工作时间看世界杯的乐趣

 　　I’ve been a World Cup enthusiast¹ for longer than I care to admit, but I still don’t consider myself any kind of expert on soccer.

　　I have, however, become an expert on watching World Cup matches during work hours.

　　I’m taking the risk of getting fired for that last sentence becausesomebody needs to point out that we’re presently experiencing the most watch-at-work-friendly World Cup ever. (Even the cultural authority Google Doodles has tacitly acknowledged as much. See below.) And it’s all thanks to the technological² evolution in the ways we watch, communicate, and bond.

　　My Cup obsession³ began at a time when catching⁴ every game meant watching a fair number of them on Spanish-language cable. By the time I entered the work force and moved to New York in the mid-1990s, the Cup was more thoroughly⁵ covered in all the languages I’m fluent in (English) through cable packages available in many homes and not a few sports bars.

　　工作时间看世界杯的乐趣

　　The problem: Depending on the host nation, crucial Cup games often unfold at some moment inconveniently⁶ situated⁷ between 9 am and 5 pm US time. In the old days, the only solution involved physically⁸ sneaking⁹ out of the office and decamping for two hours or more with workplace confederates — almost certainly in a place where beer is sold.

　　This was always fun, but side effects included 15 voicemails from the boss and the need for a short nap before answering any of them.

　　Gradually, as connection speeds improved, the Internet became a plausible¹⁰ alternative. But access to any particular match could be a crapshoot. And, even in the best scenario¹¹, it’s not easy to follow a contest in one browser¹² window while convincingly interacting with something that resembles work elsewhere on one’s desktop¹³.

　　This year is different. Crucially: The iPad, and the entire tablet market that it helped popularized, have gone from novelty to routine tool — with a fairly robust¹⁴ app ecosystem¹⁵ to support their use. I can’t set up a TV on my desk. But an iPad? No biggie. And those of you in more Orwellian workplaces can even resort to a smartphone.

　　Yahoo has already told you how to watch the tournament online, so I’ll just add that my extensive, uh, testing has determined¹⁶ that the Watch ESPN app works very nicely.

　　And, happily, soccer is well suited to continuous partial attention. Zone in on work, and the occasional bursts of crowd excitement prompt a shifted glance to innumerable replays. If work is under control and it’s time to “look busy,” take some minutes to luxuriate in the athleticism¹⁷ and precision of the most popular sport in the world.

　　Meanwhile, the culture and tools around instant messaging and social media and even company-mandated internal communication systems have made it way easier to bond with fellow Cup fanatics¹⁸ in real time.

　　I won’t out any virtual confederate co-worker here. But I’ll offer a social media example. A slow point in my workday overlapped¹⁹ with the Uruguay-England match recently, and I informed Twitter that in my opinion the Uruguayan jerseys²⁰ are simply too tight.

　　Unlike the 99 percent of my tweets that are totally ignored, this one quickly sparked a sympathetic (and hilarious) conversation — it wasalmost like connecting with a random²¹ work-shirking stranger in a bar.

　　Look, I won’t lie. It’s still more fun to play outright²² hooky with a band of similarly reckless colleagues who don’t mind leaving their desks empty and their phones ringing to watch a competition between the national teams of two countries none of us has visited, all in hopes of collectively screaming “Gooooooooooaaaaaaaal!” Particularly if there’s also beer.

　　But we don’t live in a perfect world, do we? There’s work to be done. And, as never before, we have at our disposal the tools to look like we’re doing it — even as we’re IMing our secret World Cup fan clique²³, drunk only on the excitement of any given contest: “Gooooooooooaaaaaaaal!”

　　我是一个世界杯球迷，时间长得连我自己都懒得提了，但我仍然不认为我是足球方面的专家。

　　但是，我已经成为工作时间看世界杯的专家。

　　为了这句话，我承受着被解雇的风险，因为有人会说现在的世界杯比任何时候都适合工作时间看。（就连文化方面的专家谷歌主页的Logo涂鸦也默默地认同了这一说法。详见下文。）多亏了技术的发展，我们看电视、交流和联系的方式也有了进步。

　　追一场球赛就意味着可以在西班牙语的电台看到一群养眼的帅哥，那时我就开始爱上了世界杯。20世纪90年代中期，我参加工作，搬到了纽约。那时世界杯的覆盖范围开始扩大，可以用我能流利使用的所有语言（英语）收看到，只要家里有无限电缆就可以收看到，而不仅仅局限在一些运动型酒吧。

　　问题是：由于主办国时差问题，关键性的几场比赛常常在美国时间早上9点到下午5点，刚好是上班时间不方便观看。过去，唯一的解决方法就是偷偷溜出办公室，和同事悄悄消失2个多小时，当然我们一般都会去有啤酒卖的地方。

　　那时总是很有趣，但是后果就是收到老板的15个电话留言，而且在回复留言之前需要小憩一会儿。

　　慢慢地，随着网速提升，互联网开始成为一个不错的选择。但是能够看到任何一场比赛都是撞大运的事儿。何况即使在最理想的情况下，想在台式机上既用浏览器看比赛又做出认真工作的样子可没那么简单。

