【雅思课外精读】遗失的爱情：办公室恋情在消逝

　　【雅思课外精读】遗失的爱情：办公室恋情在消逝 *注：本文摘自8月13日《经济学人》 学雅思的伙伴们，这类课外精度非常推荐给大家哦！课余多阅读一些这类读物，会有助于雅思的学习哦！小编为大家整理了很多相关内容，大家可以关注环球教育-雅思美文推荐进行阅读

　　Bartleby

　　巴特比专栏

　　Labour’s lost love

　　爱的徒劳

　　The decline of the office romance

　　办公室恋爱的消逝

　　编者按：Labour's lost love

　　这个标题取自莎士比亚的戏剧《爱的徒劳：Love's Labour's Lost》。这是一部喜剧，首次出版于1598年。该剧讲述那瓦国君臣四人发誓要清心寡欲，拒绝一切物质享受，不近女色，专心读三年。可是当美丽的法国公主和她的侍女们来到宫廷后，他们就把誓言忘得一干二净，争先恐后地向她们求爱。但由于他们缺少真实的感情，法国公主把他们训斥一番以后离弃他们而去。莎士比亚在这部戏剧中讽刺了宫廷贵族的爱情言辞和爱情观。

　　1. Their eyes met across the office photocopier. At long last, each of them had found someone who could push their buttons. Eventually, they settled down and decided to reproduce. Read more in “Fifty Sheets of Grey Paper”, out soon in paperback.

　　越过复印机，两人四目相对。终于，他们找到了彼此的灵魂伴侣。于是，他们决定结婚生子。更多内容，请关注办公室阅读版《五十度灰》，平装版很快就会面世。

　　2. Romance is a long-established sideeffect of office life. After all, people may spend almost half their waking hours at work, and their colleagues will frequently have something in common with them, even if it is only complaining about the manager. Some relationships are inevitably bound to result.

　　办公室恋情时职场生活中长期存在的话题。毕竟人们每天几乎一半醒着的时间都是在办公室工作，他们和同事长期生活在一起，甚至可能时一起吐槽上级。在这样的情况下，办公室恋情自然就发生了。

　　3. But the lockdown has made the forming of new romances much more difficult. Although online dating has thrived in the pandemic, the number of people who have met their soulmate via a work Zoom meeting must be vanishingly small. It is hard to flirt while your facial expressions are being observed by a dozen colleagues. And how private is company videoconferencing software’s private-chat function, really?

　　但是新冠封锁使得新的办公室恋情比以往更难。尽管网上约会在此期间蓬勃发展，但是通过ZOOM会议找到自己的灵魂伴侣的人少之又少。因为在线上会议中，在同事们的众目睽睽之下，自己的面部表情是很难隐藏的。而且，鬼才知道公司视频会议软件的私聊功能到底有多保密呢？

　　4. Even before the pandemic, however, office romances were in decline. In 1995, 19% of (heterosexual) people met their partner at work, according to a study by Stanford University. By 2017 this had fallen to 11%. It will be even lower now. As white-collar employees toil more hours at home and fewer at the office—which seems likely even after the virus recedes—opportunities for workplace romantic connections will dwindle.

　　其实，在新冠疫情之前，办公室恋情就已经在下降了。斯坦福大学的一项研究发现， 1995年，19%的异性恋者是在工作中结识另一半的。到2017年，这一比例降至11%。现在只会更低。因为白领们有越来越多时间居家办公，而在办公室的时间则越来越短。而且这一趋势可能会延续到疫情结束之后，所以，办公室恋情的机会大大减少。

　　5. One reason for the decline is that companies have realised that work relationships give rise to all kinds of ethical questions. The idea of a boss marrying his secretary (or a doctor dating a nurse) is one of the oldest clichés around. Sadly, the trope is so well established that secretaries and nurses have spent decades fending off the unwanted attentions of their superiors. As the #MeToo movement has demonstrated, some men use their positions of power to harass women who work for them.

　　办公室恋情减少的原因之一时公司已经意识到办公室恋情可能会引发各种伦理问题。最老套的剧情莫过于老板和秘书约会，医生和护士约会也是如此。可悲的是，这样的剧情太过深入人心，以至于几十年来，秘书和护士都在竭力躲避上级的过度关注。正如#MeToo运动讲的那样，一些男性会利用职权之便骚扰女下属。

　　6. Consensual relationships can cause problems as well. A relationship with a subordinate makes it hard for a manager to be objective about their performance. Colleagues may understandably suspect the manager of favouritism. Things may be as bad if the romance breaks down. Hurt feelings may make it hard for the ex-partners to work together and will also make it awkward for everyone else in the office.

