译文 | 好好越读 (2/50)
为重拾英语,我将翻译50篇社科类文章,这是第2篇。
摘要
工作中,如何正确休息?
我们每天面对大量的工作,时不时还有老板的指责。如何面对这样的压力,让自己在工作中游刃有余呢?
最近,99u网站上发表了一篇文章,专门谈如何休息的,而且是根据科学调查得出的结果,我们一起来看看几个主要的观点,后面附上译文:
刷朋友圈跟工作一样辛苦。
午休玩手机让你下午更累。
一个人每天的精力是有限的,应该只做最重要的事。
研究显示,那些工作期间的间歇性休息才能让我们活力满满。
任何一种调动意志力和注意力的活动,都会增加你的疲劳程度。这一点与是否处于工作状态无关。
译文
A Science-BackedGuide to Taking Truly Restful Breaks
良好休息的科学指南
We know,this sounds maded up. But stick with us, because not justany kind of break will do
不是任何一种休息方式都可以奏效,这话像是编造的一样。
When deadlines are looming, the phone keeps ringing, and your inbox is overflowing, the idea of taking a break seems faintly ludicrous. The only option, you tell yourself, is just to plough on. Understandable, but shortsighted – you’ll end up paying a heavy price in the long term.
• plough on 坚持不懈
当我们临近工作上的最后期限时,手机却还在手上把玩这,收件箱也都满了,休息一下的想法在此时似乎有点可笑。你唯一可以选择的就是告诉自己,再坚持坚持。这似乎是合情合理的,但多少有点目光短浅,而且你还会在长期过程中付出沉重的代价。
Just as you need to refuel your car and recharge the batteries(重新给电池充电) in your cell phone, it’s important to give yourself the chance to(偶尔) recoup your energy levels throughout the workday. In fact, the more demanding your day, and the less time you feel like you have to take any breaks, the more crucial it is that(至关重要的) you make sure you do take regular breaks to prevent yourself from becoming exhausted.好句子
在工作期间偶尔恢复自己的活力非常重要,这就如同你要把车加满油,或者给手机充电一样。实际上,这一天你的要求更多,你就会觉得休息的时间越少;确保能够做些有规律的休息,来防止你变得精疲力尽,显得尤为关键。
But not just any kind of break will do. Psychologists and business scholars have recently started studying the most effective ways to relax during a workday – they call them “micro breaks” – and their latest findings point to some simple rules of thumb(大拇指规则,经验法则) to sustain and optimize your energy levels through a grueling nine to five(朝九晚五). We’ve crunched the data into the following three-step process to reach peak restfulness.
但不是每种休息方法都可以奏效的。近期,心理学家和商界学者进行了一项研究,看看在工作日中哪种休息方法最佳。最终,他们发了几条能够保持和优化自身活力水平的简单经验法则。我们从数据中整理出以下三种最有效的方法。
Step 1: Fully switch off
第一步:彻底断网
It’s extremely tempting(非常诱人的), especially when we’re tired, to spend breaks doing things that are convenient(方便的、实用的), but aren’t truly restful. This might be internet shopping, browsing the latest news, or skimming an industry magazine(随意翻翻杂志). However, studies show that brief work breaks are only genuinely rejuvenating (真正变得有活力)when they give you the chance to fully switch off. By contrast, any kind of activity that involves willpower or concentration, even if it’s not in a work context, is only going to add to your fatigue levels.(疲劳程度)
有时我们感到疲惫的时候可能会上网购物,刷刷朋友圈,或者是翻翻杂志。这些看起来是那么诱人而又唾手可得,但这不是真正的休息。然而,研究显示,那些工作期间的间歇性休息才能让我们活力满满。相对而言,任何一种调动意志力和注意力的活动,都会增加你的疲劳程度。这一点与是否处于工作状态无关。
Consider a study published this year by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and George Mason University that involved nearly a hundred Korean office workers keeping a diary for ten work days, in which they noted how much work pressure they had after lunch and what they did during any work breaks. Each participant ultimately noted how fatigued they felt at the end of the day. The researchers coded(罗列了) the work break activities as relaxing (such as daydreaming or stretching), as nutrition-based (grabbing a coffee), social (chatting with colleagues), or cognitive (reading newspapers or checking emails).
