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　　"I am learning French, Rocco has joined a theatre group, Hugo is spending more time doing carpentry and Sam is building a robot,” he said.

　　他说：“我正在学法语，洛克加入了一个戏剧团，雨果花更多时间做木工活儿，山姆正在造一个机器人。”

　　Vanessa Ross, the owner of Arc Landscape in Surrey, said her team had used the time to volunteer, look after dependent family members and teach.

　　位于萨里郡的Arc Landscape公司的老板瓦内莎·罗斯说，她的团队用多出来的周末时间做志愿者、照看家人和教学。

　　The idea of a four-day week has shot to prominence in recent months, for economic, social, health and technological reasons.

　　近几个月来，四天工作周的理念备受关注，原因有经济、社会、健康和技术等多个方面。

　　Overwork results in thousands succumbing to stress or depression each year, according to the Health and Safety Executive; long working hours make parenting and family care ever trickier to juggle; technology, meanwhile, threatens to transform the demand for labor over coming decades.

　　根据健康与安全执行局的报告，工作过度每年导致数千人遭受压力或抑郁的困扰。长时间的工作让育儿和照顾家庭更难以兼顾。未来几十年，技术的发展还可能使得劳动力需求减少。

　　Despite this, Britons work more hours a week on average than they did in 2011 – and research shows two-thirds would like to reduce the amount of time they spend in the office.

　　尽管如此，英国人平均每周工作时间相比2011年增加了。调查显示，三分之二的人希望减少上班时间。

　　One of the biggest experiments so far into the effect of the four-day week was carried out at Perpetual Guardian, a finance company in New Zealand. It claims productivity has increased.

　　迄今为止规模最大的四天工作周试验是在新西兰的一家名为Perpetual Guardian的金融公司开展的。试验表明，员工的工作效率提高了。

　　Its chief executive, Andrew Barnes, said: “This is an idea whose time has come. We need to get more companies to give it a go. They will be surprised at the improvement in their company, their staff and in their wider community.”

　　该公司的总监安德鲁·巴恩斯说：“这个理念的时机已经成熟。我们需要让更多公司尝试这一工作制。他们会惊讶地发现，公司、员工和周边的情况有了改善。”

　　He said it helps level the playing field between women and men, partly by making it easier for mothers returning to work because they don’t need to commit to five days and by making men more available for domestic duties.

　　他说，这有助于为男性和女性创造公平的竞争环境，一方面能够让妈妈们更容易回归职场，因为她们无需再一周工作五天，另一方面也能让男性分担更多家事。

　　Billy Jenkins, a middle manager at Synergy Vision, said: “It has caused a little tension in the household, as my partner works five days a week and seems to come up with a wishlist of errands or chores that need doing on my day off. It’s also hard to shake off the feeling that I should be working, and it has taken time to feel more comfortable using the time as my own.”

　　Synergy Vision公司的中层经理比利·詹金斯说：“这让我的家庭关系有点小紧张，因为我爱人每周工作五天，她似乎有很多杂事想让我在多出的一天里去做。而且，我总觉得在那一天不工作有负罪感，慢慢地我才能心安理得地把它当成属于我的时间。”