你的待办事项清单上有什么？
What's on your to-do list?
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil.
大家好，欢迎来到六分钟英语。我是尼尔。
And joining me is Rob.
这是我的搭档罗伯。
Hello.
大家好。
Now Rob, would you say you're someone who is quite organised?
罗伯，你认为自己是个做事有条理的人吗？
Oh, I'd like to think so.
奥，我认为我是。
What's the best way to organise everything?
把一切事情都安排妥当的最好方式是什么？
You need a 'to-do' list – a list of all the jobs you need to do that you can work your way through.
你需要一个“待办事项”清单—在上面从头到尾列出你需要做的事情。
That's a good idea and something we can include in today's discussion about life admin.
这个主意不错，我们可以把它放在今天有关生活管理的讨论中来谈。
Admin is short for administration – that describes the activities and tasks you have to do to make a business or organisation run smoothly –
admin是administration的缩写，表示“管理”，指为使企业或组织顺利运行而必须做的活动和任务。
but life admin is administration you have to do to make your day-to-day life run smoothly – like doing housework, or paying a bill.
生活管理则是指为使日常生活顺利进行而不得不做的管理，比如做家务，或支付账单。
And the first thing on my 'to-do' list is to ask you and the listeners, a question.
现在，我的待办事项清单的第一件事，就是要问你和听众一个问题。
Yes, you wouldn't want to forget that.
是的，你不会忘记提问这个环节的。
So, the website Hotels.com commissioned some research about how much time young adults – that's millennials - spend doing life admin.
Hotels.com网站委托研究人员做了一项调查：年轻人（千禧一代）花多少时间进行生活管理？
Do you know what proportion of their free time they spend doing life admin tasks? Is it…
你知道他们在闲暇时，花在生活管理上的时间占多大比例吗？请问是：
a) a quarter of a day, b) a third of a day, or c) half a day?
a）四分之一天，b）三分之一天，c）半天
Based on my personal experience, I would say about a quarter of a day.
基于我的亲身体验，我认为是四分之一天。
Well, we'll see if you're the same as other people at the end of the programme.
好的，节目最后我们会知道你的选择是不是和其他人一样。
But as we all know, life admin is necessary but it can be a bit of a chore – a boring, ordinary task you do regularly.
众所周知，生活管理是必要的，但它可能是一件苦差事—你定期要做的既无聊又普通的任务。
Experts have studied the subject and looked at how we do it and how we can make it less boring.
专家们对这个课题做了研究，并研究了我们如何进行生活管理，以及怎样才能使它不那么无聊。
One of them is Elizabeth Emens, Professor of Law at Columbia University and author of The Art of Life Admin.
其中一位专家是伊丽莎白·艾曼斯，她是哥伦比亚大学法学教授，也是《生活管理的艺术》一书的作者。
She's been speaking to the BBC Radio 4 programme, Woman's Hour, and described what she thought life admin is…
她做客BBC广播4频道《女性时空》节目，并描述了她所理解的生活管理。
Life admin is the office work of life, it's the invisible layer of work that is the kind of thing that managers and secretaries,
生活管理是生活中的办公室工作，它是一种无形的工作层，就像经理和秘书，
aka admins, do for pay in the office but that everyone does in their own lives for free.
或者说管理员，为了挣薪水在办公室里做的事情，只不过我们每个人对个人生活所做的管理是没有报酬的。
She calls life admin the invisible layer of work – so it's work, tasks or chores we carry out that people don't notice we're doing –
她把生活管理称为无形的工作层—也就是说，我们所执行的各项工作，任务或家务，人们是注意不到我们在做什么的，
or don't realise we have to do them it's extra work in our life.
或者说没意识到我们必须这样做，这是我们生活中的额外工作。
And we don't get paid for it – unless we're at work when it is the role of someone to do it – such as secretaries or aka admins –
而且我们得不到报酬—除非在工作场合中，我们担任专门处理这些事情的角色—比如秘书，也可以说是管理员，
aka is short for 'also known as' – so secretaries might also be known as admins – that is short for people who do administration.
所以秘书通常可以表示我们所说的管理员。
Right, so we know life admin is boring and we don't get paid for it –
没错，所以我们知道生活管理员很无聊，也没有报酬。
and also, trying to renew your house insurance or trying to query a bill with a utility company can be frustrating and feels like a waste of time.
而且，给房屋续保或向公用事业公司查询账单等事情可能会令人感到沮丧，感觉就像浪费时间。
A utility company by the way, is one that supplies something such as electricity, gas, or water to the public.
顺便说一下，公用事业公司是向公众提供电力，燃气或水等物品的公司。
My problem is I never get round to doing my life admin – there are better things to do – so you could say I procrastinate –
我的问题在于，永远无法完成自我生活管理—总有更好的事情等着我去做—所以你可以说我拖延—
I delay doing things until later, probably because I don't want to do them.
我把事情推迟到以后再做，可能是因为我不想做这些事情。
You are what Elizabeth classifies as an 'admin avoider'.
你属于被伊丽莎白划分为“自我管理逃避者”的那一类。
So this is where my to-do list comes in handy Neil.
所以，这时候我的待办事项清单就派上用场了。
You have a written record of tasks that can be quite satisfying to cross off as you do them.
