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Passage Three
文章三
Americans suffer from an overdose of work.
美國人正面臨著超額的工作量。
Regardless of who they are or what they do, Americans spend more time at work than at any time since World War II.
不管他們是誰或者他們做什么，自二戰以來，美國人都以往任何時候花更多的時間在工作上。
In 1950, the US had fewer working hours than any other industrialized countries.
在1950年左右，相比其他工業化國家，美國的工作時間更少。
Today, it exceeds every country but Japan where industrial employees log 2155 hours a year compared with 1951 in the US and 1603 in the former West Germany.
但是現在，美國以1951個小時的年工作時間超過了除日本之外的所有國家。在日本，工人一年要工作2155個小時。而前西德這一數字則為1603個小時
Between 1969 and 1989, employed Americans added an average of 138 hours to their yearly work schedules.
在1969年至1989年期間，美國的員工平均每年增加了138小時的工作時間。
The workweek has remained at about 40 hours. But people are working more weeks each year.
每周的工作時間一直保持在大約40個小時不變，但人們每年工作的周數增加了。
Specifically, pay-time-off holidays, vacations, sick leave shrank by 50% in the 1980s.
具體地說，帶薪假、公共假期、病假在20世紀80年代縮減了50％
As corporations have experienced stiff competition and slower growth in productivity, they have pressed employees to work longer.
司由于面臨嚴酷的競爭，并且產量增長緩慢，所以強迫員工延長工作時間
Cost-cutting lay-offs in the 1980s reduced the professional and managerial ranks, leaving fewer people to get the job done.
在20世紀80年代，削減成本的裁員措施減少了專業及管理隊伍，這樣使得只有更少的人來完成工作。
In lower paid occupations where wages have been reduced, workers have added hours in overtime or extra jobs to preserve their living standards.
由于在低報酬的職業工人的工資減少，所以工人不得不額外增加工作小時數，或者通過額外工作來維持他們的生活標準。
The government estimates that more than seven million people hold a second job.
據政府統計，約有超過七百萬人擁有第二份工作。
For the first time, large numbers of people say they want to cut back on working hours even if it means earning less money.
很多人表示他們想減少工作時間，即使這意味著會掙不到錢。
But most employers are unwilling to let them do so.
但是大多數雇主不愿意他們這樣做。
The government, which has stepped back from its traditional role as a regulator of work time, should take steps to make shorter hours possible.
已經從一個工作時間調節者這一傳統角色回歸的政府應該采取相關措施，讓工作時間的變短成為可能。
