【英语时差8,16】疲倦到死（上）

We’ve all been bored from time to time. Sometimes, when we’re really at loose ends, we might even say we’re “bored to death” or “so bored I could die!” We don’t really mean it, of course. But according to one study, it may be true. That is, it seems possible literally¹ to be bored to death. Researchers in England looked at surveys done in the mid² 1980s–several thousand questionnaires filled out by London civil servants about their jobs. The researchers found that those who’d said that in the previous month they were bored at work were more than twice as likely as other workers to die of a heart problem over the follow up period. Workers who claimed to be interested in their jobs were less likely to die prematurely³.

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

3 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句