By Joshua Ogden-Davis/肝腦涂地

十九世紀(jì)末，美國(guó)康奈爾大學(xué)曾做過(guò)一次著名的“青蛙試驗(yàn)”。他們將一只青蛙放在裝著沸水的大鍋里，青蛙觸電般地立即竄了出去，并安然落地。后來(lái)，人們又把它放在一個(gè)裝滿涼水的大鍋里，任其自由游動(dòng)，再用小火慢慢加熱，青蛙雖然可以感覺(jué)到外界溫度的變化，卻因惰性而沒(méi)有立即往外跳，等后來(lái)感到熱度難忍時(shí)已經(jīng)來(lái)不及了。這就是有名的“煮蛙效應(yīng)”或“溫水青蛙效應(yīng)”（frog-boiling effect）。這個(gè)效應(yīng)告誡我們不要得過(guò)且過(guò)，要居安思危，不斷超越自己，超越過(guò)去。

Chloe： Hey， Robin！ Youve been pretty quiet in here today.①Nose to the 1）grindstone？

Robin： Hey， Chloe. Yeah， I guess you could say Ive been busy…but not on work！

Chloe： Whats that supposed to mean？

Robin： Check it out. ②My character has leveled up three times！ And its not even four oclock yet.

Chloe： Ugh. You mean to tell me youve been in here playing games all day？

Robin： Not “games.” Just one “game.” And yes， I have. Whats it to you？

Chloe： ③Its no skin off my back， but arent the 2）quarterly reports due tomorrow？

Robin： Hah！ Honestly， I havent met a single deadline in three months， ④and I havent caught any flack for it.

Chloe： What?。?I cant imagine Anderson is too happy about that.

Robin： She brought it up in the last meeting， but I havent seen any real consequences. ⑤I figure I can get away with just about anything these days.

克洛伊：嘿，羅賓！你今天在這里很安靜呀。在埋頭苦干嗎？

羅賓：嘿，克洛伊。是的，我猜到你會(huì)說(shuō)我忙碌……但并非忙于工作！

克洛伊：你這是什么意思？

羅賓：看看吧。我的角色已經(jīng)三次升級(jí)了！而現(xiàn)在還不到四點(diǎn)鐘呢。

克洛伊：啊，你是要告訴我你整天都在玩各種游戲嗎？

羅賓：不是各種游戲，一種游戲而已。是的，我是在玩。這礙你什么事了嗎？

克洛伊：這跟我毫不相干，但是季度報(bào)告不是明天要交嗎？

羅賓：哈！老實(shí)說(shuō)，這三個(gè)月以來(lái)我沒(méi)有一次按時(shí)完成過(guò)，也沒(méi)因此受到任何責(zé)備。

克洛伊：什么？我無(wú)法想象安得生會(huì)對(duì)這如此寬容。

羅賓：上次會(huì)議她有提過(guò)這問(wèn)題，但我還沒(méi)見(jiàn)到任何實(shí)質(zhì)的后果。我認(rèn)為自己最近什么事情都可以逃離厄運(yùn)的。

Chloe： I cant believe you. When you first came here， you were such a hard worker. When you werent on time， you were early. What happened？

Robin： Well， last year I forgot to finish this one project on time， and nobody seemed to care. Then it hit me： if I can get away with being late， ⑥Ive been busting my butt for nothing all these years！ So I decided to take it easy and not stress out over deadlines.

Chloe： I cant believe Im hearing this from you.

Robin： Hah， listen well！ These are the words of a happy man.

Chloe： They sound more like the words of a frog to me.

Robin： Whats that supposed to mean？

Chloe： Havent you ever heard of the boiling frog？

Robin： I think youve lost it， Chloe. Why are you talking about frogs all of a sudden？

Chloe： The boiling frog！ They say that if you put a frog in boiling water， it will jump out right away. But if you put a frog in warm water and slowly heat it up， then the frog wont notice and will let itself be boiled to death.

Robin： Not a very smart frog. But what has that got to do with me？

Chloe： Everything. Think about it： if Anderson had seen you being this lazy in your first week on the job， ⑦she would have fired you right off the bat， right？

Robin： Probably. ⑧But Ive proven my worth

around here， so now I can afford to take it easy.

Chloe： Dont be so sure. I think your waters

heating up， and you just arent noticing.

Robin： I dont feel anything heating up. ⑨Its all

business as usual.

Chloe： Thats what the frog would say. But you

said that Anderson called you out in a meeting；

dont you think thats a bad sign？ You dont think

its time to get back to your old ways before its

too late？

Robin： Why work that hard？ My salary stays the

same， anyway.

Chloe： ⑩Well， to each their own， I suppose. Now that I think about it， I hope you do keep playing that game！

Robin： Whys that？

Chloe： Cuz when Anderson fires you， Ill be first in line for your job！

克洛伊：我不敢相信是你。剛進(jìn)來(lái)這里的時(shí)候，你是那么勤快的員工。如果不是按時(shí)完成，就是提前。發(fā)生什么事了？

羅賓：呃，去年我忘記按時(shí)完成一個(gè)項(xiàng)目，似乎都沒(méi)人在意。于是讓我想到：如果我這次延遲能幸免于懲罰，那我這些年的不辭勞苦算是白搭了！于是我決定放輕松，不再為最后期限搞得壓力重重。

克洛伊：我很難相信這些話是出自于你。羅賓：哈，聽(tīng)好了！這些是一個(gè)快樂(lè)的人的肺腑之言。

克洛伊：對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，這些話聽(tīng)起來(lái)更像一只青蛙的名言。

