（雅思課外精讀）遺失的愛情辦公室戀情在消逝

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Bartleby

巴特比專欄

Labours lost love

愛的徒勞

The decline of the office romance

辦公室戀愛的消逝

編者按：Labours lost love

這個標(biāo)題取自莎士比亞的戲劇《愛的徒勞：Loves Labours Lost》。這是一部喜劇，首次出版于1598年。該劇講述那瓦國君臣四人發(fā)誓要清心寡欲，拒絕一切物質(zhì)享受，不近女色，專心讀三年?？墒钱?dāng)美麗的法國公主和她的侍女們來到宮廷后，他們就把誓言忘得一干二凈，爭先恐后地向她們求愛。但由于他們?nèi)鄙僬鎸嵉母星?，法國公主把他們?xùn)斥一番以后離棄他們而去。莎士比亞在這部戲劇中諷刺了宮廷貴族的愛情言辭和愛情觀。

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.

越過復(fù)印機，兩人四目相對。終于，他們找到了彼此的靈魂伴侶。于是，他們決定結(jié)婚生子。更多內(nèi)容，請關(guān)注辦公室閱讀版《五十度灰》，平裝版很快就會面世。

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.

辦公室戀情時職場生活中長期存在的話題。畢竟人們每天幾乎一半醒著的時間都是在辦公室工作，他們和同事長期生活在一起，甚至可能時一起吐槽上級。在這樣的情況下，辦公室戀情自然就發(fā)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 softwares private-chat function, really?

但是新冠封鎖使得新的辦公室戀情比以往更難。盡管網(wǎng)上約會在此期間蓬勃發(fā)展，但是通過ZOOM會議找到自己的靈魂伴侶的人少之又少。因為在線上會議中，在同事們的眾目睽睽之下，自己的面部表情是很難隱藏的。而且，鬼才知道公司視頻會議軟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 officewhich seems likely even after the virus recedesopportunities for workplace romantic connections will dwindle.

其實，在新冠疫情之前，辦公室戀情就已經(jīng)在下降了。斯坦福大學(xué)的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)， 1995年，19%的異性戀者是在工作中結(jié)識另一半的。到2017年，這一比例降至11%?，F(xiàn)在只會更低。因為白領(lǐng)們有越來越多時間居家辦公，而在辦公室的時間則越來越短。而且這一趨勢可能會延續(xù)到疫情結(jié)束之后，所以，辦公室戀情的機會大大減少。

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 clichs 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.

辦公室戀情減少的原因之一時公司已經(jīng)意識到辦公室戀情可能會引發(fā)各種倫理問題。最老套的劇情莫過于老板和秘書約會，醫(yī)生和護士約會也是如此?？杀氖?，這樣的劇情太過深入人心，以至于幾十年來，秘書和護士都在竭力躲避上級的過度關(guān)注。正如#MeToo運動講的那樣，一些男性會利用職權(quán)之便騷擾女下屬。

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.

即使是兩廂情愿，也可能會引發(fā)一些問題。比方說，與下屬的戀愛觀信息可能會影響管理者對下屬績效表現(xiàn)的客觀評價。因此，同事們懷疑上級徇私其實也可以理解。而不愉快的戀愛關(guān)系可能會使人難以和前任一起愉快工作，還會使辦公室的其他人覺得尷尬。

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 McDonalds last year; the fast-food company launched a lawsuit against Mr Easterbrook this week.

因此，許多公司規(guī)定，禁止上下級之間談戀愛。去年，麥當(dāng)勞前首席執(zhí)行官史蒂夫伊斯特布魯克（Steve Easterbrook）將辦公室戀情推上了風(fēng)口浪尖。戀情曝光后，他被麥當(dāng)勞解雇了。本周，麥當(dāng)勞對他提起了訴訟。

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.

有些企業(yè)嚴(yán)厲禁止一切形式的辦公室戀情。有的企業(yè)則頒布一些規(guī)章制度，如規(guī)定與同事的戀愛關(guān)系不得影響工作以及員工應(yīng)該告知可能會對公司造成利益?zhèn)Φ膽賽?。這些制度雖然侵犯員工隱私，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 Bartlebys infinite reserves of patience).

如果戀愛雙方保持一定距離，有些問題是可以避免的，比如戀愛雙方不在同一間辦公室，而是在工作有接觸的時候見面。當(dāng)然了，如果一個采購經(jīng)理在供應(yīng)商的地盤上和銷售人員約會，那還是不太好。但是，絕大多數(shù)情況下，這種形式的戀愛關(guān)系杜絕了之前提到的徇私或者濫用職權(quán)等問題。巴特比先生很幸運，他和太太24年前因為工作認(rèn)識。巴特比太太竟然能夠耐心忍受丈夫這么多年！

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，本專欄作家巴特比先生不希望辦公室戀情完全消失也是可以理解的了。辦公室，咖啡機曾撮合了百萬對幸福男女。違反公司規(guī)定或許能讓他們小小地興奮一下，但是還是小心為妙，正如莎士比亞在《無事生非》中寫到的那樣，情話還是悄悄說。說到這里，如今的言情小說也該換換口味，關(guān)注一下疫情主題啦。

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 cant hear you through the mask, she replied. He searched for inspiration. How could he convey his feelings? As creative director of TomkinsTomkins, surely there was an answer? A brainwave came: he raised his hands. Her eyes widened in understanding. First word, she said. Sounds like ...

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