【强烈推荐】英文演讲：为了生活，工作真有必要那么拼吗？

What I thought I would do is I would start with a simple request. I'd like all of you to pause for a moment, you wretched weaklings, and take stock of your miserable existence.

我想我会从一个简单的请求开始。我希望你们都暂停一下，你们这些可怜的懦夫，好好想想你们悲惨的生活。

Nowthat was the advice that ST Benedict gave his rather startled followers in the 5th century. It was the advice that I decided to follow myself when I turned 40. Up until that moment, I had been that classic corporate warrior. I was eating too much. I was drinking too much. I was working too hard, and I was neglecting my family.

这是圣本笃在5世纪给他震惊的追随者的建议。这是我在40岁时决定遵循的建议。在那之前，我一直是一个典型的企业战士。我吃得太多了。我喝得太多了。我工作太努力了，但却忽视了我的家庭。

And I decided that I would try and turn my life around. In particular, I decided I would try to address the thorny issue of work life balance. So I stepped back from the workforce and I spent a year at home with my wife and 4 young children. But all I Learned about work life balance from that year was that I found it quite easy to balance work and life when I didn't have any work.

我决定试着改变我的生活。特别是，我决定尝试解决工作与生活平衡这个棘手的问题。所以我退出了工作岗位，在家里和我的妻子和四个年幼的孩子呆了一年。但从那一年起，我学到的关于工作与生活平衡的知识是，当我没有任何工作的时候，我发现平衡工作和生活是很容易的。

Not a very useful skill,especially when the money runs out. So I went back to work and I've spent the 7 years since struggling with, studying and writing about work life balance. I have 4 observations I'd like to share with you today.

然而并没有什么卵用，尤其是当钱用光的时候。我回到了工作岗位，从那以后的7年里，我一直在努力，研究和写作工作与生活的平衡。今天我想和大家分享四点心得。

The first is,if societies to make any progress on this issue, we need an honest debate.But the trouble is so many people talk so much rubbish about work life balance. All the discussions about flexitime or dress down Fridays or paternity leave only serve to mask the core issue, which is thecertain job and career choices are fundamentally incompatible with being meaningfully engaged on a day to day basis with a young family.

首先，如果社会要在这个问题上取得任何进展，我们需要一场深入的辩论。但问题是，很多人都在谈论工作与生活的平衡。所有关于弹性工作时间、星期五便装日或陪产假的讨论都掩盖了核心问题，即某些工作和职业选择与年轻家庭有意义的日常生活从根本上是不相容的。

Now, the first step in solving any problem is acknowledging the reality of the situation you're in. And the reality of the society that we're in is there are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like.

现在，解决任何问题的第一步是承认你所处的现实情况。我们所处的社会现实是有成千上万的人过着平静而绝望的生活，他们长时间辛苦地做着他们讨厌的工作来买他们不需要的东西，只是为了给他们不喜欢的人留下深刻印象。

And it's my contention that going to work on Friday in jeans and T-shirt isn't really getting to the nub of the issue.

我的观点是，周五穿着牛仔裤和t恤去上班并不是真正解决问题的关键。

The second observation I'd like to make is we need to face the truth that governments and corporations aren't going to solve this issue for us. Just stop looking outside. It's up to us as individuals to take control and responsibility for the type of lives that we want to lead. If you don't design your life, someone else will design it for you, and you may just not like their idea of balance.

我想说的第二个观点是，我们需要面对这样一个事实:政府和企业不会为我们解决这个问题。别再往外看了。我们每个人都应该为自己想要过的生活负起责任。如果你不设计你的生活，别人会为你设计，你可能只是不喜欢他们的平衡理念。

It's particularly important, this isn't on the worldwide webis it？I'm about to get fired. It's particularly important that you never put the quality of your life in the hands of a commercial corporation.

特别重要的是，这不会被上传到网络上吧?否则，我可要被解雇了。尤其重要的是，你永远不要把你的生活质量交给一家商业公司。

Now, I'm not talking here just about the bad companies, the abattoirs of the human soul, as I call them. I'm talking about all companies, because commercial companies are inherently designed to get as much out of you as they can get away with. It's in their nature. It's in their DNA. It's what they do. Even the goodwill intentioned companies.

现在，我在这里谈论的不仅仅是那些糟糕的公司，那些我称之为人类灵魂屠宰场的公司。我说的是所有的公司，因为商业公司本质上就是要从你身上榨取尽可能多的东西。这是他们的天性。这是他们的基因。这就是他们的工作。即使是善意的公司。

On the one hand, putting childcare facilities in the workplace is wonderful and enlightened. On the other hand, it's a nightmare itjust means you spend more time at the bloody office. We have to be responsible for setting and enforcing the boundaries that we want in our life.

一方面，把托儿设施放在工作场所是美好和开明的。另一方面，这是一场噩梦，这只意味着你要花更多的时间在该死的办公室。我们必须负责设定和执行我们生活中想要的界限。

The 3rd observation is we have to be careful with the time frame that we choose upon which to judge our balance. Before I went back to work after my year at home, I sat down and I wrote out a detailed step by step description of the ideal balance day that I aspire to.

第三点观察是，我们必须谨慎选择判断平衡的时间框架。在家呆了一年，回到工作岗位之前，我坐下来，一步一步详细勾勒了我所渴望的完美的一天。

And it went like this：Wake up well rested after a good night's sleep, have sex, walk the dog, have breakfast with my wife and children, have sex again, drive the kids to school on the way to the office, do 3 hours work. Play sport with a friend at lunchtime, do another 3 hours work, meet some mates in the pub for an early evening drink, drive home for dinner with my wife and kids, meditate for half an hour, have sex, walk the dog, have sex again, go to bed.