伊利诺伊州大学和梅森大学的调查人员,考虑在今年出版他们的研究结果。这项研究有100名韩国白领参与其中,他们记录了自己10天内的工作表现,包括他们午餐之后的工作压力值,还有在休息时的所作所为。最终,每个参与者还会记录这一天结束时他的疲劳程度。从这些参与者的记录当中,调查人员罗列了几种休息方式,例如简单休息(空想一下或者做拉伸运动),吃点什么(类似来杯咖啡),社交(跟同事聊聊天),或者需要动脑的活动(看看报纸,查查邮件)。
Reading websites taxes many of the same mental processes that we use when we’re working.
浏览网页的过程同工作一样会消耗我们很多精力。
As you’d expect, feeling that work demands were more intense around lunch time(午餐期间的) went hand in hand (伴随着)with feeling more end-of-day fatigue. Crucially, the right kind of break provided a protective buffer against this link between work demands and fatigue. Which kind of break was this? Only relaxation and social break activities had any benefit. Cognitive activities during work breaks actually made fatigue worse, likely because reading websites or checking emails taxes many of the same mental processes that we use when we’re working.
•around…time… 进入到都段时间内,turn-around time 留港时间(经)
如你所料,在午餐前你的工作强度越大,这一天结束的时候,你就会越疲惫。至关重要的是,正确的休息方式能够为我们的身体提供保护性的缓冲,用来抵御工作强度和疲惫。那么哪种方式才是正确的呢?答案是只有短时间的休息和间歇性的社交活动有好处,实际上,工作休息期间的认知活动会让你更加疲惫。这就跟工作期间我们浏览网页或查邮件一样,会消耗我们的精力。
Workers who spent lunch break using their smart phone, as opposed to chatting with friends, felt more emotionally exhausted in the afternoon.
午休时玩手机比朋友之间的闲聊,前者更容易让人在下午感到疲惫。
Another related study, published this year by a pair of researchers at Ajou University in South Korea and the Korea Institute for Research in the Behavioral Sciences, found that workers who spent their lunch break using their smart phone, as opposed to chatting with friends, felt like they’d enjoyed as much distraction from work as the sociable folk, but they actually ended up feeling more emotionally exhausted in the afternoon.
由韩国Ajou大学,以及韩国研究所行为科学领域的专家,所组成的调查组,在今年发表了另一项相关的研究。他们做了两组对比,其中一组午休时玩手机,另外一组与朋友闲聊。前者容易在工作中分神,下午也会感到更加疲惫。
There’s a popular theory in psychology that says our concentration and willpower levels are like fuel in a car – the more you use them in one activity, the less you have left over for other tasks. The theory has recently come under criticism for being overly simplistic, but if nothing else, it provides a useful analogy to make sense of the new research findings on workday breaks: As your energy reserves get gradually depleted through the day, you’re only going to allow these reserves to replenish if you genuinely relax in your break times.
在心理学领域有个流行的理论,即我们的注意力和意志力水平就像汽车里的油,你用得越多,剩下的就越少。不过这一说法因为过于简单而受到了一些批量指责,可是也没有其他的好的方式打比方了。笔者倒是认为这是一个很形象的比喻,能让我们理解关于在工作日休息的最新研究:一天种,你所存储的能量是在逐步耗尽的,如果你能在休息时真正放松就能补充你的能量。
Step 2: Take short breaks early and often
第二步:尽早休息,经常休息。
A key insight from the research is that it makes a difference when you take breaks. Most of us feel more energetic in the morning than in the afternoon, and it can be tempting to wait until we’re flagging later in the day before allowing ourselves a short break. However, findings suggest that we actually respond better to breaks in the morning – it seems you need to have some fuel in the tank to benefit from a re-fill.
