In some cases, you might ask what someone is doing to make small talk. Maybe you’re both in the same workplace, you’re studying together, you’re on the phone, etc.
在某些情况下，你问某人what are you doing 可能是想和某人闲聊。你们可能是在一起工作，也可能是在一起学习，或者你们正在打电话。

(A and B both work in the same office)
（A和B在同一间办公室工作）

A: What are you doing right now?
A:你现在干嘛呢？

B: Looking through this code to check for bugs.
B:我在查看代码检查bug。

A: That looks tedious. Wanna take a lunch break in a bit?
A:这看起来很无聊，想一起吃个午饭休息一下吗？

In this scenario, A asks the question What are you doing? to strike up a small conversation with B. Another common alternative for this is What are you up to?
在这个场景中A问what are you doing?是想和B闲聊。这种情况下，可以代替what are you doing的就是what are you up to?

A: What are you up to right now?
A: 你现在干嘛呢？

B: Looking through this code to check for bugs.
B:我在查看代码检查bug。

A: That looks tedious. Wanna take a lunch break in a bit?
A:这看起来很无聊，想一起吃个午饭休息一下吗？

Of course, there are many other conversation openers you could use that can apply to more general situations.
当然，大多数情况下，你还可以用许多其他的句子作为对话的开场白：

What’s up?
最近怎么样？

How’s it going?
近来如何？

What’s going on (with you)?
（你）怎么了？

How are you (doing)?
你干吗呢？

What are you doing these days?
这些天你在忙什么？

Let’s take a look at this next dialogue:
让我们看一下下面这个对话：

Kenny: Nate! Long time no see!
肯尼：内特，好久不见！

Nate: I know! Good to see you.
内特：是呀！看见你太好了。

Kenny: What are you doing these days?
肯尼：最近忙什么呢？

Nate: I’ve been working and taking classes part-time. You?
内特：我一直在工作，空闲时间在上课，你呢？

Here, Kenny runs into Nate and asks What are you doing these days? in order to catch up with him after a long period of not seeing him.
在这里。肯尼遇到内特，肯尼问他最近在忙什么？为了了解没有见面的这段时间内特在做什么。

This is a common way to do this, but you cannot simply ask What are you doing? That would mean you want to know what someone is doing right at that moment.
这是一种常见的问法，但是你不能简单地问What are you doing。这意味着你想知道那个时候某人在做什么。

Instead, Kenny follows with the phrase these days in order to specify that he’s asking about Nate’s current life in general. Here are some alternatives:
相反，肯尼用these days 来修饰what are you doing来说明他是在问内特当前的生活.这种情况下，你还可以使用一下其他的短语。

What are you doing lately?
你最近在忙什么？

What are you doing with your life?
你最近在忙什么？

What are you up to lately?
你最近在忙什么？

How is it going these days?
最近怎么样？

How is it going lately?
最近怎么样？

You could also ask any of these questions in the present perfect progressive tense since it describes a continuous state or action up until now.
你也可以用现在完成时态来提问，因为他描述了一个连续持续到现在的动作。

What have you been doing lately?
你最近在忙些什么？

What have you been doing with your life?
你最近在忙些什么？

What have you been up to lately?
你最近在忙些什么？

How’s it been going these days?
你最近在忙些什么？

How’s it been going lately?
你最近怎么样？

Kenny: Nate! Long time no see!
肯尼：内特，好久不见！

Nate: I know! Good to see you.
内特：是呀！看见你太好了。

Kenny: What have you been up to lately?
肯尼：最近忙什么呢？

Nate: Working and taking classes part-time. You?
内特：我一直在工作，空闲时间在上课，你呢？

Finally, make sure not to confuse these two questions, for they mean very different things:
最后，确保不要混淆这两个问题，因为他们的意思非常不同。

What are you doing?
你在做什么？

What do you do?
你的工作是什么？

While we’ve seen all the various usages for the first question, the second question specifically asks about someone’s profession. You could also ask What do you do for a living?
虽然我们已经看到第一个问题的各用法，但是第二个问题是关于别人的职业的。你也可以问What do you do for a living?来代替what do you do?

A: What do you do for a living?
A:你做什么工作？

B: I work at a consulting firm. And you? What do you do?
B:我在咨询公司工作，你呢？你做什么工作？

A: I’m a professor.
A:我是一名教授。

As you can see, it’s a very different kind of question, even though the wording is similar. Be sure to keep that in mind!
正如你所看到的，尽管措辞相似，但是这是两个非常不同的问题。切记！