Unit-13-Our-Schedules--Our-Selves課文翻譯綜合教程三

2023年12月9日發(作者：往后余生幸福的句子)

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Unit 13

Our Schedules, Our Selves

Jay Walljasper

1 DAMN! You’re 20 minutes — no, more like half an hour — late for your breakfast

meeting, which you were hoping to scoot out of early to make an 8:30 minar across

town. And, somewhere in there, there’s that conference call. Now, at the last minute,

you have to be at a 9:40 meeting. No way you can miss it. Let’s e, the afternoon

is totally booked, but you can probably push back your 10:15 appointment and work

through lunch. That would do it. Whew! The day has barely begun and already you are

counting the hours until evening, when you can finally go home and happily,

gloriously, triumphantly, do nothing. You’ll skip yoga class, blow off the

neighborhood meeting, ignore the piles of laundry and just relax. Yes! … No!

Tonight’s the night of the concert. You promid Nathan and Mara weeks ago that

you would go.

DAMN!

2 Welcome to daily grind circa 2003 — a grueling 24-7 competition against the

clock that leaves even the winners wondering what happened to their lives. Determined

and sternly focud, we march through each day obeying the orders of our calendars.

The idle moment, the reflective pau, rendipity of any sort have no place in our

plans. Stopping to talk to someone or slowing down to appreciate a sunny afternoon

will only make you late for your next round of activities. From the minute we ri

in the morning, most of us have our day charted out. The only surpri is if we

actually get everything done that we had planned before collapsing into bed at night.

3 On the job, in school, at home, increasing numbers of North Americans are

virtual slaves to their schedules. Some of what fills our days are onerous

obligations, some are wonderful opportunities, and most fall in between, but taken

together they add up to too much. Too much to do, too many places to be, too many

things happening too fast, all mapped out for us in preci quarter-hour allotments

on our palm pilots or day planners. We are not leading our lives, but merely following

a dizzying timetable of duties, commitments, demands, and options. How did this

happen? Where’s the luxurious leisure that decades of technological progress was

suppod to bestow upon us?

4 The acceleration of the globalized economy, and the accompanying decline of

people having any kind of a say over wages and working conditions, is a chief culprit.

Folks at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder feel the pain most sharply. Holding

1 / 7 down two or three jobs, struggling to pay the bills, working weekends, no vacation

time, little social safety net, they often feel out of control about everything

happening to them. But even successful professionals, people who em fully in charge

of their destinies, feel the pinch. Doctors, for example, working impossibly crowded

schedules under the command of HMOs, feel overwhelmed. Many of them are now eking

union reprentation, traditionally the recour of low-pay workers.

5 The onslaught of new technology, which promid to t us free, has instead

ratcheted up the rhythms of everyday life. Cell phones, , and laptop computers

instill expectations of instantaneous action. While such direct communication can

loon our schedules in certain instances (it’s easier to shift around an engagement

on short notice), overall they fuel the trend that every minute must be accounted

for. It’s almost impossible to put duties behind you now, when the boss or committee

chair can call you at a rap show or sushi restaurant, and documents can be ed to

you on vacation in Banff or Thailand. If you are never out of the loop, then are

you ever not working?

6 Our own human desire for more choices and new experiences also plays a role.

Just like hungry diners gathering around a bountiful smorgasbord, it’s hard not

to pile too many activities on our plates. An expanding choice of cultural offerings

over recent decades and the liberating n that each of us can fully play a number

of different social roles (worker, citizen, lover, parent, artist, etc.) has opened

up enriching and exciting opportunities. Spanish lessons? Yes. Join a volleyball

team? Why not. Cello and gymnastics class for the kids? Absolutely. Tickets to

a blues festival, food and wine expo, and political fundrair? Sure. And we can’t

forget to make time for school events, therapy ssions, protest rallies, religious

rvices, and dinner with friends.

7 Yes, the can all add to our lives. But with only 24 hours allotted to us each

day, something is lost too. You don’t just run into a friend anymore and decide

to get coffee. You can’t happily savor an experience becau your mind races toward

the next one on the calendar. In a busy life, nothing happens if you don’t plan

it, often weeks in advance. Our “free” hours become just as programmed as the work

day. What begins as an idea for fun frequently turns into an obligation obstacle

cour. Visit that new barbecue restaurant.

Done! Go to tango lessons.

Done! Fly

to Montreal for a long weekend.

Done!