　　今年情况有所不同。关键在于：iPad的出现，以及由它带动的整个平板电脑市场。从刚一开始它们还是新鲜事物，现在已经成为常用设备——还有一个充满活力的应用程序系统，为它们提供支持。我不能在办公桌上安一台电视机，但是一台iPad总可以吧？这又不是很占空间的东西。再不济，如果你公司的管理严格，你也可以在智能手机上看吧。

　　雅虎已经教你怎样在网上看世界杯了，所以我只是补充一下我多次试验的经验就是Watch ESPN这个应用程序效果非常好。

　　令人高兴的还有一点，就是足球不需要一直全神贯注地看。重新投入工作，以及观众时而发出的欢呼可以转移你的注意力，让你回头去看无限次回放。如果你的工作已经完全在你掌控范围之内，那么是时候让自己“看上去忙碌一点”，花几分钟享受运动员精神以及世界上最流行的运动的精髓吧！

　　此外，即时通讯工具，社交媒体，甚至于每个公司都有的内部沟通系统让我们和跟自己一样的世界杯脑残粉实时交流更加顺畅。

　　我不会供出我在网络上一起看球的同事。但是我举个社交网络上的例子。最近，因为工作上一件不太紧急的事跟乌拉圭对英格兰那场比赛冲突了，我就在推特上发了一条状态，说乌拉圭的运动衫太紧了。

　　我发的推特99%都会被无视，这一次却迅速激起了热烈讨论——就跟在酒吧里偶遇一个同样是从办公室逃出来的陌生人聊天一样。

　　我不会撒谎。和一帮臭味相投，不管办公桌是不是没有人，无视手机来电的热血同事逃出来看我们从未去过的两个国家踢球，我们只有一个想法，就是一起喊“进球！进球！”这种经历仍然有趣得多。当然，如果有啤酒就更好了。

　　但是我们生活的世界并没有如此完美不是吗？工作还是需要完成。跟以前不一样的是我们可以随心所欲地使用一些工具，让我们即使是在跟世界杯球迷发送秘密短信，也看上去好像是在工作一样。任何一场比赛都能让我们欢呼雀跃随之开怀畅饮。“进球！进球！”

1 enthusiast   

n.热心人，热衷者

参考例句：

• He is an enthusiast about politics.他是个热衷于政治的人。
• He was an enthusiast and loved to evoke enthusiasm in others.他是一个激情昂扬的人，也热中于唤起他人心中的激情。

2 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

3 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

4 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

5 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

6 inconveniently   

ad.不方便地

参考例句：

• Hardware encrypting resists decryption intensely, but it use inconveniently for user. 硬件加密方法有较强的抗解密性，但用户使用不方便。
• Even implementing the interest-deferral scheme for homeowners has proved inconveniently tricky. 甚至是对房主实行的推迟利息的方案，结果证明也是极不方便的。

7 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

8 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

9 sneaking   

a.秘密的，不公开的

参考例句：

• She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
• She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

10 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

11 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

12 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

13 desktop   

n.桌面管理系统程序；台式

参考例句：

• My computer is a desktop computer of excellent quality.我的计算机是品质卓越的台式计算机。
• Do you know which one is better,a laptop or a desktop?你知道哪一种更好，笔记本还是台式机？

14 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

15 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

16 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

17 athleticism   

n.运动竞赛，崇尚运动，竞技热

参考例句：

• He brings defense. He brings talent. He brings athleticism. That's a lot. “他带来的防御，他带来了人才，他带来了身体，这是很多”。 来自互联网
• Each of these sports isn't won through sheer athleticism alone. 每个体育项目无法凭借纯粹的运动能力而获胜。 来自互联网

18 fanatics   

狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The heathen temple was torn down by a crowd of religions fanatics. 异教徒的神殿被一群宗教狂热分子拆除了。
• Placing nukes in the hands of baby-faced fanatics? 把核弹交给一些宗教狂热者手里？

19 overlapped   

_adj.重叠的v.部分重叠( overlap的过去式和过去分词 )；（物体）部份重叠；交叠；（时间上）部份重叠

参考例句：

• His visit and mine overlapped. 他的访问期与我的访问期有几天重叠。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Our visits to the town overlapped. 我们彼此都恰巧到那小城观光。 来自辞典例句

20 jerseys   

n.运动衫( jersey的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The maximum quantity of cotton jerseys this year is about DM25,000. 平方米的羊毛地毯超过了以往的订货。 来自口语例句
• The NBA is mulling the prospect of stitching advertising logos onto jerseys. 大意：NBA官方正在酝酿一个大煞风景的计划——把广告标志绣上球服！ 来自互联网

21 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

22 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

23 clique   

n.朋党派系，小集团

参考例句：

• The reactionary ruling clique was torn by internal strife.反动统治集团内部勾心斗角，四分五裂。
• If the renegade clique of that country were in power,it would have meant serious disaster for the people.如果那个国家的叛徒集团一得势，人民就要遭殃。