宏浩翻譯有限公司

◎陳正健

Women who work longer hours are prone to life-threatening diseases, a study said. The Ohio State University researchers found that work weeks averaging 60 hours may triple the risk of cancer, heart diseases, diabetes and arthritis among women.

1項研究顯示，長時間工作的女性，更易罹患致命疾病。美國俄亥俄州立大學研究人員發現，女性1週平均工作60小時，得到癌症、心臟病、糖尿病和關節炎的風險可能增至3倍。

The researchers said that women tend to take on a bigger share of responsibilities at home and may face more pressure and stress than men when they work long hours. Work for women is also less satisfying due to the need to balance demands at work and family obligations.

研究人員表示，女性傾向承接更大的家務責任，當她們下班以後，可能比男性面臨更多的壓力。女性對工作的滿意度較低，因為需在工作要求，以及家庭義務間取得平衡。

However, men who worked long hours had a higher incidence of arthritis, but none of the other chronic diseases. And those men who worked moderately long hours (41 to 50 hours weekly) had lower risk of lung disease, depression and heart disease, than those who worked 40 hours or fewer.

然而，長時間工作的男性，有較高的關節炎發生率，但其他慢性疾病卻不會找上門。而且工時適度的男性（1週41至50小時），罹患肺病、憂鬱症和心臟疾病的風險也較低，相較每週工作40小時以下的男性而言。

The lead author of the study, Allard Dembe, said that "People don’t think that much about how their early work experiences affect them down the road. Women in their 20s, 30s and 40s are setting themselves up for problems later in life."

領導研究的作者艾拉德．鄧比指出：「人們不知道他們早先的工作經驗，如何影響日後的人生。女性在20、30和40幾歲時，種下晚年的生活困擾。」

新聞辭典

triple：動詞，使增至3倍。例句：His income tripled in three years.（3年內，他的收入增至3倍。）

arthritis：名詞，關節炎。例句：Doctors have used newly discovered organic chemicals successfully to treat arthritis.（醫生們採用新發現的有機化學物，成功治療關節炎。）

incidence：名詞。發生率。例句：There’s a high incidence of heart disease there.（那裡的心臟病發生率很高。）