They're the latest must-have for any child who wants to get ahead. No, not a flashy toy or trendy gadget1, but a Pank (professional aunt, no kids).
他们是孩子们引领潮流的最新必备品。他们不是耀眼的玩具或时髦的小玩意,他们是"潘克族"(没有孩子的职场阿姨)。
This new breed of relative is well-off and always on hand to smother2 nephews and nieces with love and very expensive gifts.
这个新的亲戚群族手头宽裕,而且随时愿意用爱和价格不菲的礼物宠溺他们的外甥或侄子女。
Among notable Panks is actress Cameron Diaz. She was present at the births of all her three nieces and admits she spoils them rotten.
女星卡梅伦·迪亚兹就是"潘克族"。她的三个外甥女出生时她都在现场,而且她承认她对她们及其溺爱。
Sociologists coined the acronym3 to reflect the growing number of childless professional women who have plenty of disposable income and time to spend with youngsters. With more women choosing to focus on successful careers and delay having children, Panks are a growing phenomenon4.
社会学家们用这个缩写词来反映目前无子女的职业女性人数不断上升这一现象,她们有足够的可支配收入和时间跟孩子们一起相处。随着越来越多的女性专注于事业成功,推迟生孩子的计划,"潘克族"成为一个日渐突出的现象。
In physics, drag refers to the resistance experienced by an object moving through a fluid medium (such as air). Zero drag is an ideal state where the object experiences no resistance at all, much like a highly motivated employee who has few personal responsibilities and so can work long hours, travel frequently, or be called in to work with little notice.
从物理学的角度看,drag指物体在穿过某种流体媒介(如空气)时受到的阻力,而zero drag则是描述物体不受任何阻力的理想状态。这种零阻力的状态就像工作热情极高又没有什么个人责任负担的员工,可以长时间工作、频繁出差、有任务随叫随到。
The ideal zero-drag employee is young, unmarried and childless with no responsibilities and an eagerness to do well.
理想的零阻力员工一般都年轻、未婚、无子女负担,而且渴望将工作做好。
Soft-sided luggage refers to an employee whose talent and multi-tasking abilities allows him or her to take on assignment after assignment. They, like soft-side luggage, seemingly expand to handle the workload5. Of course, they completely collapse6 on weekends.
"软面行李箱"指才能出众、能同时处理多项任务的员工通常会接手一个又一个任务,就像软面行李箱一样可以拓展出空间来装更多的东西。当然,这些人一到周末基本都累昏过去了。
For example: Jenny is like a soft-sided luggage in the office. She is taking most of the assignments and can always handle them properly.
珍妮就像办公室里的软面行李箱一样,大部分的工作任务都由她接手,而且她都能处理好。
They look chic7 and sophisticated. They are soft and get hurt easily. They seem unbearably8 spoilt and can't take much pressure. They are the so-called "Strawberry Generation".
他们看起来时尚又世故。他们软弱也容易受伤。他们好像被宠得一塌糊涂,承受不了什么压力。他们就是所谓的"草莓族"。
The term was coined by a Taiwan writer in one of her books about office rules. It refers to the post-60s generation of office workers, who grew up in a protected environment and got easily dented9 - just like strawberries - by life's lightest knocks.
"草莓族"这个说法是由一位台湾作家在她一本关于办公室法则的书中创造出来的,它指的是60年代后出生的办公室职员,他们像草莓一样是在多方保护的环境中长大的,生活中轻微的碰撞就能让他们受到伤害。
This expression is now finding its way into the mainland, and refers to young workers, of only child families, who have been active in the workforce10 for just a year or two. They are generally well educated but are self-centered and give too much importance to appearance and material comforts.
这个说法现在在中国大陆也很流行,指刚刚参加工作一两年的独生子女一代。他们大都受过良好的教育,但多以自我为中心,过分注重外表和物质享受。
Durian clan11 refers to those ill-tempered co-workers who have been working for many years and are hard to get along with, just like the smelly fruit with thick thorny12 skin.
榴莲族,是对职场中有一定工作资历,但脾气像榴莲一样又臭又硬,不好相处的群体的称呼。
Unlike the strawberry clan, who are newbies in the workplace, people in the durian clan are accustomed to workplace routines, and may be experiencing a kind of job burnout after many years of hard work. As a result, they might easily show their hot temper in the office.
