經濟學人精讀筆記10：員工休假居然對企業有好處？

標簽（空格分隔）： 經濟學人

2020/2/27

Part 1

Holidays are good for workers and companies alike

Turn off and drop out

The swimming trunks have been dug out of the chest of drawers. The beach shoes (still caked with last year’s sand) have been retrieved from the shed. Like tens of millions of others, Bartleby is about to go on his annual holiday.

假期對員工和公司同樣大有裨益
關掉手機，脫離作業
泳褲已經從抽屜里翻了出來，沙灘鞋（鞋上仍沾有去年結塊的沙子）也已從庫房里找了出來，和其他千千萬萬人一樣，巴特比即將開始他的年休假，

• retrieve sth from sb/sth to bring or get sth back, especially from a place where it should not be 取回；索回=recover
  The police have managed to retrieve some of the stolen money.警方已經追回了部分被盜錢款，

• annual holiday 年假
  annual [??nju?l] adj.happening or done once every year每年的；一年一次的；年度的
  an annual meeting/event/report年會；一年一度的大事；年度報告

weekly adj.每周的 monthly adj.每月的

【詞根詞綴】ann =year,表示"年,一年"
anniversary = anni年+vers轉+ary表名詞→一年轉到一次→n.周年紀念日
biannual= bi兩+ann年+ual……的→adj.一年兩次的

sick / compassionate / maternity leave 病假/事假/產假

• alike [??la?k] adv.used after you have referred to two people or groups, to mean ‘both’or‘equally’兩者都；同樣地，Good management benefits employers and employees alike.良好的管理對雇主和雇員同樣有利，

• turn off: 指關掉；不再想；不再聽的意思，文中暗指暫停作業，出去度假能讓員工靜心，

• drop out: 我們常見的drop out的意思是輟學；退學，文中指to no longer take part in or be part of sth 不再參加；退出；脫離，意為從作業當中抽離出來

• dug out to find sth that has been hidden or forgotten for a long time 找出，發掘，發現（藏著的或被遺忘的東西），文中意為從抽屜里翻出很久沒穿的游泳褲，

• trunks n. 中繼線；運動短褲；男式游泳褲

• chest n.（常為木制的）大箱子 a medicine chest 藥箱
  a treasure chest 財寶箱

【相關拓展】get sth off sb's chestto talk about sth that has been worrying you for a long time so that you feel less anxious. 傾吐心里的煩惱；吐出心事；一吐為快
I feel it's done me good to get it off my chest. 我感覺吐吐苦水對我有好處，

• drawers n. 抽屜

• caked adj. 沾滿(厚厚的)…的

• shed n. 棚, 庫;vt. 流出, 流下

• be about to 即將做

Part 2

A vacation gives workers a chance to recharge their mental batteries. For Bartleby, this means reading books that do not have titles like “Beyond Performance 2.0” (sadly, a genuine example of a management tome).

假期給了員工一個重新充電的機會，對于巴特比來說，假期意味著無需再閱讀那些書名諸如“業績突破2.0”（遺憾的是，這真的是一本管理學巨作）之類的書籍了，

• recharge ones mental batteries 給精神充電
  recharge v. 特指給電池充電
  He is using your mains electricity to recharge his car battery. 他在用你家里的電源給他的車載蓄電池充電，

charge v. 給…充電(不限于電池)
The shaver can be charged up and used when travelling.這種電動剃須刀可充電供旅行使用，

charger 就是充電器 mobile phone charger手機充電器

• tome n.to?m a large heavy book, especially one dealing with a serious topic （尤指理論性的）大部頭書，巨著

• genuine adj. 真實的，真正的；誠懇的

Part 3

Heading to a new location allows employees to clear their thoughts. After all, there is more to life than spreadsheets and sales forecasts. To misquote Timothy Leary, the 1960s hippie guru, a holiday is time to “turn off and drop out”.

