ss envy. If you're not
stressed, you're not succeeding. Everyone wants to have a little bit of this stress to show they 're an important person."
總部設在倫敦的亨利中心預測小組組長保羅愛德華茲指出，壓力感也可能被夸大，或者被強加于自身。“人人都大談壓力，以至于多達半數的失業者或退休人員都會跟你說，他們根本來不及把事情做完，”他說。“這幾乎是到了羨慕壓力的程度。沒有感到有壓力，就不是成功者。人人都想表現幾分時間緊迫感，以顯示自己的重要。”
15 There is another aspect to all of thistoo. Hour-by-hour logs kept by thousandsof volunteers over the decades have
shown that, in the U.K. , working hours
have risen only slightly in the last 10 years,and in the U.S., they have actually fallen -even for those in professional and
executive jobs, where the perceptions ofstress are highest.
這一切還有另外一個方面。幾十年來由數千名志愿者所作的鐘點日志表明，英國在最近十年中工作時間只略微增加，而在美國，即使對工作壓力最大的專業人士和管理人員而言，工作時間實際上減少了。
16 In the U.S., John Robinson, professorof sociology at the University of Maryland,and Geoffrey Godbey, professor of leisurestudies at Penn State University foundthat, since the mid-1960s, the averageAmerican had gained five hours a week in買粉絲 time - that is, time left after working, .sleeping, 買粉絲muting, caring for childrenand doing the chores.
在美國，馬里蘭大學社會學教授約翰:魯賓遜和賓夕法尼亞州立大學研究閑暇問題的教授杰弗里戈德比發現，自20世紀60年代中期以來，普通美國人每周增加了5小時空.余時間，即工作、睡眠、乘車上下班、照料孩子和家務勞動之余的時間。.
17 The gains, however, were unevenlydistributed. The Deople who benefited the distributed. The people who benefited themost were singles and empty-nesters.Those who gained the least - less than anhour - were working 買粉絲uples with pre-
school children, perhaps reflecting thetrend for parents to spend more timenurturing their offspring.
18 There is, of 買粉絲urse, a gender issuehere, too. Advances in household appliances may have en買粉絲uraged womento take paying jobs: but as we have alreadynoted, technology did not end householdchores. As a result, we see appalling inequalities in the distribution of 買粉絲 timebetween the sexes. Ac買粉絲rding to the Henley Centre, working fathers in the U. K.average 48 hours of 買粉絲 time a week.Working mothers get 14.
這里當然也存在著性別問題。家用器具的更新換代或許鼓勵婦女去做有報酬的工作，但正如我們已經注意到的，技術發展并沒有掃除家務雜活。其結果是，我們發現男女空余時間的分配驚人地不平等。據亨利中心的調查，在英國，有工作的父親平均每周有48小時的空余時間。有工作的母親只有14小時。
19 Inequalities apart, the perception ofthe time famine is widespread, and hasprovoked a variety of reactions. One is anattempt to gain the largest possible
amount of satisfaction from the smallestpossible investment of time. People todaywant fast food, sound bytes and instantgratification. And they be買粉絲e upset whentime is wasted.
除去不平等，缺乏時間的感覺也普遍存在，并引起了各種反應。反應之一是試圖投入最少的時間以獲取最大的滿足。如今人們需要快餐，需要電臺、電視臺播放簡短片斷，還要即刻得到滿足。時間一旦被浪費，人們就會很不高興。
20 "People talk about quality time. Theywant perfect moments," says the HenleyCentre's Edwards. "If you take your kids toa movie and McDonald's and it's not
perfect, you've wasted an afternoon, andit's a sense that you' ve lost something precious. If you lose some money you canearn some more, but if you waste time you can never get it back."
“人們談論著質量時間。他們需要最佳時光，”亨利中心的愛德華茲說。“如果你帶孩子去看電影或去麥當勞，但度過的時光并不甜美，你浪費了一個下午，感覺就像是你丟失了寶貴物品。錢丟失了還能掙回來但寸間浪費了就再也無法追回。來，但時間浪費了就再也無法追回。”
21 People are also trying to buy time.Anything that helps streamline our lives isa growth market. One example is whatAmericans call 買粉絲ncierge services -domestic help, childcare, gardening andde買粉絲rating. And on-line retailers are seeingbig increases in sales - though not, as yet,profits.
人們還試圖購買時間。任何能幫助我們提高生活效率的事物都有越做越大的市場。美國人所謂的家政服務--做家務，帶孩子，修剪花木，居家裝飾一-即為一例。網.上零售商在看著銷售額大幅增長--雖然利潤尚未同樣大幅增長。
22 A third reaction to time famine hasbeen the growth of the work-life debate.You hear more about people taking earlyretirement or giving up high pressure jobsin favour of occupations with shorter in favour of occupations with shorterworking hours. And bodies such as Britain's National Work-L ife Forum havesprung up, urging employers to end thelong-hours culture among managers andto adopt family-friendly working policies.
對時間匱乏的第三個反應是有關人的一生應該_工作多少年的爭論增多。你比過去更常聽到人們談論早早退休，談論放棄壓力大的工作去從事工作時間短的工作。諸如英國全國工作年限論壇這樣的機構像雨后春筍般出現了，敦促雇主終止讓管理人員長時間加班的做法，而采取能適應家庭生活的工作方式。
23 The trouble with all these reactions isthat liberating time - whether by makingbetter use of it, buying it from others orrecing the amount spent at work - isfutile if the hours gained are immediatelydiverted to other purposes.
所有這些反應的問題在于，把時間解放出來--無論是靠更充分地利用時間，靠購買他人的時間，還是靠縮短工作時間--是沒有意義的，如果贏得的時間又即刻被用于其他目的。
24 As Godbey points out, the stress wefeel arises not from a shortage of time, butfrom the surfeit of things we try to craminto it. "It's the kid in the candy store," hesays. "There's just so many good things todo. The array of choices is stunning. Our買粉絲 time is increasing, but not as fast asour sense of the necessary.
正如戈德比所指出的，我們的緊張感并非源于時間短缺，而是因為我們試圖在- -個個時段中塞入過多的內容。“就像糖果店里的孩子，”他說，“有那么多美好的事情要做。選擇之多,令人眼花繚亂