(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Judy Woodruff: Now to the NewsHour Bookshelf. So, when do you work best? Are you a night owl or an early bird? Jeffrey Brown explores these questions with author Daniel Pink.
Jeffrey Brown: There are plenty of how-to books out there. Now comes a when-to, the best time of day to take an exam, say, or have a medical procedure, and big life decisions, getting married, getting divorced, quitting a job.The book is titled "When- The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing". And author Daniel Pink joins me now. Dan, hello.
Daniel Pink: Hello, Jeff.
Jeffrey Brown: Let me start with a when question for you. When did you get interested in this, and why?
Daniel Pink: Well, I realized that I was making all kinds of when decisions myself, so things like, when in the day should I exercise? When should I abandon a project that's not working?And I was making them in a pretty haphazard way. And I figured I could make them in a better way. And I started looking at this research. And there is a mountain of research out there across many, many domains that allow us to make evidence-based, systematically smarter, shrewder decisions about when to do things.
Jeffrey Brown: Smarter, shrewder. That subtitle, "Science," right?
Daniel Pink: Sure.
Jeffrey Brown: So, that's the data that you're looking at.
Daniel Pink: Oh, yes, yes, yes. It's data that comes in the field of economics, social psychology, but also cognitive science, anesthesiology, endocrinology. There's a whole field of chronobiology. Linguistics gives us some clues. So, this research is all over the place. But in these different disciplines, they're asking very, very similar questions.
Jeffrey Brown: All right, so daily routines first. You're teasing out some of the patterns of our lives.
Daniel Pink: Well, what it shows is that both our mood and our performance follow a fairly regular pattern across a day. So we usually have a peak, a trough, and a rebound. So our peak for most people is in the morning. We have a trough in the early afternoon, and then we have this rebound, recovery period later in the day. Now, for people who are night owls, they go through it in the reverse order. But what the research tells us is that we should be doing our analytic work, our heads-down, lockdown work during the peak. During the trough, it's not good for very much. We should be doing our — we should be avoiding going to the hospital and answering our routine e-mail. And then, during the recovery, we have an elevated mood, but we're less vigilant than during the peak. And that makes it a very good time for things like brainstorming and other kinds of creative work. And just moving our work just a little bit can make a big difference. There's research showing that time of day explains about 20 percent of the variance in human performance on workplace tasks. So timing isn't everything, but it's a big thing.
Jeffrey Brown: So the important thing is knowing who you are, in a sense, right?
Daniel Pink: Yes. Some of us have what are early chronotypes. We're larks. Get up early, go to sleep early. Some people have evening chronotypes, owls, go to sleep late, wake up late. Most of us are kind of in the middle, what I call third birds. But the people who are larks and third birds peak, trough, recovery fairly predictably. The people who are owls, recovery, trough, peak fairly predictably.
Jeffrey Brown: There is so much fun to reading this, and then there's the scary things like, don't go have a medical procedure in the afternoon. That's not a good idea.
Daniel Pink: That is really not a good idea. It's kind of alarming if you look at some of the research. Anesthesia errors, four times more likely at 3:00 p.m. than at 9:00 a.m.. Endoscopists find half as many polyps in routine colonoscopies in afternoon exams vs. morning exams. Nurses less likely to wash their hands, physicians more likely to prescribe unnecessary antibiotics in the afternoon.
Jeffrey Brown: Yes. So, speaking of afternoon, taking breaks is clearly — breaking up the day, which leads to the question of naps, for example, everyone is familiar with that. But you're not talking just about taking a nap, but very specific amounts of time, right?
Daniel Pink: Yes. The research on naps shows that naps are actually good for us. I'm a convert on this in that any time I took a nap myself, I would always wake up feeling both groggy and deeply ashamed of myself.
Jeffrey Brown: Right.
Daniel Pink: So, for being so lazy. And it turns out I was doing it wrong. The ideal nap…
Jeffrey Brown: We don't have the siesta idea.
Daniel Pink: No, not at all. No, I have both the hyper-puritanical and hyper-masculine approach to things, which is a toxic mix. But what we know about naps is that 10 to 20 minutes is actually the ideal time to take a nap. You get all of the benefits of a nap. I think of naps as Zambonis for our brains. They basically smooth out the nicks on our mental ice. But without any of what's called sleep inertia. And the ideal nap is something called the Nappuccino, where you have a cup of coffee first. Set your alarm for maybe 25 minutes. Take a nap. By the time you wake up, the caffeine will be hitting your body.
