向前一步:第171期 全能女人是个神话(4)

 Trying to do it all and expecting that it all can be done exactly right is a recipe for disappointment. 试图做到一切还期待做得超级完美，这必然导致希望落空。

Perfection is the enemy. 完美主义是我们的大敌。

Gloria Steinem said it best: "You can't do it all. 格洛丽亚·斯泰纳姆的话很贴切：“你不可能做到一切。

No one can have two fulltime jobs, have perfect children and cook three meals and be multi-orgasmic 'til dawn ... Superwoman is the adversary¹ of the women's movement." 没有人能做两份全职工作，不仅把孩子照看得很好、一天三餐都下厨，还可以在凌晨享受性高潮……女性运动要反对的就是‘女超人’。”

Dr. Laurie Glimcher, dean of Weill Cornell Medical College, said the key for her in pursuing her career while raising children was learning where to focus her attention. 美国康奈尔医学院的院长劳丽·格林奇博士认为，在养育孩子的同时追求事业，关键要学会自己应该在哪方面集中注意力。

"I had to decide what mattered and what didn't and I learned to be a perfectionist in only the things that mattered." “我们得决定哪些事重要、哪些事不重要，并且在那些真正重要的事情上力求完美。”

In her case, she concluded that scientific data had to be perfect, 她得出的结论是：科学数据必须完美，

but reviews and other mundane² administrative³ tasks could be considered good enough at 95 percent. 但评论意见和其他琐碎的行政事务能做到95%就够好的了。

Dr. Glimcher also said she made it a priority to get home at a reasonable hour, 格林奇博士还说，在合理的时间下班是自己首要考虑的事，

adding that when she got there, she refused to worry about whether "the linens⁴ were folded or the closets were tidy. 而且到家之后绝不能为了衣服是否叠好或橱柜是否打理整洁而焦虑。

You can't be obsessive⁵ about these things that don't matter." 她提醒我们说：“你不能过度地迷恋那些不重要的事情。”

A few years before I became a mother, I spoke⁶ on a women's panel for a local business group in Palo Alto. 还没做母亲时，我曾在一个商业团队的女性座谈会上发言。

One of the other panelists, an executive with two children, was asked the (inevitable) question about how she balances her work and her children. 一位有两个孩子的执行官曾被问到她如何平衡事业和家庭（这是个避不开的问题），

She started her response by saying, "I probably shouldn't admit this publicly ..." 她回答说：“我可能不应该公开承认这一点……”

and then she confessed that she put her children to sleep in their school clothes to save fifteen precious minutes every morning. 随后就向大家坦白，她让孩子们穿着校服睡觉，这样早上就能省出宝贵的15分钟。

 

1 adversary   

adj.敌手，对手

参考例句：

• He saw her as his main adversary within the company.他将她视为公司中主要的对手。
• They will do anything to undermine their adversary's reputation.他们会不择手段地去损害对手的名誉。

2 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

3 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

4 linens   

n.亚麻布( linen的名词复数 )；家庭日用织品

参考例句：

• All linens and towels are provided. 提供全套日用织品和毛巾。 来自辞典例句
• Linen, Table Linens, Chair Covers, Bed and Bath Linens. Linen. 采购产品亚麻布，亚麻布，椅子套子，床和沭浴亚麻布。 来自互联网

5 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。