经济学人:Bartleby专栏:保持冷静 下班回家吧(1)

 MANAGEMENT books have a deservedly poor reputation. 管理学书籍活该口碑差。

Too often they are written by people who confuse insight with jargon¹, the types who love to call a spade a "manual horticultural utensil²". 这些书的作者常是那些用专业术语故弄玄虚，喜欢将直言不讳称作“手工园艺器具”的人。

At the other end of the scale are tomes containing a plethora³ of pithy⁴ platitudes⁵ about "breaking the mould" and "worshipping the kill". 与之形成对比的是那些包含大量“打破固有模式”以及“崇拜精英”的陈词滥调。

The choice, in short, is between the incomprehensible and the inconsequential. 总之，就是介于令人费解和毫无逻辑之间。

So it was a joy for Bartleby to read "It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work", by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, 对本专栏作者而言，阅读贾森·弗里德和戴维·海涅迈尔·汉森的书籍《It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work》是一种乐趣，

who run a software company in Chicago called Basecamp. 他们在芝加哥开了一家软件公司Basecamp。

Their book is funny, well-written and iconoclastic⁶ and by far the best thing on management published this year. 他们的书很有趣，写的也很好，还打破了人们的传统模式。到目前为止，这本书是今年出版的管理类最佳书籍。

The authors argue that it is perfectly⁷ possible to run a business with consistently growing profits (as they do) without requiring employees to work madly long hours. 两位作者争论称在不要求员工疯狂加班的前提下，公司保持利润增长是完全有可能的。

Tired workers will not be productive since "creativity, progress and impact do not yield to brute⁸ force". 疲惫的员工不可能高效工作，因为“创造力、进展和影响不会屈服于蛮力”。

Sleep-deprived managers are likely to be counterproductively impatient. 睡眠不足的经理们可能会变得没有耐心，结果适得其反。

Basecamp employees have a 40-hour week, except in the summer when the company runs a four-day, 32-hour week. Basecamp的员工们一周工作40个小时，除了在夏季，公司一周工作四天，每周工作时长32小时。

They also get three weeks' holiday every year (subsidised by the firm to the tune⁹ of $5,000 per person), 他们每年还有一次为期三周的假期（由公司资助，金额多达5000美元每人），

a month-long sabbatical every three years, and a monthly massage¹⁰ at a spa. 每三年有一次为期一个月的休假以及每月有一次温泉浴场按摩。

Those are the right sort of perks¹¹, say Messrs Fried and Heinemeier Hansson. 那些是额外津贴，弗里德和海涅迈尔·汉森表示。

The wrong kind, found in many offices, include free dinners, games rooms and snack bars, which are all devices to keep employees at the office for longer. 很多公司都设有免费午餐、游戏室和小吃部，这些设施都是为了让员工在办公室待久一点。

Workers should also beware of companies that declare "we're all family here"—a ruse¹² to get workers to put their employers ahead of the needs of their real families. 员工们也应该警惕公司宣称的“在这里我们是一家人”—这种策略是为了让员工将雇主置于他们真实的家庭需求之上。

Another criticism of corporate¹³ culture levelled by the book is that offices have become interruption factories. 书中批评的另一种同等的企业文化是办公室已经成为了中断式工厂。

People are working longer and later because they cannot get stuff done at the office any more. 人们工作时间越来越长，工作到越来越晚，因为他们再也无法在办公室完成任务。

At a conference attended by 600 people, the authors asked how many had recently enjoyed 3-4 hours of uninterrupted work; only 30 hands went up. 在一个600人的会议上，两位作者问到，近期有多少人能在不受打断的情况下，连续工作3到4个小时；仅有30个人举手。

 

1 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

2 utensil   

n.器皿，用具

参考例句：

• The best carving utensil is a long, sharp, flexible knife.最好的雕刻工具是锋利而柔韧的长刻刀。
• Wok is a very common cooking utensil in every Chinese family.炒菜锅是每个中国人家庭里很常用的厨房食用具。

3 plethora   

n.过量，过剩

参考例句：

• Java comes with a plethora of ready-made types.Java配套提供了数量众多的现成类型。
• A plethora of new operators will be allowed to enter the market.大批新的运营商将获准进入该市场。

4 pithy   

adj.(讲话或文章)简练的

参考例句：

• Many of them made a point of praising the film's pithy dialogue.他们中很多人特别赞扬了影片精炼的对白。
• His pithy comments knocked the bottom out of my argument.他精辟的评论驳倒了我的论点。

5 platitudes   

n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子

参考例句：

• He was mouthing the usual platitudes about the need for more compassion. 他言不由衷地说了些需要更加同情之类的陈腔滥调。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He delivered a long prose full of platitudes. 他发表了一篇充满陈词滥调的文章。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 iconoclastic   

adj.偶像破坏的，打破旧习的

参考例句：

• His iconoclastic tendencies can get him into trouble. 他与传统信仰相悖的思想倾向可能会给他带来麻烦。 来自辞典例句
• The film is an iconoclastic allegory. 电影是一个关于破坏的寓言。 来自互联网

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。

9 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

10 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

11 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

12 ruse   

n.诡计，计策；诡计

参考例句：

• The children thought of a clever ruse to get their mother to leave the house so they could get ready for her surprise.孩子们想出一个聪明的办法使妈妈离家，以便他们能准备给她一个惊喜。It is now clear that this was a ruse to divide them.现在已清楚这是一个离间他们的诡计。

13 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。