Rare is the employee who leaves all their work behind these days. Plenty of people will at least furtively scroll through emails while on the beach. Everyone has occasionally shirked work. Now many workers are shirking holidays, too.
很少有员工会把所有工作都抛诸脑后。许多人至少会在沙滩上偷偷滑动屏幕，浏览电子邮件。每个人都会时不时地逃避工作。如今，很多人也在逃避假期。
开头先来一个倒装，表语放句首时的倒装，它的规则是什么呢？
作表语的形容词、过去分词等较短，而主语相对比较长，为了保持句子平衡而将表语前置时，句子的主谓也应完全倒装。如：
Typical for China is the crosstalk show, in which two comedians entertain the audiences with words.中国典型的艺术形式是相声，两名演员用言语来逗乐观众。
Gone are the days when we Chinese were looked down upon.中国人民被歧视的日子已成为过去。
Furtively偷偷摸摸地，形容词是：fur·tive adj. /ˈfɜːtɪv/
( disapproving) behaving in a way that shows that you want to keep sth secret and do not want to be noticed 偷偷摸摸的；鬼鬼祟祟的；遮遮掩掩的
偷偷看谁，cast a furtive glimpse/steal a furtive glance at sth./sb.
Scroll through就是我们平时几乎都会在手机或电脑上干的操作，滑屏滚动，比如：
向下滚动到文件末尾。Scroll down to the bottom of the document.
Shirk可以用来表示消极怠工、偷懒，也可以是逃避责任：shirk responsibilities；也可以搭配from doing sth.，表示不惜做某事。
“甩锅”也可以用上这个词：shirk one’s responsibility
Bosses are mostly mindful not to demand that their underlings do anything while on statutory leave. In Europe policymakers talk of a “right to disconnect”, which allows employees to leave their day jobs behind during holidays. But the right is not an obligation. And some individuals might find a small dollop of work a respite from their time off.
老板们一般会注意避免在法定假期安排下属做什么工作。在欧洲，政策制定者们正讨论“失联权”——员工有权在假期不理会日常工作。但这项权利并非义务。有人可能会觉得，假期中的少量工作也是一种调剂。
Underling在词典中有点disapproving的赶脚，小喽喽的那种，类似含义及情感色彩的还有minion这个词。中性的“下属”可以是subordinate。
statutory /ˈstætʃətɔːri/ leave法定假期
Statutory:[ usually before noun ] fixed by law; that must be done by law 法定的；依法必须执行的
最后一句的find要注意词义，不是“发现”哦，而是“认为”：have a particular feeling or opinion about sth 认为；感到
[ VN-ADJ]
You may find your illness hard to accept. 你可能觉得难以接受自己患病。
You may find it hard to accept your illness. 你可能觉得难以相信自己患病。
I find it amazing that they're still together. 他们还在一起，这使我大吃一惊。
[ VN-N]
She finds it a strain to meet new people. 她和生人见面总感到局促不安。
也就是一些人认为a small dollop of work是a respite from their time off.
Dollop这个词记起来哦：
/ˈdɒləp/ an amount of sth 少量；些许；一点儿
A dollop of romance now and then is good for everybody. 时而来点儿浪漫对每个人都有好处。
下次可以用a dollop of sth.替换a little bit of sth.哦。
Respite: a short delay allowed before sth difficult or unpleasant must be done 短暂的延缓；喘息
His creditors agreed to give him a temporary respite. 他的债权人同意给他一个喘息的机会。
同义词是reprieve: Campaigners have won a reprieve for the hospital threatened with closure. 活动家们为这家受关闭威胁的医院赢得了喘息的机会。
A few workers find ways to delete the work email app from their phones. And there are arguments for being a holiday hardliner. Time away from work serves to clear the mind. Plenty of jobs now require a measure of inspiration.
