经济学人:工作vs娱乐 万圣节的烦恼(1)

 　　Britain 英国

　　Work VS Play: The Easter Blues¹ 工作vs娱乐：万圣节的烦恼

　　Despiting Kris Chocolate Russians, Children would rather be at school. 尽管可以吃巧克力，孩子们还是想在学校待着。

　　English schoolchildren enjoy 13 weeks of holiday a year. 英国的在校生每年享有13周的假期。

　　To jaded² office workers (and perhaps the Green Party) that may sound ideal. 这对疲惫的上班族（也可能是绿党）来说是非常不错的待遇了。

　　Indeed, few children complain that they spend too much time away from exams, homework and the possibility of detention³. 事实上，很少有孩子抱怨他们在考试，作业和留校之前花了太多的时间。

　　Yet a new research paper suggests that maybe they should: for children are happier when at school than during the holidays. 然而一篇新的学术论文建议也许他们应该让孩子在学校里比在假期中更开心。

　　The Easter break, which begins this week at many schools, is the gloomiest time of the year. 许多学校在本周开始放复活节假，这是一年中最灰暗的时期。

　　The analysis looks at data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, which has tracked the ups and downs of 40,000 households since 2009. 分析员查阅了英国家庭纵向研究的资料，这些资料自2009年起前后追踪了40000户家庭的起起落落。

　　As children are surveyed at different times of the year, Gundi Knies, the author, is able to compare their cheeriness across the calendar. 每年都在不同的时间段去调查这些家庭的孩子，作者甘地·柯尼斯（Gundi Knies）就可以在时间上比较他们的活泼程度了。

　　She finds that younger children are happier than teenagers, and that teenage girls are moodier⁴ than teenage boys. 她发现小一点的儿童会比青少年更开心，而十几岁的男孩子会比十几岁的女孩子更开心。

　　The data offer a clue as to what explains the holiday glumness⁵. 这些数据似乎可以解释假期抑郁（这一现象）。

　　One possibility is that it is caused by a mild form of separation anxiety. 其中的一种可能便是分离的焦虑。

　　Ms Knies notes that although children's reported satisfaction with their family does not decline during the holidays, their satisfaction with their friends does. 柯尼斯（Knies）解释道，虽然与父母呆在一起会让孩子们感到满足，然而他们却也想与朋友也待在一起。

1 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

2 jaded   

adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• I felt terribly jaded after working all weekend. 整个周末工作之后我感到疲惫不堪。
• Here is a dish that will revive jaded palates. 这道菜简直可以恢复迟钝的味觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

4 moodier   

adj.喜怒无常的( moody的比较级 )；忧悒的；（无缘无故）不高兴的；脾气坏的

参考例句：

5 glumness   

n.忧郁

参考例句：