　　即使是两厢情愿，也可能会引发一些问题。比方说，与下属的恋爱观信息可能会影响管理者对下属绩效表现的客观评价。因此，同事们怀疑上级徇私其实也可以理解。而不愉快的恋爱关系可能会使人难以和前任一起愉快工作，还会使办公室的其他人觉得尴尬。

　　7. The result of this is that many companies have policies that discourage or forbid managers from flings with someone who works for them. Office relationships were blamed for the departure of Steve Easterbrook from his role as chief executive of McDonald’s last year; the fast-food company launched a lawsuit against Mr Easterbrook this week.

　　因此，许多公司规定，禁止上下级之间谈恋爱。去年，麦当劳前首席执行官史蒂夫·伊斯特布鲁克（Steve Easterbrook）将办公室恋情推上了风口浪尖。恋情曝光后，他被麦当劳解雇了。本周，麦当劳对他提起了诉讼。

　　8. Some companies ban all office romances outright. Others issue guidelines such as the stipulation that employees should not allow a relationship with a colleague to influence their behaviour at work, and that they should disclose any relationship that might give rise to a conflict of interest. These rules seem perfectly sensible, although they do involve a sacrifice of privacy.

　　有些企业严厉禁止一切形式的办公室恋情。有的企业则颁布一些规章制度，如规定与同事的恋爱关系不得影响工作以及员工应该告知可能会对公司造成利益伤害的恋爱。这些制度虽然侵犯员工隐私，但是也不是不合理。

　　9. Some of these problems can be avoided if the relationship is at one remove: if people meet their partners through work, rather than at the same office. Clearly there could still be problems if, for example, a purchasing manager was dating the salesperson at a supplier. But in most circumstances these romances avoid the potential problems of favouritism or abuse of power. Bartleby was fortunate enough to meet his spouse through his job 24 years ago (a period that proves Mrs Bartleby’s infinite reserves of patience).

　　如果恋爱双方保持一定距离，有些问题是可以避免的，比如恋爱双方不在同一间办公室，而是在工作有接触的时候见面。当然了，如果一个采购经理在供应商的地盘上和销售人员约会，那还是不太好。但是，绝大多数情况下，这种形式的恋爱关系杜绝了之前提到的徇私或者滥用职权等问题。巴特比先生很幸运，他和太太24年前因为工作认识。巴特比太太竟然能够耐心忍受丈夫这么多年！

　　10. For that reason, this columnist can perhaps be forgiven for hoping that the office romance does not disappear completely. Millions of happy couples have probably met by their desks or the coffee machine. Perhaps couples will get a buzz from defying company rules. But they may have to be subtle about it: “Speak low if you speak love,” as William Shakespeare wrote in “Much Ado About Nothing”. That said, romance novels may need a bit of updating to cope with the postpandemic era.

　　因此，本专栏作家巴特比先生不希望办公室恋情完全消失也是可以理解的了。办公室，咖啡机曾撮合了百万对幸福男女。违反公司规定或许能让他们小小地兴奋一下，但是还是小心为妙，正如莎士比亚在《无事生非》中写到的那样，“情话还是悄悄说。”说到这里，如今的言情小说也该换换口味，关注一下疫情主题啦。

　　11. Their eyes met across the bottle of hand sanitiser. “Would you like to break the social-distance rules and join my bubble?” he whispered. “Sorry, I can’t hear you through the mask,” she replied. He searched for inspiration. How could he convey his feelings? As creative director of Tomkins & Tomkins, surely there was an answer? A brainwave came: he raised his hands. Her eyes widened in understanding. “First word,” she said. “Sounds like ...”

　　两人的视线在一瓶洗手液上交汇。“你愿意打破社交距离，和我一起吗？”他悄悄问道。“抱歉，你戴着口罩我听不清楚欸。”她回答。他苦苦思索该如何传达自己的情意呢？身为Tomkins & Tomkins创意指导，还能没有灵感吗？突然，他灵机一动，抬起双手。她睁大眼睛，心领神会。“第一个字，”她说,“听起来像……”。