英語短篇文章帶翻譯

　　英語是現代社會一種必備的交際工具。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　1

　　關係特點會決定你的關係狀況

　　We're no strangers to relationship problems. Now, new research has found that being prone to feelings of guilt can make partnerships more challenging — and cause us to shy away from them.

　　我們對於關係問題並不陌生。現在新的調查發現感到羞愧會使夥伴關係更具挑戰性-導致我們害羞的遠離他們。

　　The study, published in last month's issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, used a series of five experiments to examine how people's susceptibility to guilt affected the likelihood that they'd enter into a new partnership. Participants first completed a questionnaire about how guilty or ashamed they would feel in various situations — for example, would they keep extra change if a salesclerk didn't notice?

　　研究，出版於上個月的個性日誌和社會心理的頭條，用了一系列的五次實驗來檢驗人們的感覺是怎樣的對於羞愧影響他們進入一段新關係的可能性。參與者首先完成了一張調查問卷關於他們會怎樣感覺羞愧或羞恥在不同的情景中---例如，他們會保持額外的改變嗎如果銷售員沒有注意?

　　Then, in each experiment, participants were given a task that required some expertise. For instance, a participant would be instructed to work on an accounting task with a partner who just so happened to be an expert in accounting. The first participant then got to decide whether they would be scored as a team or as individuals.

　　然後，在每次試驗中，給予參與者的任務需要一些專長。例如，參與，者會被指導從事一個算賬的任務和一個夥伴碰巧是算賬專家。第一個參與者會決定它們是作為團隊還是個體計分。

　　The results showed that participants who were more prone to feeling guilty were less likely to form partnerships — meaning collaborate and combine scores — with people they perceived to be more competent. The authors suggest this might be because the guilt-prone people were concerned they would get more than they gave, thus letting their partners down. They preferred to do poorly on the task on their own, rather than potentially disappoint their partners.

　　結果表明參與者更易於感到羞愧的更不可能形成夥伴關係---意味著合作和獲得分數---她們認為更具競爭性的人。作者認為這可能是因為易於羞愧的人關心它們會得到什麼而不是給予什麼一次，因此使夥伴們沮喪。它們更喜歡自己做任務，而不是潛在的使夥伴失望。

　　Of course, this study looked at business partnerships, not romantic ones. But, other studies have shown that guilt and shame, which are clinically different concepts but often overlap, can play huge roles in both starting and maintaining dating-type relationships, too. Feeling guilty can be a good thing ***it makes us more likely to apologize and smooth things over***, but only when we've actually done something wrong. Guilt trips for no reason — or just feeling guilty all the time — can cause a buildup of resentment. The effects of shame are especially pronounced for those dealing with anxiety disorders.

　　當然，這種研究看重商業夥伴關係而不是感性關係。但是其他研究表明羞愧和害羞，不同的概念經常部分重疊，在開始和維持日常型別的關係上也扮演重要的角色。感到害羞是一件好事***它使我們更易道歉，把事情解決***，但是隻有當我們真正做錯事的時候。無原因的害羞---或一直感到害羞--會導致憤恨的積壓。害羞的效應尤其被那些處理焦慮混亂的人瞭解。

　　So, if you're prone to this "important" trait, learning to give yourself a break could be the secret to a happier relationship.

　　因此，如果你易於這種“重要的”特點，學會放鬆你自己會是快樂的關係的祕密。

　　2

　　Motherhood is tough and intense but it is not a job當媽不是工作

　　Around the time I returned to work after the birth of my first child I went to visit a lawyer friend who had also just had a baby and had decided to stay at home to look after him.

　　我生完第一個孩子回到工作崗位時去拜訪了一位律師朋友，她也剛生完孩子，而且決定留在家裡照顧他。

　　The lunch was going fine until I said that I envied her not having a job: it must be nice to be with her son all day. She looked at me with something close to loathing. She did have a job, she snapped. Bringing up her child was most definitely a job, and a much more worthwhile one than anything to do with corporate law.