具体如下：充足的睡眠之后精神抖擞的醒来，做爱，遛狗，和妻子孩子吃早餐，再做爱，在去办公室的路上开车送孩子上学，工作3小时，午餐时间和朋友一起运动，再工作3个小时，晚上在酒吧和朋友见面喝一杯，开车回家和我的妻子和孩子吃晚饭，冥想半个小时，做爱，遛狗，再做爱，上床睡觉。

How often do you think I had that day? We need to be realistic. You can't do it all in one day. We need to elongate the time frame upon which we judged the balance in our life, but we need to elongate it without falling into the trap of the, I'll have a life when I retire, when my kids have left home, whenmy wife has divorced me, my health is failing, I've got no mates or interests left. A day is too short after our time is too long. It's got to be a middle way.

你觉得我还要等多久会有这样的一天?我们需要现实一点。你不可能在一天之内做完所有的事情。我们需要延长我们判断生活平衡的时间框架，我们需要延长它，而不是陷入这样的陷阱。当我退休时，当我的孩子长大离开家时，当我的妻子离开我时，当我的健康每况愈下时，当我没有伴侣或兴趣时，那时候我会拥有我想要的生活。一生太久，一天又太短。需要一个折中的办法。

A fourth observation.We need to approach balance in a balanced way. A friend came to see me last year. She doesn't mind me telling a story. A friend came to see me last year. I said, Nigel, I've read your book. And I realized that my life is completely out of balance. It's totally dominated by work. I work 10 hours a day. I commute 2 hours a day. All my relationships have failed. There's nothing in my life apart from my work. So I've decided to get a grip and sort it out. So I joined the gym.

第四个观察。我们需要以平衡的方式接近平衡。去年有个朋友来看我。她不介意我讲故事。他说，奈杰尔，我读过你的书，我意识到我的生活完全失去了平衡，它完全被工作所支配。我每天工作10个小时。我每天通勤2小时。我所有的恋爱都失败了。我的生活中除了工作什么都没有。所以我决定控制住自己，把事情弄清楚。所以我加入了健身房。

Now, I don't mean to mock, but being a fit 10 hour a day office rat isn't more balanced, it's more fit. lovely Though physical exercise maybe, there are other parts to life. There's the intellectual side, there's the emotional side, there's the spiritual side. And to be balanced, I believe we have to attend to all of those areas, not just to 50 stomach crunches.

现在，我并不是要嘲笑你，但是每天工作10小时的健康上班族并不是更平衡，而是更健康。虽然可能是体育锻炼，但生活还有其他部分。有理智的一面，有情感的一面，还有精神的一面。为了保持平衡，我认为我们必须注意所有这些方面，而不仅仅是做50个仰卧起坐就算平衡了。

Now that can be daunting. Cause people say, , mate, I haven't got time to get fit. You want me to go to church and call my mother. And I understand. I truly understand how that can be daunting. But an incident that happened a couple of years ago gave me a new perspective.

这可能会令人望而生畏。因为人们会说，伙计，我没时间健身。你想让我去教堂给我妈妈打电话。我理解。我真的明白那是多么令人畏惧。但几年前发生的一件事给了我一个新的视角。

My wife, who is somewhere in the audience today called me up at the office and say, Nigelyou need to pick our younger son ,harry, from school. She had to be somewhere else about other 3 children that evening. So I left work an hour early that afternoon and picked harry up at the school gates. We walk down to the local park, messed around on the swings, play some silly games.

我的妻子今天坐在观众席上，她打电话给我说，奈杰尔，你得去学校接我们的小儿子哈里。那天晚上她为了其他三个孩子去别的地方了。所以那天下午我提前一个小时下班，到学校门口接哈利。我们走到当地的公园，荡秋千，玩一些无聊的游戏。

I then walked him up the hill to the local cafe and we shared a pizza for tea. Then walked down the hill to our home and I gave him this bath and put him in his Batman pajamas. I then read him a chapter of roll dolls, James and the giant peach, and then put him to bed, tucked him in, getting a kiss on his forehead and said good night and walked out of his bedroom. As I was walking out of his bedroom, he said, dad, yes, mate. He went, dad, this has been the best day of my life ever. I haven't done anything, haven't taken to Disney world, aboard the PlayStation.

然后我陪他上山到当地的咖啡馆，我们一起吃披萨喝茶。然后走下山回到我们家，我给他洗了个澡，给他穿上蝙蝠侠睡衣。然后我给他读了一章关于卷娃娃、詹姆斯和大桃子的故事，然后把他放到床上，给他盖好被子，在他额头上吻了一下，说了声晚安，然后走出了他的卧室。当我走出他的卧室时，他说，爸爸，这是我一生中最美好的一天。我什么都没做，没去过迪斯尼乐园，没玩过游戏机。

Now, my point is the small things matter. Being more balanced doesn't mean dramatic upheaval in your life. With the smallest investment in the right places, you can radically transform the quality of your relationships and the quality of your life.

我想说的是细节很重要。更加平衡并不意味着你的生活发生剧变。在适当的地方进行最小的投资，你可以从根本上改变你的人际关系和生活质量。

Moreover, I think it can transform society, because if enough people do it, we can change society's definition of success away from the simplistic notion that the person with the most money when he dies wins, to a more thoughtful and balanced definition of what a life well lived looks like. And that, I think, is an idea worth spreading.

此外，我认为它可以改变社会，因为如果有足够多的人这样做，我们就可以改变社会对成功的定义，不再简单地认为死时钱最多的人就是赢家，而是对美好生活的更深思熟虑、更平衡的定义。我认为，这是一个值得推广的理念。