Last Wednesday, I arrived at the office to find I'd left my keys at home so could not lock up my bike. Later, I interviewed Lord Browne over lunch and afterwards couldn't find the tag I had been given for my coat. And then, on the way back, I started drafting the interview in my head and missed my stop on the tube.
上周三，我到公司時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)，我把鑰匙拉在家里，不能鎖自行車。稍后，我在午餐時(shí)間采訪了布朗勛爵，然后看到我大衣上別的飾物不見(jiàn)了。接著，在回程的地鐵上，我開(kāi)始在頭腦里草擬采訪稿，結(jié)果坐過(guò)了站。
　　
All three mishaps took time out of the day and were bad for morale, but at least I did the first and last unobserved. The second was done with the former head of BP quietly watching as I squatted on the floor of the restaurant and rummaged in vain through the squalid contents of my handbag.
這三件糗事既浪費(fèi)了時(shí)間，也影響了情緒，但起碼第一件事和第三件事都沒(méi)有讓人看到。而第二件事發(fā)生時(shí)，我蹲在餐廳地板上，在手提包里一堆雜七雜八的東西中徒勞地翻找，英國(guó)石油的前首席執(zhí)行官則在一邊靜靜地看著。
　　
These small lapses took place against the background of a much bigger lapse. For hours last Wednesday (and on most other days too) I sat at my desk feeling that I was hard at work, whereas what I was actually doing was e-mailing, looking up random things on Google, reading assorted blogs and talking to people. I faffed and dithered, and ended up writing what I had to write in a mad, headlong dash.
這些小失誤發(fā)生的背景，是一種嚴(yán)重得多的怠惰。上周三（其它日子也大抵如此），我在桌子前坐了整整四個(gè)小時(shí)，感覺(jué)自己在努力工作，而其實(shí)我是在收發(fā)電子郵件、在谷歌上隨意瀏覽、看各類博客、與人交談。我無(wú)事瞎忙，慌張失措，最后才匆匆忙忙地趕寫必須完成的稿子。