四天工作制究竟香不香

近日，一项为期半年、全球参与人数最多的“四天工作制”试验结果出炉。

🤔️小作业：

1. 标题中的convert是什么意思？

2.「试验、试点」怎么表达？

3. 文中的sell是什么意思？

无注释原文：

Trial Run of 4-Day Workweek Wins Converts

From: The New York Times

The pandemic changed how (and where) many people work. It has also given momentum to the question of whether the five-day week is standard because it’s best — or whether it’s just the way things have long been done.

A new report offers one answer.

In the second half of last year, 61 businesses in Britain offered their employees a four-day workweek as part of a pilot program. Researchers found that employers and employees noticed benefits.

Fifty-six of the companies, or 92 percent, said they would continue with a four-day week, according to the new report, and 18 confirmed that the change would be permanent. The study also found that companies’ revenue stayed broadly the same on average over the trial period — and that attrition among employees dropped significantly. In a survey about halfway through the study, most of the companies reported no loss of productivity during the trial.

“Taken as a whole, results from the U.K. trial therefore make clear that the four-day week is ready to take the next step from experimentation to implementation,” the report concluded.

“I think the four-day workweek essentially accelerates the effectiveness of both hybrid and flexible working,” said Dale Whelehan, the chief executive of 4 Day Week Global, a nonprofit group that conducted the study with researchers at Cambridge University and Boston College as well as Autonomy, a think tank. “Overworking ourselves leads to lower productivity and lower well-being,” he said, even if that work happens at home.

For decades, politicians and other leaders have talked about the possibility of a four-day week. Vice President Richard M. Nixon predicted it in the 1950s. In the 1970s, Douglas Fraser, the president of the United Auto Workers, said a shorter week was “absolutely inevitable.” But for various reasons — including inertia — the idea never took hold.

The British study isn’t the only one to look at whether a four-day workweek works. Experiments have also been conducted in the United States, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.

Not everyone is sold. Nick Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford, said that while the British study raised interesting questions for managers to consider, paying workers full-time salaries for four days of work was “a tough sell to managers and investors” because “most businesses are already trying hard to operate efficiently.” He also noted that the study had involved a small number of firms and that they had volunteered to participate.

Some 3,300 workers from banks, marketing, health care, financial services, retail, hospitality and other industries participated in the pilot program. Their responses were overwhelmingly positive: 90 percent of those employees said they definitely wanted to continue with a four-day week. None said they definitely did not want to. And 15 percent said no amount of money would motivate them to accept a five-day schedule at their next job.

The effects that workers reported on their well-being were striking: The study found that levels of anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues decreased, while mental and physical health improved. About 70 percent of employees said they had reduced levels of burnout by the end of the trial.

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注：中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Trial Run of 4-Day Workweek Wins Converts

From: The New York Times

The pandemic changed how (and where) many people work. It has also given momentum to the question of whether the five-day week is standard because it’s best — or whether it’s just the way things have long been done.

疫情改变了许多人的工作方式（和地点）。这也引发了一个问题：五天工作制成为常态是因为它是最好的，还是说这只是长期以来的一种做法。

韦氏词典2020年度词汇：Pandemic. 韦氏词典官方给出的释义为：an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population. 指的是疾病的爆发，所发生的地域广阔（如多个国家或大洲），通常影响很大一部分人口。

1）作名词，表示“（全国或全球性）流行病；大流行病”，英文解释为“a disease that spreads over a whole country or the whole world”；在新冠肺炎相关语境下，可以直接译成新冠疫情。

2）作形容词，表示“（疾病）大规模流行的，广泛蔓延的”，英文解释为“(of a disease) existing in almost all of an area or in almost all of a group of people, animals, or plants”举个🌰：

In some parts of the world malaria is still pandemic.在世界上一些地区疟疾仍在大规模流行。

对比：

📍epidemic表示“流行病”，英文解释为“a large number of cases of a particular disease happening at the same time in a particular community”，如：the outbreak of a flu epidemic 流感的爆发。

momentum /məˈmen.təm/ 表示“动量，冲量；冲力；推动力；势头”，英文解释为“the force that keeps an object moving or keeps an event developing after it has started”举个🌰：

Once you push it, it keeps going under its own momentum. 一旦你推动了它，它就会在自己的动量作用下持续运动。

A new report offers one answer.

一份新报告给出了一个答案。

In the second half of last year, 61 businesses in Britain offered their employees a four-day workweek as part of a pilot program. Researchers found that employers and employees noticed benefits.

