評(píng)論
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As the new semester begins, millions of college students across the country are trying hard to remember how best to write a paper–or, more likely, how best to delay that paper.
新學(xué)期伊始，全國(guó)數(shù)以萬計(jì)的高校學(xué)生都努力謹(jǐn)記如何交出一篇精彩的論文，或者，大多數(shù)人都在想如何盡量拖延時(shí)間。
Procrastination is the thief of time and a lot of students suffer from it. They can spend whole days in the library doing nothing but staring into space, eating snacks, surfing the Internet, watching videos and looking at their pretty peers sitting around them, who, most likely, are doing nothing either.
拖延癥就像偷竊時(shí)光的小偷，令許多學(xué)生深受其害。他們整天窩在圖書館里無所事事，只是發(fā)呆、吃零食、上網(wǎng)、看視頻或是看看自己身邊漂亮的同學(xué)，這些人也大都無所事事。
Paralyzed by their habit to procrastinate, they write micro blogs about their fears, asking their online friends if they sometimes have the same issue. But this does nothing to break the spell.
拖延習(xí)慣令人麻痹無力，他們寫微博來表達(dá)自己的恐懼，詢問網(wǎng)友是否有時(shí)也會(huì)遭遇相同狀況。然而，這種做法無濟(jì)于事，無法打破拖延癥的魔咒。
According to a recent report by the BBC, 95 percent of us procrastinate at some point and 20 percent of the world's population are chronic procrastinators, complicating their lives with their incessant delaying of tasks.
BBC最新的一份報(bào)告顯示，95%的人只是偶爾拖延，20%的人則是習(xí)慣性拖延，不斷拖延工作令他們的生活變得一團(tuán)糟。
The figures are dismal. Procrastinators are less wealthy, less healthy and less happy than those who don't delay. Just look at Hamlet, who is perhaps the world's most famous procrastinator. He is also a university student, and his crippling indecision leads to tragedy on an epic scale.
這些數(shù)據(jù)十分可怕。與旁人相比，拖延癥患者囊中羞澀，健康堪憂，苦惱也更多。來看看哈姆萊特吧，他可能是世界上最著名的拖延癥患者了。他也是一名大學(xué)生，而極度優(yōu)柔寡斷釀成了悲劇史詩。
Procrastinators like to find excuses to justify their behavior, but BBC columnist Rowan Pelling says they are all wrong.
盡管拖延癥患者喜歡為自己的行為找借口，但是BBC專欄作家羅曼•佩林則表示他們都錯(cuò)了。
Many procrastinators tell themselves they are perfectionists who work best under pressure. Pelling says this is nonsense, as work done at the last minute is more likely to have mistakes than work done on time.
許多拖延癥患者都會(huì)告訴自己，他們是在壓力之下才能高效工作的完美主義者。佩林稱這完全是胡說八道，因?yàn)榕c按時(shí)完成工作相比，拖到最后更容易出錯(cuò)。
She says the behavior of procrastinators often makes them feel flustered and ashamed, inconveniences others, and annoys loved ones.
她說，拖延癥患者的行為常常令他們感到慌亂和慚愧，令他人不安，也惹惱了愛人。
Pelling also points out that procrastination feels particularly delinquent in a society that views swift action as commendable, and, at times, even as a moral good.
佩林還指出，在一個(gè)盛贊雷厲風(fēng)行、有時(shí)甚至以此為道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的社會(huì)中，拖延癥尤其令人產(chǎn)生過失之感。
Fortunately, social scientists have thrown their weight behind efforts to understand this behavioral flaw and offer strategies to control it.
好在社會(huì)科學(xué)家們已經(jīng)聯(lián)手致力于破解這種行為缺陷，并提出一系列防控策略。
Piers Steel, a Canadian social scientist and author of The Procrastination Equation, believes humankind is "designed" to procrastinate. Nevertheless, he suggests a couple of good ways to get through the task at hand.
加拿大社會(huì)科學(xué)家、《拖延等式》一書的作者皮爾斯•斯蒂爾認(rèn)為，人類生來患有拖延癥。不過，他提供了幾種盡快完成手頭工作的好方法。
The first one is obvious: Break the task down into small pieces and work your way through them methodically.
第一種方法顯而易見：把你的任務(wù)分成小份，并用你自己的方法有條不紊地完成它們。
The second is ingenious: Give a trusted friend a sum of money and tell them that if you don't complete the task you have undertaken by a specific time, they can keep it or donate it to a cause you hate.
第二種方法十分巧妙：給你信得過的朋友一筆錢并告訴他們，如果你不能在規(guī)定時(shí)間里完成手頭的工作，他們可以歸為己有或是把錢捐給那些令你不爽的事情。
