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Labour unrest GitHubbub 与996抗争

MOI思想博物馆 2019-06-09 10:30:42

Labour unrest

GitHubbub

Burned-out tech workers organise arare online labour movement

标题赏析

本期的经济学人的标题起得相当有水平。

首先看主标题，作者玩了“结合词”梗，GitHubbub实际上是由GitHub和Hubhub结合而成。Github是微软旗下的一个代码共享论坛，也是本文中提到的“抵制996工作制运动”（下文简称为“996运动”）的发源地。而hubbub /ˈhʌbʌb/的意思是a situation in which there is a lot of activity, excitement, or argument，即混乱、骚动。同义替换了小标题的“labour unrest”。因此“GitHubbub”则可以理解为“代码交流论坛GitHub上的一场动乱（hubbub），指的也就是996运动”。

其次再看副标题。Burned out 中的burn 有“燃烧”之意， out 表示“彻底、一点不剩”。burned-out 则表示“烧光的、燃尽的”，用来比喻一个人精力枯竭、身心疲惫的状态，在此也可以用worn-out 替换。

标题中出现的Labour movement/ labour unrest / hubbub全部指代同一件事情，即996运动。重复了三遍也说明这场运动规模之大、反响之强烈、影响之深远。

第一段

In the world’s most censored region of cyberspace, finding an unpatrolled spot to air shared grievances is hard. Yet disgruntled Chinese software developers have recently found one at their fingertips: GitHub, a platform owned by Microsoft that allows developers to help each other build software. Fed up with the grindingly long work hours imposed on them by China’s internet giants, this collective has recently built something else—a movement demanding more humane office hours and calling out the worst corporate offenders.

单词/短语释义

1. Unpatrolled: patrol是指the act of checking that there is no trouble or danger in a building or area，巡逻。Unpatrolled是指没人巡逻的，与前面的censored构成反义词，此处也可以用uncensored.

2. Grievance/ˈɡriː.vəns/: a complaint or a strong feeling that you have been treated unfairly. 不满，抱怨。

3. Disgruntled /dɪsˈɡrʌn.t̬əld/ unhappy, annoyed, and disappointed about something. 不满的；不悦的。

4. At one’s fingertips：触手可及，随时可用。

5. Be fed up with：字面意思是“被喂饱了”，这里取引申义，表示“受够了”。

6. Grindingly： (of a difficult situation) oppressive and seemingly without end. 苛刻地。

grinding poverty指的是赤贫。而它的名词形式grind是指a difficult or boring activity that needs a lot of effort，令人厌倦的苦事。我们可以用grind来描述高考，例如：the gaokao grinds.

7. Collective /kəˈlek.tɪv/：of or shared by every member of a group of people. 共同的。

8. Humane: showing kindness, care, and sympathy towards others, especially those who are suffering. （尤指对待受苦者）善良的，仁慈的。

9. Call out：to publicly criticize or fault (someone). 公开批评。

句型分析

原句：Finding an unpatrolled spot to air shared grievances is hard.

解析: 这个从句的主干是动名词finding an unpatrolled spot, 不定式to air shared grievances作目的状语，is是系动词，hard是表语。

本段解析

本段的第二句话介绍了“996运动”的时间（Recently）和地点（GitHubbub），整段简明扼要地概述了“996运动”的起因和目的。

第二段

Their beef is the “996” regime, which refers to a work schedule of 9am to 9pm, six days a week, often without extra pay. Toiling such hours has become an unspoken rule in the frenetic world of Chinese tech. In late March anonymous activists created a webpage called 996.icu (the letters standing for “intensive care unit”). On it they listed firms at fault, including 58.com, a site for classified ads that popularised the 996 approach in 2016. A page with the same name was also set up on GitHub, which was also used to host a sister project called “955.wlb” (standing for “work-life balance”). This celebrates firms with more relaxed working hours. Almost all of those listed are foreign ones.

单词/短语释义

10. Beef：这里可不是指牛肉，beef可以非正式地表示a complaint。If you have a beef with someone, you have a complaint.

11. 996 regime 指“996”工作制，regime 的意思是mode of rule or management 管理模式或规则。

12. Toiling： long strenuous fatiguing labor. 艰苦卓绝的苦力。toil and moil是固定搭配，表示辛勤工作。

13. Frenetic：involving a lot of excited movement or activity. 狂热的。

14. be at fault: to have done something wrong 有过错；有责任

句型分析

原句：Their beef is the “996” regime, which refers to a work schedule of 9am to 9pm, six days a week, often without extra pay.

解析：这句话介绍了什么是996工作制，除了996 regime之外，还可以用996 working hour system/ schedule来表达。996不仅没有加班费，而且最后还会进ICU（ICU是重症加强护理病房的简称）：work from 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week with the threat of ending up at ICU, a hospital’s intensive care unit.

本段解析

说明996运动抵制的焦点是超长的工作时间、超强的工作压力。除了点名批评国内实行996工作制的公司外，程序员们还在GitHub建了一个参考项项目“955.wlb” ,列举能达到工作、生活平衡的工作。

第三段

The anti-996 campaigners have a point. In 2016 Didi Chuxing, a ride-hailing giant, ranked the most “hardcore” internet companies by their overtime hours. Staff at jd.com, an e-commerce firm, clocked out at 11.16pm on average (the latest). Relative idlers at Didi left at 9.24pm. Fewer workers now regard such long hours as something to be proud of. Tempers flared in January when Youzan, a firm that helps run others’ online shops, implemented a 996 schedule and told non-compliers with it, more or less, to quit. (Staff complained to the labour authorities: the law limits the working week to 40 hours and requires overtime pay after that.) To the disappointment of his many fans, Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, a tech giant, spoke dismissively of the protesters, saying that “being able to work 996 is a huge blessing.” Richard Liu, the chief executive of jd.com, wrote: “Slackers are not my brothers!”

