Asenior television executive is reading a bedtime story to his eight-year-old daughter. It is 10pm and he has just returned home from work. His phone rings – a work call – and he answers it, leaving the story unfinished.
一位电视台高管正在为8岁的女儿读睡前故事。现在是晚上10点钟，而这位父亲刚下班回家。这时，他的手机响了——工作电话。他接起电话，还没念完的故事也停下了。
His daughter shouts from her bed: “You’re a terrible father!” He returns to his daughter and tries to explain, with little success, why the call was important.
女儿在床上大喊：“你是个坏爸爸！”他于是回到女儿身边，试图跟她解释，这个电话为什么非接不可，但没有多少效果。
This executive works late and sees his daughter for only about two hours during the working week. Although he feels guilty about this and fears he is missing the best moments of family life, he seems unable to switch off from work.
这位高管常常加班，一个工作周只有两小时左右的时间能陪女儿。尽管他对女儿感到内疚，觉得自己错过了家庭生活中最美好的一些时刻，但他似乎无法丢开工作。
This scene will be familiar to many men in senior positions who have taxing jobs and struggle to respond to the demands of family life.
这种情况对许多身居高位的男性而言很熟悉。他们工作繁忙，很难腾出时间来照顾家庭。
It is common for working women to reflect, sometimes publicly, on the challenges of juggling the needs of family and work. In recent decades, the role of fathers has changed too, giving them greater involvement in family life.
职业女性常常说（有时在公开场合），自己很难平衡家庭和工作。近几十年来，父亲的角色也发生了变化，他们需要更多地参与家庭事务。
But often men find it difficult to deal with the conflicting demands of work and home . As I have seen in my own psychotherapy practice, it is, for many executives, a continuing, unresolved battle. As one chief executive whose children are now adults told me: “It was often a tug of war, and work would always win.
但男性往往感觉，工作和家事之间的矛盾很难调和。根据我在从事心理咨询工作期间的观察，平衡家庭和工作对许多男性高管而言是一场旷日持久、没有结果的战争。一位子女已成年的高管对我说：“这往往是一场拉锯战，最后胜利的一方永远是工作。对我而言，为了工作而丢开家庭，总是比为了家庭而丢开工作要容易。”