【外刊精读】摆烂真的对吗？

袁袁袁626

不知道大家有没有了解过，近些年来“摆烂”、“躺平”开始在大众中流行，究竟“摆烂”是不是好事？我们又应该怎么做？接下来让我们跟随贸学长一同加深对“摆烂”的了解，同时积累一些地道用语。

原文导读

There’s a Better Way to Reclaim

Your Time Than ‘Quiet Quitting’

This summer, there was much discussion of the concept of “quiet quitting”— meaning, essentially, doing the bare minimum at work. And perhaps that’s not surprising: After more than two years of pandemic uncertainty, employee stress levels are at all-time highs, and people are still languishing. When you’re exhausted and overwhelmed, it feels like something needs to give— and for many, that seems to be the pursuit of excellence at work.

But is taking your foot off the gas the answer? I’d argue it isn’t. As a writer focused on time management, I’ve come to realize that the opposite of burnout isn’t doing nothing, or even scaling back. It’s engagement. As counterintuitive as that seems, adding energizing activities to your schedule just might make life feel more doable.

We each have the same 168 hours every week. But time is also all about the stories we tell ourselves. When life is full of have-to-dos, with only brief periods of downtime in between, we can feel beaten down by responsibilities. But add things we actually want to do, to compete with those have-to-dos, and time feels different. We feel a bit more in control of our lives.

Put simply, when we put time into what we find energizing, our inner narrative changes. We no longer feel like life is a slog.

That was certainly the case for Kathleen Paley, a mother of two and a lawyer at a firm in Washington, D.C., who I interviewed for my book. She said that she had gone through a dark period of feeling that her whole being was consumed by work and family. She described a sense, familiar to many working parents, that “every bit of you, as an individual, has to be put on the back burner for a while.”

But instead of quiet quitting, loud quitting or phoning it in at home, Ms. Paley took on something she was passionate about: She began volunteering with the Fairfax City Economic Development Authority, doing projects that were completely different from her job and family responsibilities. She helped organize Restaurant Week in Fairfax and figured out ways to promote its small business incubator.

To be sure, there’s no reason to cram things into your schedule out of a sense of obligation, and depleting pursuits should be eschewed. But when you’re feeling overwhelmed, committing time to something that feels wonderful could be a better bet than simply doing less.

第一段：This summer, there was much discussion of the concept of “quiet quitting”— meaning, essentially, doing the bare minimum at work. And perhaps that’s not surprising: After more than two years of pandemic uncertainty, employee stress levels are at all-time highs, and people are still languishing. When you’re exhausted and overwhelmed, it feels like something needs to give— and for many, that seems to be the pursuit of excellence at work.

参考译文：今年夏天，"摆烂 "这个概念受到了很多的讨论——“摆烂”从本质上来说，就是在工作中只做最低限度的量。也许这并不令人惊讶。疫情这两年带来了很多的不确定性，员工的压力水平处于历史最高水平，人们仍在苦苦挣扎。当你筋疲力尽、不堪重负时，会感觉需要舍弃一些东西——而对许多人来说，舍弃的这个东西似乎就是在工作中追求卓越。

知识点解读：

1.quiet quitting：工作懈怠，类似于我们常说的“摆烂”、“躺平”，其英文释义为“Quiet quitting refers to doing the minimum requirements of one’s job and putting in no more time, effort, or enthusiasm than absolutely necessary. As such, it is something of a misnomer, since the worker doesn’t actually leave their position and continues to collect a salary.”

2.pandemic uncertainty：由疫情所带来的不确定性，这里是一个翻译的注意点，不能直译成“疫情不确定性”，而是要根据具体的意思把内容表达出来。

3.be at all-time highs:史上最高纪录，其单数形式为“at an all-time high”，例如，“In 1996 the number of accidents in macao , involving private cars , soared to an all-time high. 1996年，在澳门，私家车的交通意外数字创了新高，保险公司需要支付大的赔偿金额。”除了用“be”以外，还可以用“hit”，即“hit an all-time high”.

第二段：But is taking your foot off the gas the answer? I’d argue it isn’t. As a writer focused on time management, I’ve come to realize that the opposite of burnout isn’t doing nothing, or even scaling back. It’s engagement. As counterintuitive as that seems, adding energizing activities to your schedule just might make life feel more doable.

参考译文：但是，不那么努力工作就是答案吗？我认为不是。作为一个专注于时间管理的作家，我已经认识到，倦怠的反面并不是什么都不做，也不是缩减工作量，而是参与。尽管这似乎有悖常理，但在你的日程安排中增加一些有活力的活动，可能会让你觉得生活更加有盼头些。

知识点解读：

1.take your foot off the gas:是“quiet quitting”的另一种表达，其剑桥释义为“to do something with less effort and determination”，例如，“Staff tend to wind down on Fridays if there aren't pressing deadlines - people take their foot off the gas. 如果没有紧迫的截止日期，员工往往会在星期五放松——也就是常说的职业倦怠。”

2.counterintuitive：“counter-”是一个否定前缀，“intuitive”是“凭直觉获知的”，所以“counterintuitive”就是“违背直觉的”，类似的词还有“attack 攻击”，“counterattack”则为“反攻”。

3.doable：“do+adj后缀”，表示“可做的”，放在文章中一般要根据具体的语境理解，不能够直译，例如在本文中则意为“生活更有盼头些”。

第三段：We each have the same 168 hours every week. But time is also all about the stories we tell ourselves. When life is full of have-to-dos, with only brief periods of downtime in between, we can feel beaten down by responsibilities. But add things we actually want to do, to compete with those have-to-dos, and time feels different. We feel a bit more in control of our lives.

