为什么要拼命工作？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)与经济学家约翰?梅纳德?凯恩斯(John Maynard Keynes)有何共通之处?在1930年发表的前瞻性文章《我们后代的经济前景》(Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren)中，凯恩斯作了两大预测：第一是大萧条最终“只是短暂的调整期”，以及孙子辈(甚至更多代)的人将更加富足。他基于此所作的 “一百年后(2030年)英国的人均收入将再要提高四至八倍”的预测准确无误;我们比1930年祖父辈及高祖辈的收入增加了五倍，到2030年，我们下一代的收入将是他们的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.凯恩斯所作的第二个预测是：到21世纪初，每周工作时间将缩减至15小时。这一点他大错特错。美国与欧洲的周工作时间几十年依然雷打不动————超过40小时，美国人比欧洲人工作时间还要长。但每周工作15小时并非白日做梦;几千年来，居住在南部非洲的桑人(San People，即布希曼人)生活得颐然自得，他们吃得好(每天2500大卡热量)、干得少(每天只有2、3个小时)、玩得high，除非他们这种狩猎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).这种比较容易引发争论，它是人类学家詹姆士?苏兹曼博士(Dr James Suzman)在为Protimos在最近的讲座中所提及的，Protimos是一家慈善机构，致力于为发展中国家生活边缘化的团体提供法律援助。苏兹曼博士说，桑人传统的生活方式代表了某种“原始富足”。我们对社会进步的叙述始于霍布斯(Hobbes)的著作，他称自然状态下的生活“卑污、残忍而又短寿”。随着狩猎采摘的原始生活方式(此时威胁来自凶恶的猛虎)渐趋让位于农耕文明以及随后的工业文明(此时威胁来自凶神恶煞的老板)，我们自认为人类的命运大为改观了。

　　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.长期以来，人类学家以及其他学者都对这个过于简单的阐述持怀疑态度。农耕文明不会顷刻之间让人类实现健康长寿。勿庸置疑，1987年，地理学家戴蒙德 (Jared Diamond)撰写了一篇文章，概述了为何农业是“人类有史以来所犯的最大错误”。随之而来的就是“社会及性别总体不平等、疾病以及专制，它们如影随形、挥之不去。”希腊以及土耳其所发掘的骨骼遗骸表明：人类的平均身高从最后一次冰川末期的5.9英尺降至公元前3000年(农业发明之后)时的5.3英尺。”

　　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.因此黄金时代的种种神奇故事并非只是怀旧版的白日做梦。不幸的是，如今的桑人并非生活在黄金时代。按照苏兹曼的说法，桑人的生活境况“确实糟糕”;随着政府以及其它机构获得了原先属于他们的土地所有权后，他们穷途末路，沦落为契约奴，深受每况愈下的健康及酗酒问题摧残。劳斯大法官(Lord Justice Laws)发起的讲座，蕴含着高远的目标：即为保护桑人的知识产权而设立的法律中心筹措资金，这些知识产权实际上是桑人仅存的资产。

　　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.帮助保护桑人当属正义事业：当晚的讲座活动中，也许最为诧异的时刻当属播放BBC纪录片《哺乳类全传》(BBC’s Life of Mammals)，它放映了一位孤独的桑族猎手如何捕猎非洲大羚羊的场景。猎手致命一击的动作似乎带着某种优雅——怜爱之情与捕杀之意兼而有之。

　　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?这个讲座不仅让我对桑人的生存境况、而且对攸关自身家国的各种大事、即21世纪初的所谓先进社会深思(这也是发起者的本意)。我们为何如此沉溺于工作?为何觉得忘我工作是无可非议的美德?

　　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?在英国保守党(Tory)最近举行的年会上，此种倾向性达到了登峰造极的地步，年会推出的信条就是“为忘我工作者服务”(尽管我很喜欢《Private Eye》杂志封面刊登的卡梅伦首相(David Cameron)嘴巴喋喋不休讲话的漫画：“我是在度假时想出的这个口号，”————卡梅伦以危机关头沉着冷静而著称)。所谓“忘我工作”，或许就可理解成“超负荷工作”。玛德琳?布廷(Madeleine Bunting)2004年引发争议的著作《心甘情愿的奴隶》(Willing Slaves)揭露了英国白领阶层中弥漫着因工作而产生的紧张及低落情绪。某记者把“超负荷工作”的影响形容为“睡眠质量差、晚上无法倾心交谈，对待账单、购物、亲朋好友来电、用餐以及性爱都持极不耐烦的态度。但随着就业大军不断缩减，沉溺于工作变本加厉、难以自拔。布廷也承认：深陷难以自拔的超负荷工作状态，也不乏心甘情愿的意味;大家都把工作与身份与收入相提并论，尽管他们真地全身心投入工作后，何来时间去放松享受?

　　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年的日内瓦代表大会(Geneva Congress)上，国际工人协会(International Association of Working Men)要求确立8小时制度：“8小时工作，8小时自己支配，8小时休息。”要知道，培养自己兴趣、关心他人也属工作范畴。