭執很少能達到七級，也就是危險區域”。

In the view of Rob Shuter, a former celebrity publicist who now runs the gossip site Naughty Gossip, that may be just as true for celebrities as for “normal” people, despite perceptions. Hollywood breakups, after all, are shark-attack stories of celebrity journalism, he said, a summer staple and nothing more.

羅布·舒特(Rob Shuter)曾擔任名人公關員，現在經營八卦網站Naughty Gossip。他認爲，儘管看法不同，但是名人和“普通人”也許是一樣的。他說，說到底，好萊塢明星情侶分手是轟動性娛樂新聞，是夏季的常規話題，僅此而已。

“Every summer, all the celebrity breakups seem to catch us all off guard, leaving folks to wonder if love is still alive,” Mr. Shuter said.

“每年夏天，我們似乎都會毫無防備地被所有這些名人分手的新聞擊中，開始懷疑愛情到底還存不存在，”舒特說。

But, he added: “listing all the splits together in one neat little package is a celebrity journalist trick that has been going on for years. It allows pages to be filled with content, while still allowing the staff to enjoy Labor Day off.”

不過，他補充該說：“把分手新聞放到一起討論是娛樂記者們的小把戲，已經玩了很多年了。它能輕鬆填充頁面，讓員工們輕鬆享受勞動節。”

Indeed.

的確如此。