America—Home to Workaholics
美國——工作狂之鄉(xiāng)
It is pretty likely that you—or someone you know—is a workaholic.
很可能你是,或者你認識的人是個工作狂。
Workaholics live for their work, often spending many extra ours at work, and often taking work home to complete. Americans—live in a work-hard culture, but when work becomes the sole reason for a person's existence above more important things (such as family and friends), the issue becomes critical.
工作狂的生活圍繞著他們的工作,經常加班,甚至會把工作帶回家完成。美國人信奉努力工作,但是當工作變成個人存在的唯一理由,把工作看得比諸如家人和朋友更重要,對這些人來說工作就是一切。
Part of the matter is societal. Americans are working more hours per week than in years past, and with all the downsizings and consolidations and lack of replacement hirings, more and more workers are putting in extra hours to complete the work previously completed by others.
工作狂的部分是社會原因。現(xiàn)在的美國人比過去工作的時間增長。由于公司裁員,合并或者不能及時雇傭到替代人員,越來越多的員工都要花更多的時間完成本應該是其他同事的任務。
Some studies show that as many as 40 percent of workers don't even bother to take vacations, partly because of fears they may not have a job to come back to if they do.
一些研究表明超過40%的工作人員不敢考慮休假,部分原因是他們擔心如果他們這么做了,等休假回來會失去工作。
Part of the matter is technological. We live and work in a connected environment—e-mails, instant messaging, fax machines, and cell phones—making it hard for workers to truly get time away from their work.
還有部分的原因是技術。我們生活和工作在一個普遍聯(lián)系的環(huán)境中,通過電子郵件、短消息、傳真機和手機聯(lián)系,這也使得工人很難真正遠離他們的工作。
Part of the matter is financial. Whether it is how more and more of us mistakenly define success in terms of financial measures or the fact that many Americans simply must work multiple jobs to earn a living wage and keep their families out of poverty, we are working more and more for the financial results.
還有部分是經濟原因。盡管越來越多的我們錯誤用經濟衡量是否成功,并且簡單地認為很多美國人要做多份工作,賺足夠多的錢來讓自己的生活遠離貧困。我們越來越多地出于經濟上的原因而努力工作。