克服拖延症支招：摆脱五大“死线杀手”（双语）

 　　It is vital for anyone who studies to know how to blow off a little steam from time to time. The annoying little imp¹ that is procrastination² vexes³ all of us at different times, usually when study is most important. Here’s how Australians procrastinate⁴.

　　1. FACEBOOK

　　Like the rest of the world, Australians aren’t immune to the allure⁵ of spending hours on the social network Facebook, and checking out how all our friends are getting on. Of course, that inevitably⁶ leads you onto all kinds of other websites, and we Aussies are just as guilty of trawling through pictures of cats on Buzzfeed (the viral content producer) as anyone else. It’s shameful⁷, but it’s universal.

　　2. NETFLIX

　　Netflix landed in March this year and has been making huge waves in the student population. American students have had access to the video hosting site for years and thus time to adjust to its desirability over study; Australian students however, are yet to realise that due to its clever seamless transitioning from one episode of a series to the next as soon as the first finishes, it is possible to binge-watch entire seasons of shows and not realise that you’ve wasted your last study day before a big test. There’s always that moment between episodes in which you catch your reflection in the darkened screen, realise it’s 2am and wonder what you’re doing with your time.

　　3. WATCHING SPORTS GAMES

　　One procrastination activity that is widely condoned⁸ is taking time off study to watch a big sports match. After all, study can be done any time, but if you miss that match, you’ll find out the score and any idea of watching the replay will be ruined for you. Sport and watching sport communally⁹ is such a part of Australian life that university tutors don’t even mind if you haven’t prepared for a tute the day after the AFL grand final – they won’t have either! If you make the mistake of studying over a big game, you’re truly missing something special. The excitement and celebration over Australian sport is one of our best national bonding experiences.

　　4. PROCRASTI-BAKING

　　A big fundraising activity in Australia is using cake stalls as a means to raise money for a charity or club. You’d look like a bad person if you didn’t take the night off to whip something up. Forget about a quick packet mix cake: Australians’ competitive spirit means that you’ll be spending a few hours getting the icing just right on your 4 tier masterpiece and all thoughts of study will be long gone!

　　5. HANGING OUT WITH MATES

　　In a similar line, if someone asks you to have a kick of the footy of a Sunday or come out for a drink at the pub, it’s hard to say no. Australians are very persuasive¹⁰, with one of the favourite arguments being that nobody is able to study all the time, and you have to take some time off. To blow off a social activity for study will lose you too much face to be worth it. This leads to a difficulty balancing study and leisure out of which was born the truly Australian “secret studier” – someone who manages to study amply, but gives the impression that they are always at the bar or doing extra-curricular activities.

　　学术的同时，偶尔给自己减压固然重要，但是名曰“拖延症”的小讨厌就像不速之客，经常在紧要关头造访，带来困扰。今天，我们就来细数澳洲学生拖延症的五大“罪魁祸首”。

　　1. 刷FACEBOOK

　　说到脸书（Facebook），全世界人民都毫无抵抗力，澳洲人也不例外，谁不是经常耗上几小时，不厌其烦地刷着朋友一条一条的状态？然后当然不免也会看看其他网站，澳洲亲们在Buzzfeed（神一般的网站）上搜索萌猫图片，也会一样悔不当初。刷网页犯拖延症，谁都会内疚，却还是都会继续犯错。

　　2. 上“网飞”看视频

　　今年三月，网飞公司（Netflix)上线，并在学生群中引起巨大反响。美国学生几年前就能畅游视频分享网站了，现在也就把心收回来搞学术了；澳洲孩子可还没察觉到，由于视频自动设定为连续播放模式，很可能整整一季都看完了，你都没反应过来，大考前最后一天的学习时间，怎么全搭进剧里了！也许在两集之间骤然黑屏的一瞬，你瞥见了自己在电脑屏幕上的倒影，才发觉已经凌晨2点，才惊异于自己这么长时间都干了什么。

　　3. 看球

　　要是有人用学习时间看比赛，这种拖延行为总能找到客观原因。毕竟，什么时候学习都没问题，但比赛一过，比分一出来，再怎么看重播都索然无味。澳洲人生活中，体育项目和全民观赛举足轻重，遇上橄榄球总决赛，第二天上课时，老师根本不管你没预习——因为老师自己也没来得及备课！要是真在比赛当天“弃赛从学”，那可不亏大了！在澳洲，大家一起看比赛，一同在胜利中欢欣鼓舞、举杯同庆，深刻感受着同为澳大利亚人的骄傲与喜悦。

　　4. 都是烘培惹的祸

　　摆上自家烘焙的蛋糕摊，给慈善机构或俱乐部筹钱，是澳大利亚的一大盛事。要是不花上整晚麻溜做点什么，那可真够格格不入。什么，想买包蛋糕粉搅拌几下，敷衍了事吗？算了吧！要知道，澳洲人那叫争强好胜，得要花上好几小时，在四层高的骨灰级蛋糕上，完美点缀糖霜，想到这，谁还有心思学习呀！

　　5. 和小伙伴一起玩耍

　　同样，如果小伙伴约你在周日踢个球，或者到酒吧喝一杯，想说“不”，臣妾做不到啊！澳大利亚人可会劝人了，最常见的方法就是和你说，谁也不会24小时都学习啊，总得给自己放个假之类的。为了学习推掉社交活动，也是件特别掉面的事。所以问题来了：平衡学习和娱乐，谁最强？看看人家澳大利亚天生学霸——好好学习，却给人一种成天游走于酒吧、参加各种课外活动的感觉，人生艰难啊。

1 imp   

n.顽童

参考例句：

• What a little imp you are!你这个淘气包！
• There's a little imp always running with him.他总有一个小鬼跟着。

2 procrastination   

n.拖延，耽搁

参考例句：

• Procrastination is the father of failure. 因循是失败的根源。
• Procrastination is the thief of time. 拖延就是浪费时间。

3 vexes   

v.使烦恼( vex的第三人称单数 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me. 她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His continuous chatter vexes me. 他唠叨不休，真烦死我了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 procrastinate   

v.耽搁，拖延

参考例句：

• Most often we procrastinate when faced with something we do not want to do.面对不想做的事情，我们经常拖延。
• It's easy to procrastinate when the deadline seems infinitely far away.当最终期限总是遥遥无期时是很容易延期的。

5 allure   

n.诱惑力，魅力；vt.诱惑，引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• The window displays allure customers to buy goods.橱窗陈列品吸引顾客购买货物。
• The book has a certain allure for which it is hard to find a reason.这本书有一种难以解释的魅力。

6 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

7 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

8 condoned   

v.容忍，宽恕，原谅( condone的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Terrorism can never be condoned. 决不能容忍恐怖主义。
• They condoned his sins because he repented. 由于他的悔悟，他们宽恕了他的罪。 来自辞典例句

9 communally   

adv.共同地

参考例句：

• Only when the means of production were communally owned would classes disappear. 只有当生产工具公有时，阶级才会消失。
• The mills were owned communally. 工厂是公有的。

10 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。