2021年经济学人 巴托比职场专栏--高管如何适应退休后生活(2)

Nor will home life necessarily be easy. Spouses¹ and children have often become used to coping without a parent who has worked long hours. They have built their own networks of friends and activities. They may find it hard to adjust to the presence of a bored pensioner² knocking about the house. On top of that, it may have been tricky³ for those in positions of authority to develop close friendships themselves, particularly at work.

家庭生活也不一定轻松。配偶和孩子们常常习惯于在没有长时间工作的父母的情况下处理事情。他们建立了自己的朋友圈和活动网络。他们可能会发现很难适应一个无聊的退休老人在家里四处走动。除此之外，对于那些身居要职的人来说，建立亲密的友谊可能是件困难的事情，尤其是在工作中。

The book presents a series of case studies of people who have been through this kind of upheaval⁴, some a lot more successfully than others. There is, inevitably⁵ perhaps, a bit of psychobabble. But readers who tolerate talk of “transition mindsets” and “potential desired competences” will discover that the individual stories are instructive and the questions posed by the authors are important. Those near retirement⁶ must work out who they have been, who they are now and who they would like to become.

《换挡》对经历过退休剧变的人们进行了一系列的案例研究，其中有些研究对象要比其他人成功得多。可能不可避免地会有一些心理学呓语。但是，那些能容忍谈论“过渡心态”和“潜在期望能力”的读者会发现，书中的个人故事发人深省，作者提出的问题也至关重要。那些即将退休的人必须弄清楚他们曾经是什么样的人，现在是什么样的人，以及他们将来想成为什么样的人。

The answers will vary from person to person; there is “no one size fits all” solution. Bartleby’s father was never happier than when, after retiring from his job as a headmaster, he was able to spend his time reading, gardening and listening to Mozart. Other people would be bored to tears by such a life. The authors suggest that people be willing to experiment, to try new activities, develop new skills and talk to others who have been through the same process. Another approach is to keep a journal and make a list of things that you like to do, or have also wished to do.

答案因人而异；并没有万能的解决方案。让笔者的父亲最高兴的是，他从校长的职位上退休之后，能够花些时间阅读、园艺以及听莫扎特的音乐。其他人可能会对这样的生活厌烦透顶。作者建议人们乐意去试验，尝试新的活动，发展新的技能，并与有过相同经历的人多聊一聊。另一种方法则是记日记，列出你喜欢做的事情，或者想做的事情。

In addition, those approaching retirement should consider the type of role they like to play. Do they enjoy working with others or working alone? Do they draw satisfaction mainly from developing ideas or from coordinating⁷ teams? Since self-awareness is a difficult skill, people should talk to a few trusted contacts to discover how they are perceived by the wider world. They may find the answers are surprising.

此外，那些即将退休的人应该考虑他们喜欢扮演的角色类型。他们是喜欢和别人一起工作还是自己一个人工作？他们主要是从发展想法中获得满足感还是通过团队合作？自知是一项困难的技能，所以人们应该与一些值得信赖的联系人交谈，从而发现更广阔的外界是如何看待他们的。他们可能会发现答案令人惊讶。

This is a critical issue. Think of all the time people spend deciding which university they would like to attend, which course they would like to study and which career they would wish to follow. Deciding on their post-career lifestyle is just as important. They may have decades left to enjoy.

这是一个关键问题。想想人们花在决定上哪所大学，学习哪门课程，以及从事哪种职业上的所有时间。决定他们退休后的生活方式同样重要。毕竟他们可能还有几十年的时间去享受退休后的生活。

1 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

2 pensioner   

n.领养老金的人

参考例句：

• The tax threshold for a single pensioner is$ 445.单身领退休年金者的纳税起点为445英镑。
• It was the pensioner's vote late in the day that influenced the election of Mr.Sweet.最后是领取养老金者的选票影响了斯威特先生的当选。

3 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

4 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

5 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

6 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

7 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白