异类之不一样的成功启示录 第161期:法国乡下农民的生活

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　　That's, at most, 1,000 hours a year of work.

　　那么他们每年花在工作上的时间最多不会超1000个小时。

　　When a Kung bushman was asked once why his people hadn't taken to agriculture, he looked puzzled and said,

　　当土著人被问及为什么他们不种植农作物时，他们会用不解的神情反问道：

　　"Why should we plant, when there're so many mongongo nuts in the world?"

　　“世界上有那么多的坚果，为什么我们还要种植？”

　　Or consider the life of a peasant in eighteen century Europe.

　　或者想想生活在18世纪的欧洲农民，

　　Men and women in those days probably worked from dawn to noon 200 days a year, which works out to about 1,200 hours of work annually¹.

　　一年中的200多天里，农夫和农妇们或许都在田里干活，从日出到日落。这样每年都会工作1 200多个小时。

　　During harvest or spring planting, the day might be longer; in the winter, much less.

　　在收获和春季播种的季节，每天工作的时间会更久。在冬天，工作量会减少。

　　In The Discovery of France, the historian Graham Robb writes that peasants life in the country like France,

　　在名叫《发现法兰西》（The Discovery of France）的著作中，历史学家格雷厄姆·罗伯写道，

　　even well into the 19th century, was essentially² brief episodes of work followed by long periods of idleness.

　　法国乡下农民的生活除了偶尔穿插一些工作外，有大把无聊的闲暇时间，尤其是进入19世纪以后，也是如此。

　　"Ninety-nine percent of human activity described in this and other accounts of French country life," he writes,"took place between late spring and early autumn."

　　“本书和另一份（关于法国乡村生活）的报道描述了人们99%的社会活动。”他写道，

　　In the Pyrenees and the Alps, entire villages would essentially hibernate³ from the time of the first snow in November until March or April.

　　“书中大部分记录的都在比利牛斯和阿尔卑斯地区，通常在早春或晚秋时节。”如11月的第一场雪开始到明年春天的3、4月份，

　　In more temperate⁴ regions of France, where temperatures in the winter really fell below freezing, the same pattern held. Robb continues:

　　整个村庄基本上都进入冬眠状态。在法国其他气候很温和的地区，尽管冬天的气温很少低于零度，但冬眠的情形同样存在。罗伯继续写道：

　　The fields of Flanders were deserted⁵ for much of the year.

　　很长一段时期，佛兰德斯地区都十分荒凉，

　　An official report on the Nievre in 1844 described the strange mutation⁶ of the Burgundian day-labor once the harvest was in and the vine stock had been burned:

　　1884年，一名官员在一份针对涅夫勒省的报告中，揭示了一种非常奇怪的现象，勃艮第地区的农民在丰收的季节到来后就把葡萄树根埋起：

　　"After making the necessary repairs to their tools, these vigorous men will now spend their days in bed,

　　“在修理一些常用的工具后，这些精力旺盛的人们就开始在床上度日，

　　packing their bodies tightly together in order to stay warm and eat less food.They weaken themselves deliberately⁷."

　　为了取暖并减少进食，他们用被子把自己裹得严严实实。他们主动削弱自己的动力。”

　　Human hibernation⁸ was a physical and economical necessity.

　　人类的冬眠是基于身体与经济上的考虑，

　　Lowering the metabolic⁹ rate prevented hunger from exhausting supplies....People trudged¹⁰ and dawdled¹¹, even in summer....

　　避免身体上的消耗带来的饥饿感，从而降低新陈代谢……人们每天混沌度日，甚至在夏天也是如此……

　　After the revolution, in Alsace and the Pas-de-Calais, officials complained that wine growers and independent farmers,

　　在工业革命之后，阿尔萨斯和加来地区的官员声称，酿酒的工人和农夫，

　　instead of undertaking¹² "some peaceful and sedentary industry" in the quieter season, "abandoned themselves to dumb idleness."

　　在进入冬季后就“不再工作”，“任由自己过着游手好闲的生活。”

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