8 We’ve booked ourlves so full of prescheduled activities there’s no time

left for tho magic, spontaneous moments that make us feel most alive. We ldom

2 / 7 stop to think of all the experiences we are eliminating from our lives when we load

up our appointment book. Rerving tickets for a basketball game months away could

mean you miss out on the first balmy evening of spring. skating lessons

for your children fit so conveniently into your schedule that you never realize it’s

the time all the other kids in the neighborhood gather on the sidewalk to play.

9 A few years back, radical Brazilian educator Paulo Freire was attending a

conference of Midwestern political activists and heard over and over about how

overwhelmed people felt about the duties they face each day. Finally, he stood up

and, in slow, heavily accented English, declared, “We are bigger than our

schedules.” The audience roared with applau.

10 Yes, we are bigger than our schedules. So how do we make sure our lives are

not overpowered by an endless roster of responsibilities? Especially in an age where

demanding jobs, two-worker houholds or single-parent families make the joyous

details of everyday life -- cooking supper from scratch or organizing a block party

— em like an impossible dream? There is no t of easy answers, despite what the

marketers of new convenience products would have us believe. But that doesn’t mean

we can’t make real steps to take back our lives.

11 Part of the answer is political. So long as Americans work longer hours than

any other people on Earth we are going to feel hemmed in by our schedules. Expanded

vacation time for everyone, including part-time and minimum wage workers, is one

obvious and overdue solution. Shortening the work week, something the labor movement

and progressive politicians successfully accomplished in the early decades of the

20th century, is another logical objective. There’s nothing preordained about

40-hours on the job; Italy, France, and other European nations have already cut back

working hours. An opportunity for employees outside academia to take a sabbatical

every decade or so is another idea who time has come. And how about more vacation

and paid holidays? Let’s start with Martin Luther King’s birthday, Susan B.

Anthony’s birthday, and your own! Any effort to give people more clout in their

workplaces — from strengthened unions to employee ownership — could help us gain

much-needed flexibility in our jobs, and our lives.

12 On another front, how you think about time can make a big difference in how

you feel about your life, as other articles in this cover ction illustrate. Note

how some of your most memorable moments occurred when something in your schedule

fell through. The canceled lunch that allows you to spend an hour strolling around

town. Friday night plans scrapped for a bowl of popcorn in front of the fireplace.

3 / 7 Don’t be shy about shucking your schedule whenever you can get away with it. And

with some experimentation, you may find that you can get away with it a lot more

than you imagined.

13 Setting aside some time on your calendar for life to just unfold in its own

surprising way can also nurture your soul. Carve out some nonscheduled hours (or

days) once in a while and treat them as a firm commitment. And resist the temptation

to turn every impul or opportunity into another appointment. It’s neither

impolite nor inefficient to simply say, “let me get back to you on that tomorrow”

or “let’s check in that morning to e if it’s still a good time.” You cannot

know how crammed that day may turn out to be, or how uninspired you might feel about

another engagement, or how much you’ll want to be rollerblading or playing chess

or doing something el at that preci time.

14 In our industrialized, fast-paced society, we too often view time as just

another mechanical instrument to be programmed. But time posss its own

evershifting shape and rhythms, and defies our best efforts to corral it within the

tidy lines of our palm pilots or datebooks. Stephan Rechtschaffen, author of

Time

Shifting, suggests you think back on a scary auto collision (or near miss), or

spectacular night of lovemaking. Time emed almost to stand still. You can remember

everything in vivid detail. Compare that to an overcrammed week that you recall now

only as a rapid-fire blur. Keeping in mind that our days expand and contract according

to their own patterns is perhaps the best way to help keep time on your side.

日程，自我

杰伊·沃爾賈斯珀

1. 討厭!遲到了20分鐘——不對，差不多半小時了——本來還想著這早餐會議可以早早完畢，然后去趕8:30在城市另一端召開的交流會。在那邊開會的時候還有個 會議。還有一分鐘，就得出席9:40的會議。這可千萬不能錯過。嗯，下午已經排滿了，不過大概可以把10:15的預約往后推一推，然后邊吃午餐邊干活。這樣應該可以了。唷!這一天才剛剛開始呢，你就已經在算著時間盼著傍晚的到來，那時總算可以回家去，幸福、快樂、滿足地無所事事了。瑜伽課就不去上了，住戶會議也算了，成堆的臟衣服就無視好了，盡情放松一下。太好了!……大事不妙!今晚有音樂會呢。幾個星期以前就答應了內森和瑪拉要去的。可惡!