相对初入职场的草莓族来说,榴莲族已经入职多年,工作对于他们来说,也许早已脱离了兴趣爱好,每天只是过着按部就搬的日子。如此情况下,榴莲族们对职业的疲劳感会越来越深,对人对事,自然少了些随和,多了些暴躁。
In addition, people in the durian clan often don't look so well due to years of overwork and signs of aging. And as old hands in the workplace, they usually have thicker skin than others.
除此之外,长期熬夜加班再加上岁月的痕迹,让榴莲族的脸色不怎么好看,而且"职场老油条"的榴莲族们,往往脸皮都比较厚。
Princess clan is a workplace expression used to describe those who were mostly born after 1985, take their job as play, pay too much attention to their own needs and are too socially unsophisticated to heed13 public standards.
"格格党"是职场的一种称呼,指的是85后出生,视工作如儿戏,过度关注自己的利益,无法得到社会公共标准认同的这样一群人。
Called "princess clan", but the term doesn't necessarily refer to females only. The word "princess" here has two implications: first, "ge ge", the Chinese equivalent for "princess", means people in this clan are mostly spoiled and thus very much self-centered; second, "ge ge" is also the first two words of the Chinese idiom "ge ge bu ru (square peg14 in a round hole) ", implying that those people cannot fit in the workplace philosophy.
虽然叫做"格格党",但这个称呼并不仅仅指女性。"格格"这个词在这里有两重意思:第一,"格格"表示这一类人多是娇生惯养,以自我为中心;第二,"格格"同时也是成语"格格不入"的前两个字,暗示这些人在职场中格格不入。
Office dwellers16 refer to those who linger at their offices after official work hours, most of whom are in the country's first-tier cities. Some lingerers are demanded to work overtime17, some choose to evade18 traffic congestion19 during peak hours and some people, mainly living alone, are not willing to go home and prefer to kill time in the office.
Office dwellers(赖班族)指下班后还赖在办公室不走的人们,这些人多数都在国内一线城市生活。他们当中有些人留在办公室是因为加班;有人是为了躲避下班高峰时段的交通拥堵;还有一些人独自生活,下班了也不想回家,宁愿在办公室消磨时间。
For example: John is really an office dweller15. He is off at 6 pm, but usually leave his office around midnight.
约翰是个不折不扣的赖班族。他六点下班,但通常都是快半夜才走。
Desk potato is someone who sits at a desk all day long but gets little to nothing done -- usually because of websurfing or playing computer games. The term is derived20 from couch potato.
Desk potato(桌边神游族)指整天坐在书桌边,却不见有任何事情完成的人,通常都是因为他们成天都在上网闲逛或玩游戏。Desk potato这个说法来源于couch potato(电视迷、成天坐在沙发上无所事事的人)。
For example: Jim has become a real desk potato. Between Mahjong and Minesweeper he manages to squeeze in a few hours on MySpace, and then he plays RPG's(Role-playing game) 'til midnight.
吉姆已经成了不折不扣的"桌边神游族"。除了玩麻将和踩地雷游戏,他还会抽出几小时上MySpace,然后就一直玩角色扮演游戏到半夜。
Over-drained clan refers to employees who find themselves running out of new ideas as well as enthusiasm after spending all their time and energy on day-to-day work. They are usually regarded as spiritual victims of fast-paced jobs which deprive them of learning time.
"掏空族"指在工作中持续投入大量时间和精力后,又无暇进行学习和"充电",从而无法在职场再产生新的想法或工作热情的一群人。他们通常被视为当下快节奏职场中的精神牺牲品。
Working pressure and heated competition are the major factors behind the phenomenon. People have to put a lot of effort into their work to get their job secured, using up stock of knowledge they've got from previous education and losing enthusiasm for work. Keeping a good work-life balance may help them live a better life, and a lifelong learning plan will surely enable them to walk away from the clan.
工作压力和激烈的竞争是导致这一现象的主要因素。为了保住工作,人们把大量的精力都投入到工作当中, 把上学时学到的知识和技能都用尽了,也没了工作热情。保持好工作和生活的平衡能够使"掏空族"的生活更上一层楼,而如果有终身学习的规划,他们就一定能够摆脱被"掏空"的命运。
Certificate maniac21 refers to many job-seeking youngsters, like graduating college students, who devote their time to preparing for exams that award an array of certificates proving their language and computer skills in the hope of securing an edge over other applicants22 in the job market.
