When I was at university I spent a summertravelling around Europe with some friends, and one of them suggested we dropin on his parents’place in the south of France.

大学时的一个夏天，我和一群朋友一起环游欧洲，其中一个朋友邀请我们到法国南部他的父母家做客。

There are two things I remember about thatvisit.

说起那次拜访，有两件事我至今记忆犹新。

There was the mortification¹ of beinggreeted by a butler who ceremoniously carried my tatty² luggage —a fewthings stuffed into a plastic bag —to the suite³ ofrooms to which I’d been allocated⁴.

首先让我觉得很没面子的是，一名管家彬彬有礼地将我寒酸的行李——一只塞了许多东西的塑料包——送到为我安排的套房。

But what stays in my mind even more was theimage of his father —who turned out to be a famous tycoon⁵ —clad in smallswimming trunks with cigar clamped between teeth, holding a gin and tonic⁶ in onehand and a telephone receiver in the other.

而让我印象更为深刻的是我朋友父亲的样子——他原来是位有名的大亨——只见他穿着窄小的泳裤，嘴里叼着雪茄，一手端着杯金汤力，一手握着电话听筒。

The year was 1979 and this was what powerlooked like.

那时是1979年，当时大人物就是这样。

The man was too important to be out oftouch with the deals he was doing.

这个男人位高权重，没法将自己的生意放手不管。

So he had installed a telephone line by theswimming pool and passed his summers issuing instructions from a lounger by thewater.

所以他在泳池边也装上了电话，于是他在水边的躺椅上发号施令，度过了一个个夏日。

A quarter of a century later, technologyallowed all of us to pretend to be tycoons⁷.

25年过去了，技术使我们人人都能装成大亨。

We might not have had the butler or thepool house but everyone could head to the beach with a BlackBerry packed alongwith their towels.

也许我们没有管家或是带泳池的房子，但却都能带着浴巾和黑莓(BlackBerry)手机去海滩。

And because we could, we did.

正因为我们能这样做，我们就这样做。

Only for most of us, what we were doing wasnot deals, it was responding to mundane⁸ inquiries⁹ that could have waited twoweeks —or forever.

只不过我们多数人都不是在做生意，而是在回复鸡毛蒜皮的小事，这些事可以两周后再处理——或者干脆不用理会。

This year, I decided¹⁰ to do somethingradical that I hadn’t done for almost a decade.

今年，我决定做些大胆的尝试，我已经有将近十年没这样做了。

I took a proper holiday.

我惬意地度了个假。

I disconnected myself from work altogether.

全然抛开了工作。

I didn’t open any workmessages.

不去打开任何与工作有关的消息。

I spent time reading, walking, looking atthe sea —and sometimes getting into it —while I thoughtabout not much at all.

我阅读、散步、瞭望大海——有时到海里泡一泡——脑子里什么都不想。

When I returned to work and reacquaintedmyself with email, it was perfectly¹² straightforward¹³.

回来上班后，我非常简捷地处理了电子邮件。

I deleted almost all of them unread,responding only to the things that looked interesting.

我几乎删除了所有未读邮件，只回复那些看起来有趣的。

Far from feeling overwhelmed, I felt acertain excitement in the sudden immersion¹⁴ in work.

突然恢复工作不仅没让我觉得不堪重负，反而让我有一点兴奋。

It was a new-shoes and sharp-pencil sort offeeling that used to go with the beginning of a school term.

这种感觉似曾相识，就像以前在新学期伊始，穿上新鞋子，削尖了铅笔的感觉。

Over the past week it has started to dawnon me that my radical¹¹ action was not radical at all.

过去一周，我意识到自己的大胆举动其实一点都不大胆。

I was merely following the latest fashion.

仅仅是赶了趟时髦。

Last week I sent an email to anentrepreneur I know, and within seconds the automatic reply came back: I am onholiday until August 30 and will not be checking messages.

上星期，我给一位认识的企业家发了封邮件，随即就收到了自动回复：目前我正在休假，8月30日前不会查看信箱。

This was particularly remarkable¹⁵ given thatlast time I’d seen him —some five years ago —he had told me how he expected all his employees to respond tomessages instantly wherever they were and whatever they were doing.

这种口吻跟我上次见到他时——大约五年前——简直判若两人。那时他对我说，他希望所有员工，不论何时何地，都能第一时间回复信息。

So I emailed back asking what had made himchange his mind —but all I got in return was the same automatic message telling mehe wasn’t reading whatever I was sending.

于是，我回邮件问他为什么改变了想法——可收到的仍旧是一模一样的自动回复，无论我发什么，他都不会看。

The very next day I got an email from awoman who I had contacted before I went away.

就在第二天，我在休假前联系过的一位女士给我发了封邮件。

It began: Sorry for my radio silence —I have hada blissful two-week holiday and am just catching¹⁶ up on emails on my return.

邮件开头这样写道：抱歉一直没回复，我度过了一个两周长的愉快假期，回来后才开始处理邮件。

Here was the same thing again: a driven,thirtysomething entrepreneur who wanted me to know not how hard she worked onholiday but how she loafed around, and how much she enjoyed it.

这又是一个同样的事例，一个锐意进取、已届而立之年的企业家，想让我看到的不是她在假期如何努力工作，而是她如何放松，如何适得其乐。

To see how widespread this change is, I’ve done alittle experiment.

为了看看这种变化有多普遍，我做了个小实验。

I’ve collected all theout-of-office emails I’ve had this summer, and counted the number that were followed atonce by an email sent from the beach.

我收集了今年夏天收到的所有外出时的自动应答邮件，又数了数那些在第一时间从海滩回复的邮件。

Three years ago, it was very unusual for anautomatic message not to be quickly followed by a real one.

三年前，收到一封自动回复邮件后，如果没有一封真实的邮件紧随其后，是很稀罕的。

This year I’ve had a total of 38automatic messages telling me the sender was away, only six of which have beensucceeded by a personal, poolside reply.

今年，我总共收到38封外出时的自动应答邮件，其中只有6封邮件随后有真人从泳池边上发来了回复。

Bragging¹⁷ about not working on holiday seemsto be part of a wider trend —which I wrote about a few months ago —in whichfashionable execs flaunt¹⁸ not their long hours, but their short ones.

夸耀自己不在假期工作符合一种趋势：紧跟时代潮流的企业高管们炫耀的不再是花了很长时间工作，而是只用了很短时间就完成了工作——我几个月前曾写过一篇文章谈到了这种趋势。

To be emailing from the pool does not proveyou are powerful, it is starting to be seen for what it is —a sign ofweakness, poor time management and an inability to delegate.

在泳池边发邮件并不能证明你有影响力，这开始被人们视为能力不足、不善管理时间以及不会放权的证明。

If you can take two weeks off altogether itshows you have overcome all gadget¹⁹ addiction²⁰, and like a modern-day tycoon cancontrol when you work —and when you don’t.

如果你能休息整整两个星期，则说明你已经克服了对电子设备的依赖，而且像一个现代大亨一样，自己掌控着何时工作——何时不工作。