- 同样是"工作与生活的平衡"，四个人的故事给出四种完全不同的答案：朝九晚五被打卡监控的 Ronan、缩短工时反而工作量不减的 Jo、居家办公却容易加班到忘记吃饭的 Marcus，以及从家里搬到共享办公室才找到专注力的 Lily。
- Jo 的故事是全文最讽刺的一段——她申请三天工作制、工资跟着砍，结果工作量完全没有减少，只能把工作带回家做。
- Marcus 在家远程工作看似自由，实际问题是没有固定上下班时间，反而让他更容易一直工作到深夜。
- Lily 试过在家工作、试过咖啡厅工作，最后发现跟其他自由职业者一起租共享办公桌才是适合自己的解法。
- 读完能看到工作与生活平衡从来不是一套万能答案，而是要看工作模式（打卡制 / 远程 / 自由职业）分别调整。
重点内容
原文 / 段落
Work–life balance
Ronan
I work in a fairly traditional office environment doing a typical nine-to-five job. I like my job, but it's annoying that my commute to work takes an hour and a half each way and most of my work could really be done online from home. But my boss doesn't seem to trust that we will get any work done if left to our own devices, and everyone in the company has to clock in and out every day. It's frustrating that they feel the need to monitor what we do so closely instead of judging us based on our task performance, like most companies do these days.
Jo
I used to do a typical five-day week, but after I came out of my parental leave, I decided that I wanted to spend more time with my children before they start school. After negotiating with my boss, we decided to cut my working week down to a three-day work week. This of course meant a significant cut in my pay too, as I'm paid on a pro-rata basis. I've since noticed, though, that my workload hasn't decreased in the slightest! I'm now doing five days' worth of work in three days, but getting paid much less for it! I find myself having to take work home just so that I can meet the deadlines. It's wearing me out trying to juggle work with looking after my children and my family, but I don't dare to bring this up with my boss because I think he feels as if he's made a huge concession letting me come in only three days a week.
Marcus
I work for a global IT company, but because their headquarters is in the States, I do all my work online from home. That means that I don't waste time commuting or making idle chit-chat with colleagues. I work on a project basis, and this flexibility is very valuable to me because it means that I can easily take some time off when my children need me to go to their school performances or if I need to schedule an appointment with the dentist. The downside is that without clear office hours, I tend to work well into the evening, sometimes skipping dinner to finish a task. It can also get quite lonely working on my own, and I sometimes miss sharing ideas with colleagues.
Lily
I'm a freelancer and work for myself. This is great because I am in control of what I do and how I spend my time. At first, I was working from home, but I found it really hard to concentrate. There were just too many distractions around: housework that needed doing, another cup of tea, my family members wanting my attention for various things. So I started to go to a nearby café to work, but the Wi-Fi connection wasn't ideal and I found myself drinking too much coffee. In the end, I decided to rent a desk in a co-working space with five other freelancers like myself. I liked getting dressed to go to work in the morning and being able to focus in an office environment. The other freelancers do similar kinds of web-based work to me and so it's nice to have workmates to bounce ideas off as well.
生词表
| 英文 | 中文 | 备注 |
|---|---|---|
| commute (n./v.) | 通勤 | |
| clock in / clock out | 打卡上班 / 打卡下班 | |
| parental leave | 育儿假 | |
| pro-rata | 按比例（计算薪资） | 常用于兼职 / 减少工时后的薪资计算 |
| workload | 工作量 | |
| juggle | 同时应付（多件事） | 比喻用法，像"抛球杂耍"一样兼顾多头事务 |
| idle chit-chat | 闲聊 | idle 这里指"无实际目的的" |
| flexibility | 灵活性 | |
| freelancer | 自由职业者 | |
| co-working space | 共享办公空间 |
理解要点
- 四段是平行结构，每人回答的其实是同一个问题（你的工作模式怎样、优点缺点是什么），读的时候可以列一张表格对照四人的答案。
- 每段几乎都是先说好处，再说 but / however 之后的代价，这个转折词是抓每个人真正态度的关键。
- Jo 的段落信息量最大，工资被砍但工作量不变这种反差，是全文最容易被出题的细节。
- 四个人没有一个说"我的方式最好"，文章的态度是呈现多元现实，不是替读者下结论，回答理解题时不要自己脑补作者认为哪种最好。
Sources
Blog / Website：