2. 歡迎來到苦元2003——一場全天候與時間賽跑的緊張比賽，哪怕是獲勝者也在疑惑自己的生活中到底發生了什么。我們堅定不移、全神貫注地按照日歷的命令快步跑過每一天。片刻閑暇、駐足反思、任何奇遇——在我們的計劃中都沒有立足之地。停下腳步與某人閑聊，或悠閑地享受下午的陽光，都只會讓我們趕不與下一輪活動。從早上起床后的那一分鐘開始，4 / 7 大多數人的一整天都已經規劃完畢。一天中僅有的意外竟然是晚上倒頭睡覺之前才突然想起我們計劃了的事不知道是不是真的全部做好了。

3. 無論上班、上學還是在家，越來越多的北美人實際上已成為日程表的奴隸。填滿我們日程表的有繁重的責任，也有奇妙的機緣，而大多數都介于這兩者之間，不過加在一起就實在是太多了。太多的活兒要做，太多的地兒要去，太多的事兒冒出來——一切的一切在我們隨身帶的掌上電腦或記事簿上都以一刻鐘為單位精確地安排好了。我們不是在過日子，只是在跟從一個讓人暈眩的時間表，這表上有職責，也有承諾，有需求，也有選擇。這一切是如何發生的？幾十年的技術進步本該賜予我們的奢侈閑暇如今安在？

4. 經濟全球化的加速發展，以與隨之而來人們對薪酬、工作條件話語權的喪失，是造成這一切的罪魁禍首。在社會經濟底層的人們對這種痛苦感受最為切身。要保住兩三份工作，盡力付清賬單，周末照常上班，沒有休假時間，缺乏社會保障，導致他們常對自身命運生出無力掌控的感覺。但是，即使是成功的專業人士，那些似乎完全掌握自己命運的人，也會為其所苦。以醫生為例，按照各級健康維護組織的規定，他們的工作強度高到無法想象，個個身心俱疲。很多醫生現在都在尋求工會的幫助，而在傳統上工會是低收入職工的靠山。

5. 新技術的沖擊，原本有望讓我們解脫，卻反而一步步加快了日常生活的節奏。手機、電郵、筆記本電腦，都讓我們期待別人能作出即時行動。這種直接溝通在特定情況下可以讓我們的日程變得較為寬松(臨時改變安排變得更方便)，但總體而言，它們讓“每分鐘都必須有安排有交代”這種趨勢愈演愈烈。如今，想把職責置之不理已經不太可能了。不管你是在看說唱表演也好，在壽司店用餐也好，老板或委員會主席都可能一個 打來，就算你在班夫或泰國度假也好，文件照樣可以傳到你的。要是你根本擺脫不了自己的工作圈子，那你的工作哪有消停的時候？

6. 我們自身渴望有更多項選擇擇和新的體驗也是一個原因，雖則這是人之常情。我們就好像一群饑腸轆轆的人，聚集在擺滿豐盛美食的餐桌前，想不安排太多活動還真是不容易。近幾十年來，不僅文化活動日益豐富，而且我們還如釋重負地意識到，每個人能游刃有余地扮演多個不同社會角色(工人、市民、愛人、父母、藝術家等)，這一切使我們可能擁有精彩紛呈、振奮人心的機遇。學西班牙語？好。參加排球隊？干嘛不呢。給孩子們報大提琴班和體操班？肯定要。買票去參加布魯斯音樂節、美食名酒博覽會和政治獻金籌集活動？當然啦。我們也不會忘記為學校活動、治療課程、抗議集會、宗教服務和朋友聚餐騰出時間。

7. 誠然，這一切都能讓我們的生活更加豐富，可每天只有二十四小時，所以也會失去某些東西。你不可能再在路上偶遇一個朋友然后決定一起去喝杯咖啡了，也不可能帶著愉快的心情細細回味某一經歷，因為你的腦子早已飛速轉到日程上的下一個條目。在繁忙的生活中，沒有事先安排的事情就不會發生，而且往往還得提前幾個星期安排。我們的“自由”時間也不過是像工作日一樣事先安排好的。一開始只想好好玩玩，最后往往變成必須解決的問題。去試一下那家新開的燒烤店。完成!上探戈課。完成!坐飛機到蒙特利爾度個悠長的周末。完成!

