unit13ourschedules,ourselves课文翻译综合教程三

1、Unit 13Our Schedules, Our SelvesJay Walljasper1 DAMN! You re 20 minutes no, more like half an hour late for your breakfast meeting, which you were hoping to scoot out of early to make an 8:30 seminar across town. And, somewhere in there, there s that conference call. Now, at the last minute, you hav

2、e to be at a 9:40 meeting. No way you can miss it. Let s see, the afternoon is totally booked, but you can probably push back your 10:15 appointment and workthrough lunch. That would do it. Whew! The day has barely begun and already you are counting the hours until evening, when you can finally go h

3、ome and happily, gloriously, triumphantly, do nothing.You ll skip yoga class, blow off theneighborhood meeting, ignore the piles of laundry and just relax. Yes! No!Tonight s the night of the concert. You promised Nathan and Mara weeks ago that you would go.DAM!N2 Welcome to daily grind circa 2003 a

4、grueling 24-7 competition against theclock that leaves even the winners wondering what happened to their lives. Determined and sternly focused, we march through each day obeying the orders of our calendars. The idle moment, the reflective pause, serendipity of any sort have no place in our plans. St

5、opping to talk to someone or slowing down to appreciate a sunny afternoon will only make you late for your next round of activities. From the minute we risein the morning, most of us have our day charted out. The only surprise is if weactually get everything done that we had planned before collapsin

6、g into bed at night.3 On the job, in school, at home, increasing numbers of North Americans arevirtual slaves to their schedules. Some of what fills our days are onerous obligations, some are wonderful opportunities, and most fall in between, but taken together they add up to too much. Too much to d

7、o, too many places to be, too manythings happening too fast, all mapped out for us in precise quarter-hour allotments on our palm pilots or day planners. Weare not leading our lives, but merely following a dizzying timetable of duties, commitments, demands, and options. How did thishappen Where s th

8、e luxurious leisure that decades of technological progress was supposed to bestow upon us4 The acceleration of the globalized economy, and the accompanying decline of people having any kind of a say over wages and working conditions, is a chief culprit. Folks at the bottom of the socio-economic ladd

9、er feel the pain most sharply. Holding down two or three jobs, struggling to pay the bills, working weekends, no vacation time, little social safety net, they often feel out of control about everything happening to them. But even successful professionals, people who seem fully in charge of their des

10、tinies, feel the pinch. Doctors, for example, working impossibly crowded schedules under the commandof HMOs, feel overwhelmed. Many of them are now seeking union representation, traditionally the recourse of low-pay workers.5 The onslaught of new technology, which promised to set us free, has instea

11、d ratcheted up the rhythms of everyday life. Cell phones, e-mail, and laptop computers instill expectations of instantaneous action. While such direct communication can loosen our schedules in certain instances (it s easier to shift around an engagement on short notice), overall they fuel the trend

12、that every minute must be accountedfor. It s almost impossible to put duties behind you now, when the boss or committee chair can call you at a rap show or sushi restaurant, and documents can be e-mailed to you on vacation in Banff or Thailand.If you are never out of the loop, then areyou ever not w

13、orking6 Our own human desire for more choices and new experiences also plays a role.Just like hungry diners gathering around a bountiful smorgasbord, it s hard notto pile too many activitieson our plates. An expanding choice of cultural offeringsover recent decades and the liberating sense that each

14、 of us can fully play a number of different social roles (worker, citizen, lover, parent, artist, etc.) has opened up enriching and exciting opportunities. Spanish lessons Yes. Join a volleyball team Why not. Cello and gymnastics classes for the kids Absolutely. Tickets to a blues festival, food and

15、 wine expo, and political fundraiser Sure. And we can t forgetto make time for school events, therapy sessions, protest rallies, religious services, and dinner with friends.7 Yes, these can all add to our lives. But with only 24 hours allottedto us eachday, something is lost too. You don t just run

16、into a friend anymore and decide to get coffee. You can t happily savor an experience because your mind races toward the next one on the calendar. In a busy life, nothing happens if you don t planit, often weeks in advance. Our “ free ” hours becomejust as programmed as the work day. What begins as

17、an idea for fun frequently turns into an obligation obstacle course. Visit that new barbecue restaurant.Done! Go to tango lessons.Done! Flyto Montreal for a long weekend.Done!8 We ve booked ourselves so full of prescheduled activities there s no timeleft for those magic, spontaneous moments that mak

18、e us feel most alive. We seldomstop to think of all the experiences we are eliminating from our lives when we loadup our appointment book. Reserving tickets for a basketball game months away could mean you miss out on the first balmy evening of spring. Five . skating lessons for your children fit so

