164 Overwrought and overtired
164 过度紧张和过度劳累
“They like to overload us with work, those guys. I am beginning to feel like a pack animal,” Bob Crowther exclaimed during the lunch break. “What’s more, the food they serve us is lousy. While they’re feasting on oysters and caviar, all we get is fried sausages and mashed potatoes packed into a styrofoam box.”
“那些家伙总是让我们的工作量超过负荷，我都开始觉得自己就像一头役畜似的。”鲍勃，克劳瑟在午餐休息的时候大声嚷嚷道，“而且，他们提供给我们的食物实在是太恶心了。他们自己摆筵席，吃牡蛎，尝鱼子酱。我们呢？我们只能吃那些塞在快餐盒里的炸香肠和土豆泥。”
“I find this work overwhelming, and I’m overtired,” he went on. “All this overtime, and some of it without even paying proper overtime rates! They’re overtaxing us.”
“我觉得这份工作都快把我们压垮了，我实在是过度疲劳了。”他继续说道，“我们总是加班，可有时候甚至连加班费都没有！他们对我们课税太重了！”
Bob was clearly in bad shape: mentally, emotionally and physically. He was barely able to control himself. Marvin, one of his colleagues, tried to pacify him: “Hey, you’re overwrought, Bob! Cool it, OK? You’re only making things worse. Not only for yourself, but also for the rest of us.”
很明显，鲍勃现在的健康状态非常糟糕：无论是精神上、感情上还是肉体上都非常糟糕。他简直都无法控制自己的情绪了。他的一个同事，马尔文，试图安慰他：“嘿，鲍勃，你过于紧张了！冷静点，好吗？你这样只能使事情更加糟糕。不为自己也为我们想想啊！”
Bob would not give in. “We’re sitting here in this packed cafeteria, while they’re having a good time. And when we get back on the conveyor belt, it will be us having to cope with those overlapping tasks, handling the overflow of work. And they’re not even being overt about this. I mean, they don’t even come clean about what they really want us to do. I’m telling you, if I were in charge, I would go for a complete overhaul of the operation, overturn the whole thing, that’s what I’d do.”
鲍勃并没有平静下来。“现在我们坐在这个拥挤的自助餐厅里，而他们却在尽情享乐。当我们回到传送带边上的时候，是我们来对付一项又一项重叠交错的任务，是我们来处理一件又一件泛滥成灾的工作，而他们甚至对工作的有关情况都不愿公开。我的意思是，他们根本就不想交代清楚究竟想要我们做什么。告诉你们，如果我是主管，我肯定会对整个操作系统进行彻底检修，推翻现行的所有制度，这就是我想要干的。”
“Aren’t you overlooking something, Bob?” asked Marvin. “Don’t you think a lot of what’s going on is just because of some oversight or other on the management’s part? Come on, they’re only human. It can’t be easy to oversee an operation as complex as this one.”
“你是否忽路了某些东西，鲍勃？”马尔文问道。“你难道不认为现在大多差错都是由于管理方这样或那样的疏忽造成的？行了，他们也是人嘛！要监督一个如此复杂的操作系统是很不容易的。”
Words:
overflow vt.(使)泛滥,(使)溢出
overhaul n.彻底检查,大修
overlap vt.重叠,与…交搭,迭盖住
overload vt.使超载,使超过负荷
overlook vt.忽略,没注意到俯瞰,远眺
oversee vt.监督
oversight n.勘漏,失察,疏忽
overt adj.明显的,公然的,公开的
overtax vt.课税过重
overtime n.超时,加班adv.加班地
overtire vt.使过度疲劳
overturn vt.推翻,翻倒n.倾覆,破灭
overwhelm vt.战胜,压倒,泛滥
overwrought adj.过度紧张的,过劳的
oyster n.牡蛎
pacify vt.安抚,平息
pack vt.装,将…挤入,塞满
pack animal 能运输的动物(如驴等),役畜
packed adj.压紧的,压实的,拥挤的