向前一步:第84期 职业生涯中的长远梦想及短期目标(16)

 　　Of course, there are times in life when being risk averse¹ is a good thing; adolescent and adult males drown in much greater numbers than adolescent and adult females. 当然，生活中规避风险有时候是好事，例如溺水的青春期男性和成年男子要比同年龄段的女性多出很多。

　　But in business, being risk averse can result in stagnation². 但在商业领域，规避风险将导致停滞不前。

　　An analysis of senior corporate³ management appointments found that women are significantly more likely than men to continue to perform the same function even when they take on new duties. 对公司高层管理者任命的一项分析发现，即使在担任新的职位时，女性也明显比男性更有可能履行与此前相同的职能；

　　And when female managers move up, they are more likely to do so internally instead of switching to a different company. 而当女性管理者升职时，她们更倾向于在公司内部实现而不是转向另一个公司。

　　At times, staying in the same functional⁴ area and in the same organization creates inertia⁵ and limits opportunity to expand. 事实上，一个人总是待在同一个职能部门或同一个组织里，会造成工作上的惰性并限制个人发展的机会。

　　Seeking out diverse experiences is useful preparation for leadership. 向外寻求不同的经验对领导力的培养来说是很有益的准备。

　　I understand the external pressures that force women to play it safe and stay put. 我理解那种迫使女性凡事追求稳妥、不轻易跳槽的外部压力。

　　Gender⁶ stereotypes⁷ can make it hard to move into positions traditionally held by men. 性别成见使得女性很难进入通常由男性主导的领域，

　　Women are also more likely to accommodate a partner's career than the other way around. 女性也更有可能因另一半的职业追求而妥协，不会一味去实现自我价值。

　　A job change that includes moving to another city may be a nonstarter for a woman in a relationship. 事业上的变化，包括到另一个城市工作，对一个正在谈恋爱的女人来说几乎是不可能的，

　　The result is the unfortunate tautology⁸ that the tendency to stay put leads to staying put. 结果就产生了很糟糕的结果：若待在原地则将导致原地踏步，

　　Being risk averse in the workplace can also cause women to be more reluctant to take on challenging tasks. 而且规避风险也会使女性不愿意去接受具有挑战性的工作。

　　In my experience, more men look for stretch assignments and take on high-visibility projects, while more women hang back. 根据我的经验，男性更倾向于寻找拓展性的工作，接受高曝光度的项目，而女性则会犹豫不前。

1 averse   

adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的

参考例句：

• I don't smoke cigarettes,but I'm not averse to the occasional cigar.我不吸烟，但我不反对偶尔抽一支雪茄。
• We are averse to such noisy surroundings.我们不喜欢这么吵闹的环境。

2 stagnation   

n. 停滞

参考例句：

• Poor economic policies led to a long period of stagnation and decline. 糟糕的经济政策道致了长时间的经济萧条和下滑。
• Motion is absolute while stagnation is relative. 运动是绝对的，而静止是相对的。

3 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。

4 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

5 inertia   

adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝

参考例句：

• We had a feeling of inertia in the afternoon.下午我们感觉很懒。
• Inertia carried the plane onto the ground.飞机靠惯性着陆。

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

7 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 tautology   

n.无谓的重复；恒真命题

参考例句：

• Modern logicians regard it as little more than tautology.现代的逻辑学家仅仅把它看作同义反复。
• What's the first excellence in a lawyer? Tautology. What the second? Tautology.律师最擅长的是什么？是同义反复。其次呢？同义反复。再其次呢？同义反复。