19、 conveniently into your schedule that you never realize it sthe time all the other kids in the neighborhood gather on the sidewalk to play.9 A few years back, radical Brazilian educator Paulo Freire was attending a conference of Midwestern political activists and heard over and over about how overwh

20、elmed people felt about the duties they face each day. Finally, he stood up and, in slow, heavily acce nted English, declared, “ We are bigger than our schedules. ” The audience roared with applause.10 Yes, we are bigger than our schedules. So how do we make sure our lives arenot overpowered by an e

21、ndless roster of responsibilities Especially in an age where demanding jobs, two-worker households or single-parent families make the joyous details of everyday life - cooking supper from scratch or organizing a block party seem like an impossible dream There is no set of easy answers, despite what

22、the marketers of new convenience products would have us believe. But that doesn t mean we can t make real steps to take back our lives.11 Part of the answer is political. So long as Americans work longer hours thanany other people on Earth we are going to feel hemmedin by our schedules.Expandedvacat

23、ion time for everyone, including part-time and minimum wage workers, is oneobvious and overdue solution. Shortening the work week, something the labor movement and progressive politicians successfully accomplished in the early decades of the20th century, is another logical objective. There s nothing

24、 preordained about40-hours on the job; Italy, France, and other European nations have already cut back working hours. An opportunity for employees outside academia to take a sabbaticalevery decade or so is another idea whose time has come. And how about more vacation and paid holidaysLet s start wit

25、h Martin Luther King s birthday, Susan B.Anthony s birthday, and your own! Any effort to give people more clout in theirworkplaces from strengthened unions to employee ownership could help us gain much-needed flexibility in our jobs, and our lives.12 On another front, how you think about time can ma

26、ke a big difference in howyou feel about your life, as other articles inthis cover section illustrate. Notehow some of your most memorable moments occurred when something in your schedule fell through. The canceled lunch that allows you to spend an hour strolling around town. Friday night plans scra

27、pped for a bowl of popcorn in front of the fireplace.Don t be shy about shucking your schedule whenever you can get away with it. And with some experimentation, you may find that you can get away with it a lot more than you imagined.13 Setting aside some time on your calendar for life to just unfold

28、 in its own surprising way can also nurture your soul. Carve out some nonscheduled hours (or another engagement, or how much you ll want to be rollerblading or playing chess or doing something else at that precise time.days) once in a while and treat them as a to turn every impulse or opportunity im

29、polite nor inefficient to simply say, or “ let s check in that morning to see if it know how crammed that day may turn out tofirm commitment. And resist the temptation into anothe r appointment. It s neither let meget back to you on that tomorrow” s still a good time. ” You cannotbe, or how uninspir

30、ed you might feel about14 In our industrialized, fast-paced society, we too often view time as justanother mechanical instrument to be programmed. But time possesses its own evershifting shape and rhythms, and defies our best efforts to corral it within the tidy lines of our palm pilots or datebooks

31、. Stephan Rechtschaffen, author ofTimeShifting , suggests you think back on a scary auto collision (or near miss), or spectacular night of lovemaking. Time seemed almost to stand still. You can remember everything in vivid detail. Compare that to an overcrammed week that you recall now only as a rap

32、id-fire blur. Keeping in mind that our days expand and contract according to their own patterns is perhaps the best way to help keep time on your side.日程，自我杰伊沃尔贾斯珀1. 讨厌 ! 迟到了 20 分钟不对， 差不多半小时了本来还想着这早餐会议可以早早结束，然后去赶8:30 在城市另一端召开的交流会。在那边开会的时候还有个电话会议。还有一分钟，就得出席9:40 的会议。这可千万不能错过。嗯，下午已经排满了，不过大概可以把 10:15 的预

33、约往后推一推，然后边吃午餐边干活。这样应该可以了。唷! 这一天才刚刚开始呢，你就已经在算着时间盼着傍晚的到来，那时总算可以回家去，幸福、快乐、满足地无所事事了。瑜伽课就不去上了，住户会议也算了，成堆的脏衣服就无视好了，尽情放松一下。太好了！大事不妙！今晚有音乐会呢。几个星期以前就答应了内森和玛拉要去的。可恶2. 欢迎来到苦元2003一场全天候与时间赛跑的紧张比赛，哪怕是获胜者也在疑惑自己的生活中到底发生了什么。我们坚定不移、全神贯注地按照日历的命令快步跑过每一天。片刻闲暇、驻足反思、任何奇遇在我们的计划中都没有立足之地。 停下脚步与某人闲聊，或悠闲地享受下午的阳光，都只会让我们赶不及下一轮活动

