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The Adventure of a Lifetime 游牧上班族

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繁體中文譯本

（译注：直译为一生的冒险）

Traveling around the world and picking up work along the way  在环游世界的同时，还能沿途工作喔

Jason Demant and Sharon Duckworth are Great Recession refugees and they couldn’t be happier. The former Silicon Valley worker bees are unemployed. And untethered, unscheduled, unflappable and unapologetically off on the adventure of a lifetime.

杰森．德蒙特和沙伦．达克华斯是经济大衰退的「难民」，但他们却快乐无比。两人原本是硅谷勤奋的上班族，如今无业，同时也不再受羁绊，没订定时程，不忧不惧，而且毫不后悔地投入一生的冒险。

The San Jose couple had always planned to see the world, but when the economy tanked and Demant’s employer began cutting pay and benefits, they figured why not now?

圣荷西的这对情侣原本一直计划出去看看这个世界，而当经济急遽恶化，德蒙特的雇主开始削减薪资和福利时，他们便想，何不就趁现在？

“He planned it,” Duckworth, 25, is telling me by phone from Sanya, China. “And he told me what he was thinking and I said, ‘That sounds great.’”

「他计划了这件事，」人在中国三亚市、二十五岁的达克华斯在电话里告诉我：「也告诉我他的想法，而我回答：『听起来很棒。』」

What’s the plan?  是什么计划呢？

Quit their jobs. Sell their stuff. Head for China; then settle in South Korea for six months, learning the language and volunteering; then three more months traveling through Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos and maybe a few other places or maybe not all those places. They’d see.

他们辞掉工作，卖掉家当，到中国去；然后在南韩停留六个月，学习当地语言并担任志工；之后再花三个月遍游泰国、马来西亚、新加坡、菲律宾、印度尼西亚、和寮国，也许再去其他几个地方，又也许不见得要把这些地方全走遍。他们会视情况而定。

It sounds nuts. And wonderful.

听起来很疯狂，也很令人神往。

See, Demant and Duckworth weren’t setting out on a vacation in the midst of a recession. They were setting out on a new life. A life that might mean there is no place like home – as in no place to call home. They’re trying out the idea of “location independence,” the notion that you can work from anywhere or nowhere in particular, at any time of day or night. Of course, you have to find the right line of work.

要知道，德蒙特和达克华斯并非在经济衰退之际出发去度假，而是展开一种新生活。一种也许意味着「无处似我家」的生活──这意指没有一个地方可称之为家。他们在试验「不受地点限制」的概念，意思是你随时随地都可以工作，无须在特定地点，也不拘白天或晚上。当然，你得要找出合适的行业才行。

But people do it.

但的确有人这么做。

“There are people out there doing this at every point in their lives,” says Demant, 26, who’s tapped into the Location Independence community. “I’ve read stories about almost every type of person doing what we’re doing.”

「在人生的任何时间点都有人这么做。」打入了「无关地点」社群、现年二十六岁的德蒙特说：「我读到一些故事，有形形色色的人都在做我们正在做的事。」

These are people working in low-cost countries, ideally earning developed country incomes for consulting work, managing web-based projects and offering specific services over the Internet.

这些人在开销低的国家工作，而理想的情况是，能藉由顾问工作、管理建置于网络上的项目与透过因特网提供特定服务来赚取先进国家等级的收入。

单词发音

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recession [rɪˋsɛʃən] n.（经济的）衰退；衰退期

worker bee 从事辛苦或乏味工作的人; 工蜂  those who within an organization who do all of the hard, sometimes boring, task

untether [ʌnˋtɛðɚ] v. 从绳或炼上解开 not tied or limited with or as if with a tether

unapologetic [ˌʌnəpɒləˈdʒɛtɪk] adj. 毫无悔意的 unwilling to make or express an apology

off [ɔf] adj. 休假的，不上班的

nuts [nʌts] adj.【俚】发疯的，傻的

set out 动身, 开始 to start a journey; to begin an earnest attempt; undertake

try out 试验, 试用

ideally [aɪˋdiəlɪ] adv. 理想地

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课文讲解

No, Duckworth, who was working for a commercial property firm, and Demant, a marketing manager at Seagate, didn’t just wake up one morning and [decide to quit their jobs]. They’ve thought this thing out. They originally planned to make their great escape in October 2010. Demant chronicles on the couple’s website how he’d calculated the amount of money they’d need to save ($50,000) in order to have a reasonable average daily budget ($137) for a year.