羅賓：那是什么意思？

克洛伊：你沒(méi)聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)“溫水煮青蛙”嗎？羅賓：我想你是糊涂了，克洛伊。你為什么突然談到青蛙？

克洛伊：“溫水煮青蛙”！有人說(shuō)如果把一只青蛙放進(jìn)燒開(kāi)的水里，它會(huì)立刻跳出來(lái)。但是如果你把一只青蛙放進(jìn)溫水里，并且慢慢加熱，青蛙就不會(huì)發(fā)覺(jué)，直到自己被燙死。

羅賓：那是只不怎么聰明的青蛙，這個(gè)跟我有什么關(guān)系嗎？

克洛伊：關(guān)乎一切。你想想：如果安得生在你上班的第一周就看到你那么懶惰，她會(huì)立刻把你炒掉，對(duì)嗎？羅賓：也許吧。但是我在這里已經(jīng)證明了我的價(jià)值，所以現(xiàn)在我有資格放輕松了。

克洛伊：別那么有把握。我認(rèn)為你的水正在加熱，而你毫無(wú)察覺(jué)。

羅賓：我沒(méi)感覺(jué)到任何危機(jī)，（我覺(jué)得）一切如常。克洛伊：那就是青蛙要說(shuō)的。但你說(shuō)過(guò)安得生叫你去談話，你不覺(jué)得那是個(gè)不好的前兆嗎？你不覺(jué)得是時(shí)候恢復(fù)你原來(lái)的工作方式，免得為時(shí)已晚？

羅賓：為什么那么努力工作？畢竟我的工資還是老樣子。克洛伊：嗯，我想每個(gè)人都有自己的選擇?，F(xiàn)在我要考慮一下，希望你繼續(xù)玩那個(gè)游戲。

羅賓：為什么？

克洛伊：因?yàn)榈劝驳蒙夤土四?，我就?huì)第一個(gè)接手你的工作！

Smart Sentences

① Nose to the grindstone？ 在埋頭苦干嗎？

nose to the grindstone： = keep （ones） nose to the grindstone， work hard and in earnest（專心致志于，拼命地工作）。例如：

Amys been keeping her nose to the grindstone since her transfer to the QC.

埃米自從調(diào)到質(zhì)檢部門后就一直埋頭工作。

② My character has leveled up three times！ 我的角色已經(jīng)三次升級(jí)了！

level up： a player of a video game has earned enough experience points to acquire a new level in a skill or skills（在游戲中升級(jí)）。例如：

Michael refuses to play video games because he can always level up too easily.

邁克爾拒絕打游戲，因?yàn)樗偰茌p而易舉地升級(jí)。

③ Its no skin off my back. 這跟我毫不相干。

no skin off sb.s back： used to indicate sb. is indifferent to sth. because it does not affect him/her（跟某人毫不相干）。例如：

You dont have to go if you dont want to. Its no skin off my back.

如果你不想就別去，那跟我沒(méi)有關(guān)系。

④ And I havent caught any flack for it. （我）也沒(méi)因此受到任何責(zé)備。

catch flack for sth.： being blamed for sth.（因某事被責(zé)怪）。例如：I always caught flack for things my brother did when we were kids.小時(shí)候，我哥哥總讓我為他受罰。

⑤ I figure I can get away with just about anything these days. 我認(rèn)為自己最近什么事情都可以逃離厄運(yùn)的。

get away with sth.： avoid blame， punishment， or criticism for doing sth. bad（逃避責(zé)任）。例如：

She cheated on the test and thought she could get away with it.

她考試作弊，以為自己可以僥幸逃脫。

⑥ Ive been busting my butt for nothing all these years！ 那我這些年的不辭勞苦算是白搭了！

bust ones butt for nothing： working hard turns out in vain（徒勞無(wú)益）。例如：

I cant believe they moved the conference to Hong Kong. It turned out that weve been busting our butts for nothing for the last month.

我真不敢相信他們把會(huì)議地點(diǎn)搬到了香港，我們過(guò)去一個(gè)月的辛勤勞動(dòng)都白費(fèi)了。

⑦ She would have fired you right off the bat. 她會(huì)立刻把你炒掉。

right off the bat： immediately； first thing（毫不猶豫，馬上）。例如：

The new manager demanded the sales report right off the bat.

新經(jīng)理要求馬上拿到銷售報(bào)告。

⑧ But Ive proven my worth around here. 但是我在這里已經(jīng)證明了我的價(jià)值。

prove ones worth： show or demonstrate ones value（證明自身的價(jià)值）。例如：

You need to prove your worth before even thinking about a promotion.

你要證明自己的價(jià)值，才能去想晉升的事。

⑨ Its all business as usual. （我覺(jué)得）一切如常。

business as usual： having things go along as usual（一切如常）。例如：

Even right after the flood， it was business as usual in all the stores.

即使是洪水剛過(guò)，所有商店都照常營(yíng)業(yè)。

⑩ Well， to each their own， I suppose. 嗯，我想每個(gè)人都有自己的選擇。

to each ones own： everyone has the right to his/her choice， used to express respect/ recognition/tolerance for others choices， especially the unusual ones （每人都有權(quán)選擇，用以表達(dá)對(duì)他人選擇的尊重/接受/容忍，特別是不太尋常的選擇）。例如：

—Dan wants to transfer to Personnel！ Thats ridiculous， dont you think？

丹想調(diào)到人事部去！你不覺(jué)得這太荒唐了嗎？

—No！ To each his own.

不會(huì)啊，每個(gè)人都應(yīng)有自己的選擇。