"哈证族"指正在求职的年轻人,也包括大学毕业生,他们投入大量时间考取能够证明他们语言能力或者计算机技能的证书,希望这些证书可以帮助他们在求职时比其他应聘者更具优势。
For example: This is the 5th certificate you've got in one year, you are really a certificate maniac.
这已经是你一年内拿到的第五个证书了,你可真是个"哈证族"。
They are invariably white-collar workers. Instead of "hello", they greet each other with "are you busy lately·" Their answers always indicate they are too busy. Their desks are forever stacked with piles of documents. And they can hardly turn away from the computer screen any time of the day.
他们都是白领。他们见面的问候语不是"你好"而是"最近忙吗?" 而得到的回答往往都显示他们实在太忙了。他们的办公桌永远都堆满了文件,他们的眼睛整天都盯着电脑屏幕,一刻都不离开。
It looks as if they are workaholics. Only that they are not. They just pretend to be. They are called the pretend-to-be-busy tribe.
看上去他们好像都是工作狂。实际上却不是,他们只是假装而已。他们被称为"装忙族"。
Oftentimes, their pile-up documents are just papers which should have been thrown into the waste basket a long time ago. The computer screen· The most common trick is to paste a novel into a work-related word document. In fact, there are many more tricks that you did not know.
通常情况下,他们桌上成堆的文件只是一些早该被扔进废纸篓的东西。一刻不离电脑屏幕?最常见的把戏就是把正在看的小说粘贴到一个工作文档里。事实上,还有很多你还不知道的类似招数呢。
Why do they do this· The monotony of nine-to-five, the fear of losing face if the other colleagues appear busy, and the experience that hard work has not been recognized...Forget all these far-fetched excuses. They just want to goof23 off.
他们为什么要这样装忙呢?朝九晚五的生活太枯燥,害怕在其他同事面前丢脸,或者之前的辛苦未得到肯定,等等。这些理由都太过牵强了,其实,他们只是不想那么卖力工作罢了。
1 gadget [ˈgædʒɪt] 第8级 | |
n.小巧的机械,精巧的装置,小玩意儿 | |
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2 smother [ˈsmʌðə(r)] 第9级 | |
vt./vi.使窒息;抑制;闷死;n.浓烟;窒息 | |
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3 acronym [ˈækrənɪm] 第9级 | |
n.首字母简略词,简称 | |
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4 phenomenon [fəˈnɒmɪnən] 第8级 | |
n.现象,特殊的人,特殊的事物,奇迹 | |
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5 workload [ˈwɜ:kləʊd] 第9级 | |
n.作业量,工作量 | |
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6 collapse [kəˈlæps] 第7级 | |
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷 | |
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7 chic [ʃi:k] 第10级 | |
n./adj.别致(的),时髦(的),讲究的 | |
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8 unbearably [ʌn'beərəblɪ] 第7级 | |
adv.不能忍受地,无法容忍地;慌 | |
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9 dented ['dentɪd] 第10级 | |
v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 );损害;伤害;挫伤(信心、名誉等) | |
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10 workforce [ˈwɜ:kfɔ:s] 第8级 | |
n.劳动大军,劳动力 | |
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11 clan [klæn] 第8级 | |
n.氏族,部落,宗族,家族,宗派 | |
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12 thorny [ˈθɔ:ni] 第11级 | |
adj.多刺的,棘手的 | |
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13 heed [hi:d] 第9级 | |
vt.&vi.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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14 peg [peg] 第8级 | |
n.木栓,木钉;vt.用木钉钉,用短桩固定 | |
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15 dweller [ˈdwelə(r)] 第9级 | |
n.居住者,住客 | |
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16 dwellers [ˈdweləz] 第9级 | |
n.居民,居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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17 overtime [ˈəʊvətaɪm] 第7级 | |
adj.超时的,加班的;adv.加班地 | |
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18 evade [ɪˈveɪd] 第7级 | |
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避 | |
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19 congestion [kənˈdʒestʃən] 第8级 | |
n.阻塞,消化不良 | |
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20 derived [dɪ'raɪvd] 第7级 | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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21 maniac [ˈmeɪniæk] 第9级 | |
n.精神癫狂的人;疯子 | |
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22 applicants [ˈæplikənts] 第7级 | |
申请人,求职人( applicant的名词复数 ) | |
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