34、。从早上起床后的那一分钟开始，大多数人的一整天都已经规划完毕。一天中仅有的意外竟然是晚上倒头睡觉之前才突然想起我们计划了的事不知道是不是真的全部做好了。3. 无论上班、上学还是在家，越来越多的北美人实际上已成为日程表的奴隶。填满我们日程表的有繁重的责任，也有奇妙的机缘，而大多数都介于这两者之间，不过加在一起就实在是太多了。太多的活儿要做，太多的地儿要去，太多的事儿冒出来一切的一切在我们随身带的掌上电脑或记事簿上都以一刻钟为单位精确地安排好了。我们不是在过日子，只是在跟从一个让人晕眩的时间表，这表上有职责，也有承诺，有需求，也有选择。这一切是如何发生的几十年的技术进步本该赐予我们的奢侈闲暇如今安

35、在4. 经济全球化的加速发展，以及随之而来人们对薪酬、工作条件话语权的丧失，是造成这一切的罪魁祸首。在社会经济底层的人们对这种痛苦感受最为切身。要保住两三份工作，尽力付清账单，周末照常上班，没有休假时间，缺乏社会保障，导致他们常对自身命运生出无力掌控的感觉。但是，即使是成功的专业人士，那些似乎完全掌握自己命运的人，也会为其所苦。 以医生为例，按照各级健康维护组织的规定，他们的工作强度高到无法想象，个个身心俱疲。很多医生现在都在寻求工会的帮助，而在传统上工会是低收入职工的靠山。5. 新技术的冲击，原本有望让我们解脱，却反而一步步加快了日常生活的节奏。手机、电邮、 笔记本电脑，都让我们期待别人能作

36、出即时行动。这种直接沟通在特定情况下可以让我们的日程变得较为宽松（ 临时改变安排变得更方便） ， 但总体而言，它们让“每分钟都必须有安排有交代”这种趋势愈演愈烈。 如今， 想把职责置之不理已经不太可能了。不管你是在看说唱表演也好，在寿司店用餐也好，老板或委员会主席都可能一个电话打来，就算你在班夫或泰国度假也好，文件照样可以传到你的邮箱。要是你根本摆脱不了自己的工作圈子，那你的工作哪有消停的时候6. 我们自身渴望有更多选择和新的体验也是一个原因，虽则这是人之常情。我们就好像一群饥肠辘辘的人，聚集在摆满丰盛美食的餐桌前，想不安排太多活动还真是不容易。近几十年来， 不仅文化活动日益丰富，而且我们还如

37、释重负地意识到，每个人能游刃有余地扮演多个不同社会角色（ 工人、市民、爱人、父母、艺术家等） ，这一切使我们可能拥有精彩纷呈、振奋人心的机遇。学西班牙语好。参加排球队干嘛不呢。给孩子们报大提琴班和体操班肯定要。 买票去参加布鲁斯音乐节、美食名酒博览会和政治献金筹集活动当然啦。我们也不会忘记为学校活动、治疗课程、抗议集会、宗教服务和朋友聚餐腾出时间。7. 诚然， 这一切都能让我们的生活更加丰富，可每天只有二十四小时，所以也会失去某些东西。 你不可能再在路上偶遇一个朋友然后决定一起去喝杯咖啡了，也不可能带着愉快的心情细细回味某一经历，因为你的脑子早已飞速转到日程上的下一个条目。在繁忙的生活中，没有

38、事先安排的事情就不会发生，而且往往还得提前几个星期安排。我们的“自由”时间也不过是像工作日一样事先安排好的。一开始只想好好玩玩，最后往往变成必须解决的问题。去试一下那家新开的烧烤店。完成 ! 上探戈课。完成 ! 坐飞机到蒙特利尔度个悠长的周末。完成!8. 我们用事先安排好的活动把自己的生活填得满满当当的，根本就没有时间留给一些妙不可言、随心所欲的事情，那是最能让我们感到生机与活力的时刻。我们很少停下来去想想，我们把预约本写满的同时，又有多少体验从生活中删去了啊。提前几个月就把篮球比赛的门票预订好，可能意味着你会错过春天第一个芬芳的夜晚。孩子们下午五点的溜冰课，与你的日程配合得天衣无缝，你却从没意识到，那正是社区里的其他孩子聚在路边一起玩耍的时间。9. 几年前，激进的巴西教育家保罗费赖雷参加一个中西部政治激进分子的会议，一再听到人们说起每天面对的职责如何令他们不知所措。最