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Bartleby
巴托比专栏
Why you should never retire
为什么你应该永远不退休
Pleasure cruises, golf and tracing the family tree are not that fulfilling.
休闲游轮、打高尔夫球和追溯家谱并没有那么令人满足。
In an episode of “The Sopranos”, a popular television series which started airing in the 1990s, a gangster tells Tony, from the titular family, that he wants to retire.
在20世纪90年代开始播出的热门电视连续剧《黑道家族》中，一个黑帮成员告诉索普拉诺家族的托尼，说他想退休。
“What are you, a hockey player?” Tony snaps back.
“你是什么人，曲棍球运动员吗？”托尼厉声反问。
Non-fictional non-criminals who are considering an end to their working lives need not worry about broken fingers or other bodily harm.
非虚构的非罪犯在考虑结束工作生活时，不必担心手指骨折或其他身体伤病。
But they must still contend with other potentially painful losses: of income, purpose or, most poignantly, relevance.
但他们仍必须面对其他可能让他们感到心痛的损失，比如收入、生活目的，或者最令人痛苦的：自己的重要性。
Some simply won’t quit.
有些人不肯退休。
Giorgio Armani refuses to relinquish his role as chief executive of his fashion house at the age of 89.
乔治·阿玛尼在89岁高龄时仍拒绝辞去其时尚品牌的首席执行官一职。
Being Italy’s second-richest man has not dampened his work ethic.
即使作为意大利第二大富豪，他的工作态度也并没有懈怠。
Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s sidekick at Berkshire Hathaway, worked for the investment powerhouse until he died late last year at the age of 99.
查理·芒格是沃伦·巴菲特在伯克希尔哈撒韦公司的助手，芒格一直为这家投资巨头工作，直到去年年底在99岁时去世。
Mr Buffett himself is going strong at 93.
巴菲特本人也到了93岁高龄。
People like Messrs Armani, Buffett or Munger are exceptional.
像阿玛尼、巴菲特或芒格这样的人是少见的。
But in remaining professionally active into what would historically be considered dotage, they are not unique.
但在曾被视为昏聩老年的年纪依然在工作上保持活跃这方面，他们并不是独一无二的。
One poll this year found that almost one in three Americans say they may never retire.
今年的一项民意调查发现，近三分之一的美国人表示，他们可能永远不会退休。
The majority of the nevers said they could not afford to give up a full-time job, especially when inflation was eating into an already measly Social Security cheque.
大多数不退休的人表示，他们没有足够的财力去放弃一份全职工作，特别是通胀正在让本已微薄的社保金变得更加微薄。
But suppose you are one of the lucky ones who can choose to step aside.
但假设你是可以选择退休的幸运儿之一。
Should you do it?
你应该退休吗？
The arc of corporate life used to be predictable.
过去，企业生活的轨迹是可以预测的。
You made your way up the career ladder, acquiring more prestige and bigger salaries at every step.
你在职业阶梯上不断攀升，每升一步都能获得更高的声望和更高的薪水。
Then, in your early 60s, there was a Friday-afternoon retirement party, maybe a gold watch, and that was that.
然后，在你60岁出头的时候，某个周五下午会举办一场退休派对，可能同事还会送你一块金表，这样就结束了。
The next day the world of meetings, objectives, tasks and other busyness faded.
第二天，会议、目标、任务等其他的忙碌就消失了。
If you were moderately restless, you could play bridge or help out with the grandchildren.
如果你感觉有一点闲不下来，你可能会打桥牌，或者帮忙照看孙子孙女。
If you weren’t, there were crossword puzzles, TV and a blanket.
如果你没有这种感觉，也可以填填字谜、披条毯子看看电视。
Although intellectual stimulation tends to keep depression and cognitive impairment at bay, many professionals in the technology sector retire at the earliest recommended date to make space for the younger generation, conceding it would be unrealistic to maintain their edge in the field.
虽然智力刺激往往会阻止抑郁和认知障碍发生，但许多科技行业的从业者都会在建议的最早退休日期退休，为年轻一代腾出空间，他们承认，自己不可能在所在领域保持优势。
Still, to step down means to leave centre stage—leisure gives you all the time in the world but tends to marginalise you as you are no longer in the game.
