For most of us, work is the central, dominating fact of life. We spend more than half our conscious hours at work, preparing for work, travelling to and from work. What we do there largely determines our standard of living and to a considerable extent the status we are accorded by our fellow citizens as well. It is sometimes said that because leisure has become more important the indignities and injustices of work can be pushed into a corner; that because most work is pretty intolerable, the people who do it should compensate for its boredoms, frustrations and humiliations by concentrating their hopes on the other parts of their lives. I reject that as a counsel of despair. For the forseeable future the material and psychological rewards which work can provide, and the conditions in which work is done, will continue to play a vital part in determining the satisfaction that life can offer. Yet only a small minority can control the pace at which they work or the conditions in which their work is done; only for a small minority does work offer scope for creativity, imagination, or initiative.
对于多数人来说，工作是首要的，在现实生活中起主导作用。我们花费超过一半的时间在工作上，为工作做准备，并往返于工作之间。我们所做的工作大部分取决于我们的生活标准，很大程度上也取决于我们的同胞所赋予我们的社会地位。
人们常说由于休闲变得越来越重要工作中的屈辱和不公被弃置一旁；那是因为多数工作令人难以忍受，工作于其中的人们只好寄希望于生活的其他方面来抵消工作带来的无聊、失望和耻辱。我不认为这是一种自暴自弃的态度。在可预见的未来里，工作可提供的物质和心理回报以及工作完成的情况将继续在决定生活的满意度上起至关重要的作用。但是只有极少数人能控制好他们工作的速度和工作完成的情况。只有极少数人的工作为他们提供了创造力、想象力和主动性的空间。
Inequality at work and in work is still one of the cruelest and most glaring forms of inequality in our society. We cannot hope to solve the more obvious problems of industrial life, many of which arise directly or indirectly from the frustrations created by inequality at work, unless we tackle it head-on. Still less can we hope to create a decent and humane society.
工作和工作中的不平等仍然是我们社会中最残酷、最明显的不平等形式之一。除非我们迎头解决它，否则我们无法希望解决工业生活中最明显的问题，多数问题或直接或间接地由工作不平等所造成的失望引起。更不用说我们希望创造一个体面和人道的社会。
The most glaring inequality is that between managers and the rest. For most managers, work is an opportunity and a challenge. Their jobs engage their interest and allow them to develop their abilities. They are constantly learning; they are able to exercise responsibility; they have a considerable degree of control over their own and others’ working lives. Most important of all, they have the opportunity to initiate. By contrast, for most manual workers, and for a growing number of white-collar workers, work is a boring, monotonous, even painful experience. They spend all their working lives in conditions which would be regarded as intolerable for themselves -- by those who take the decisions which let such conditions continue. The majority have little control over their work; it provides them with no opportunity for personal development. Often production is so designed that workers are simply part of the technology. In offices, many jobs are so routine that workers justifiably feel themselves to be mere cogs in the bureaucratic machine. As a direct consequence of their work experience, many workers feel alienated from their work and their firm, whether it is in public or in private ownership.
最明显的不平等是管理者和其他人之间的不平等。对于许多管理者来说，工作既是机会又是挑战。工作激发了他们的兴趣，提高了他们的能力。他们不断地学习；他们能够承担责任;他们在很大程度上控制着自己和他人的工作生活。最为重要的是，他们有机会创业。相反，对多数体力劳动者和越来越多的白领来说，工作是一种无聊、单调甚至痛苦的经历。他们在自己认为无法忍受的条件下度过了所有的工作生涯——那些让这种情况继续下去的人做出了决定。大多数人对自己的工作几乎没有控制权;它没有给他们提供个人发展的机会。通常情况下，生产是这样设计的，工人只是技术的一部分。在办公室里，许多工作都是例行公事，员工们理所当然地会觉得自己只是官僚机器上的小齿轮。由于他们的工作经验，许多工人感到与他们的工作和他们的公司疏远，无论是公有或私有。
Rising educational standards feed rising expectations, yet the amount of control which the worker has over his own work situation does not rise accordingly. In many cases his control has been reduced. Symptoms of protest increase -- rising sickness and absenteeism, high turnover of employees, restrictions on output, and strikes, both unofficial and official. There is not much escape out and upwards. As management becomes more professional -- in itself a good thing -- the opportunity for promotion from the shop floor becomes less. The only escape is to another equally frustrating manual job; tile only compensation is found not in the job but outside it, if there is a rising standard of living.
不断提高的教育标准助长了不断提高的期望。然而工人对他们的工作状况的控制程度没有相应提高。许多情况下，他们的控制力已经减弱。抗议活动的征兆增多——生病和旷工率上升，员工流动率高，产量受限，以及非官方和官方的罢工。没有太多的逃离和向上。随着管理层变得越来越专业——这本身是件好事——从基层晋升的机会就越来越少。唯一的出路是另一种同样令人沮丧的体力工作;如果生活水平不断提高，就只能在工作之外找到补偿。
adopt a counsel of despair 采取自暴自弃［不顾一切］的态度