5 / 7 8. 我們用事先安排好的活動把自己的生活填得滿滿當當的，根本就沒有時間留給一些妙不可言、隨心所欲的事情，那是最能讓我們感到生機與活力的時刻。我們很少停下來去想想，我們把預約本寫滿的同時，又有多少體驗從生活中刪去了啊。提前幾個月就把籃球比賽的門票預訂好，可能意味著你會錯過春天第一個芬芳的夜晚。孩子們下午五點的溜冰課，與你的日程配合得天衣無縫，你卻從沒意識到，那正是社區里的其他孩子聚在路邊一起玩耍的時間。

9. 幾年前，激進的巴西教育家保羅·費賴雷參加一個中西部政治激進分子的會議，一再聽到人們說起每天面對的職責如何令他們不知所措。最后，他站起來，用口音很重的英語緩慢地宣布，“自我比日程更重要。”全場掌聲如雷。

10. 的確，自我比日程更重要。那我們如何確保自己的生活不被沒完沒了的責任所壓倒呢？尤其是在這樣一個時代，緊張的工作、雙職工家庭或單親家庭使得日常生活的那些快樂細節——把蔬菜和魚肉做成香噴噴的晚餐、組織街區聚會——變成了一個個不可企與的夢想？要想做到這一點沒有什么輕而易舉的答案，盡管那些新型便利產品的推廣人員會讓我們相信這一點。但這并不意味著我們不能采取一些實際措施收復我們的生活。

11. 從政治領域入手可以解決部分問題。美國人的工作時間只要還比地球上其他民族更長，我們就會一直被行程安排所圍攻。有個方法顯而易見，而且早就應該做到了，那就是延長每個人的休假時間，兼職員工和最低薪酬員工也不例外。另一個符合邏輯的目標是縮短每周的工作時間。在20世紀早期勞工運動和進步的政治家就已經成功做到了這一點。40小時的周工作時間又不是上天注定神圣不可改變的；意大利、法國以與其他歐洲國家都已經縮減了工作時間。每十年左右給學術界以外的員工一個公休假的機會，也是個時機已經成熟的主意。休假時間再長點，帶薪假期再多點，怎么樣？我們可以從慶祝馬丁·路德·金的生日開始嘛，還有蘇珊·B.安東尼的生日，你自己的生日!任何能讓人們在工作場合有更多權力的努力——從加強工會權力到推行員工所有制——都有助于我們在工作和生活中爭取到迫切需要的彈性和靈活。

12. 從另外一個立場來講，你對時間的看法也會對你的生活感受產生很大的影響，這一點本輯中的其他文章已經闡釋清楚。想一想，你的日程出差錯之時，如何促使你最值得懷念的那些瞬間得以發生。臨時取消的午餐讓你有一個小時在鎮上閑逛。星期五晚上的計劃泡湯了，就捧一碗爆米花坐在壁爐旁邊。只要沒有不良后果，就不要有顧慮，盡量拋開你的日程吧。有了經驗之后，你會發現其實可以比想象中逍遙更多。

13. 另外，在日歷上騰出某些時間，讓生活以它自己不可預測的方式呈現在你面前，這樣也可以滋養你的靈魂。時不時騰出幾個小時(甚至幾天)不做任何安排，并且將其視為一種嚴肅的承諾。還要注意抵抗住誘惑，不要把一時興起或偶然的機遇變成另一個預約。索性說“明天我再跟你說這事吧”或“等到了那天早上我們再看是不是時間還適宜”好了，完全不算沒有禮貌或是效率不高，因為你無法預知那一天可能會有多么忙碌不堪，另一個任務可能會讓你覺得多么索然無味，或者就在那時那刻，你會有多么渴望溜旱冰或下棋或做點別的什么事。

14. 在我們這個工業化、快節奏的社會，我們經常把時間看作另一個可以用來安排的機械工6 / 7 具。但時間自有它變幻無常的形狀與韻律，任我們再怎么努力，也不可能讓它乖乖就范，將它禁錮在掌上電腦或日歷本的精確線條里。《時間平移》的作者斯蒂芬·雷希茨查芬建議你回想一個可怕的撞車(或險些撞車)的場景，或一個美妙的激情之夜。時間仿佛已經停滯了。你可以記起每個細節，歷歷如在眼前。跟這些相比，過分忙碌的某一周在你的記憶里只是一連串的模糊影子。要記住，我們的日子是會按獨有的模式來伸縮的，這也許是助我們與時間為友的最正確良策。

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