中英双语新闻——204 I’ll do it tomorrow, I swear!

 　　As the new semester begins, millions of college students across the country are trying hard to remember how best to write a paper–or, more likely, how best to delay that paper.

 

　　新学期伊始，全国数百万的大学生都努力回忆起如何交出一篇精彩的论文，又或者，大多数人都在想如何尽量拖延时间。

 

　　Procrastination¹ is the thief of time and a lot of students suffer from it. They can spend whole days in the library doing nothing but staring into space, eating snacks, surfing the Internet, watching videos and looking at their pretty peers sitting around them, who, most likely, are doing nothing either.

 

　　拖延症就像偷窃时光的小偷，令许多学生深受其害。他们整天窝在图书馆里无所事事，只是发呆、吃零食、上网、看视频或是看看自己身边漂亮的同学，这些人也大都无所事事。

 

　　Paralyzed by their habit to procrastinate², they write micro blogs about their fears, asking their online friends if they sometimes have the same issue. But this does nothing to break the spell.

 

　　拖延习惯令他们无法正常学习，于是写微博来表达自己的恐惧，询问网友是否有时也会遭遇相同状况。然而，这种做法无济于事，无法打破拖延症的魔咒。

 

　　According to a recent report by the BBC, 95 percent of us procrastinate at some point and 20 percent of the world’s population are chronic³ procrastinators, complicating⁵ their lives with their incessant⁶ delaying of tasks.

 

　　BBC最新的一份报告显示，全世界人口中，95%的人只是偶尔拖延，20%的人则是长期性拖延，不断拖延工作令他们的生活变得一团糟。

 

　　The figures are dismal⁷. Procrastinators are less wealthy, less healthy and less happy than those who don’t delay. Just look at Hamlet, who is perhaps the world’s most famous procrastinator⁴. He is also a university student, and his crippling indecision leads to tragedy on an epic⁸ scale.

 

　　这些数据十分可怕。与旁人相比，拖延症患者囊中羞涩，健康堪忧，苦恼也更多。来看看哈姆雷特吧，他可能是世界上最著名的拖延症患者了。他也是一名大学生，而极度优柔寡断酿成了千古悲剧。

 

　　Procrastinators like to find excuses to justify⁹ their behavior, but BBC columnist¹⁰ Rowan Pelling says they are all wrong.

 

　　尽管拖延症患者喜欢为自己的行为找借口，但是BBC专栏作家罗曼?佩林则表示他们都错了。

 

　　Many procrastinators tell themselves they are perfectionists who work best under pressure. Pelling says this is nonsense, as work done at the last minute is more likely to have mistakes than work done on time.

 

　　许多拖延症患者都会告诉自己，他们是在压力之下才能高效工作的完美主义者。佩林称这完全是胡说八道，因为与按时完成工作相比，拖到最后更容易出错。

 

　　She says the behavior of procrastinators often makes them feel flustered¹¹ and ashamed, inconveniences others, and annoys loved ones.

 

　　她说，拖延症患者的行为常常令他们感到慌乱和惭愧，给他人带来麻烦，也会惹恼爱人。

 

　　Pelling also points out that procrastination feels particularly delinquent¹² in a society that views swift action as commendable¹³, and, at times, even as a moral good.

 

　　佩林还指出，在一个盛赞雷厉风行、有时甚至以此为道德标准的社会中，拖延症尤其是一种过失行为。

 

　　Fortunately, social scientists have thrown their weight behind efforts to understand this behavioral flaw and offer strategies to control it.

 

　　好在社会科学家们已经联手致力于破解这种行为缺陷，并提出一系列防控策略。

 

　　Piers¹⁴ Steel, a Canadian social scientist and author of The Procrastination Equation, believes humankind is “designed” to procrastinate. Nevertheless, he suggests a couple of good ways to get through the task at hand.

 

　　加拿大社会科学家、《拖延等式》一书的作者皮尔斯?斯蒂尔认为，人类生来患有拖延症。不过，他提供了几种尽快完成手头工作的好方法。

 

　　The first one is obvious: Break the task down into small pieces and work your way through them methodically.

 

　　第一种方法显而易见：把你的任务分成小份，并用你自己的方法有条不紊地完成它们。

 

　　The second is ingenious: Give a trusted friend a sum of money and tell them that if you don’t complete the task you have undertaken by a specific time, they can keep it or donate it to a cause you hate.

 

　　第二种方法十分巧妙：给你信得过的朋友一笔钱并告诉他们，如果你不能在规定时间里完成手头的工作，他们可以归为己有或是把钱捐给那些你不喜欢的慈善事业。

1 procrastination   

n.拖延，耽搁

参考例句：

• Procrastination is the father of failure. 因循是失败的根源。
• Procrastination is the thief of time. 拖延就是浪费时间。

2 procrastinate   

v.耽搁，拖延

参考例句：

• Most often we procrastinate when faced with something we do not want to do.面对不想做的事情，我们经常拖延。
• It's easy to procrastinate when the deadline seems infinitely far away.当最终期限总是遥遥无期时是很容易延期的。

3 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

4 procrastinator   

n. 拖延者, 拖拉者, 因循者

参考例句：

• General Peckem's communications about cleanliness and procrastination made Major Major feel like a filthy procrastinator. 佩克姆将军谈到清洁和拖延的那些简报，使梅杰少校感到自己象一个邋遢的、作风拖拉的家伙。
• This is also a great help if you are a procrastinator. 如果你是一个拖拉的人，这样会对你很有帮助。

5 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

6 incessant   

adj.不停的，连续的

参考例句：

• We have had incessant snowfall since yesterday afternoon.从昨天下午开始就持续不断地下雪。
• She is tired of his incessant demands for affection.她厌倦了他对感情的不断索取。

7 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

8 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

9 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

10 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

11 flustered   

adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The honking of horns flustered the boy. 汽车喇叭的叫声使男孩感到慌乱。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She was so flustered that she forgot her reply. 她太紧张了，都忘记了该如何作答。 来自辞典例句

12 delinquent   

adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者

参考例句：

• Most delinquent children have deprived backgrounds.多数少年犯都有未受教育的背景。
• He is delinquent in paying his rent.他拖欠房租。

13 commendable   

adj.值得称赞的

参考例句：

• The government's action here is highly commendable.政府这样的行动值得高度赞扬。
• Such carping is not commendable.这样吹毛求疵真不大好。

14 piers   

n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩

参考例句：

• Most road bridges have piers rising out of the vally. 很多公路桥的桥墩是从河谷里建造起来的。 来自辞典例句
• At these piers coasters and landing-craft would be able to discharge at all states of tide. 沿岸航行的海船和登陆艇，不论潮汐如何涨落，都能在这种码头上卸载。 来自辞典例句