上班族媽咪致格溫妮絲的公開信大綱

Dear Gwyneth,

親愛的格溫妮絲：

I really enjoyed your recent comments to E! about how easy an office job is for parents, compared to the grueling circumstances of being on a movie set. “I think it’s different when you have an office job, because it’s routine and, you know, you can do all the stuff in the morning and then you come home in the evening,” you said. “When you’re shooting a movie, they’re like, ‘We need you to go to Wisconsin for two weeks,’ and then you work 14 hours a day, and that part of it is very difficult. I think to have a regular job and be a mom is not as, of course there are challenges, but it’s not like being on set.”

我真的好喜歡你最近在E!電視節目上說的話。你說和從事電影業人那種筋疲力盡的窘境相比，有一份辦公室工作的父母真是太幸福了。“我認爲從事辦公室工作很不一樣，因爲這種工作的工作時間是比較固定的，白天做完所有事情，然後晚上回家。”你說道，“拍電影時的感覺就好像是要去威斯康辛州待兩週一樣，每天工作14小時。哦，這太艱難了。雖然還是有一定挑戰，但我覺得上班族媽咪不像電影明星那樣勞累。”

As a mother of a toddler, I couldn’t agree more!

我的孩子纔剛學會走路，因此我對你說的表示強烈同意。

“Thank God I don’t make millions filming one movie per year” is what I say to myself pretty much every morning as I wait on a windy Metro-North platform, about to begin my 45-minute commute into the city. Whenever things get rough, all I have to do is keep reminding myself of that fact. It is my mantra.

幾乎每個早晨，我站在風吹的向北地鐵站臺，準備開始到市中心的45分鐘行程時，總會對自己說“謝天謝地，幸好我不用每年拍一部數百萬美元的電影。”每每遇到棘手問題，我都會這樣告訴自己。這句話就是我的口頭禪。

And I know all my fellow working-mom friends feel the same. Am I right, ladies?

據我所知，身邊已做了母親的同事朋友們都是這麼想的。女士們，我說的沒錯吧？

We’re always gabbing about how easy it is to balance work and home life. Whenever I meet with them at one of our weekly get-togethers — a breeze to schedule, because reliable baby sitters often roam my neighborhood in packs, holding up signs peddling their services — we have a competition to see who has it easier. Is it the female breadwinners who work around the clock to make sure their mortgages get paid, lying awake at night, wracked with anxiety over the idea of losing their jobs? Or is it the mothers who get mommy-tracked and denied promotions? What about the moms with “regular” 9-to-5 jobs, who are penalized when their kids are sick and they don’t have backup child care?

我們總是說在工作和家庭生活中尋求平衡是件輕而易舉的事。每次我在每週一次的固定小聚會上聊天時，總會拿保姆來作比較。保姆們經常提着大包小包，舉着求職牌子在我家附近轉悠。看看哪一個更輕鬆吧。是那些夜以繼日工作但卻無法保證交得起房屋貸款，晚上躺在牀上擔心飯碗，養家餬口的婦女，還是那些在職場上難以獲得晉升機會，有一份朝九晚五的工作卻在孩子生病時感到煎熬又沒有照顧孩子的備選方案的職場媽咪呢？

Those women are living the dream, I tell you!

還在做夢的媽媽們，讓我來告訴你吧！

Which reminds me, child care. As you know, Gwynnie, having a staff can be a real drag. It’s so hard to find good help these days! That’s why it’s a good thing there’s all this nationally subsidized, high-quality day care lying around for the taking. It just makes things easier knowing you have such a strong support network and don’t have to pay someone anywhere from $30K to $65K annually to take care of your child full-time.

別忘了還有託兒所！衆所周知，格溫妮絲重擔纏身。現在這個時代要找個好幫手真是太難了。因此附近可供選擇的公立高質量日託所是很不錯的選擇。這能夠讓你獲得巨大的幫助，讓事情變得輕鬆，而且你還不用每年付給全職照顧小孩的保姆3-6.5萬美元。

You mentioned in your E! interview that when someone has an office job, “You know you can do all the stuff in the morning,” and that hit the nail on the head. As someone with an office job, my mornings are obviously pretty leisurely. Sometimes I even have time to drink half of my coffee before it gets cold! After my 6 a.m. wake-up, I have a lot of time to loll around, hopping in the shower and then throwing makeup on my face, hoping that I’ll have enough time to put my tights on before my son starts crying in his crib. Then, when he does start crying, I have to make the decision: Do I get fully dressed, or do I go tend to him with my hair still dripping wet? Talk about being spoilt for choice!

在E!的節目採訪中，你一針見血地說上班族可以在早上辦完事。作爲上班族的我，早上有大把大把的悠閒時光。有時，我甚至在咖啡冷掉前能喝下半杯！早上六點之後醒來，我就無所事事，洗洗澡，打扮打扮，在躺在嬰兒牀裏的孩子哭之前我還有充足的時間套上緊身衣。當孩子開始哭時，我才需要做出抉擇：我要好好打扮一番還是帶着溼漉漉的頭髮去照顧孩子呢？我有太多可選擇的餘地啦！

Then I have a few Bellinis and adjust my 401(k) contributions.

接下來，我會喝點雞尾酒，規劃下我的401k退休福利計劃。（適用美國私人公司的一種延後課稅的退休金賬戶計劃，因相關規定在國稅法第401K條中而得名。）

After I get home from work, I’m full of energy and ready to cook dinner using one of the recipes you post on your lifestyle Web site, Goop: slow-cooked kale, pancetta and bread crumbs, anyone? After that, I’ll go to yoga, spend a few hours meditating and maybe do some online shopping, picking up a pair of $350 white leopard-printed short-shorts via Goop in preparation for the “spring break” I’ll take with my husband and son.

下班回來，我精神飽滿地準備按照Goop（一個提倡健康生活方式的網站）上的菜單做飯：文火烹調的蔬菜湯、意大利燻肉和麪包屑。再然後，我會去做做瑜伽，沉思幾個小時或者上網購物，根據Goop的推薦挑選一條350美元的白色豹皮短褲，用來在春假和丈夫孩子一塊出門的時候穿。

If there’s one thing I look good in after having a child, it’s short-shorts.

生完孩子後，我穿起來還算好看的也只有短褲了。

So, Gwyneth, you’ve figured out the secret of working parents everywhere: Livin’ la vida desk job is a breeze compared to the 14-hour days of a film set. Fourteen hours? Who in New York — especially those in the finance, law and tech professions — could possibly work 14 whole hours?

格溫妮絲，你深諳上班族父母的訣竅：辦公室工作跟每天工作14小時電影人比真的不算什麼。那些在華盛頓工作，特別是從事金融、法律和科技的人很可能一天要滿滿地工作14小時吧？

Luckily, those 9-to-5 “ordinary job” hours grow on trees here.

幸好幸好，這些朝九晚五的“普通工作”還是很多的。

And if you lose one, all you have to do is find another.

要是丟了一份，你還是能找到另一份的。

Yours, Mackenzie

麥肯茲