前往一個全新的地方可以讓員工理清思路，畢竟，生活不僅僅是電子表格和銷售預測，錯誤地參考20世紀60年代嬉皮士大師蒂莫西·利里的話來說，假期就是“關掉手機，脫離作業”的時候，（蒂莫西·利里的原話是：“Turn on, tune in, drop out”，即“激發熱情、向內探索、脫離體制”）

• head在這里作動詞，意為“朝著（某一地點）行進”比如：He headed for the bus stop.他朝著公共汽車站走去，

head in a new direction 朝新方向發展【寫作推薦】

head 作名詞可用來表示頭銜，義為“首腦，領袖，主管人”(a leader or person in charge of a group or organization)，注意這時候head前不加冠詞，比如部門主管head of department

• clear one's thought/mind 理清思緒，也就是在度假中放空大腦的意思

• forecast [?f?rk?st] n.a statement about what will happen in the future, based on information that is available now預測；預報The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 預報間晴，有陣雨，weather forecast天氣預報

forecast 作動詞意為“預計”
be forecast to do sth預計；估計 （注意forecast的動詞變形是forecast-forecast-forecast）The car market is forecast to keep growing briskly for the rest of this decade.據預測，汽車市場將在未來4年繼續保持增長，

【類似表達】同樣表示預測的短語還有be estimated to do sth, be expected to do sth, be predicted to do sth, be projected to do sth等，

• guru [?g?ru?]古魯，來自于印度梵語，指印度教或錫克教的宗教導師或領袖，現在常用來指“專家”、“權威”、“大師”（someone who knows a lot about a particular subject, and gives advice to other people），比如：a management guru 管理專家 a health guru 保健專家 a fashion guru 時裝專家

• spreadsheets n. 電子制表軟體,電子資料表

Part 4

It also means workers get more sleep by escaping the tyranny of the early-morning alarm. In addition, they no longer suffer the agonies of the daily commute: the cramped railway carriages or gridlocked roads.

這也意味著，員工們可以逃脫清晨鬧鐘的煩擾，從而睡個懶覺，此外，他們也無需經受日常通勤的痛苦了：狹窄的地鐵車廂或擁堵的道路，

• tyranny n.[?t?r?ni]原義指“暴虐；專橫”比如：a victim of oppression and tyranny壓迫和暴政的受害者

在文中tyranny 取另外一個生僻義：(不中意或令人不快的)必需品 You can describe something that you have to use or have as a tyranny if you think it is undesirable or unpleasant.
The telephone is one of the great tyrannies of modern life. 電話是現代生活中讓人最反感的必需品之一，

• daily commute日常通勤

commute [k??mju?t]既可以作名詞，指每天上下班的路程，也可以作動詞，指上下班，通勤，比如我早上上班路上要花 45 分鐘，我們可以說My morning commute takes 45 minutes.
再比如紐約時報中的一個句子:On average, urban dwellers who commute via walking, biking or public transportation are fitter than suburban commuters who drive to work. 通過步行、騎行或使用公共交通出行的城市居民，通常比開車上班的郊區通勤者更加健康，

在寫作中我們可以用名詞commute 替換the journey home from the office, the (subway/bus…) ride to work，【寫作推薦】

• cramped railway carriges 擁擠的車廂，

• gridlocked roads 擁擠的道路，gridlock除了有交通堵塞的意思，還可指因政治中的意見不合造成的僵局，

Part 5

And best of all, there are no meetings to endure—no need to sit with a vaguely interested expression on your face while time seems to slow to a crawl. In short, holidays reduce stress. And in the long run, stress makes workers less likely to perform well.

最重要的是，無需再忍受會議了——無需佯裝著興趣十足的樣子度日如年地坐在那里了，簡而言之，假期可以減輕壓力，從長遠來看，壓力不利于員工發揮良好的作業表現，

• endure v. [?n?dj??(r)]忍耐；忍受類似的表達還有bear和stand
  They had to endure a long wait before the case came to trial.在此案審理前他們只得忍受長時間的等待，
  She could not endure the thought of parting.一想到分別她就無法忍受，

endure還有“持續；持久”的意思，相當于 last 比如：a success that will endure 將會持續的成功 May our friendship long endure. 愿我們的友誼長存，

• slow to a crawl是一個固定搭配，表示緩慢前行，time seems to slow to a crawl則是度日如年

crawl v. [krɑ:l] to move slowly or with difficulty, especially (of a person) with the body stretched out along the ground or on hands and knees 緩慢移動；艱難前行；爬行；匍匐前進
The child crawled across the floor. 那個孩子爬過了地板，

我們還可以使用Time hangs heavy.表達度日如年，相反，時間飛逝該如何用英語表達呢，Time flies，把 time 比喻成飛機嗖一下飛過去，

• vaguely adv. 含糊地;不明確地

Part 6

Indeed, just as employees need a break from the workplace, companies sometimes need a break from their employees.