Jeffrey Brown: Yes, I read this. And this one really hit me.
Daniel Pink: It works.
Jeffrey Brown: It works. Drink the coffee, then take the 20-minute nap.
Daniel Pink: Right.
Jeffrey Brown: Now, at the end of every chapter, you have what you call the time hacker's handbook. And you are really giving people tips. You think it's practical enough that we can change our lives.
Daniel Pink: Sure. Absolutely. I don't think you can transform your life. If you are overweight and lazy, changing your approach to time isn't going to convert you in that way. But what I'm trying to do here is that there's some really amazing science out there that gives us insights into who we are. But I find that if you can take some of that science and put it into place in your own life, it's meaningful and you understand the science better.
Jeffrey Brown: So have you changed your own life, found time?
Daniel Pink: Oh, absolutely. So, I am a convert on breaks. I always write down two breaks in the afternoon that I'm going to take. I make a break list. I have also been a convert on good news and bad news. I always gave the good news first, because I wanted to be a nice guy. But what you really want to do is give the bad news first, end on that elevation. That's one of the things that endings do for us. So, I have become not only a break-taker, but the king of delivering bad news first.
Jeffrey Brown: The book is "When- The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing." Dan Pink, thanks so much.
Daniel Pink: My pleasure.
Judy Woodruff: Fascinating. I'm getting that book.
重点解析
1.early bird 早起的鸟儿
The serious buying happens between 6 and 8am, and it is very much the case that the early bird catches the worm.
大量的购买集中在早晨6点到8点之间，那时的情况真的就是先到先得。
2.tease out 梳理/套出
They try to tease out the answers without appearing to ask
他们试图不动声色地套出答案。
3.break up 分裂
Civil war could come if the country breaks up.
如果国家分裂就会爆发内战。
4.approach to 方法/接近
You need to systematize your approach to problem solving.
你需要采用有条理的方法解决问题。
参考译文
朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：现在进行NewsHour Bookshelf栏目环节。那么，什么时间你的工作（状态）最佳？你是夜猫子还是早起鸟？杰里弗·布朗与作者丹尼尔·平客探讨这些问题。
杰里弗·布朗：这方面的指导书很多，都是关于“如何”的。而现在，来了一本“何时”，比如说，一天中“何时”是最佳赴考时段，或者最佳诊疗时段，最佳人生抉择时段，结婚，离婚，辞职。这本书名叫《何时——完美时机的科学秘密（When- The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing）》，作者丹尼尔·平客做客节目。丹，你好。