　　我們的午餐本來進行得很順利，直到我說我羨慕她不用工作——整天陪兒子肯定棒極了。她白了我一眼，氣惱地說，她有工作，撫養孩子絕對是工作，而且這份工作比與公司法打交道有意義多了。

　　But was she right? Is motherhood a job? Margaret Thatcher thought it was — according to her, bringing up children was a management job. The Queen apparently thinks so too and told Kate Winslet that it was “the best job” there was.

　　她說得對嗎?做母親是份工作嗎?瑪格麗特?撒切爾***Margaret Thatcher***生前認為是的，用她的話來說，撫養孩子相當於一份管理工作。女王顯然也這麼認為，她告訴凱特·溫絲萊特 ***Kate Winslet***，撫養孩子是世上“最棒的工作”。

　　Yet it now seems that middle-class mothers have changed their minds. The same sort of women who used to get furious with anyone who implied that raising children was not a job, are now equally indignant with those who say it is one. Last week Mumsnet, the social network for parents, put out a press release laying down the new law: “Motherhood is an emotional journey, not a job.”

　　然而現在看來，中產階層的媽媽們已經改變了觀念。過去只要有人暗示養孩子不是份工作就會生氣的那些人，現在同樣憤怒於有人說養孩子是份工作。育嬰網站Mumsnet不久前釋出了一條新聞，制定了新的金科玉律：“為人母是一次情感之旅，不是一份工作。”

　　This is the right answer, but for the wrong reason. Bringing up children is not a job, and never was one. Parenting is work — sometimes extremely hard work — but is not a job, as you do not get paid. The deal with a job is that you opt to do it and can resign whenever you like, but while you are doing it you must toe the line.

　　這句話後半句是對的，但前半句是錯的。養孩子不是工作，而且從來就不是。養育孩子是一份天職***有時還是份極難完成的天職***，但它不是工作，因為它是無薪的。工作的定義是，你選擇做這份工作，不想幹了還可以隨時辭職，但只要你在做這份工作，你就必須履行職責。

　　As a columnist, I have to write this column because it is my job. As a parent, I can decide that I can’t be bothered to cook and order takeaway instead. At home in extremis I can shout and throw things; if I did that at work I would probably get fired. No matter how much my children think I am making a poor fist of bringing them up, they can’t get rid of me. Parenting is for life. Jobs are not.

　　作為一名專欄作家，我必須寫這個專欄，因為這是我的工作。作為一名家長，如果我懶得做飯我可以決定叫外賣。在家的時候，極端情況下我可以大聲喊叫和丟東西，如果上班時我這麼幹，多半會被炒掉。不論我的孩子們認為我對他們的撫養有多麼失敗，他們無法解僱我。養育是一輩子的事，工作不是。

　　Yet motherhood is not an “emotional journey” either. A journey is something that involves travelling from A to B, whereas mothering tends to be pretty static, in my case, happening almost entirely in the kitchen. Neither is it a journey in any cheesy metaphorical sense. Motherhood starts at full emotional throttle and proceeds in the same vein forever.

　　但為人母也不是一次“情感之旅”。旅行的定義包含從A地前往B地，然而養育孩子往往是原地不動的，以我為例，我的養育時間幾乎全都花在廚房裡。當母親也絕不是任何俗氣的比喻意義上的旅行。為人母一開始就要付出百分之一百的情感，並且要永遠保持這種狀態。

　　The worst thing about describing raising children like this is not that it is brainless, but that it is exceedingly off-putting. If someone had told me at the outset that what I was embarking on was an “emotional journey” I would have gone off the idea altogether.

　　這類關於養孩子的比喻最糟糕的地方不在於它的愚蠢，而在於它讓人望而生畏。如果一開始就有人告訴我，我將踏上一場“情感之旅”，我可能早就徹底打消了這個念頭。

　　So why have mothers changed their minds about the job question? I suspect it is because we no longer think of jobs in the way we used to.

