VOA常速英语:A Balancing Act

My name is Ron Johnson.
我叫罗恩·约翰逊。
I grow up all over the world.
我成长的过程中，去过世界各地。
My dad was in the military.
我爸爸在军队里。
I spent 25 years in the military myself.
我在军队呆了25年。
After getting out of the military,I decided to start working with wood and it was about 10 years ago.
离开军队后，我决定开始从事木材方面的工作，那是大约10年前的事了。
I transitioned from working with wood to make furniture to making pieces of art.
我从用木头制作家具过渡到制作艺术品。
I use wood truly as my medium.
我真的用木头作为我的媒介。
Ive studied everything from spoons to bowl making to furniture making to sculpture.
我研究过从勺子到碗制作到家具制作到雕塑的所有东西。
The peace I find when Im carving,I really do go to a different place.
当我雕刻的时候，我真的去了另一个天地。
Wood really kind of talks back to you.
木材会跟你说话。
It really speaks to you when youre working on it,
当你在做这件事的时候，它真的会对你说话，
and you get to have this one-on-one communication with the tree.
你可以和树进行一对一的交流。
10/10:45 says math, whole group meet link.
10:00到10:45是数学，整个小组视频见面。
So, theres a small group schedule.
所以，有一个小组的时间表。
Im a stay-at-home dad,in addition to being an artist.
我是一名全职爸爸，同时也是一名艺术家。
I have a first grader and a kindergartner.
我有一个一年级的孩子和一个幼儿园的孩子。
When COVID kicked off, I wasnt really prepared to having both of my children home throughout the day.
当COVID开始的时候，我真的没有准备好让我的两个孩子整天呆在家里。
I had to really balance that.
我得好好平衡一下。
We try to treat it like a normal school day, like theyre going to be heading out to school.
我们努力把它当成正常的上学日，就像他们要去上学一样。
So, I get them up.
我把他们从床上弄起来。 。
They get their clothes on.
他们穿上衣服。
Theyre not in their night clothes, for example.
比如，他们不是穿着睡衣。
Then, when school starts, Ive got one child is downstairs in the basement and one child on the top floor.
然后，上课的时候，一个孩子在楼下的地下室，一个孩子在顶楼。
What is the time?
几点了？
This is my work area.
这是我的工作区域。
I tend to sit here and listen to both the downstairs classroom and the upstairs classroom,
我喜欢坐在这里听楼下和楼上的课，
with a little bit of an ear on both classrooms,
两间教室里的课都能听到，
because the kids get into a, a little bit of, you know, their pattern.
因为孩子们有点，你知道，他们的模式。
But the classes dont match except lunch time is pretty close together.
但是除了午餐时间非常接近之外，课程并不匹配。
Their breaks are different.
他们的休息时间不一样。
So, I have to send one outside on a break and one, you know, stays inside during their class.
所以，我必须让一个学生在课间休息时到外面去，另一个学生待在课堂上。
My son, whos younger in kindergarten,
我的儿子，他还在幼儿园，
he generally tends to be, hell turn his computer off and hell just say, "Oh, I think Im done."
他一般都是，他会关掉电脑然后说，“哦，我想我受够了。“
And so, I have to refocus him back down to the classroom.
我必须让他重新回到课堂。
Also, I go and look at their class schedule each day,
另外，我每天都去看他们的课程表，
and I update it very quickly to see whats going to come up because it changes periodically.
我很快地更新它，看看会发生什么，因为它周期性地变化。
And both kids try to stay on track,
两个孩子都试着走上正轨，
but honestly, its tough for me to keep up and these folks, you know, little kids trying to keep track.
但说实话，这对我来说很难跟上，而这些人，你知道，小孩子们试图跟上。
Having them both online and the attention span really is the issue.
让他们同时在线和注意力的广度是真正的问题。
They dont want to be staring at a screen.
他们不想盯着屏幕看。
Look all these people are in there. Why are they in there? Im not supposed to be in there.
看这些人都在里面。他们为什么在里面？我不应该在里面的。
To understand and to navigate technology for a five and six-year old is pretty daunting.
对一个五六岁的孩子来说，理解和驾驭科技产品是相当困难的。
Trying to figure out how to get them comfortable with technology,
试图弄清楚如何让他们适应科技产品，
so they can navigate to their classrooms correctly.
他们才能正确地进入课堂。
Its a lot were asking of the teachers and its a lot were asking of our children for sure.