单词/短语释义

15. ride-hailing: 轿车服务，hail : to greet or summon by calling 例如hail a taxi.

16. clock out: 下班打卡；相对应的clock in是指上班打卡。

17. tempers flare \ ˈfler\：people become angry.

18. Dismissively: having or showing a disdainful attitude toward someone or something regarded as unworthy of serious attention. 不屑一顾地。

句型分析

原句：Tempers flared in January when Youzan, a firm that helps run others’ online shops, implemented a 996 schedule and told non-compliers with it, more or less, to quit.

解析：tempers主语，flared谓语，in January是时间状语，when引导了时间状语从句，a firm是用来修饰Youzan的定语从句，more and less是插入语。

本段解析

本段是列举例子，包含滴滴打车、京东、有赞。当然还有马云爸爸和东哥的“金句“：

Jack Ma:Being able to work 996 is a huge blessing. 马云：996是福报。

Richard Liu:Slackers are not my brothers! 刘强东：混日子的人不是我的兄弟！

第四段

The Chinese government is normally quick to censor discussion of protest. However, in this case it is the internet companies themselves that seem to be taking the initiative. Users say that web browsers including those of Alibaba, Qihoo 360 and Tencent have failed to load the 996.icu pages. The irony has not been lost on social-media users. “So 996 developers at 996 companies had to work 996 to block a website about 996,” one wrote on Weibo, a Twitter-like service. Jeffrey Knockel of Citizen Lab, an internet research group at the University of Toronto, says that tech firms must fear that the protesters have clout.

单词/短语释义

19. Clout/klaʊt/: power and influence over other people or events权势；影响力

句型分析

原句：So 996 developers at 996 companies had to work 996 to block a website about 996,” one wrote on Weibo, a Twitter-like service.

解析：这句像绕口令一样的话很有意思：996 IT工程师在实行996工作制的公司每天朝九晚九、一周六天地辛勤地工作，是为了屏蔽揭发实行996工作制的互联网公司的网络论坛。A twitter-like service直接用twitter来向外国人形容微博，简单易懂，还有一种用法“Weibo, Chinese equivalent of Twitter”，也是用推特比微博。

本段解析

本段说明了对于政府及公司对“996 icu”网站采取的行动，还有网民的反应。

第五段

The 996.icu page has been GitHub’s most popular for weeks. That is because Chinese developers are such avid users of the platform for work purposes: their contributions are second only to those of Americans. They also know how useful it is for spreading sensitive information and evading China’s vast web-filtering system. Because GitHub is encrypted, it is harder for the state to censor bits of it selectively. Blocking it entirely would cripple China’s technology champions, whose programmers rely heavily on code shared on GitHub. In 2013 the government did try blocking the platform. Complaints from developers brought it back online within days. Its appeal is not limited to techies. Mengyang Zhao, who researches tech activism at the University of Pennsylvania, says that Chinese NGOworkers now use GitHub to back up articles posted on WeChat that are at risk of being censored.

单词/短语释义

20. avid \ ˈa-vəd \: very eager and enthusiastic.

21. cripple \ˈkrɪp.əl\: to deprive of capability for service or of strength, efficiency, or wholeness.

句型分析

本段基本是以简凝短句组成的，无长难句。

本段解析

本段谈到的是中国的程序员为什么会选择在GitHub的原因。

第六段

The GitHub page for 996.icu says that it is “not a political movement”. But if the government does decide to crack down, it has leverage of its own that it can try to deploy, says Mr Knockel. That is, it has sway over Microsoft, whose other services, including Bing and LinkedIn, are allowed to operate in China with censored content. In the meantime, vendors on Taobao, Alibaba’s retail platform, offer a “996” t-shirt with a more alluring interpretation: “Sleep at 9pm, rise at 9am, work six hours a day.” Not one for Mr Ma, then.

单词/短语释义

22. leverage: the ability of influence what people do. 影响力。

23. deploy: to use sth effectively.有效地利用、调动。

24. sway：rule; govern. 统治、管理。

25. alluring \ə-ˈlu̇r-iŋ\：having a strongly attractive or enticing quality. 迷人的、有吸引力的。

句型分析

原句：That is, it has sway over Microsoft, whose other services, including Bing and LinkedIn, are allowed to operate in China with censored content.

解析：that is 开始对上句中“政府运用自己的影响力”这句话进行详细解释，whose引导的是非限定性定语从句，修饰Microsoft, including是插入语。

本段解析

本段主要讲政府可能采取审查制来管理发布的内容。文末用诙谐的方法提出了IT工作者们的理想：晚九点安睡，早九点起床，一天工作六小时。

结语

网上关于996运动的各种解读众说纷纭，在此不作评价。仅仅从英文写作角度来看，本文属于上乘之作，文章结构清晰：引入问题—列举实例——分析原因——描述各方反应，把996运动阐释地清晰明确，值得读者借鉴学习。作为长期阅读经济学人的读者，我觉得文章似乎还差一个解决方案文章没有提。可能是受限于篇幅，也可能是牵涉到不同利益方不便提，那我们就索性在文末作者的幽默中一笑而过吧！