After a trading scandal at Société Générale, a French bank, in 2008, Britain’s then regulator, the Financial Services Authority, recommended that all traders take a two-week break at some point in the year. The aim was to ensure that any unusual dealing patterns would be discovered while the miscreant was away from their desk.

事實上，正如員工需要離開公司休息一樣，公司有時也要離開員工休息一下，
2008年，在法國興業銀行爆出交易丑聞后，英國當時的監管機構金融服務管理局建議所有的交易員在一年之中抽個時間休息兩周，其目的就是為了確保罪犯離開了他的辦公桌，從而得以發現例外交易模式的蛛絲馬跡，

• pattern [?p?t?rn]n. Apatternis the repeated or regular way in which something happens or is done. 模式All three attacks followed the same pattern.3次襲擊都依照同一模式，

• miscreant n.惡棍
  【記憶方法】mis壞+creant相當于create→做壞事的人→惡棍

• scandal n. 丑事, 丑聞

• then adv. 當時, 那時

Part 7

Senior managers can also benefit from seeing what happens when their juniors head to the beach. Does office morale improve as soon as a mid-level manager disappears? If so, this suggests that he or she is not running the department well. Does an underling impress when standing in for their boss? In that case, they may be overdue a promotion.

公司的高層管理者也可以在下屬前往海灘度假后從公司的所見所聞中有所識訓，當中層管理者離開后，辦公室里的士氣會有所提高嗎？如果確實如此，這意味著他（或她）沒能很好地管理這個部門，當下屬暫時頂替其上司時給人留下了深刻的印象嗎？如果情況屬實，他們或許早該升職了，

• senior managers 高層管理者
  mid-level manager 中層管理者

上級下屬的表達方式
inferior [?n?f??ri?(r)] n.下屬、晚輩
superior [su:?p??ri?(r)] n. 級別（或地位、職位）更高的人；上級；上司
He's my immediate superior (= the person directly above me) .他是我的頂頭上司，
【記憶方式】可將inferior與superior結合來記憶
infer在…下面+ior較…的→adj.下等的,下級的;劣等的,差的 n.下級,晚輩
super在…上面+ior較…的→adj.優良的,卓越的;上級的 n.上級;長者;高手

senior [?si:ni?(r)] n.級別（或地位）較高者；上級；上司
junior [?d?u:ni?(r)] n. 職位較低者；低層次作業人員Junior and middle-ranking civil servants have pledged to join the indefinite strike. 基層和中層公務員已承諾要加入到無限期罷工中來，
【記憶方式】可將senior和junior 結合來記憶
sen老+ior較…的→adj.年長的;地位較高的 n.[大學]四年級學生
jun年輕+ior較…的→adj.&n.年少的/者,三年級的/學生,下級

subordinate [s??b?:d?n?t] n. 下屬；下級的Nearly all her subordinates adored her. 幾乎所有的下屬都崇拜她，

betters n.上司；上級Sit down and be quiet in front of your elders and betters. 在長輩和上級面前要老老實實地坐著，

underling [??nd?l??] n.下屬；跟班兒，常有貶義He's like the schoolyard bully recruiting a good underling 他就像校園混混，招了個好部下，（例句中recruiting與邏輯主語bully成主動關系，即 bully recruit a good underling，所以用現在分詞）

• morale n. [m??rɑ:l] the amount of confidence and enthusiasm, etc. that a person or a group has at a particular time 士氣

to boost/raise/improve morale 鼓舞 / 提高士氣；增強信心
bolster one’s confidence/courage/morale 增強某人的信心/勇氣/士氣

• stand in for 頂替相當于to take sb's place
  My assistant will stand in for me while I'm away.我不在期間，由我的助手代替我，

• overdue adj.[???v??dju:]that should have happened or been done before now 早該發生的；早應完成的

overdue reforms 遲來的改革
A book like this is long overdue . 像這樣的書早就該有人出版了，

• underling n. <貶>下屬,走卒

Part 8

Some Americans are reluctant to take a long holiday for fear that their employer will find they can easily manage without them. None of that nonsense at The Economist.