　　那麼，為什麼媽媽們會對養育孩子是不是工作的問題改變看法呢?我猜想這是因為我們對工作的看法與過去不同了。

　　Twenty years ago a job was a sign of status; now it is seen as drudgery and suggests a lack of imagination. Anyone who likes theirs has to pretend that they don’t view it as a job at all, but as an outlet for their passion and creativity.

　　二十年前，工作是身份地位的標誌，現在則被視為苦差事，而且有乏味之嫌。那些喜歡自己工作的人，還得假裝他們完全不將它看作一份工作，而是將它視為釋放他們激情和創造力的一個出口。

　　Mothers used to insist on calling what they did a job because it made them feel better; now it does the reverse. Yet both reactions are daft. Jobs and parenting are equally vital to the survival of the human race, but the two activities exist on different planes and moral comparisons ought not to come into it.

　　媽媽們過去堅稱養孩子是份工作，因為這會令她們感覺好點，現在卻正相反。不過這兩種反應都很傻。工作和養育子女對人類的生存同樣重要，但這兩種活動處於不同的層面，不該對其進行道德比較。

　　Saatchi & Saatchi has just done some research for Mumsnet on what the non-job of bringing up children is all about. It has concluded that mothers play eight different emotional roles, five of which I more or less agree with — carer, fan, friend, hero, safe house — while the remaining three — partner in crime, coach and rule breaker — make me feel very worried indeed.

　　盛世長城***Saatchi & Saatchi***剛剛為Mumsnet做了一項關於養孩子都包含哪些非專職工作的研究，其結論是：媽媽們扮演著八種不同的情感角色，我基本贊成其中五種——保姆、崇拜者、朋友、英雄、避難所，但我對其餘三種深感擔憂，它們是——共犯、教練和規矩破壞者。

　　Rule breaker? Partner in crime? What happened to nag or rule enforcer? What am I meant to say to my teenage son when he comes home from school with a bag full of trigonometry homework? Sod that, here is some fake ID — why not go to the pub instead?

　　規矩破壞者?共犯?難道不應該是嘮嘮叨叨的人或規矩執行者?當我十幾歲的兒子從學校揹回家滿滿一書包的三角學家庭作業，我該說什麼?難道我應該說：別管功課了，我這兒有些***，幹嘛不去酒吧呢?

　　This soppy list of roles tells us that there is one thing modern parenting has in common with modern jobs. Both have gone so far from the Theory X view of motivation — that everyone is basically lazy and so a little authoritarianism is called for — that they now shy away from ever saying: I am in charge.

　　這份肉麻的情感角色名單告訴我們，現代育兒與現代工作確有一個共同之處。“X理論”認為，每個人本質上都是懶惰的，因此一點點獨裁是必要的。現代育兒和現代工作都對這一理論進行了如此大的發揚，以至於它們現在都避免說：我是負責人。

　　Managers have to pretend that their greatest skill is as a coach; parents have to do the same. It’s all for show: very little coaching goes on in most companies; even less happens at home. Coaches have to have distance, patience and objectivity — hard to feel any of that towards your maddening, beloved child.

　　經理人必須假裝自己最大的本事就是當教練，家長也一樣。這都是做樣子而已，多數企業裡很少有上司為下屬當“教練”，為子女當“教練”的家長就更少了。教練必須要有距離感、有耐心和客觀，而對於令你惱火、讓你深愛的孩子，你很難做到上述任何一點。

　　The pretence that motherhood is one long, democratic, emotional, jolly jape is a far worse lie than the one that says motherhood is a job. In the end, I am with Margaret Thatcher — who insisted that being a mother was a management job. She was wrong about the job; right about management.

　　虛偽地說做母親是一次快樂民主的漫長情感“旅行”，是個比說做母親是份工作更拙劣的謊言。歸根到底，我還是同意瑪格麗特?撒切爾的觀點，她認為母親是一份管理工作。關於工作這點她說錯了，但關於管理她是對的。

　　3

　　Unlimit Your Lifie!

　　給你的生命以無限可能!

　　Do you have a tendency to think in absolutes?