我们对老师的要求很高，我们对孩子的要求也很高。
And parents.
父母也一样。
The positives about having our children home with me throughout the day is how close weve become as a family.
让我们的孩子整天和我在一起的好处是，我们作为一个家庭变得如此亲密。
One thing we get to do is we get to schedule out our time really well.
我们要做的一件事就是把时间安排得很好。
We eat lunch together.
我们一起吃午饭。
We eat breakfast together.
我们一起吃早餐。
We eat dinner together.
我们一起吃晚餐。
And all those meals just add that communication and you build a really decent relationship with your children.
所有这些食物，只要加上沟通，你就能和你的孩子建立一种很好的关系。
So thats one positive.
所以这是一个积极的方面。
The other positive is,Im spending time with them in their classrooms and understanding what theyre learning, so I get to,
另一个积极的方面是，我花时间在他们的课堂上了解他们在学习什么，
I get to affect what theyre learning too.
我也会影响他们学到的东西。
I get to understand that.
我明白了。
Ms. Jacoby.
雅各比女士。
Hello. Yes.
你好。在的。
Hi, yeah.
你好。
Quick question.
快说问题。
We had some computer issues.
我们的电脑出了点问题。
Now were on iPad for a few minutes.
现在我们在iPad上花几分钟。
Just wondering, what are they supposed to be doing right now?
只是想知道，他们现在应该做什么？
Oh, we just did letters.
噢，我们只写了字母。
We found objects that begin with.
我们从建立目标开始。
We do bike rides almost every day,just to relieve some of that frustration and that built up pressure.
我们几乎每天都骑自行车，只是为了减轻一些挫折感和增加的压力。
How this has impacted my personal flow as an artist?
作为一名艺术家，这对我个人有什么影响?
Its been the seven hours I may grab throughout the day,
我一天要保证七个小时，
when my children are both in school to that right brain shift, to become creative.
当我的孩子都在上学的时候，我的右脑就得快速转动，变得有创造力。
Its not something that you can adjust, its not a light switch.
它不是你能调节的，它不是一个电灯开关。
You have to find that peaceful moment.
你必须找到那个平静的时刻。
You start moving yourself forward.
你开始逼着自己进步。
So, really to manage between the kids online school, spending all day in and out of the house,
所以，必须管理好在孩子们在线上课、在家里和外面一整天的时间，
I have to really grab time.
我真的得抓紧时间了。
And I have to make that time for myself,
我得给自己留点时间，
which means get up earlier in the morning, create and carve out time in the evening,
这意味着早上早起，在晚上创作并挤出时间，
when theyre kind of calming down and winding down from the day.
当他们平静下来，结束一天的活动后，
Sometimes, I just walk outside and work on a very small piece and then walk back inside,
有时候，我只是走到外面，做一件很小的事情，然后走回去，
because its in my head and I want to make sure I can put it into the piece Im working on.
因为它在我的脑海里，我想确保我能把它放在我正在做的那件作品里。
So, Im thinking about that, the piece Im currently working on, all the time, throughout the day.
所以，我一直在想，我正在做的这件事，整天都在想。
Its my, its my timeout spot for myself on a stressful day.
这是我的，这是我在紧张的一天给自己暂停的地方。
Some pieces Ive made.
我做过一些作品。
One is "Dreams".
一个是《梦想》。
A lot of people have been having these just amazing dreams or, you know, chaotic dreams.
很多人都做过这些美妙的梦，或者，你知道，混乱的梦。
And I created a piece specifically from COVID, the influence on the dreams that Ive been having.And I thought, well, this is something that other people are having.
我特别创作了一篇COVID的作品，受我一直以来的梦想所影响，好吧，这是其他人正在经历的事情。
So, I thought Id make a piece to, to represent that.
所以，我想我应该创作出来，表达出来。
And another one was, trying to find center in my own life as everyone else is,with this new world were experiencing.
另一个是，我试着像其他人一样，在我们正在经历的这个新世界中，在自己的生活中寻找中心，
I made one piece called "Finding Center" and it really is, its also, I created the chaos all around.
我做了一件叫做《寻找中心》的作品，它真的是，我创造了周围的混乱。
Theres only two pieces that marry up in the entire piece,
整件作品中只有两处与之结合，
and thats finding it right dead in the center.
那就是发现它正好结束在中间。