感觉身体被掏空这并非本时代独有.docVIP

感觉身体被掏空这并非本时代独有 　　“I’m so tired.” 　　We hear this complaint all the time. These days， it seems everyone is exhausted. Everyone is at the end of their rope1）. Everyone needs some time off. 　　Indeed， 53 percent of American workers report feeling burnt out. It’s easy to blame this on modern work culture. Meanwhile， we’re spending more and more time in front of our computer screens， to our own detriment2）： Recent research says emails cause emotional exhaustion. A 2014 study found that using a smartphone before bed made workers more tired and less productive the next day. 　　Exhaustion can feel like the by-product of a new and modern era， where work has slithered3） past the four walls of the office or the three walls of the cubicle into the home； where emails invite themselves on our beach vacations； where the media consistently reminds us of climate change， terrorism， and the chaotic political scene. 　　Surely， it wasn’t always this way？ There was a time when the sun and the seasons dictated work schedules and instead of clocking in on Sunday people observed4） theSabbath5）， and everything was just so ... simple. 　　Right？ 　　Actually， as much as we’d like to think that our feelings of exhaustion are unique to today， it turns out our ancestors weren’t more relaxed or less worn out. “At any point in history， people have experienced exhaustion and theorized it in many different ways，” says Anna Katharina Schaffner， a medical researcher at the University of Kent and the author of the new book， Exhaustion： A History， which chronicles the trajectory6） of exhaustion discourse. “For each era， exhaustion was this hybrid7） creature， which was not only understood through biological and physical contexts， but at times， also wrapped up in the social and political climates as well.” 　　What could be comforting to the fried， 21st-century worker is that regardless of the epoch， regardless of whether humans were living in agrarian societies or were bystanders to a world that was m