　　你喜歡極端地思考問題嗎?

　　Is everything good or bad, black or white?

　　在你看來，一切不是好就是壞，不是黑就是白嗎?

　　This type of thinking can severely limit your options.Or worse, prevent you from getting an accurate picture of what’s possible.

　　這種思考的方式會極大地限制你的選擇權。或者更糟糕，它會使你無法精確地描繪出可能發生的事情。

　　Most people are uncomfortable hanging out in the "I don't know" space. The anxiety of not knowing triggers a rush to decision making. However, learning how to deal with periods of uncertainty while weighing your options will afford you the time to make a superior choice.

　　大多數人在被置於未知領域裡時，都會感到不舒服。對未知事物的焦慮，會引發一種做決定的衝動。然而，學會在權衡選擇權的時候怎樣應對不確定的時期，會使你有時間來做出明智的選擇。

　　So how do you do this? Try a new approach and get support.

　　那麼，怎樣才能做到這一點呢?嘗試一種新方法並取得支援。

　　Broaden' your reach

　　拓寬你的範圍

　　Suppose you wanted to explore career options. If you usually get advice from one or two people, instead mane a list of every possible person who might provide information. If you get a knot in your stomach at the thought of contacting these people, you’re on the right trackl you’re out of your comfort zone, and that's good. To build up your courage before tackling this list, ask a trusted friend for encouragement and moral support.

　　假設你想尋求職業選擇。如果你通常都是從一兩個人那裡獲取建議，現在改為將所有可能會提供資訊的人列一個名單。如果你一想到要與這麼多人聯絡，就會感到胃部抽痛，那說明這一步你走對了!你已經離開了舒適區，這很好。為了在處理這張名單之前建立起勇氣，可以向一位值得信任的朋友尋求鼓勵和道德支援。

　　As a further challenge, attempt to connect with a person who has achieved prominence in their field. While getting an appointment with a successful individual or receiving a return e-mail may take time, the effort could result in valuable insight and net you a future mentor.

　　作為進一步的挑戰，可以嘗試去與一位已經在自己的領域裡取得顯著成就的人聯絡。在得到與一位成功人士的會見或收到一封回覆的***之後，就可以從容進行了，你的努力一定會換來有價值的見解，並使你得到一位未來的良師益友。

　　Ideally, speak with one person working in each of the ranks ***upper, middle andlor lower*** of the career area you are exploring. Keep the information flowing by asking your contact for another name.

　　更理想的是，與一位在你正在探尋的職業領域的各個級別***高層、中層和底層***都曾工作過的人交談。通過與其他人的聯絡來保持資訊量。

　　Besides getting a more detailed picture of what you can expect from thiscareer choice, you’II begin to get a view of all the permutadons that are possible.Each person's opinion will broaden your view and knowledge.

　　除了在對這種職業選擇的期望中得到更詳細的描述之外，你還應該開始對一切可能的改變有所瞭解。每個人的觀點都能夠拓寬你的視野和知識領域。

　　Explore tlxe Gray Area

　　探索“灰色地帶”

　　It is in this huge "gray area" where a wonderful new career might be waiting for you. You could even discover that you already possess many of the requisite skills, making a career transition easier than you thought.

　　正是在這個廣闊的“灰色地帶”***注:灰色地帶，指介於兩個對立方面之間的範疇***中，一種美妙的新職業可能正在等待著你..o你甚至會發現你已經擁有了許多必不可少的技能，能夠比你預想的更容易地進行職業轉換。

　　In the end, the choices you make will improve if you do the research and take the time for reflection. Don't panic or rush the process. In this case, faster is not better, slower is. And a wonderful by-product of this process is a newfound sense of self-confidence and fresh possibilities!

　　最後，如果你進行了調查並抽出時間思考了一番，你所能做的選擇還會增加。不要恐慌或衝動行事。在這種情況下，更快並不代表更好，要放慢腳步，從容不迫。這個過程的一種神奇的意外結果，是你會產生一種全新的自信和一切皆有可能的感覺!