Ambitious young writers will be eager to fill the vacant space left by this column with insights into the business world. The business editor will be relieved of the need to remove some of this writer’s questionable puns [much appreciated, ed.].

一些美國人之所以不愿意休長假，是因為他們擔心雇主會發現公司沒有他們在一樣能好好運轉，這對于《經濟學人》來說則毫無意義，
富有雄心的年輕作家們渴望利用他們對商業世界的洞察來填補本專欄所留下的空白，商業板塊的編輯就無需洗掉專欄作者的一些存疑的雙關語，（非常感謝，編輯）

• be reluctant to 不愿意做某事

【類似表達】類似的詞組還有hesitate to do sth , be unwilling to do sth

• balk at sth / doing sthto not want to do or try sth 畏縮不前，猶豫 Many people would balk at setting up a new business during a recession. 經濟衰退的時候，許多人都不愿開新公司，
  Westerners balk at the prospect of snake on the menu. 看到選單上有蛇的菜肴，西方人就會猶豫回避，

• ambitious adj.[?m?b???s]determined to be successful, rich, powerful, etc. 有野心的；有雄心的
  a fiercely ambitious young manager 雄心勃勃的年輕經理
  They were very ambitious for their children (= they wanted them to be successful) .他們望子成龍心切，

ambitious還有“艱巨的”意思 an ambitious engineering project艱巨的工程專案 an over-ambitious health reform program冒進的醫療改革計劃 【熟詞僻義】

• column n.[?k?l?m]a part of a newspaper or magazine which appears regularly and deals with a particular subject or is written by a particular writer （報刊的）專欄，欄目
  the gossip/financial column漫談 / 財經專欄
  I always read her column in the local paper.我一直讀她在當地報紙上的專欄文章，

• insight [??nsa?t] n.
  -[C, U] ~ (into sth) an understanding of what sth is like洞悉；了解
  -the ability to see and understand the truth about people or situations 洞察力；領悟

insightful adj.有洞察力的

• puns n. [p?nz] the clever or humorous use of a word that has more than one meaning, or of words that have different meanings but sound the same 雙關語
  雙關語(pun)指在一定的語言環境中，利用詞的多義和同音的條件，有意使陳述句具有雙重意義，言在此而意在彼的修辭方式，雙關可使語言表達得含蓄、幽默，而且能加深語意，給人以深刻印象，

比如：Every kid should have an Apple after school.
這是蘋果公司的廣告語，文中apple是雙關語，暗示每個孩子應當在放學后吃一個蘋果，會讓人不自覺得聯想到，應當擁有一臺自己的筆記本計算機，

再比如：美國有一家眼鏡公司的產品牌子是OIC，讀作Oh, I see.（這則廣告生動地運用了諧音雙關，這三個大寫字母形狀像眼鏡，同時，這個廣告語又表達了視力不佳的人戴上這個品牌的眼鏡后看見清晰的世界的喜悅之情，真是一則富有感染力的廣告，　）

• vacant adj. 空的；空閑的；空缺的；空虛的；茫然的

• be relieved of 免除

• questionable adj. 可疑的;有疑問的

Part 9

Work can be irritating but, as any unemployed person will tell you, it is better than the alternative. It gives purpose to people’s days and, on occasion, can even be fun. But not every day. Some days it is better to be reading a paperback. By a pool, in the sunshine. Enjoy.

• irritating adj.煩人的，惱人的

irritate v.[??r?te?t]to annoy sb, especially by sth you continuously do or by sth that continuously happens 使煩惱（尤指不斷重復的事情）
The way she puts on that accent really irritates me.她故意操那種口音的樣子實在令我畝訓，

• paperback n. 平裝本, 平裝書

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