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As the new semester begins, millions of college students across the country are trying hard to remember how best to write a paper–or, more likely, how best to delay that paper.
新学期伊始，全国数以万计的高校学生都努力谨记如何交出一篇精彩的论文，或者，大多数人都在想如何尽量拖延时间。
Procrastination is the thief of time and a lot of students suffer from it. They can spend whole days in the library doing nothing but staring into space, eating snacks, surfing the Internet, watching videos and looking at their pretty peers sitting around them, who, most likely, are doing nothing either.
拖延症就像偷窃时光的小偷，令许多学生深受其害。他们整天窝在图书馆里无所事事，只是发呆、吃零食、上网、看视频或是看看自己身边漂亮的同学，这些人也大都无所事事。
Paralyzed by their habit to procrastinate, they write micro blogs about their fears, asking their online friends if they sometimes have the same issue. But this does nothing to break the spell.
拖延习惯令人麻痹无力，他们写微博来表达自己的恐惧，询问网友是否有时也会遭遇相同状况。然而，这种做法无济于事，无法打破拖延症的魔咒。
According to a recent report by the BBC, 95 percent of us procrastinate at some point and 20 percent of the world's population are chronic procrastinators, complicating their lives with their incessant delaying of tasks.
BBC最新的一份报告显示，95%的人只是偶尔拖延，20%的人则是习惯性拖延，不断拖延工作令他们的生活变得一团糟。
The figures are dismal. Procrastinators are less wealthy, less healthy and less happy than those who don't delay. Just look at Hamlet, who is perhaps the world's most famous procrastinator. He is also a university student, and his crippling indecision leads to tragedy on an epic scale.
这些数据十分可怕。与旁人相比，拖延症患者囊中羞涩，健康堪忧，苦恼也更多。来看看哈姆莱特吧，他可能是世界上最著名的拖延症患者了。他也是一名大学生，而极度优柔寡断酿成了悲剧史诗。
Procrastinators like to find excuses to justify their behavior, but BBC columnist Rowan Pelling says they are all wrong.
尽管拖延症患者喜欢为自己的行为找借口，但是BBC专栏作家罗曼•佩林则表示他们都错了。
Many procrastinators tell themselves they are perfectionists who work best under pressure. Pelling says this is nonsense, as work done at the last minute is more likely to have mistakes than work done on time.
许多拖延症患者都会告诉自己，他们是在压力之下才能高效工作的完美主义者。佩林称这完全是胡说八道，因为与按时完成工作相比，拖到最后更容易出错。
She says the behavior of procrastinators often makes them feel flustered and ashamed, inconveniences others, and annoys loved ones.
她说，拖延症患者的行为常常令他们感到慌乱和惭愧，令他人不安，也惹恼了爱人。
Pelling also points out that procrastination feels particularly delinquent in a society that views swift action as commendable, and, at times, even as a moral good.
佩林还指出，在一个盛赞雷厉风行、有时甚至以此为道德标准的社会中，拖延症尤其令人产生过失之感。
Fortunately, social scientists have thrown their weight behind efforts to understand this behavioral flaw and offer strategies to control it.
好在社会科学家们已经联手致力于破解这种行为缺陷，并提出一系列防控策略。
Piers Steel, a Canadian social scientist and author of The Procrastination Equation, believes humankind is "designed" to procrastinate. Nevertheless, he suggests a couple of good ways to get through the task at hand.
加拿大社会科学家、《拖延等式》一书的作者皮尔斯•斯蒂尔认为，人类生来患有拖延症。不过，他提供了几种尽快完成手头工作的好方法。
The first one is obvious: Break the task down into small pieces and work your way through them methodically.
第一种方法显而易见：把你的任务分成小份，并用你自己的方法有条不紊地完成它们。
The second is ingenious: Give a trusted friend a sum of money and tell them that if you don't complete the task you have undertaken by a specific time, they can keep it or donate it to a cause you hate.
第二种方法十分巧妙：给你信得过的朋友一笔钱并告诉他们，如果你不能在规定时间里完成手头的工作，他们可以归为己有或是把钱捐给那些令你不爽的事情。
