2022年经济学人 请病假越来越难（1）

Business

商业板块

Bartleby: Working under the weather

巴托比：带病工作

It is becoming harder to take off a sick day

请病假越来越难

If you have a high temperature or are recovering from heart surgery, it is difficult to use machine tools.

如果你在发高烧，或者正处于心脏手术恢复期，操作机器会很困难。

And if you are having a nervous breakdown¹, machine tools are best avoided.

如果你正经历精神崩溃，最好不要操作机器。

Sick days are the remedy.

病假才是良药。

They are meant to prevent people from hurting themselves, their co-workers, customers or passers-by on the job.

病假的存在，就是为了防止人们在工作中伤害自己、同事、客户或是身旁经过的人。

Working from home has flipped² this logic³ on its head.

但居家办公颠覆了这一逻辑。

If you can work from the kitchen table, today’s hybrid⁴ workers increasingly conclude, then why not from bed—so long as the brain is on and the Zoom⁵ camera off?

如今，越来越多混合办公者总结道，如果在厨房的桌子上都能工作，那为什么不能在床上工作呢--只要大脑在工作，把Zoom会议的摄像头关了就行。

The work-from-home revolution has raised the bar for what counts as being sick.

居家办公的革命提高了生病的门槛。

At the height of the pandemic people worked from home even with nasty symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath or nausea⁶.

在疫情最严重的时候，人们即使有发烧、呼吸急促或恶心等严重症状，也会在家工作。

Many still do.

很多人现在还是这样。

Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University has been tracking work-from-home habits since before the corona-crisis popularised them.

在居家办公因新冠危机变得更为普及之前，斯坦福大学的尼古拉斯·布鲁姆就一直在追踪这种习惯。

In a recent working paper he presents the results of a randomised controlled trial at a large Chinese multinational⁷ company, where sick days fell by 12% for employees working from home two days a week relative to those coming in full time.

在最近的一篇工作论文中，他展示了在一家中国大型跨国公司进行的一项随机对照试验的结果：每周居家办公两天的员工，病假天数比全职员工减少了12%。

Your columnist⁸, a guest Bartleby, can sympathise.

本文作者是巴托比专栏的客座作家，她表示能够理解。

In the past, while convalescing⁹, she had no qualms¹⁰ about wrapping herself in a blanket with a hot toddy, toast and some tissues.

以前，在生病康复期间，她会毫无顾虑地把自己裹在毯子里，纸巾放在旁边，就着一杯热棕榈酒吃吐司。

When she got covid-19 early this summer, by contrast, she kept going with her phone and laptop sunk in the duvet.

而在今年夏初患上新冠肺炎时，她一直把手机和笔记本电脑裹在羽绒被里工作。

Her managers strongly urged that her work should be passed on to a colleague.

她的经理强烈要求把她的工作转交给一位同事。

For her, this was unthinkable, at least until she almost passed out.

对她来说，这简直难以想象，至少在她快要晕倒之前是这样的。

To be in bed not doing anything connotes not only physical discomfort¹¹ but also cognitive¹² impairment.

躺在床上什么都不做，不仅会让身体不适，还会导致认知障碍。

Salaried workers, who are often evaluated on the basis of their input¹³ rather than output, find it hard to say they are off the game for a few days now that they don’t need to worry about spreading germs in the office.

对受薪员工的评估通常是看他们的投入而不是产出，既然现在他们不需要担心在办公室里传播细菌了，他们发现自己很难偷几天懒。

For high-achievers, putting in the hours is not a chore but a way of life.

对于成功人士来说，加班不是一件苦差事，而是一种生活方式。

Unplanned breaks are antithetical to the pervasive¹⁴ anxiety to perform.

计划外的休息对保持良好表现的焦虑很不利。

As recession looms¹⁵ and puts future job security into question, showing yourself to be useful becomes even more important.

随着经济衰退逐渐临近，并导致人们对未来的工作保障产生质疑，展示自己的有用性就变得更加重要。

Hybrid-work etiquette¹⁶ is fluid and many companies have yet to update their sick-leave rules for the new era.

混合办公的规矩不固定，许多公司还没有针对新时代更新病假规定。

1 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

2 flipped   

轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• The plane flipped and crashed. 飞机猛地翻转，撞毁了。
• The carter flipped at the horse with his whip. 赶大车的人扬鞭朝着马轻轻地抽打。

3 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

4 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

5 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

6 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

7 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

8 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

9 convalescing   

v.康复( convalesce的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She is convalescing at home after her operation. 手术后她正在家休养康复。
• The patient is convalescing nicely. 病人正在顺利地康复。 来自辞典例句

10 qualms   

n.不安；内疚

参考例句：

• He felt no qualms about borrowing money from friends.他没有对于从朋友那里借钱感到不安。
• He has no qualms about lying.他撒谎毫不内疚。

11 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

12 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

13 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

14 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

15 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 etiquette   

n.礼仪，礼节；规矩

参考例句：

• The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays.如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。
• According to etiquette,you should stand up to meet a guest.按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。