Some people can be especially neurotic or nervous by nature,living out their lives in a state of excessive worry. Theseobsessive concerns may either be global or amazingly minor inscope. Such a person is often said to be a worry wart, alsorendered as worrywart or worry-wart in some literaryreferences. A worry wart’s fears are generally viewed by othersas irrational or completely out of proportion to the actualsituation.

有些人可能天生就特别神经质或者紧张，成天生活在极度忧虑中。这些过度的担忧可能是宏观的大事也可能是芝麻小事。这种极度忧虑的人就被称为是“忧天的岂人”(拼写为worrywart、worrywart或worry-wart都可以)。他们这些人的担忧通常会被别人看作自寻烦恼或者跟现实情况完全不符。

A worry wart in an office environment, for example, may spend most of his or her time frettingover getting laid off or fired. While the actual chances of a worry wart actually becomingunemployed may be remote at best, a neurotic employee often seeks out advice from co-workerson how to handle his or her inevitable dismissal. Others may worry excessively about jobperformance or customer complaints or minor conflicts with their superiors.

比如说，办公室里杞人忧天的那些人大部分时间可能都在担心会被裁员或解雇。虽然他们真正被裁的几率很小，但是这类有点神经质的员工经常会找同事求教怎样才能避免被裁员。还有一些人可能会对工作表现、客户投诉或者与上司之间的小矛盾而过度担忧。