去年下半年，英国61家企业作为试点，让员工实行四天工作制。研究人员发现雇主和员工都感受到了其中的好处。

熟词僻义，常见含义表示「飞行员」，可以作动词、作形容词，也可以直接作名词，比如形容词，表示“试验性的；试点的”，英文解释为“done on a small scale in order to see if sth is successful enough to do on a large scale”，如：例： a pilot project/study/survey 试验性项目/研究/调查。

📍政府工作报告中必定出现的词，如：加强自贸试验区改革开放创新，pursue reform, opening up, and innovation in pilot free trade zones,

Fifty-six of the companies, or 92 percent, said they would continue with a four-day week, according to the new report, and 18 confirmed that the change would be permanent. The study also found that companies’ revenue stayed broadly the same on average over the trial period — and that attrition among employees dropped significantly. In a survey about halfway through the study, most of the companies reported no loss of productivity during the trial.

新报告显示，其中56家公司（92%）表示将继续实行每周四天工作制。18家公司证实，这一变化将是永久性的。研究还发现，在试验期间，公司的平均收入基本保持不变，员工流失率大幅下降。在研究进行到一半左右的一项调查中，大多数公司报告称，试验期间生产力并没有降低。

表示“概括地，大体上地”，英文解释为“in a general way, without considering specific examples or all the details”举个🌰：

Many of the findings in this study are broadly similar to those of Lewis (2021). 这项研究的许多发现与刘易斯（2021）的结果大体相似。

1）表示“审讯，审理，审判”，英文解释为“A trial is a formal meeting in a law court, at which a judge and jury listen to evidence and decide whether a person is guilty of a crime.”举个🌰：

I have the right to a trial with a jury of my peers. 我有权要求由和我一样的平民组成的陪审团参加审判。

2）表示“（对能力、质量、性能等的）试验，试用”，英文解释为“the process of testing the ability, quality or performance of sb/sth, especially before you make a final decision about them”。

区分：

📍trail作名词则表示“小路，小径”，如：a forest/mountain trail 林间/山间小道，以及“臭迹；踪迹；痕迹；蛛丝马迹，线索”等意思（the smell or series of marks left by a person, animal, or thing as it moves along；various pieces of information that together show where someone you are searching for has gone）举个🌰：

The dogs are trained to follow the trail left by the fox. 这些狗经过特别的训练，能够追踪狐狸留下的气味。

attrition /əˈtrɪʃ.ən/ 1）表示“（尤指给敌人的力量或自信造成的）消耗，损耗，削弱”，英文解释为“gradually making something weaker and destroying it, especially the strength or confidence of an enemy by repeatedly attacking it”

2）表示“自然减员；（学生或雇员）人数减少”，英文解释为“a reduction in the number of people who work for an organization that is achieved by not replacing those people who leave”

“Taken as a whole, results from the U.K. trial therefore make clear that the four-day week is ready to take the next step from experimentation to implementation,” the report concluded.

报告总结道：“总的来说，英国试验的结果表明，四天工作制已准备从试验阶段进入实施阶段。”

“I think the four-day workweek essentially accelerates the effectiveness of both hybrid and flexible working,” said Dale Whelehan, the chief executive of 4 Day Week Global, a nonprofit group that conducted the study with researchers at Cambridge University and Boston College as well as Autonomy, a think tank. “Overworking ourselves leads to lower productivity and lower well-being,” he said, even if that work happens at home.

“我认为四天工作制实质上加快了混合办公和弹性工作的有效性，”非营利组织「4 Day Week Global」的首席执行官戴尔·惠勒汉（Dale Whelehan）说。该组织与剑桥大学、波士顿学院以及智库Autonomy的研究人员一起进行了这项研究。“过度工作会导致生产力下降和幸福感降低，”他说，即使这项工作在家中进行也会。

hybrid /ˈhaɪ.brɪd/ 表示“（两种完全不同的东西的）混合”，英文解释为“something that is a mixture of two very different things”举个🌰：

His work is an interesting hybrid of popular and classical music. 他的作品是经典与流行音乐有趣的混合。

表示“智囊团；智库”，英文解释为“a group of experts brought together, usually by a government, to develop ideas on a particular subject and to make suggestions for action”

For decades, politicians and other leaders have talked about the possibility of a four-day week. Vice President Richard M. Nixon predicted it in the 1950s. In the 1970s, Douglas Fraser, the president of the United Auto Workers, said a shorter week was “absolutely inevitable.” But for various reasons — including inertia — the idea never took hold.