一些员工想法设法删除了手机上的电子邮件APP，而且他们有理由坚决拒绝假期里的任何工作。工作之余的时间有助于理清思绪。如今许多工作都需要一些灵感。
Hardliner表示强硬派，拒不妥协者，比如经济学人里的这个句子：To the consternation of some Republican hardliners, he has also weighed in on their efforts to scrap Mr Obama’s healthcare reform.
形容词性是hardline，可以形容人有坚定信仰，不妥协，也可以表示思想坚定坚决，比如a hard-line attitude强硬的态度，a hard-line stance强硬的立场。
我非常喜欢serve的这个词义，表示“对……有用、有帮助”，完美替换be helpful有没有！比如：
某个东西一点用也没有，除了说be useless之外，还可以是serve no useful purpose。
经常读政府公文双语的亲肯定对这个表达不陌生啦：serve the interests of the majority of the public符合最广大人民群众的利益；
还有现在甚嚣尘上的“英语无用论”，你就可以用这句话怼回去：
One’s English ability will serve him well in his chosen profession. 一个人的语言能力对他所选择的职业大有助益。
而这句话：Time away from work serves to clear the mind. 里的serve to do意思就是“有助于做某事”。同时，这句话也是很好用的写作素材，比如在表达劳逸结合的时候，我们可以把这句话和All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 结合在一起用对不对。
Measure这里的词义可能很多人不会太注意：[ sing.] a particular amount of sth, especially a fairly large amount SYN degree （一定的）量，程度
A measure of technical knowledge is desirable in this job. 做这项工作最好多懂一些技术知识。
She achieved some measure of success with her first book. 她出第一部书就得到了相当的成功。
What is the right balance? Nobody suggests toiling on leave at the same pace as in the (home) office. But most people will conclude that if a few minutes spent answering emails can save a stranded colleague hours of work, it would seem churlish not to step in. If nothing else, keeping even a distant eye on things can make a return to the job—whether after a week off or even a month—less daunting. Who wants to deal with thousands of unread emails on their return?
怎样才算是完美平衡呢？没人觉得哪怕在假期也要把家当作办公室一样辛苦劳作。但多数人还是认为，假期里花上个几分钟回复邮件，就能为焦头烂额的同事省下许多工作，所以对邮件置之不理好像也不太近人情。至少，假期里远程关注一下工作，一周或一个月的休假后重返职场时，成堆的工作也不会那样让人望而生畏。谁像在开假时处理成千上万封未读邮件呢？
Toil/toil away at sth. 指辛苦劳作，长时间苦干，比如我们这个假期就在苦逼兮兮地工作啊/(ㄒoㄒ)/~~: We spent every minute toiling away at the desk during this holiday.
类似的表达还有slave away at…，比如如果是全职妈妈，可能就会围着灶台转对吧：slave over a hot stove。
现在天气还很炎热，部分地区疫情有所反弹，防疫志愿者和医护人员就会很辛苦地在炎炎烈日下工作，这时候我们就可以用这样的动词词组来表达：slave away in the intense sun。
Strand及物动词，经常用被动态，表示：to leave sb in a place from which they have no way of leaving 使滞留，比如：
The strike left hundreds of tourists stranded at the airport. 这场罢工使成百上千的游客滞留在机场。
而这句话a stranded colleague根据语境，可知这位可怜的同时是被hours of work给“滞留”了。
Churlish: adj./ˈtʃɜːlɪʃ/ ( formal ) rude or bad-tempered 粗鲁无礼的；粗野的；脾气坏的
It would be churlish to refuse such a generous offer. 拒绝这样一个慷慨的提议未免失礼。
If nothing else经常用于句首，表示“至少、别的不说”，比如柯林斯词典的这两个例句：
If nothing else, Doug is a hard-nosed businessman. 别的不说，道格起码是个精明务实的商人。
If nothing else, you'll really enjoy meeting them. 至少，你会真地喜欢见到他们。
Daunting这个词并不陌生，我们来写个句子吧，比如人们都知道要活到老学到老，但这一点知易行难：It is easy to say that people need to keep learning throughout their life. The practicalities are daunting.
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