American Karoshi （过劳死)Workaholics（工作狂)in AmericaA thin, 40-something man with scatte

American Karoshi (过劳死)

Workaholics(工作狂)in America

A thin, 40-something man with scattered white hair and wan(苍白的)complexion looked up from his notebook in a church basement on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

"Hi, I'm Emerson," he said, "and I'm addicted to work."

"Hi, Emerson," answered his companions.

Emerson is a lecturer at a major university in the New York area. In addition to his course load, he developed two new classes last semester, submitted a book-length manuscript. for publication and served as executive director of a small not-for-profit corporation. "In my own eyes I'm a lazy sloth(懒惰的人)," he declared. He even agonized over coming to this evening's Workaholics Anonymous meeting. He couldn't shake the thought of running home to update his telephone list. "I just feel compelled to do this," he said. "It's insanity."

What makes workaholics of America

Emerson is not alone. His condition is a product of the society that surrounds him. Joan Feldman of an investment firm in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center barely got out of the building after the first airliner crashed into Tower 1 on 11 September. While hurrying down the stairs from the 88th floor, she heard an announcement over the Center's public-address system ordering employees back to work. "I would be dead," said Ms Feldman when asked what would have happened if she had obeyed.

America's obsession with work has reached epidemic proportions, according to Dr Bryan E. Robinson, family therapist and author of the 1998 book, Chained to the Desk (New York University Press). He believes that workaholism is a disease that kills people and ruins families. In New York, time is money, and since one's worth is measured by ability to earn, overwork isn't just a good idea, it's the law of supply and demand. According to psychiatrist Dr Jay B. Rohrlich, in Hollywood where one's appearance is paramount(至高无上的), the same problems might manifest themselves in anorexia(厌食症). But in New York, where working excessively to achieve success is the norm, people go overboard. "When your drive controls you, instead of you controlling it, it can be the sign of underlying problems," he points out.

That equation is reinforced by new technologies which make workaholics of all of us. When Marilyn Machlowitz wrote Workaholics in 1980, things were very different. "We didn't have faxes, cell phones, cell phones with e-mail, beepers, Palm Pilots. Workaholics used to be the people who would work anytime, anywhere. What has changed is that it has become the norm to be on call 24/7. Now that's something that doesn't cause anyone to blink. Globalization has really changed a lot of our work habits." People in the financial industry check in with London when they arrive for work in the morning and don't stop until the Nikkei(日经指数)starts up at eight or nine in the evening. "The demand has increased to a point where it may be faster than people are hardwired(日经指数) to handle. And we haven't seen all that high-tech has to offer yet, either." Twenty years ago we had enforced downtime, noted Ms Machlowitz: "If we had to send a draft of a document to someone, we had time before they received it in the mail, read it and mailed it back demanding changes. That time has collapsed to nothing. 'Right away' has a new definition."

A study on workaholics

A study recently conducted by the health insurer Oxford Health Plans found that one in five Americans show up for work whether they're ill, injured or have a medical appointment. This same obsession keeps one in five Americans from taking their vacation — a failure which has been found to put individuals at risk of early death. "Vacationitis (假日病)" may come from fear of returning to find someone else at your desk, or the idea that everything will collapse in your absence.

Workaholics Anonymous(无名

A．Y

B．N

C．NG