经济学人:巴托比专栏: 休息一会(1)

 Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on November 22nd, and having gorged¹ on turkey and cranberry² sauce, 美国人在11月22日庆祝感恩节，享受火鸡和小红莓果酱，

will take the next day off as well to do some Christmas shopping. That represents a rare break in what, by global standards, is a Stakhanovite regime. 第二天放假可以去采购一些圣诞节用品。从全球标准来看，这是斯达汉诺夫政权中的一次罕见休假。

In a typical year the average American works 100 more hours than a Briton, 300 more than a French employee and 400 more hours than a German. 在一个典型年中，美国人平均工作时长比一名英国人多100个小时；比一位法国员工多300小时；比一名德国人多400个小时。

The gap with Europe is partly explained by the number of days' holiday that Americans take each year. 美国人每年的假期天数可以解释其和欧洲差距的部分原因。

In 2017 the average American took 17.2 days of vacation. That was a slight rise on the 16 days recorded in 2014 but still below the 1978- 2000 average of 20.3 days. 2017年，美国人平均休假17.2天。相较2014年16天的休假天数稍有增长，但仍低于1978年至2000年的平均20.3天。

Around half of all workers do not take their full allotment of days off, which averages around 23 days. 将近一半的员工没有休完他们所有的假期，未休完假期平均约为23天。

In effect, many Americans spend part of the year working for nothing, donating the equivalent of $561 on average to their firms. 实际上，很多美国人一年里有部分时间都是在免费工作，他们把平均561美元的工资捐给了公司。

In the European Union workers are guaranteed by law a minimum of 20 paid days of holiday each year, 欧盟的法律为员工提供每年最少20天带薪休假的保障，

with public holidays in addition to that (there is no mandatory³ minimum in America). 除此之外，还有公定假日（在美国没有强制性最低标准）。

The workers who can put their feet up for longest are those in Spain and Sweden, who get 36 days of holiday each. 休息天数最长的是西班牙和瑞典的员工，他们有36天的假期。

It is true that Americans do well in terms of public holidays; they have ten, two more than workers in Britain. But that doesn't make them relaxing. 确实美国人在公共假期方面做的不错；他们有10个公共假期，比英国多2个。但这也没让他们轻松下来。

In both 2015 and 2016 the Sunday after Thanksgiving was the busiest day of the year for air travel. 在2015年和2016年，感恩节后的那个星期天是航空旅行一年中最繁忙的日子。

After a cramped⁴ flight and a long wait in the security line, workers may end up feeling worse than if they had never left the office. 挤在狭小的飞机上，在警戒线排完长队后，员工们或许会感觉比上班还累。

Americans also put in more hours per week. This was not always so. 美国人每周工作时间也更长。但并非一直如此。

In 1870 the average European worker toiled⁵ for almost 66 hours a week, and those in America averaged 62. 在1870年，欧洲员工平均一周辛苦工作近66小时，美国人则为平均62小时。

By 1929 there was little difference between the continents, with European hours at 47.8 and American ones at 48. 到1929年，两国差别很小，欧洲为47.8小时，美国为48小时。

By 2000 American males were well ahead, grinding out 43.3 hours against a European average of 39.2 (the female gap was smaller, at 37.2 to 36.1 hours). 到2000年，美国男性遥遥领先，他们的工作时长为43.3小时，而欧洲则为平均39.2（女性员工之间的差距更小，为37.2比26.1）。

 

1 gorged   

v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的过去式和过去分词 )；作呕

参考例句：

• He gorged himself at the party. 在宴会上他狼吞虎咽地把自己塞饱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The men, gorged with food, had unbuttoned their vests. 那些男人，吃得直打饱嗝，解开了背心的钮扣。 来自辞典例句

2 cranberry   

n.梅果

参考例句：

• Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
• Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。

3 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

4 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

5 toiled   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• They toiled up the hill in the blazing sun. 他们冒着炎炎烈日艰难地一步一步爬上山冈。
• He toiled all day long but earned very little. 他整天劳碌但挣得很少。