职业病是健康的杀手

职业病（occupational disease、industrial disease或occupational hazard）是指企业、事业单位和个体经济组织的劳动者在职业活动中，因接触粉尘、放射性物质和其他有毒、有害物质等因素而引起的疾病。职业病防治法的修改，很可能将鼠标手（mouse hand）、颈椎病（tech neck）、（death from stress）等因工作或occupational activity（职业活动）引起的疾病纳入职业病范畴。我们在努力工作的同时要保持健康、珍惜生命。

Kristen: Hey, Don! You’re back!

Don: Yup, I’m back and going strong.

Kristen: Yeah, I heard you’ve been under the weather. What was going on?

Don: Well we 1)hit a rough patch with that project last quarter, and then things just went sideways with my health.

Kristen: Stress?

Don: Some of that. ①I just couldn’t seem to wrap my head around the project details.

克里斯汀：嘿，唐！你回来了！

唐：是的，我回来了，而且身体逐渐强壮。

克里斯汀：是吧，我听说你生病了，怎么回事？

唐：我们上个季度的那个项目遭遇了困境，接着因为我的健康问题，事情变得更加雪上加霜。

克里斯汀：因为压力吗？

唐：部分原因，我只是似乎无法思考这个项目的具体细节。

Kristen: ②It can be really tough to get a handle on things when you’re in that sort of headspace.

Don: That’s exactly it—③you hit the mark. I felt like I was completely lost. ④Up a creek without a paddle.

Kristen: So you took some time off?

Don: I just had to. ⑤I was worried that they’d give me the axe, but they seemed to be pretty understanding of the whole thing.

Kristen: Well occupational disease is such a big thing right now.

Don: What do you mean? What’s “occupational disease”?

Kristen: You know, stuff like tech neck or mouse hand.

Don: I’ve never even heard of those being diseases.

Kristen: Basically it’s about office-related health issues, like what you were going through with the stress. In fact, stress is a huge problem right now. There have even been a series of deaths caused by stress.

Don: You’re kidding me?

Kristen: No joke. It’s a killer.

Don: But you were saying it’s a big thing?

Kristen: Yeah, they’re starting to include this stuff in the worker protection laws.

Don: Well that’s great to hear!

Kristen: Absolutely. But it’s still virgin 2)territory and they’re just taking it one step at a time from what I understand.

Don: Are people getting 3)compensation?

Kristen: ⑥It’s hit and miss. Right now it depends on whether or not you can prove that it was caused by the job. ⑦And sometimes the paperwork is so extensive that the cake’s not worth the candle.

Don: I can see where that might stop people.

Kristen: Shouldn’t be any problem for you. I saw the details of that contract you were working out. I don’t think you’ll have any problem proving your stress was work-related.

Don: Haha, nope, probably not. Anyway, I’d better get back to my desk.

Kristen: See you!

克里斯汀：处于这样的状态，确实很难集中精神处理事情。

唐：确实是，你说得对。我感觉自己完全迷失，就像在划无桨之船。

克里斯汀：于是你休了一阵子假？

唐：必须要的。我担心公司会把我辞退，但是上头似乎很理解整件事情。克里斯汀：现在职业病就是个大问题啊。

唐：你什么意思？什么是“职业病”？

克里斯汀：你知道，那些像颈椎病或鼠标手之类的。

唐：我从来没听说这些也算是病。

克里斯汀：基本上，那是跟办公室有关的健康问题，例如你是如何排解压力的。事实上，压力现在是个巨大的问题，已经有一系列的死亡是由压力导致。

唐：你开玩笑吧？

克里斯汀：没开玩笑，压力是个杀手。

唐：但是你说过那是件大事？

克里斯汀：是啊，相关部门在开始把这些东西纳入到员工保护法规里。

唐：哇，那太好了！

克里斯汀：绝对的。但那仍然是未涉及到的领域，据我所了解，有关部门还在一步一个脚印慢慢摸索中。

唐：人们能得到赔偿吗？

克里斯汀：有时能，有时不能。目前是取决你是否有证据证明是由于工作导致的，有时候要提供的书面文件太多而得不偿失。

唐：我能明白于是人们就此打住。

克里斯汀：对你应该没有任何问题，我看过你的工作合同细则，我认为找到证明你的压力来自工作的证据没任何问题。

唐：哈哈，是啊，可能没有。不管怎样，我得回去工作了。

克里斯汀：再见！

Smart Sentences

① I just couldn’t seem to wrap my head around the project details. 我只是似乎无法思考这个项目的具体细节。

wrap one’s head around sth.: be able to understand sth.（弄清楚某事）。例如：

He’s tried to explain the rules of chess several times but I just can’t get my head around them.

他已经好几次解释国际象棋的规则，但我还是搞不明白。

② It can be really tough to get a handle on things when you’re in that sort of headspace.处于这样的状态，确实很难集中精神处理事情。

get a handle on sth.: have a way of approaching a problem（有解决问题的办法）。例如：

Once you get a handle on online shopping, you will love it for sure.

你一旦弄明白网购是怎么回事，你肯定会喜欢的。

③ You hit the mark. 你说得对。

hit the mark: to be correct（正确）。例如：

You hit the mark when you said Lin Dan deserves all the honors because he has been working very hard over the years.

你说那些荣誉对林丹来说当之无愧，因为这些年来他非常努力。你说对了。

④ Up a creek without a paddle. 就像在划无桨之船。

up a creek without a paddle: without necessary resources to finish a job（划无浆之船，缺乏完成工作所必需的工具）。例如：

The annual sales report due next Monday? Man, with no numbers, no background materials, how am I supposed to do it? I’m up a creek without a paddle.

年度销售报告下周一交？天啊，既没有数字，又没有背景资料，我怎么做得了啊？我这是在划无浆之船嘛。

⑤ I was worried that they’d give me the axe.我担心公司会把我辞退。

give sb. the axe: fire sb. from the job（辞退某人）。例如：Mr. Black finally gave Tom the axe, after repeated complaints from customers and colleagues.

在顾客的多次投诉和同事的抱怨后，布莱克先生终于把汤姆给辞了。

⑥ It’s hit and miss. 有时能，有时不能。

hit and miss: sometimes successful and sometimes not（时而成功，时而不成功）。例如：

My father’s stock market predictions have been hit and miss over the years.

这些年来，我父亲对股市的预测时而成功，时而失败。

⑦ And sometimes the paperwork is so extensive that the cake’s not worth the candle. 有时候要提供的书面文件太多而得不偿失。

the cake’s not worth the candle: the result is not worth the effort put in to achieve it（不值得做的，划不来）。例如：

There’s no need to input and print out the report. The cake is not worth the candle—I can just draw two charts at the conference.

没有必要输入、打印这份报告。投入与产出不对等——我在会上画两个图表就行了。