调查中的关键结论是,当你休息的时候做点不一样的事。大多数人会觉得早上比下午更有精神,所以我们更愿意在感到疲惫的时候才会允许自己休息一下。然而,研究指出,我们真正应该做的是在上午就开始休息。这好比你需要给油箱加点油,才好开车。
This was one of the main findings to come out of a study of 95 employees at Baylor University across five days, in which they filled out brief surveys about how they were feeling after each break they took. Breaks taken in the morning were much more beneficial, in terms of the improvements in how the workers said they felt afterwards(后来觉得) physically and mentally.
有一项研究调查了Baylor大学的95名员工,让他们在5天时间里,填写了一个调查问卷,关于每次休息之后的感受。其中主要的发现之一就是,就他们后来在身体和情绪上的改善情况而言,上午就开始休息特别更有效。
If you deprive yourself of many breaks, when you do finally take one, it’s going to be need to be longer to have any beneficial effect.
如果你多次剥削自己的休息时间,到最后累了才休息,你将会需要更多的休息时间才能恢复。
A related detail from this study was that if you take frequent breaks, then they don’t need to be as long to be beneficial – a couple of minutes might be enough. On the other hand, if you deprive yourself of many breaks, then when you do take one, it’s going to be need to be longer to have any beneficial effect.
从上面的研究中可以看出,频繁的休息,而且只需要几分钟就足够奏效了。另一方面,如果你剥削了自己的休息时间,你将需要更长的时间来恢复自己的精神状态。
Of course, when you’re embroiled in a complicated creative project, the idea of breaking off for 30 minutes or an hour can seem unappealing and impractical and so you end up wading on, meaning your performance is likely to suffer. Crucially, if you remember and have the self-discipline to take breaks early and often, you won’t be faced with this dilemma later in the day – you will be less fatigued, and any breaks you take at this later juncture needn’t be as long and disruptive.
当然,如果你被一个非常复杂又具有创造性的项目所困,每隔30分钟或1小时,就休息的计划显然不太现实,而且你也会草草了事,看上去非常痛苦。至关重要的,如果你能牢记并自我训练如何早休息,多休息的方式,你就不会面临这样的窘境。当你遇到这种关键时刻,也就不会感觉太疲惫。
Step 3: Get out of the office
第三步:走出办公室
For creatives who work in a large office building, it’s easy to find yourself spending whole days indoors – you might take breaks to the water cooler or the staff canteen, but nothing beats getting outside and away from the work environment. One problem with staying in the office, is that even if you take a decent lunch break and chat with colleagues, there’s still that pressure to maintain a good impression and you often end up talking shop.
那些在写字楼中从事创意工作的人,很轻易地就能察觉他们竟花费一天的时间在室内待着。或许在茶水间和员工餐厅能休息一下。但是他们从来不出去走走远离工作环境。待在办公室的一个坏处就是,即便你中午休息得很好,也跟同事闲聊,也仍会有压力于保持良好的形象。最终你经常会开口闭口都是工作了。
Staff who did any work-related activities at lunch were rated as more fatigued by their colleagues at the end of the day.When researchers led by John P. Trougakos at the University of Toronto recently studied the effect of different lunch break activities among nearly a hundred university workers, they found that staff who socialized at lunch or did any work-related activities at lunch were rated as more fatigued by their colleagues at the end of the day. This was especially the case if the socializing was imposed by management – something to bear in mind for bosses who try too hard to foster camaraderie in the work place.
在一天工作结束时,那些在午休时做与工作有关事项的员工,会比其他同事感到更加疲惫。由多伦多大学John P. Trougakos带领的调查组,最近研究了近100位大学的工作人员,他们比较了这些人不同的休息方式,发现那些午休时还在工作和跟同事进行互动的人会感觉到更加疲惫。尤其那些互动还是你的领导所组织的。
If you can get outside, even if it’s just a five minute walk around the block, you potentially – depending on where you’re located – also get to benefit from a rejuvenating dose of nature. Countless studies have shown how a green environment gives us a mental recharge, and what’s really encouraging is that recent work has shown that this doesn’t have to be a tropical rainforest. A modest urban park is all it takes.