几十年来，政客等领导人一直在谈论实行四天工作制的可能性。美国副总统理查德·M·尼克松（Richard M. Nixon）在20世纪50年代就预测到了这一点。20世纪70年代，美国汽车工人联合会主席道格拉斯·弗雷泽（Douglas Fraser）说，缩短一周的工作时间“是必然结果”。但由于各种原因——包括惰性——这个想法从未被采纳。

inevitable /ɪˈnev.ɪ.tə.bəl/ 表示“不可避免的；必然发生的”，英文解释为“certain to happen and unable to be avoided or prevented”举个🌰：

The accident was the inevitable consequence/result/outcome of carelessness. 这一事故是粗心导致的必然结果。

inertia /ɪˈnɜː.ʃə/ 表示“缺乏活力，惰性”，英文解释为“lack of activity or interest, or unwillingness to make an effort to do anything”举个🌰：

I can't seem to throw off this feeling of inertia. 我好像无法摆脱这种无力的感觉。

表示“变强；确立地位；固定下来”，英文解释为“to become strong; to be established”举个🌰：

The economic recovery is just beginning to take hold now. 经济复苏的趋势刚刚开始稳定下来。

The British study isn’t the only one to look at whether a four-day workweek works. Experiments have also been conducted in the United States, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.

英国的这项研究并不是唯一一项研究四天工作制是否有效的研究。美国、加拿大、爱尔兰、新西兰和澳大利亚也进行了实验。

Not everyone is sold. Nick Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford, said that while the British study raised interesting questions for managers to consider, paying workers full-time salaries for four days of work was “a tough sell to managers and investors” because “most businesses are already trying hard to operate efficiently.” He also noted that the study had involved a small number of firms and that they had volunteered to participate.

并非每个人都能接受。斯坦福大学经济学教授尼克·布鲁姆（Nick Bloom）说，尽管英国的研究提出了一些有趣的问题，值得管理者考虑，但为四天工作制的员工支付全职工资“很难说服管理者和投资者”，因为“大多数企业已经在努力提高运营效率。”他还指出，这项研究涉及少数公司，且是自愿参与的。

sell /sel/ 熟词僻义，表示“说服；使接受”，英文解释为“to persuade someone that an idea or plan is a good one and likely to be successful”举个🌰：

My boss is very old-fashioned and I'm having a lot of trouble selling the idea of working at home occasionally. 我的上司很守旧，我要费好大的劲才能使他相信偶尔在家里工作是个不错的主意。

Some 3,300 workers from banks, marketing, health care, financial services, retail, hospitality and other industries participated in the pilot program. Their responses were overwhelmingly positive: 90 percent of those employees said they definitely wanted to continue with a four-day week. None said they definitely did not want to. And 15 percent said no amount of money would motivate them to accept a five-day schedule at their next job.

大约3300名来自银行、市场营销、医疗保健、金融服务、零售、酒店等行业的员工参加了试点项目。他们的反应非常积极：90%的员工表示，他们肯定想继续实行四天工作制。没有人说他们绝对不愿意实行四天工作制。15%的人表示，再多的钱也无法激励他们在下一份工作中接受五天工作制。

表示“（待客用的）食物，饮料；招待，款待”，英文解释为“food, drink, entertainment, etc. that an organization provides for guests or business partners”如：the hospitality industry (= hotels, restaurants, etc.) 招待性行业（如旅馆、饭店等）。

overwhelmingly /ˌoʊvərˈwelmɪŋli/ 表示“压倒性地；不可抵抗地”，英文解释为“strongly or completely; in an overwhelming way”举个🌰：

The team were overwhelmingly defeated in yesterday's game. 在昨天的比赛中这支球队遭遇了惨败。

The effects that workers reported on their well-being were striking: The study found that levels of anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues decreased, while mental and physical health improved. About 70 percent of employees said they had reduced levels of burnout by the end of the trial.

员工们所报告的对他们幸福感的影响是惊人的。研究发现，焦虑、疲劳和睡眠问题的程度有所下降，而身心健康均得到改善。大约70%的员工表示，他们在试验结束时过劳程度有所降低。

1）表示“异乎寻常的，惊人的；引人注目的；显著的；不同寻常的”，英文解释为“Something that is striking is very noticeable or unusual.”举个🌰：

The most striking feature of those statistics is the high proportion of suicides. 那些统计数据最显著的特征是高自杀率。

2）表示“俊秀的；妩媚动人的；很有魅力的”，英文解释为“Someone who is striking is very attractive, in a noticeable way.”举个🌰：

She was a striking woman with long blonde hair. 她曾是一个留着金色长发的俊秀女子。

表示“极度劳累；疲劳过度”，英文解释为“extreme tiredness usually caused by working too much”如：employees complaining of/suffering burn-out 抱怨/感到极度劳累的员工。

根据世界卫生组织，职业过劳（Occupational burnout）是一种由慢性工作压力导致的症候群，症状包含“精神耗尽、对工作的心理距离增加、对工作的负面感觉、以及工作效率的减少”。职业过劳不被归类为一种医学疾病。

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