Dialogue 1
Jingjing: Mark, you don't look as tired as last week. Is the construction finished around your house?
京晶：馬克，你看起來不像上周那么累了。你家鄰居的裝修結(jié)束了？
Mark: It's been on and off. But I've been staying out of the house mostly. If I don't have to go in to work, I do work at a coffee shop.
馬克：時不時吧。但是我大部分時候都呆在外面。如果不是必須去辦公室上班的話，我就在咖啡店辦公。
Jingjing: And, are you getting more done, now that you're out of the house more often?
京晶：那么，你現(xiàn)在經(jīng)常出門，是不是工作完成得更多了？
Mark: It's hard to say. For little projects, and stuff like answering emails, I'm better. I'm falling behind on some of my bigger projects.
馬克：很難說。對于一些小工作，像回復(fù)郵件之類的，效率更高。在一些大項(xiàng)目上我落后了。
Jingjing: That makes me think about what Jack Ma said recently: When people are young, they should work from 9AM until 9PM six days a week. What do you think?
京晶：這讓我想起了馬云最近說的：當(dāng)人們年輕的時候，應(yīng)該從早上九點(diǎn)工作到晚上九點(diǎn)，一周六天。你怎么看？
Mark: That's a lot of hours to put in. What's the rationale?
馬克：那得投入大量時間啊。理由是什么呢？
Jingjing: Well, when people get older, they won't remember what TV shows they watched when they were in their 20s and 30s. But, most likely, they'll have accomplished more at work, and will hopefully have better job titles and more money.
京晶：嗯，當(dāng)人們長大后，他們不會記得20多歲和30多歲時看了什么電視節(jié)目。但是，最有可能的是他們在工作上會取得更大的成就，很可能有更好的工作頭銜和更多的錢。
Mark: That sounds pretty reasonable. Anyway, it's hard to argue against hard work.
馬克：聽起來很有道理。不管怎么說，反對努力工作這種說法是很難的。
Jingjing: It sounds like you don't fully agree, though.
京晶：不過，聽起來你不是完全同意。
Mark: Well, for one thing, some kinds of work require lots of concentration—like driving or piloting a jet. There are so many stories of trucks running red lights because drivers were too tired to focus.
馬克：嗯，首先，有些種類的工作需要高度集中精力，像開車或駕駛噴氣式飛機(jī)。有太多關(guān)于卡車闖紅燈的故事，因?yàn)樗緳C(jī)太累而無法集中注意力。
Jingjing: Yeah, I don't think anybody's suggesting that drivers spend more than 8 hours behind the wheel.
京晶：是的，我不認(rèn)為有人會建議司機(jī)在方向盤后邊呆超過8小時。
Mark: Also, I read somewhere that taxi drivers can't make a living if they just work regular hours. They have to work overtime.
馬克：還有，我了解到，如果出租車司機(jī)只是按正常工時工作是無法養(yǎng)活自己的。他們必須加班。
Jingjing: That's a raw deal. What about office workers?
京晶：那不公平。辦公室工作人員呢？
Mark: Sure, no one's going to lose their life if an office worker falls asleep at their desk.
馬克：當(dāng)然，如果一個上班族在辦公桌上睡著了是不會失去生命的。
Jingjing: Ha ha. A desk is a good thing for a cat nap.
京晶：哈哈，辦公桌是打盹兒的好地方。

New words : 習(xí)語短語
on and off 時不時地
sometimes happening, sometimes not (It's been raining on and off all morning.)
rationale 根本原因
a reason for doing something
raw deal 不公平
something unfair
cat nap 打盹兒，小睡
a short nap, usually 5-20 minutes, in a place where people don't usually sleep

Dialogue 2
Jingjing: That's good, at least. Hey, I remember being in a taxi with a sleepy driver. It was pretty scary.
京晶：至少這很好。我記得我乘坐一個昏昏欲睡的司機(jī)的出租車，那太嚇人啦。
Mark: I bet—and, I'm sorry to hear that. Back to office workers, they might make better decisions and do better work without such long hours.
馬克：很遺憾聽到這種事，真的。說回辦公室工作人員，不用長時間工作，他們可能會做出更好的決定，把工作完成得更出色。
Jingjing: Then again, office workers might not be as committed to their jobs if they're only working a few hours.
京晶：不過，如果辦公室工作人員只工作幾個小時，他們可能就不會那么全心全意投入工作了。
Mark: That probably has more to do with their personality than how many hours they're on the clock. Have you read about the four-hour work week?
馬克：這可能與他們的個性有關(guān)，而不是他們的工作時間。你讀過每周四小時工作嗎？
Jingjing: Isn't that a book by Tim Ferris?
京晶：那不是蒂姆.費(fèi)里斯的書嗎？
Mark: Yeah, it's the next book I want to read. I think it's about creative jobs.
馬克：是，這是我想讀的下一本書。我想它是關(guān)于創(chuàng)造性工作的。
Jingjing: It's an interesting idea to do 8-12 hours worth of work in 4 hours. Let me know after you read it. I might read it also.
京晶：在4小時內(nèi)完成8-12小時的工作是一個有趣的想法。讀完后告訴我，我可能也會讀。
Mark: Will do.
馬克：會的。
Jingjing: But I think we're missing the point. Jack Ma was talking about getting more accomplished in life—and, if that means working six days a week for twelve hours each day, then it'd be worth it.
京晶：但是我想我們忽略了重點(diǎn)，馬云談?wù)摰氖巧腥〉酶嗟某删停绻@意味著每周工作6天，每天工作12小時，那這是值得的。
Mark: I'm with you on that. People should make the most of their careers in their prime years. I just hope people don't milk the clock or get into a rat race.
馬克：我同意。人們應(yīng)該在黃金年齡段充分發(fā)展自己的職業(yè)生涯。我只是希望人們不要磨洋工或陷入激烈的競爭。
Jingjing: Right. Hey, I read somewhere that only 5% of Americans can afford the luxury of retirement. What does that mean?
京晶：對。我了解到，只有5%的美國人能負(fù)擔(dān)得起奢侈的退休生活。這是什么意思？
Mark: Only 1 in 20 Americans can keep the same standard of living they had after they stop working. Everyone else might survive, but would have to move to smaller houses or go on fewer trips.
馬克：只有五分之一的美國人能保持他們停止工作后的生活水平。其他人也能湊合過日子，但不得不搬到更小的房子或去更少的旅行。
Jingjing: That's a good reason to work hard when young! I want to travel a lot when I get old.
京晶：那就是年輕時努力工作的好理由！當(dāng)我老了以后，我想經(jīng)常旅行。
Mark: Go for it, Jingjing! I'll let you get back to work now.
馬克：去吧，京晶！我這就讓你回去工作了。



New words : 習(xí)語短語
I'm with you (on that). 我同意你的看法
I agree with you (about that).
milk the clock 浪費(fèi)時間，磨洋工
stay at the office longer just to make more money
rat race 激烈競爭
competitive society, people work harder and harder so that few people can keep up