2015年CATTI一級(jí)筆譯英譯漢真題

　　漢譯英

　　Conventional business wisdom is big on perfection. We are constantly exhorted to give 100 per cent – or even a mathematically impossible 110 per cent. But is this really the absolute virtue it is held up to be? Or is there a case to be made for doing a “good enough” job most of the time?

　　There are two well-known rules that suggest the latter is valid. The first is the Pareto Principle (or the 80-20 rule), which states that 80 per cent of consequences stem from 20 per cent of causes. The second is the law of diminishing returns, which suggests that, as you near 100 per cent, you expend proportionally more effort on the remaining work.

　　Graham Allcott, author of How to be a Productivity Ninja, says that people often look at tasks the wrong way – they focus on the detail of what they are doing, rather than the impact it has. “It is actually far more practical to think in terms of the 80-20 rule and focus ruthlessly on doing things that have the greatest impact.”

　　He also recommends that you delegate the mundane parts of tasks that anyone can do.

　　However, many people find this difficult because they are wedded to the idea of delivering their very best. As business psychologist Karen Moloney says: “Perfection is how they define themselves and to let anything out of their hands that isn’t 100 per cent goes against their sense of professional pride.” She says the trick is to remember it is about delivering what the business needs, not what you want to give.

　　People who are natural perfectionists tend to see not giving 100 per cent as a failing. But you can reframe this by telling yourself that knowing which tasks do not need 100 per cent demonstrates good judgment.

　　Holding on to a task or project by forever adding that extra 1 per cent can sometimes be driven by a fear of being judged on the end result. It is therefore worth reminding yourself of the Steve Jobs quote: “Real artists ship.”

　　One way to avoid running up against the law of diminishing returns is to set yourself deadlines. But rather than set fake deadlines that you know can be moved, Mr Allcott recommends making yourself accountable to someone else. That way, you will shift from “I could deliver any time next week” to “I’ll look bad in front of my boss if I don’t deliver by Tuesday”.

　　Perhaps the most difficult thing to deal with, however, is not your own desire to give 100 per cent but your boss’s desire to see you give 100 per cent . Again, says Ms Moloney, you need to make it about what you deliver: “Explain to your boss you can accomplish far more if you don’t dot every I and cross every T.”

　　However, some managers’ perfectionism is such that this appeal to reason will not wash. In this case, Mr Allcott advises a more tactical approach: “Separate tasks into the more visual, obvious things and those that are under the radar that your boss will miss.”

　　參考譯文

　　在工作中，人們通常認(rèn)為，追求完美是項(xiàng)美德。我們常常被鼓勵(lì)做到100%完美，甚至110%完美——哪怕這在數(shù)學(xué)上是不可能的。但追求完美真的像人們所說(shuō)的那樣，是絕對(duì)的美德嗎?抑或，我們有理由認(rèn)為，大多數(shù)時(shí)候只需要做到“足夠好”?

　　有兩條著名的法則表明，后一種看法是合理的。第一條是“帕累托法則”(又名“二八法則”)，該法則稱，80%的結(jié)果取決于20%的原因。第二條是“收益遞減法則”，根據(jù)該法則，工作完成得越接近完美，為完成剩余工作所需付出的努力就越大。

　　《如何成為高效人士》(How to be a Productivity Ninja)一書作者格雷厄姆•奧爾科特(Graham Allcott)說(shuō)，人們看待工作的方式往往是錯(cuò)誤的，他們更關(guān)注于自己做的事情，而不是這些事情會(huì)產(chǎn)生什么影響�！笆聦�(shí)上，更實(shí)用的方法是，用二八法則來(lái)思考問(wèn)題、集中精力去做那些能產(chǎn)生最大影響的事情�！�

　　他還建議人們將工作中那些誰(shuí)都能做的部分分派下去。

　　然而，許多人覺得這很困難，因?yàn)榻怀鐾昝莱晒�的理念在他們的腦海中根深蒂固。如商業(yè)心理學(xué)家卡倫•莫洛尼(Karen Moloney)所說(shuō)：“完美是他們對(duì)自己的要求，讓不完美的東西從自己手中出去，有損他們的職業(yè)自豪感。”她說(shuō)，訣竅在于，要記住，關(guān)鍵是交出符合工作需要的成果，而不是你想交出的成果。

　　天生的完美主義者往往認(rèn)為，交出不完美的成果就等于失敗。但你可以這樣想，知道哪項(xiàng)工作不需要做到完美，也證明了你的判斷力。

　　在任何工作或項(xiàng)目中始終追求更加完美，這或許是因?yàn)閾?dān)心最后的成果得到不好的評(píng)價(jià)。因此，你應(yīng)該用史蒂夫•喬布斯(Steve Jobs)的話提醒自己：“真正的藝術(shù)家是能拿出作品的藝術(shù)家�！�

　　避免遭遇收益遞減法則的方法之一，是給自己設(shè)定截止時(shí)間。但奧爾科特認(rèn)為，與其設(shè)定你知道可以推后的偽截止時(shí)間，不如把問(wèn)責(zé)權(quán)交給別人。這樣一來(lái)，你就不能對(duì)自己說(shuō)，“我下周什么時(shí)候完成工作都行”，而要告訴自己，“如果到周二還完不成工作，我就沒臉見老板了”。

　　不過(guò)，或許最難對(duì)付的不是你自身追求完美的欲望，而是老板要你做到完美的欲望。同樣的，莫洛尼說(shuō)，你必須強(qiáng)調(diào)要關(guān)注于你能拿出的成果：“對(duì)老板說(shuō)，如果不要求在每一個(gè)細(xì)節(jié)上都做到盡善盡美，我完成的工作會(huì)比現(xiàn)在多得多�！�

　　然而，有些經(jīng)理人的完美主義過(guò)于嚴(yán)重，跟他們講道理已經(jīng)沒用了。在這種情況下，奧爾科特建議采取一種更巧妙的方法：“把那些比較顯眼、容易引起注意的工作，跟老板注意不到的工作區(qū)分開�！�

　　熱點(diǎn)關(guān)注：2018-2011年翻譯資格考試高級(jí)筆譯真題