经济学人:工作vs娱乐 万圣节的烦恼(2)

 　　Distance may breed discontent. 和朋友的分离可能产生失落感。

　　Another reason may be that, when not distracted by schoolwork, children spend more time in front of a screen, which research suggests makes them less happy. 另一个原因可能就是：孩子们一旦没有了作业束缚，他们就会开始玩电子产品，而这并不会让他们快乐。

　　And many extra-curricular activities are suspended, which means less time playing football or hanging out at drama club. 没有了丰富的课外活动，就意味着孩子们没有多少时间能够踢球或是在戏剧俱乐部溜达。

　　“Everyone needs something meaningful to fill their day,” says MsKnies. “每个人都需要一些有趣的事儿来让他们的一天变得充实”，柯尼斯说道。

　　Unemployed¹ adults are less happy than their peers. 所以没有工作的成人要比他们的同龄人更不快乐。

　　Crucially, those children who were on holiday abroad would not have been surveyed, so the ones included in the study were those left hanging around at home. 值得一提的是，那些假期外出的孩子并没有接受调查，因此这份报告研究的是留在家中的孩子。

　　As for why Easter holidays are worst of all, one possible explanation jumps out: exams. 至于为什么说复活节假期最难过，有这样一个解释：就是考试。

　　The main ones tend to be in the summer term, so the Easter break is spent swotting up (or feeling guilty about not doing so) . 主要的考试都集中在夏季学期，所以复活节假期基本就是在各种复习之中（或者对于没有复习充满罪恶感）。

　　Steve Jackson, the head teacher of a school in Somerset, frets² that the pressure piled on children by exams has “increased exponentially over the years”,  萨默斯塞特郡一所学校的校长史蒂夫·杰克逊（Steve Jackson）十分担忧各种考试给孩子们带来的成堆的压力“这几年孩子们的压力已经在呈指数级别上升”，

　　to the extent that they may now be damaging to young people's health. 甚至已经到了会损害年轻人身体健康的程度。

　　Foreign jaunts³ are more common in the summer; Christmas brings families together in the winter. 炎夏，国外旅游更是习以为常；寒冬，欢度圣诞共享天伦之乐。

　　Easter eggs, it seems, are insufficient⁴ compensation for the horrors of revision. 看来，复活节彩蛋无法修复应试之惧。

1 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

2 frets   

基质间片； 品丝（吉他等指板上定音的）( fret的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The river frets away the rocks along its banks. 河水侵蚀了两岸的岩石。
• She frets at even the slightest delays. 稍有延误她就不满。

3 jaunts   

n.游览( jaunt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• How carefree were those jaunts to the A＆ P.No worries. 去A＆P的路途是那样的轻松，无忧无虑。 来自互联网
• How carefree were those jaunts to A & P. No worries. 去a&p的路途是那样的轻松，无忧无虑。 来自互联网

4 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。