尽管如此，退休意味着离开中心舞台，闲暇会让你拥有世界上所有的时间，但往往也会让你边缘化，因为你不再处于这个游戏中了。
Things have changed.
世界变化了。
Lifespans are getting longer.
人们的寿命越来越长。
It is true that although the post-retirement, twilight years are stretching, they do not have to lead to boredom or to a life devoid of meaning.
诚然，尽管退休后的暮年是漫长的，但这并不一定会导致无聊或没有意义的生活。
Once you retire after 32 years as a lawyer at the World Bank, you can begin to split your time between photography and scrounging flea markets for a collection of Americana.
在世界银行当了32年律师之后，等你退休了，你就可以开始一边摄影，一边在跳蚤市场淘一些美式收藏品。
You don’t have to miss your job or suffer from a lack of purpose.
这样你不必想念你的工作，也不会因为缺乏生活意义而苦恼。
If you are no longer head of the hospital, you can join Medecins Sans Frontieres for occasional stints, teach or help out at your local clinic.
如果你不再是医院的负责人，你可以偶尔加入无国界医生组织，在当地诊所教学或帮帮忙。
Self-worth and personal growth can derive from many places, including non-profit work or mentoring others on how to set up a business.
自我价值和个人成长可以来自许多地方，包括非营利性工作和指导他人如何创业。
But can anything truly replace the framework and buzz of being part of the action?
但是，有什么能真正取代当自己是行动的一部分时的生活框架和热闹忙碌吗？
You can have a packed diary devoid of deadlines, meetings and spreadsheets and flourish as a consumer of theatre matinees, art exhibitions and badminton lessons.
你可以有一本内容丰富的日记，但日记上没有截止日期、会议和电子表格，你可以作为剧院日场演出、艺术展览和羽毛球课的消费者而活得很滋润。
Hobbies are all well and good for many.
爱好对许多人来说都是好事。
But for the extremely driven, they can feel pointless and even slightly embarrassing.
但对于极度上进的人来说，他们可能觉得兴趣爱好毫无意义，甚至有点让人尴尬。
That is because there is depth in being useful.
这是因为能发挥用处是有深度意义的。
And excitement, even in significantly lower doses than are typical earlier in a career, can act as an anti-ageing serum.
而且兴奋感--即使在职业晚期感受到的兴奋比早期要少很多--也可以起到抗衰老的作用。
Whenever Mr Armani is told to retire and enjoy the fruits of his labour, he replies “absolutely not”.
每当人们让阿玛尼退休并享受他的工作成果时，他都回答说“绝对不要”。
Instead he is clearly energised by being involved in the running of the business day to day, signing off on every design, document and figure.
相反，每天参与业务运营、签署批准每一项设计方案、文件和数据报告显然让他更加充满活力。
In “Seinfeld”, another television show of the 1990s, Jerry goes to visit his parents, middle-class Americans who moved to Florida when they retired, having dinner in the afternoon.
在20世纪90年代的另一部电视剧《宋飞正传》中，杰瑞去看望他的父母，下午一起吃晚饭，父母是退休后搬到佛罗里达州的美国中产阶级。
“I’m not force-feeding myself a steak at 4.30 just to save a couple of bucks!” Jerry protests.
“我不会为了省几块钱而在下午4点半强迫自己吃牛排！”杰瑞表示抗议。
When this guest Bartleby entered the job market, she assumed that when the day came she too would be a pensioner in a pastel-coloured shirt opting for the “early-bird special”.
当笔者刚参加工作时，笔者以为等她退休后，她也会变成一个穿着浅色衬衣、选“早鸟特价晚餐”的拿养老金的人。
A quarter of a century on, your 48-year-old columnist hopes to be writing for The Economist decades from now, even if she trundles to her interviews supported by a Zimmer frame; Mr Seinfeld is still going strong at 69, after all.
如今25年过去了，48岁的笔者希望仍能继续为《经济学人》专栏撰稿几十年，即使到那时她得撑着助行架慢吞吞地去做采访，毕竟，杰瑞·宋飞今年也69岁了。
But ask her again in 21 years.
但21年后（笔者69岁时）再问问她想不想退休。
