2022年经济学人 请病假越来越难（2）

Though all this is understandable, it is also troubling.

尽管这一切都可以理解，却还是会令人不安。

Tapping away at a laptop and smartphone from the discomfort¹ of a sick person’s bedroom is not as dangerous as driving a forklift.

身体不适的病人在卧室里敲击笔记本电脑和智能手机，并不像开叉车那么危险。

It nevertheless carries risks—both for the ill-disposed individual and their employer.

但还是有风险的--无论是对病人还是他们的雇主。

And it isn’t just covid, whose common symptoms include brain fog.

不仅仅是常见症状包括脑雾的新冠病毒。

Any bug² brings fatigue³.

任何疾病都会让人疲劳。

Being even mildly sick can impair⁴ brain function as much as high altitude, whose effect can feel like a bad hangover.

即使是轻微的疾病也会损害大脑功能，就像高海拔一样，让人感觉经历了一场严重的宿醉。

It is difficult to exercise proper judgment⁵ if one cannot focus on the task at hand.

如果一个人无法专注于手头的任务，就很难做出正确的判断。

It is why people with lower oxygen concentration sometimes remove protective clothes atop Mount Everest; some freeze to death.

这就是为什么缺氧的人有时会在珠穆朗玛峰顶上脱下防护服；其中一些人甚至会因此冻死。

Firing off emails while feeling dizzy and depleted⁶ will put the body under further stress and also risk being incoherent.

在感到头晕和疲惫的情况下发电子邮件会让身体承受更大压力，还可能会让人语无伦次。

Soldiering on may make the employee both sicker and less productive for longer.

硬撑着工作可能会加重员工病情，还会延长工作效率低的时间。

Digital presenteeism, for that is what such persisting amounts to, is in no one’s interest.

数字出勤主义就是这种硬撑的后果，对任何人都没好处。

Resisting it is therefore important.

因此，避免这种后果很重要。

You don’t need to have a blood transfusion⁷ or liver transplant to feel that you have earned a bit of time off.

没必要去输血或做肝移植来获取一点休息时间。

Sleeping soundly can restore body and spirit.

睡个好觉就可以帮助身体和精神恢复。

Staring at the ceiling gives you time to take stock of your harried⁸ life.

盯着天花板可以给你时间审视繁忙的生活。

Do not worry about being judged to be shirking.

不要担心会被别人认为是在逃避工作。

True laziness cannot be disguised—if someone is malingering, chances are that their bosses already know.

真正的懒惰是无法掩饰的--如果有人装病，很可能他们的老板早就心知肚明了。

In the world of flexible working, managers can lead by example, taking the occasional day off when suffering from a cold.

在灵活办公的世界里，经理们可以以身作则，在感冒时偶尔请一天假。

Why not use it as an opportunity to delegate tasks?

为什么不把这作为委派任务的机会呢？

This tends to build trust in a team and helps appraise⁹ subordinates’ strengths and weaknesses.

这往往会在团队中建立信任，并有助于评估下属的优缺点。

The dust will eventually settle on work habits in the hybrid¹⁰ era.

混合办公时代的工作方式终究会尘埃落定。

When it comes to illness, they will hopefully settle somewhere close to where they were in pre-covid days.

病假规定有望与疫情前大同小异。

Being sick is part of the human condition.

生病无可避免。

It is not going away.

不会消失。

Nor should sick days.

病假也一样。

Bartleby remembers lying on the sofa recovering from a stomach bug in New York 17 years ago, undisturbed by colleagues and untroubled by thoughts of work.

笔者还记得17年前在纽约的时候，因为胃病躺在沙发上，既没有同事打扰，也不受工作困扰。

The next time she is ailing¹¹, she will not be on Slack.

下次她生病时，不会再用Slack软件工作了。

Instead, she will listen to her managers and sign off.

而是会听取经理们的意见，休病假。

1 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。

2 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

3 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

4 impair   

v.损害，损伤；削弱，减少

参考例句：

• Loud noise can impair your hearing.巨大的噪音有损听觉。
• It can not impair the intellectual vigor of the young.这不能磨灭青年人思想活力。

5 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

6 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

7 transfusion   

n.输血，输液

参考例句：

• She soon came to her senses after a blood transfusion.输血后不久她就苏醒了。
• The doctor kept him alive by a blood transfusion.医生靠输血使他仍然活着。

8 harried   

v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰

参考例句：

• She has been harried by the press all week. 整个星期她都受到新闻界的不断烦扰。
• The soldiers harried the enemy out of the country. 士兵们不断作骚扰性的攻击直至把敌人赶出国境为止。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 appraise   

v.估价，评价，鉴定

参考例句：

• An expert came to appraise the value of my antiques.一位专家来对我的古玩作了估价。
• It is very high that people appraise to his thesis.人们对他的论文评价很高。

10 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。

11 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。