不，任职于一家商业房地产公司的达克华斯与在希捷公司担任营销经理的德蒙特并非在某天早晨醒来后突发奇想要辞掉工作，而是经过了深思熟虑。本来他们计划在二０一０年十月展开他们的「大逃亡」。德蒙特在两人的网页上记载了他如何计算出他们需要存多少钱（五万美元）才能以合理的每日平均预算（一百三十七美元）度过一年。

But when the economic [downturn began] in fall 2008, the couple began accelerating their plan.

可是当二００八年秋季经济开始步入衰退时，这对情侣便着手加速进行他们的计划。

“Around the time the economy really started hurting, things started getting progressively worse at the company,” Demant says. “They cut our salaries. … Things started going downhill really fast.”

「当经济真正开始受到重创，公司的情况就愈来愈糟，」德蒙特说：「公司削减了我们的薪水……事情开始迅速走下坡。」

And so, off they went in October with the idea that maybe they could hit on something that would allow them to make money along the way and extend the trip.

于是他们便在十月动身，心想或许能在旅途中碰上什么机会，好让他们能沿途赚点钱，以供延长旅程。

How long will the journey last?  旅程会延续多久？

“I really think this will be a two-, three, maybe four-year trip,” Demant says. Not that that’s a sure thing. Only one thing is a sure thing. Demant has no illusions that finding work as a nomad will be easy. But Duckworth is a whiz with Photoshop (maybe she can design websites for people) and Demant is a spreadsheet master and has amassed a good bit of business smarts in five years at Seagate (maybe he can profit from his expertise). “That would be quite amazing if I were able to do that,” Demant says.

德蒙特说：「我的确认为这趟旅程将会历时两、三年，或者四年都不一定。」倒不是说这件事已经确定了，因为确定的事只有一件。德蒙特不会异想天开地以为身为居无定所的人找起工作会很容易。但达克华斯是使用Photoshop的能手（说不定她可以替别人设计网页），而德蒙特则是电子表单的高手，而且在为希捷工作的那五年里，累积了不少商业智慧（也许他能靠自己的专业知识获利）。德蒙特说：「假如果真如此的话，就太棒了。」

And the one sure thing? Either way, it’s going to be fascinating giving it a try.

至于那件确定的事是什么呢？那就是不论如何，做这番尝试都将万分有趣。

−by Mike Cassidy

单词发音

More Information

think out 想出; 仔细考虑 consider carefully and rationally

chronicle [ˋkrɑnɪk!] v. 记录；记述

go off 离开 to leave

hit on 碰上；偶然发现, 忽然想到

nomad [ˋnomæd] n. 流浪者  someone who moves from one place to another, rather than living in one place all of the time

whiz [hwɪz] n. 熟手；能手；奇才

spreadsheet [ˋsprɛd͵ʃit] n. 电子表格；试算表；电子制表软件

smart [smɑrt] n.专门知识 intelligence; expertise

单词发音

Vocabulary Focus

unflappable [͵ʌnˋflæpəb!]adj. 不慌张的；镇定的 not likely to get worried, nervous or angry even in difficult situations

tank [tæŋk] v. 遭受重创; 惨败 to decline rapidly

line of work 行业, 职业 a person’s major occupation or job

tap into 利用; 打入；深入了解 to use part of a large supply of something for one’s own advantage

accelerate [ækˋsɛlə͵ret] v. 加快 to make something happen faster or sooner

illusion [ɪˋljuʒən] n. 幻想，错误的观念 an idea or belief that is not true

amass [əˋmæs] v. 积聚（财富），积累 to gather a large amount of something by collecting it over a period of time