参考译文：我们每个人每周都有同样的168个小时。但是，时间也跟我们给自己讲诉的事情有关。当生活中充满了不得不做的事情，中间只有短暂的休息时间时，我们会感到被责任打倒。但如果加上我们真正想做的事情，去和这些必须要做的事情抗衡，时间与我们的感受就会不同。我们会感觉对自己的生活有了更好的把控。

知识点解读：

1.have-to-dos：待办事项，类似于“to-do-lists”，是地道的英文表达。

2.feel beaten down by：被…..击溃/压垮；感受崩溃，相当于“be broken down by”，例如，“He was finally feel beaten down by his miserable life.苦难的生活最终击溃了他。”

3.We feel a bit more in control of our lives:这是一句非常自然且地道的表达，大家可以在写作中做相应的表达替换。

第四段：Put simply, when we put time into what we find energizing, our inner narrative changes. We no longer feel like life is a slog.

参考译文：简单地说，当我们把时间放在我们认为有活力的事情上时，我们内心的叙述就会改变。我们不再觉得生活是一种苦役。

知识点解读：

1.slog：埋头苦干；坚持不懈地做，例如，“I’ve slogged my guts out digging this ditch, and I’m completely exhausted. 我拚了老命挖这条沟，现在累得要死。”这个单词有一个地道的表达叫做“slog it out”，意为“一决雌雄”。

第五段：That was certainly the case for Kathleen Paley, a mother of two and a lawyer at a firm in Washington, D.C., who I interviewed for my book. She said that she had gone through a dark period of feeling that her whole being was consumed by work and family. She described a sense, familiar to many working parents, that “every bit of you, as an individual, has to be put on the back burner for a while.”

参考译文：凯瑟琳·帕利就是这样的一个情况。她是两个孩子的母亲，也是华盛顿特区一家公司的律师，我为我的书采访了她。她说，她经历了一段黑暗的时期，感觉自己整个人都被工作和家庭吞噬。她描述了一种许多职场父母都熟悉的感觉，即 "作为一个人，你的每一点都必须暂时被置于次要的位置上"。

知识点解读：

1.go through a dark period：经历了一段黑暗的时期，可以引申为“熬过困顿的时光”，另一个表达也很常见，即“go through fire and water赴汤蹈火/出生入死”。

on the back burner:英文常见俚语，表达“放在次要位置”，例如，“I love him a lot, but he put me on the back burner. 我很爱他，但是他把我放在了次要位置。”

第六段：But instead of quiet quitting, loud quitting or phoning it in at home, Ms. Paley took on something she was passionate about: She began volunteering with the Fairfax City Economic Development Authority, doing projects that were completely different from her job and family responsibilities. She helped organize Restaurant Week in Fairfax and figured out ways to promote its small business incubator.

参考译文：但是，帕利女士没有摆烂、甩手不干或在家里打发时间，而是从事她所热衷的事情。她开始在费尔法克斯市经济发展局做志愿者，做与她的工作和家庭责任完全不同的项目。她帮助组织了费尔法克斯市的餐厅周，并想出了推广其小企业孵化器的方法。

知识点解读：

1.loud quitting：对应“quiet quitting”，类似于“甩手不干”的意思，英文上的“quitting time”就是我们常说的“下班时间”。

2.passionate：充满激情的，常见的表达为“be passionate about”，其同义替换有“fervent, ardent, zealous, avid, obsessive” ，大家要注意积累。

第七段：To be sure, there’s no reason to cram things into your schedule out of a sense of obligation, and depleting pursuits should be eschewed. But when you’re feeling overwhelmed, committing time to something that feels wonderful could be a better bet than simply doing less.

参考译文：可以肯定的是，没有理由出于义务感而把事情塞进你的时间表，而且应该避免耗费精力的追求。但是，当你感到不堪重负时，把时间投入到让你感觉很好的事情上，可能比仅仅少做一些事情会情更好。

知识点解读：

1.cram into：塞满，例如，“Children were crammed into the back of the car.孩子们被塞进了车子的后座。” “cram”一次还有“考试临时抱佛脚、死记硬背”的意思，例如，“She crammed for her final exam.她死记硬背以应付期末考试。”

2.out of （a sense of）：出于……的理由，例如，“Out of sympathy, I took him in. 出于同情，我收留了他。”

3.eschew：避开，避免，相当于“avoid”，例如，“A wise person eschews bad company.智者远离恶人。”