為什么要拼命工作？Why work so hard?.

　　What do the Bushmen of the Kalahari have in common with John Maynard Keynes? In a visionary essay entitled “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren” (1930), Keynes made two prophecies: first, that the Great Depression would prove to be “only a temporary period of adjustment” and that prosperity would increase for the next two generations and more. On this his prediction that living standards “one hundred years hence will be between four and eight times as high” was correct; we are five times better off than our grandparents or great-grandparents were in 1930 and our children may be eight times better off than them by 2030.喀拉哈里沙漠(Kalahari)的布希曼人(Bushmen)與經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家約翰?梅納德?凱恩斯(John Maynard Keynes)有何共通之處?在1930年發(fā)表的前瞻性文章《我們后代的經(jīng)濟(jì)前景》(Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren)中，凱恩斯作了兩大預(yù)測(cè)：第一是大蕭條最終“只是短暫的調(diào)整期”，以及孫子輩(甚至更多代)的人將更加富足。他基于此所作的 “一百年后(2030年)英國的人均收入將再要提高四至八倍”的預(yù)測(cè)準(zhǔn)確無誤;我們比1930年祖父輩及高祖輩的收入增加了五倍，到2030年，我們下一代的收入將是他們的8倍。

　　His second prediction was that by the early 21st century the working week would have been cut to 15 hours. Here he was dead wrong. The number of hours worked in both the US and Europe has remained pretty steady for decades, at more than 40 hours a week, with Americans working much harder than Europeans. But the 15-hour working week is not a pure pipe dream; for millennia, until the possibilities for their hunter-gatherer lifestyle were taken away, the San (Bushmen) people of southern Africa thrived, with a good diet (2,500 calories a day), on little work (two to three hours a day) and much play.凱恩斯所作的第二個(gè)預(yù)測(cè)是：到21世紀(jì)初，每周工作時(shí)間將縮減至15小時(shí)。這一點(diǎn)他大錯(cuò)特錯(cuò)。美國與歐洲的周工作時(shí)間幾十年依然雷打不動(dòng)————超過40小時(shí)，美國人比歐洲人工作時(shí)間還要長。但每周工作15小時(shí)并非白日做夢(mèng);幾千年來，居住在南部非洲的桑人(San People，即布希曼人)生活得頤然自得，他們吃得好(每天2500大卡熱量)、干得少(每天只有2、3個(gè)小時(shí))、玩得high，除非他們這種狩獵采摘的生活方式有朝一日被取而代之。

　　This provocative comparison was made by the anthropologist Dr James Suzman in a recent lecture for Protimos, a charitable organisation committed to providing legal assistance to marginalised communities in the developing world. The traditional lifestyle of the San, he argued, represented a kind of “primitive affluence”. Our narratives of progress, starting with Hobbes’s lines about life in the state of nature being “nasty, brutish and short”, have assumed a steady improvement in the human lot as hunter-gathering, under threat from sabre-toothed tigers, has given way to farming and then industry (under threat from sabre-toothed bosses).這種比較容易引發(fā)爭(zhēng)論，它是人類學(xué)家詹姆士?蘇茲曼博士(Dr James Suzman)在為Protimos在最近的講座中所提及的，Protimos是一家慈善機(jī)構(gòu)，致力于為發(fā)展中國家生活邊緣化的團(tuán)體提供法律援助。蘇茲曼博士說，桑人傳統(tǒng)的生活方式代表了某種“原始富足”。我們對(duì)社會(huì)進(jìn)步的敘述始于霍布斯(Hobbes)的著作，他稱自然狀態(tài)下的生活“卑污、殘忍而又短壽”。隨著狩獵采摘的原始生活方式(此時(shí)威脅來自兇惡的猛虎)漸趨讓位于農(nóng)耕文明以及隨后的工業(yè)文明(此時(shí)威脅來自兇神惡煞的老板)，我們自認(rèn)為人類的命運(yùn)大為改觀了。

　　For some time now anthropologists and others have cast doubt on this over-simple story. Farming did not immediately bring improvements in health and longevity. Indeed, in 1987 the geographer Jared Diamond wrote an article outlining why agriculture was the “Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race”. With it came “the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism, that curse our existence”. Skeletons uncovered in Greece and Turkey show that the average height for men dropped from 5ft 9in at the end of the last Ice Age to 5ft 3in in 3000BC, after the invention of agriculture.長期以來，人類學(xué)家以及其他學(xué)者都對(duì)這個(gè)過于簡(jiǎn)單的闡述持懷疑態(tài)度。農(nóng)耕文明不會(huì)頃刻之間讓人類實(shí)現(xiàn)健康長壽。勿庸置疑，1987年，地理學(xué)家戴蒙德 (Jared Diamond)撰寫了一篇文章，概述了為何農(nóng)業(yè)是“人類有史以來所犯的最大錯(cuò)誤”。隨之而來的就是“社會(huì)及性別總體不平等、疾病以及專制，它們?nèi)缬半S形、揮之不去。”希臘以及土耳其所發(fā)掘的骨骼遺骸表明：人類的平均身高從最后一次冰川末期的5.9英尺降至公元前3000年(農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)明之后)時(shí)的5.3英尺?！?/p>