你用书面的形式记录下这些任务，每做一件就划掉一件，这会让人获得很大的满足感。
This is something Elizabeth Emens has found to work, at least for some people.
伊丽莎白·艾曼斯发现，至少对某些人来说是这样。
Let's hear from her again.
我们再来一起听听看。
What type of people did she find get most satisfaction from completing a to-do list?
根据她的发现，哪类人能够从完成待办事项清单中获得最大的满足感呢？
If you've ever made a list and put things on it you've already done, just to cross them out,
如果你有过这种经历：做一个清单，把你已经完成的事情写上去，然后再全部划掉，
then you know the kind of 'done it' pleasure that goes with that.
那么你就能体会到那种“已达成”的乐趣。
But actually I interviewed people, especially the super-doers that I interviewed, actually can find real pleasure in the actual doing of it -
但实际上我采访过的人，特别是我采访过的“超级行动家”，事实上，他们可以在做事情的过程中找到真正的乐趣—
so trying to understand how we can get to that when we have to do it -
所以要尽量弄清楚，面对我们不得不做的一些事情时，
how we can make it so that there is some meaning in it and some texture
我们应该如何感受到乐趣—我们要怎样做，才能使事情有一些意义，使它的脉络更清晰，
and there're ways of doing it that please us.
总会有不只一种做事情的方式能取悦我们。
So she was describing the super-doers – these are the people who love admin
刚刚她谈到了超级行动家—这些人热衷于管理，
and would spend an evening putting their book collection into alphabetical order!
常常会花一个晚上将他们收藏的书籍按字母顺序排列整齐！
Elizabeth mentioned that we should learn from the super-doers and get some 'done it' pleasure in doing our life admin.
伊丽莎白提到我们应该向超级行动家学习，在做自我生活管理时，感受“已达成”的乐趣。
We need to find a meaning for doing it – in other words, what it represents – so we can see the benefit of completing our to-do list.
我们需要找到这样做的意义—换句话说，也就表示，我们要能看到完成待办事项清单对我们的益处。
How we find pleasure from doing life admin is different for different people – so personally, I think I'll stick with being an 'admin avoider' –
对于不同的人来说，如何从生活管理中获得乐趣也是不同的—所以就我个人而言，我会继续做一个“自我管理逃避者”，
but that might explain why I just got charged extra for not paying my credit card bill on time!
不过，这可以解释为什么我会因为不按时支付信用卡账单而被收取额外费用！
Well, please don't avoid giving us the answer to the quiz question you asked us earlier.
好吧，请不要忘记揭晓你之前提问过我们的那道题的答案。
Yes. Earlier I asked, researchers, commissioned by Hotels.com, polled 2,000 young professionals about their lives.
是的。我之前有问到过，Hotels.com网站委托研究人员针对2,000名年轻人做了一项生活调查—
How much of their free time do they spend doing life admin? Is it…
他们在闲暇时，花在生活管理上的时间是：
a) quarter of a day b) a third of a day c) half a day?
a）四分之一天 b）三分之一天 c）半天
And I said a) a quarter of a day.
我选择的是a) 四分之一天。
Yes, they spend a quarter of their days carrying out tasks like doctor’s appointments, waiting in for packages to be delivered and doing household chores. Boring!
没错，他们会花费四分之一天的时间来预约医生，等待快递送达，做家务等等。真是无聊！
Unlike this programme Neil, which is not a chore – one of the words we discussed today.
不过，尼尔，话说回来，我们的节目就不是一件苦差事—今天我们谈到这个单词了。
Yes, our vocabulary today included chore - a boring, ordinary task you do regularly.
是的，我们今天的词汇中有这个单词，苦差事—你定期要做的既无聊又普通的任务。
We also mentioned admin, short for administration –
我们也提到了admin这个词，它是administration的缩写，表示“管理”，
the activities and tasks you have to do make a business, organisation or just your life, run smoothly.
指为使企业、组织或生活顺利运行而必须做的活动和任务。
We heard aka – meaning 'also known as' – so for example, Rob aka The master of 6 Minute English!
我们有听到aka这种说法，表示“也可以说是”，例如：罗伯，也可以说是六分钟英语的大师！
Thanks very much Neil.
非常感谢尼尔。
Next we heard utility company.
紧接着我们有听到公用事业公司这个表达。
That's a company that supplies something such as electricity, gas, or water to the public.
指的是为公众提供电力，燃气或水等物品的公司。
And we also heard how Neil likes to procrastinate – that's delay doing things until later, probably because he doesn't want to do them.
同样听到尼尔说他喜欢拖延—也就是，把事情推迟到以后再做，可能是因为他不想做这些事情。
Finally, we mentioned super-doers – an informal term to describe people who get satisfaction out of doing life admin and do lots of it.
最后，我们提到了超级行动家—一个非正式术语，用来形容那些喜欢做生活管理并能从中获得满足感的人。
Like me.
就像我。
Well, it's time to go now but there's plenty more to discover on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.
好的，又到了说再见的时候了。但我们的网站bbclearningenglish.com上还有更多内容等待大家去发现。
Goodbye for now.
拜拜！
Bye bye.
拜拜！