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Thursday In one video that went viral this summer, a Shanghai amateur choir devoted a tongue-in-cheek song to their status as overtime dogs–a slang term for white-collar workers–entitled "My Body Is Hollowed Out." 在今年夏天中国流行的一段视频中，上海一支业余合唱团演唱了一首献给“加班狗”的搞笑歌曲《感觉身体被掏空》，而这里的“加班狗”则是对白领的谑称。 文中的overtime dogs就是“加班狗”的意思，其中overtime用作名词，意为“加班时间；延长时间”，常见的词汇搭配如：overtime bonus（加时工作奖）、overtime goods（过期货物）、overtime ban（拒绝加班）。 Dogs are barking. 汪汪汪…… "Who needs sleep? What a waste of time!” they sing. “Who needs to eat when PowerPoint is my sustenance?” "谁需要睡觉，多么浪费时间啊；谁想要吃饭，PPT是维他命。" Long working hours are a way of life in China, no matter what the industry. 长时间的工作在中国已经成为一种生活方式，所有行业都难以幸免。 The workplace culture in China’s start-up scene is even more demanding than in Silicon Valley, says Gary Rieschel, the US co-founder of Qiming Venture Partners. 中国启明创投公司的美国合伙人雷歇尔认为中国初创科技公司的公司文化比硅谷还要苛刻。 One reason for this, he says, is that for many tech start-ups in China, their business models are not based on a unique idea, but one derived from somewhere else, either another start-up in China or one in the US. 其中一个原因是，它们的商业模式不是基于独特的创新观点，而是从别的公司或者外国公司那借鉴来的。 This leaves them only two ways to compete—on cost and speed. And when you’re competing on low cost and speed, there’s really only one culture to be successful, and that’s a 24-7, 365 (day) culture--work anytime at all seasons without one second rest. 在这种情况下，想要和别人竞争只有两条路：低成本、速度快。在这种思路下运营的公司，想要成功，企业文化只有一条：一天24小时、一周7天、一年365天上班。
For many young tech workers, there’s also no semblance of work-life balance: the job is their life. Many relocate to cities where they don’t have family or friends so they’d rather stay late at the office to make extra money and socialise with colleagues. 对于科技公司的很多年轻员工来说，没有什么平衡工作和生活一说，工作就是生活。很多年轻人到举目无亲的大城市工作，他们在当地没有要好的朋友也没有家人，所以有些人宁愿下了班也在办公室待着，可以多挣点钱还能和同事聊聊天。 Young people in China today don’t care as much as previous generations about joining a big, established company where their jobs are stable but their impact might be marginal. They’re more drawn to the thrill of a start-up, building something from scratch. 中国现在的年轻人和上一代不同，不在乎自己是不是在知名大国企有一份稳定的工作，反而更享受白手起家创业带来的成就感。 "It’s not about working, this is part of their lifestyle. They don’t want to go home, they just want to stay there." And, for that, an 60-to-70-hour work per week might be the biggest trade-off. “这跟工作没关系，这是他们生活方式的一部分，他们不想回家，只是想待在公司里”。这个最大的代价就是每周工作60到70个小时。 拓展 Most of us feel exhausted after working for at least eight hours a day, five days a week. Wake up and repeat. And repeat and repeat and repeat. No wonder you feel tired. 对于我们大多数人来说，在至少一周5天、一天8小时的工作之后都感觉很疲惫。早上醒来再重复同样的日程，重复、重复再重复，难怪你会那么累。 So how do you get out of this vicious cycle? How do you restart your life? Hint: NOT by adding something new to your life. But by making sure your body is ready and able to actually handle new hobbies. 那你该如何走出这样的恶性循环呢？如何重新开始你的生活呢？提示你一下：不需要给你的生活添加些什么新的东西，只要确保你做好准备能够搞定新的习惯就行。 The first three things to check to make sure you have done right: 首先，有三个方面你要确保自己做对了： YOUR MINDSET 心态 YOUR SLEEP 睡眠 YOUR FOOD 食物 Don't let your days roll by in the continual humdrum. Start by re-examining these key habits in your life already to build a body that can start doing things you want. 不要让自己的生活处于持续的无聊状态，开始重新审视一下自己生活中这3个主要习惯，打造出健康的身体去做你想做的事。 You know how you have to "defragment" your computer? Well, sometimes our brains need some defragmenting, too! 你知道我们需要定期清理电脑吧？ 有时候，人脑也需要清理清理。 单词解析 defragment vt.除…的碎片； defragmenting 碎片整理 本文部分内容来自中国日报网英语点津、可可英语、腾讯视频 点击公众号菜单栏“每月读原著”立即加入有书英语共读 ★ 编辑：刘亚南，Overtime dogs? Overtime ban! ★ 编校：泉涌君，Overtime dogs? Overtime ban! —共读书籍简介— 《瓦尔登湖》是美国作家梭罗独居瓦尔登湖畔的记录，描绘了他两年多时间里的所见、所闻和所思，记录了他在简单生活中深入思考与重塑自我的心路历程。文笔宁静恬淡，不流于表浅，而是有着博物学家的精确，引人深思。该书崇尚简朴生活，彰显大自然的风光，语言生动，意境深邃。出版于1854年。 【英语共读，限时报名】 系统、创新的学习计划，英语学习不再单一枯燥， 是时候，告别原来陈旧的英语学习方式了！ |
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