2006年NPR美国国家公共电台七月-Working Parents Look for Line Between Hom

John Ydstie: On Wednesdays our business news takes a look at the workplace. Today, a perennial 1 problem: when to put your foot down, say no to the boss, and choose life over work. That's one of the many questions Lisa Belkin explores in her column. She writes for the New York Times and started her last column from a hospital room waiting for her son to emerge from surgery. She joins us now from her home in New York. Welcome.

Lisa Belkin: Thank you. Good to be here.

John Ydstie: That's pretty hardcore writing a column while you were waiting for your son to come out of surgery.

Lisa Belkin: Well. Actually the point was I was trying to write a column while my son was coming out of surgery and I didn't really get past the first line. Um, that is just not a place to work. That's one of the no-brainers.But the decision process, the, I can do it just this once or maybe this is an exception. Really it's something we do hundreds and hundreds of times a day sometimes without even realizing it, and then we look back at the aggregate 2 and say, oh, how did I get here.

John Ydstie: How do you make that decision though? How do you, how do you draw the line?

Lisa Belkin: That one was: Do I write this column now? Do I not turn it in at all and just tell them I can't do it, which I have never done in 6 years and couldn't bring myself to do then. So my compromise was to call and say it's going to be late and in this case that worked. Then my next choice was all right in 48 hours I'm supposed to leave town overnight and give a speech. Well, what does the equation look like there? Is it ok 48 hours after surgery? Is it is ok 72 hours after surgery? If the child were 5, would that be a different thing if the child is 15? And then you sort of play around with these variables in your head and come up with some sum total at the end that vaguely 3 resembles an answer.

John Ydstie: Now I understand that you and your husband have agreed on a few ground rules though.

Lisa Belkin: Yes. We don't both leave town at the same time. There just should be a parent here, that feels right to me. And we've tried not to be gone for work-related evening events 2 nights in a row because then you've sort of abandoned the ship. Yes.

John Ydstie: Now I can imagine though that even having those hard and fast rules doesn't always make it easier, I mean, I am sure you and your husband might compete for a particular day when both of you think you have something very important to do overnight.

Lisa Belkin: Yeah, well. We have the calendar, and it's kind of like who gets first dibs. If you write it down on the calendar, it's yours. But I am regularly saying to him it's not on the calendar. If you didn't write it on the calendar, you can't go.

John Ydstie: Has there ever been a time when you feel you made the wrong choice?

Lisa Belkin: Yes, and it involves another broken bone. My same son, who seems to have mishaps 4, fell in the playground when he was younger. And I was in the middle of a meeting. And I didn't come straight home. And then my babysitter had taken him to the doctor and had told her that he was fine. And by the next day, it was pretty apparent that he had a severely 5 broken leg, was in a wheelchair for 8 weeks and basically mom has never ever forgotten that one. And I know from my mail but I'm not the only one walking around with a chunk 6 of guilt 7 from one incident like that and then colors everything else you do.

John Ydstie: Lisa Belkin writes a column for the New York Times and joined us from her home in New York. Thanks very much.

【WORLD BANK】
put your foot down
1) to say very firmly that someone must do something or must stop doing something
You'll just have to put your foot down and tell him he can't stay out on school nights.
2) informal to make a car go faster
hardcore
1
[only before noun] having an extreme way of life or an extreme belief that is very unlikely to change
a hard-core drug addict 8 hard-core racists
2
hard-core pornography
magazines, films etc that show the details of sexual behaviour, often in an unpleasant way
no-brainer
[singular]
a decision that is easy, and that you do not need to think about, used when you want to emphasize that it is really very easy
Joining the savings 9 plan is a no-brainer. Just do it.
draw the line (at something)
to allow or accept something up to a particular point, but not beyond it
I don't mind doing some gardening but I draw the line at digging.
equation
[countable usually singular] the set of different facts, ideas, or people that all affect a situation and must be considered together
The tourist industry forms a crucial part of the region's economic equation . The question of cost has now entered the equation .
basic rules
the basic rules or principles on which future actions or behaviour should be based
lay down/establish ground rules for something Our book lays down the ground rules for building a patio 10 successfully.
abandon
to withdraw from often in the face of danger or encroachment 11 <abandon ship>
dibs
[plural] American English informal
the right to have, use, or do something
Freshmen have first dibs on dormitory rooms.
colour somebody's judgement/opinions/attitudes etc
to influence the way someone thinks about something, especially so that they become less fair or reasonable
In my position, I can't afford to let my judgement be coloured by personal feeling