如果你能够出去走走,哪怕在公司附近走个几分钟(当然这取决于你公司的周边环境),你都收益于这种方式,就像一剂可以重获青春的灵丹妙药一样。已经有无数的研究指出,绿色环境可以填充我们的内心世界。而且,你无需跑到热带雨林里去,一个合适的城中公园就可以。
Coda
结尾
There’s a work zeitgeist today that says you have to be constantly busy to succeed. If you’ve got time to go for a short walk, you’re obviously not consumed by drive and ambition, so the mistaken ethos goes. The psychological reality is that your mental and physical reserves are limited and it is only by taking frequent short breaks of a truly restful nature that you will fulfil your true potential.
当今的工作精神告诉我们要不停工作,最终将走向成功。如果在工作期间能够短时间的四处走走放松一下,很显然这不会消磨的你目标和动力(不会让你感觉自己是在不务正业),所以还是让这种错误的社会意识在脑中消失吧。事实从心理学角度来看,人的自身储备的能力是非常有限的,只有频繁地进行真正宁静自然的短时休息,从而能够激发出你的潜能,这才会让你更成功。
A final thought – you might have the view that you’ll push yourself relentlessly during the day, squeezing every minute for what it’s worth, and then completely flake out after dark. This strategy of extremes might work for a robot, but not a human.
•flake out (因精疲力竭而)瘫倒或睡着
最后的思考:之前你可能认为要在一天中让自己的每一分钟都充分利用起来,但是最终你将精疲力竭地在天黑后睡去。这种极端的策略会让你像个机器人一样工作,但我们是人,不是机器。
Psychology research from the University of Konstanz in German and Portland State University shows that over-exhaustion at the end of the day makes it even more difficult to recuperate after work hours. In other words allowing yourself proper breaks during the day will make your out-of-hours recovery more effective, ultimately boosting your productivity and creativity in the weeks and months ahead.
来着德国Konstanz大学和Portland大学的心理研究表明:如果在一天中过渡疲劳的工作,之后让你的精神状态恢复起来会更困难。也就是说,在未来几周和几个月中。最终能帮你提升工作效率和创造力的,是在工作时间以外进行适当的休息。
总结一下作者的观点
原文地址:A Science-Backed Guide to Taking Truly Restful Breaks
翻译感悟:
这篇翻译了3天,断断续续的。
第一天,翻译了一半,顺带着很多单词看不懂,语句的逻辑关系也拎不清。
第二天,翻译完了,都是意译,好了一点,整体的语句还是不通。
第三天,整理了全文,发现很多东西都看明白了。而且修改了一些句子,肯定还有错误,但是感觉轻松很多。反而奇怪之前两天为什么翻译得如此痛苦。
心得:
1、先看全文,有一个整体的概念,了解文章到底在说什么。
2、逐段翻译,不要逐句翻译。一个段落的逻辑关系自成一体,搞清楚句与句之间,还有从句之间的逻辑关系,看是总分、分总还是并列,是解释这个观点的,赞同的还是反对的。这样一段的意思就很容易搞清楚。一定注意那些连接词。
3、纵观全文来看看翻译的称谓是不是一致,关键词是不是统一。说白了,就是在翻译之后看起来会不会产生歧义,通顺与否。
4、plough on 多坚持坚持,一定先一字不落的看下来,然后再一个难点一个难点攻破。刚开始肯定很慢,毕竟放下英语很多年了,但是没关系,重新拾起来越多,后面的速度会越快,翻译得也越好。
延伸阅读
前两天看万维钢的《精英日课》,说到了这篇文章。
因为本文近5000字了,有些长,所以另写一篇文章整理,后续添加链接。