　　So the myths of a golden age were not just nostalgic fantasy. Unfortunately, the San do not live in a golden age. Their condition is, in Suzman’s words, “truly grim”; they have been enveloped as governments and other entities have acquired ownership of what was once their land, turned into indentured serfs and ravaged by ill health and alcoholism. The lecture, introduced by Lord Justice Laws, had the ulterior purpose of raising funds for a legal centre dedicated to protecting the San’s intellectual property rights, which are in fect their only assets.因此黃金時(shí)代的種種神奇故事并非只是懷舊版的白日做夢(mèng)。不幸的是，如今的桑人并非生活在黃金時(shí)代。按照蘇茲曼的說法，桑人的生活境況“確實(shí)糟糕”;隨著政府以及其它機(jī)構(gòu)獲得了原先屬于他們的土地所有權(quán)后，他們窮途末路，淪落為契約奴，深受每況愈下的健康及酗酒問題摧殘。勞斯大法官(Lord Justice Laws)發(fā)起的講座，蘊(yùn)含著高遠(yuǎn)的目標(biāo)：即為保護(hù)桑人的知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)而設(shè)立的法律中心籌措資金，這些知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)實(shí)際上是桑人僅存的資產(chǎn)。

　　Helping to protect the San certainly seems a worthy cause: perhaps the most amazing moment in the evening was some footage from the BBC’s Life of Mammals showing the hunting of a kudu by a lone San hunter. The coup de grace seemed to have a kind of grace, as an act of love as well as killing.幫助保護(hù)桑人當(dāng)屬正義事業(yè)：當(dāng)晚的講座活動(dòng)中，也許最為詫異的時(shí)刻當(dāng)屬播放BBC紀(jì)錄片《哺乳類全傳》(BBC’s Life of Mammals)，它放映了一位孤獨(dú)的桑族獵手如何捕獵非洲大羚羊的場(chǎng)景。獵手致命一擊的動(dòng)作似乎帶著某種優(yōu)雅——憐愛之情與捕殺之意兼而有之。

　　The lecture got me thinking – as it was designed to – not just about the San but about matters closer to home; that is, about supposedly advanced societies in the early 21st century. Why are we all so addicted to work? Why do we assume that working harder and harder is an unquestionable virtue?這個(gè)講座不僅讓我對(duì)桑人的生存境況、而且對(duì)攸關(guān)自身家國的各種大事、即21世紀(jì)初的所謂先進(jìn)社會(huì)深思(這也是發(fā)起者的本意)。我們?yōu)楹稳绱顺聊缬诠ぷ?為何覺得忘我工作是無可非議的美德?

　　This tendency reached its apogee in the recent Tory party conference in the UK with its motto “for hardworking people” (though I liked the Private Eye cover with a speech-bubble coming out of David Cameron’s mouth saying, “I thought of the slogan while I was on holiday” – Cameron being famed for his skill at chillaxing). For “hardworking” you might read “desperately overworked”. Madeleine Bunting’s disturbing 2004 book Willing Slaves revealed an epidemic of work-related stress and depression among British white-collar workers. One correspondent described the fects of “work overload” as “poor sleep quality, an inability to engage in evening conversation, a ‘Fuck it’ attitude to bills, shopping, parent phoning, friend phoning, eating and sex.” But the addiction to work goes deeper than the very real external compulsion as workforces are squeezed. There is also, as Bunting recognises, a voluntary aspect to the plague of overwork; people associate work with status and money, though if they work all the time when will they have time to enjoy it?在英國保守黨(Tory)最近舉行的年會(huì)上，此種傾向性達(dá)到了登峰造極的地步，年會(huì)推出的信條就是“為忘我工作者服務(wù)”(盡管我很喜歡《Private Eye》雜志封面刊登的卡梅倫首相(David Cameron)嘴巴喋喋不休講話的漫畫：“我是在度假時(shí)想出的這個(gè)口號(hào)，”————卡梅倫以危機(jī)關(guān)頭沉著冷靜而著稱)。所謂“忘我工作”，或許就可理解成“超負(fù)荷工作”?，?shù)铝?布廷(Madeleine Bunting)2004年引發(fā)爭(zhēng)議的著作《心甘情愿的奴隸》(Willing Slaves)揭露了英國白領(lǐng)階層中彌漫著因工作而產(chǎn)生的緊張及低落情緒。某記者把“超負(fù)荷工作”的影響形容為“睡眠質(zhì)量差、晚上無法傾心交談，對(duì)待賬單、購物、親朋好友來電、用餐以及性愛都持極不耐煩的態(tài)度。但隨著就業(yè)大軍不斷縮減，沉溺于工作變本加厲、難以自拔。布廷也承認(rèn)：深陷難以自拔的超負(fù)荷工作狀態(tài)，也不乏心甘情愿的意味;大家都把工作與身份與收入相提并論，盡管他們真地全身心投入工作后，何來時(shí)間去放松享受?

　　At the Geneva Congress in 1866, the International Association of Working Men set down its demand for an eight-hour day: “We require eight hours work, eight hours for our own instruction and eight hours for repose.” Cultivating ourselves and caring for others is also a kind of work.在 1866年的日內(nèi)瓦代表大會(huì)(Geneva Congress)上，國際工人協(xié)會(huì)(International Association of Working Men)要求確立8小時(shí)制度：“8小時(shí)工作，8小時(shí)自己支配，8小時(shí)休息?！币?，培養(yǎng)自己興趣、關(guān)心他人也屬工作范疇。