丹尼尔·平客：你好，杰夫。
杰里弗·布朗：让我先来问你一个关于“何时”的问题。何时起对这个问题感兴趣的，又因为什么？
丹尼尔·平客：好吧，我意识到自己需要做各种时间方面的决定，所以比如像说，什么时候我该锻炼？什么时候该停掉做不下去的项目？我做决定的方式相当随意。我想我可以选用一种更好的方式来做决定。于是我开始投入研究。有跨越诸多领域堆积成山的研究，能让我们对何时做何事做出基于证据的、系统上更聪明、更明智的决定。
杰里弗·布朗：更聪明，更明智。子标题“科学”，对么？
丹尼尔·平客：是的。
杰里弗·布朗：所以，这就是你所看到的数据。
丹尼尔·平客：哦，是的，是的，是的。它的数据来源涉及经济学、社会心理学，还有认知科学、麻醉学、内分泌学。涉及时间生物学的全部领域。语言学给了我们一些线索。所以，这项研究铺天盖地。但是在这些不同的学科中，他们问的问题非常非常相似。
杰里弗·布朗：好的，所以首先，日常生活。你正在梳理一些生活模式。
丹尼尔·平客：好，这说明我们的情绪和状态好坏在一天当中都有规律可循。所以通常我们有一个波峰，一个波谷，接着恢复。所以我们大多数人的峰期是在早上，状态波谷是在下午的早些时候，然后我们恢复状态，也就是恢复期，这个阶段位于当天晚些时候。现在，对于“夜猫子”人群，他们的状态与我们恰恰相反。但这项研究告诉我们的是，我们应该在峰期进行分析工作，做那些需要高度专注力才能完成的工作。在低谷期，（进行这些工作）就不太好。我们应该做我们的 — 我们应该避免去进行诊疗，回复日常电子邮件。然后，在恢复期，我们情绪高涨，但我们的机警程度不如峰值期。这样恢复期就成为了集思广益及进行其他创造性工作的大好时机。只要稍微调整一下我们的工作（时间），效果就大不相同。有研究表明，时间可以决定员工20%的工作表现。所以时间不是一切，但时间的确很重要。
杰里弗·布朗：所以，重要的是知道你是谁，从某种意义上说，对吗？
丹尼尔·平客：对。我们中有些人爱赶早。就像云雀。早起早睡。有些人爱赶晚，就像猫头鹰，睡觉晚，起床晚。而我们中的大多数人处于两者之间，我称之为“第三鸟”。但云雀类型及第三鸟类型人的峰期，谷期，恢复期都相当容易预见。猫头鹰型的人，峰期，谷期，恢复期都相当容易预见。
杰里弗·布朗：这个读起来很有趣，然后也有些可怕的事，像不要在下午进行诊疗。那可不是个好主意。
丹尼尔·平客：那可真不是个好主意。如果你看了其中一些研究内容，会感到有点后背发凉。麻醉错误，在下午3:00麻醉出错率是上午9点的四倍以上。内镜医师在进行常规结肠镜检查时，下午发现息肉的数量仅是上午的一半。下午，护士可能更不爱洗手，医生则更可能在下午开出一些不必要的抗生素。
杰里弗·布朗：对。所以，说到下午，稍作休息很明显是——将一天分割开来，这就引出了午睡问题，比如，每个人都很熟悉这个问题。但你谈的不是午睡本身，而是非常具体的午睡时间，对吗？
丹尼尔·平客：对。小睡研究表明，小睡对我们确实有好处。但在这个问题上，我是个皈依者，无论何时，只要我小睡，醒来总感觉昏昏沉沉的，而且感到深深的羞愧。
杰里弗·布朗：是的。
丹尼尔·平客：因为我（感觉自己）太懒了。但结果证明我错了。理想的午睡…
杰里弗·布朗：我们没有午睡的想法。
丹尼尔·平客：对，一点都没有。不，我对这件事有种极端禁欲但又极端阳刚的办法，这种混合措施很害人。但我们知道小睡10到20分钟实际上是小睡的理想时间。你可以得到小睡的所有好处。我将小睡想成是大脑的冰面修整器（Zambonis）。他们基本上消除了我们精神之冰上的划痕。但完全没有所谓的睡眠惰性。理想的午睡是所谓的Nappuccino，你先要喝杯咖啡。设定大概25分钟后的闹钟。小睡一会儿。当你醒来时，咖啡因会冲击你的身体。
杰里弗·布朗：是的，我读到了这个。而且确实冲击到我了。
丹尼尔·平客：它起效了。
杰里弗·布朗：起效了。喝咖啡，小睡20分钟。
丹尼尔·平客：是的。
杰里弗·布朗：现在，在每一章的结尾，你都有所谓的时间黑客手册。你真的给了人们很多小贴士。你认为它们非常实用，可以改变我们的生活。
丹尼尔·平客：当然。绝对是这样。我认为你不能对你的生活有什么彻底性的改变。如果你又胖又懒，改变你对待时间的方式并不会改变你的肥胖和懒惰。但我在这里要做的是，的确有一些很棒的科学，让我们了解了我们是谁。但是我发现如果你能把科学应用到你自己的生活中，它就有意义了，同时你也会更好地理解科学。
杰里弗·布朗：那么你改变了自己的生活，找到时机了吗？
丹尼尔·平客：嗯，当然。所以，对于小睡这事，我转变了态度。下午我总会提前写下自己进行两次午休的时间。我列出了一份休息（时间）表。在发好消息和坏消息方面我也做出了改变。以前我总是先说好消息，因为我想当个好人。但其实你真正想做的是先告诉大家坏消息，然后以高位（好事）收尾。结尾会给我们带来那种感觉。所以，我不仅变成了一个接受午休的人，而且成为了喜欢先发坏消息的家伙。
杰里弗·布朗：这本书叫做《何时——完美时机的科学秘密》。丹·平客，非常感谢。
丹尼尔·平客：不客气。
朱蒂·伍德瑞夫：有意思。我现在就去读读。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
