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VOA标准英语2012--美国公司白领对办公环境叫苦不迭

时间:2012-02-06 07:45来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

US Worker Bees Toil1 in Cubicles3

美国公司白领对办公环境叫苦不迭
Every day, and certainly on Sunday when many newspapers produce a separate comics section, millions of Americans check out the strip called “Dilbert,” created by cartoonist Scott Adams. It satirizes4 worklife in white-collar offices, particularly those in which people toil in confined spaces called “cubicles.”
每一天,尤其是在周日的时候,许多报纸会为读者奉上一个单独的漫画栏目,数百万的美国人会意犹未尽的享受由漫画家斯科特?亚当斯创造的这个被称为“呆伯特”的漫画。它专门讽刺位于狭窄空间内,人们俗称“一人占一坑”的办公室白领阶层。
Fortune magazine, which writes about the people who make, well, a fortune, once focused on average "worker bees” in the corporate5 world who sit inside these "modules," as they're called, separated by partitions, at built-in desks with eye-level shelves, all easily interchangeable. The movable walls are designed to give workers at least a tad of privacy.
财富杂志曾写报道过那么多的人发迹,而这一次却将注意力集中在当下世界公司里的“工蜂”们,这类人坐在被称为“独立单元”的办公区域。当中内置书桌和与眼同高的置物架轻易可互换位置。而移动墙的设计初衷是给工人们增加至少一点点隐私。
As Fortune lays out the story, Robert Propst, a young industrial designer in the Midwest state of Michigan, dreamed up the office cubicle2 in 1968.
财富杂志讲的这个故事,罗伯特?普罗斯特,一位年轻的密歇根州中西部设计师,在1968年空想出了这种办公室结构,并使其变为现实。
Soon office mazes6, or "cubicle farms," sprouted7 everywhere. It seemed like everyone below the rank of vice8 president soon worked in one of these office boxes, identical to the next one save for the photos of the family and dog.
很快这种办公室迷宫,或“小室格局”将会发芽生根无处不在。看起来每个职位像副总统的人很快就会在这样一间办公室中工作,和隔壁屋子相同的设置是都有家人和狗的照片。
Today, cubicles are ridiculed9 - even loathed10 - as symbols of conformity11, their inhabitants as clones and drones. Even the privacy part didn't work, as workers cannot help but overhear their colleagues' conversations and phone calls.
今天,这种办公室布局风格被人厌恶甚至嘲笑作为符号的统一,其居民是一直忍辱负重。隐私部分甚至没办法让人工作,员工不得不听同事们的对话和电话内容。
Lots of people, including cartoonist Adams, have tried to humanize the sterile12 cubicle. In real life, he’s even designed what he calls the "ultimate cubicle," which would allow occupants to vary the flooring and lighting13. They can even add a fish tank. But a box is still a box.
很多人,包括漫画家亚当斯,都试图让这种办公室格局更加人性化。而在现实生活中,他甚至设计出一种“终极工作间”,这将允许使用者可以享受不同的地板和照明,甚至可以增加一个鱼缸。但是盒子终归是盒子,不管人们如何装饰,终究也无法摆脱。
Before he died in 2000, Bob Propst, the father of the cubicle, told friends he was sorry, all his days, that he’d unleashed14 the idea on the world. He called his invention an act of "monolithic15 insanity16.”
直到2000年去世前,这种办公室格局的缔造者罗伯特?普罗斯特,告诉他的朋友自己感到很难过,在他不多的日子里,他会致力于向全世界传达这种思想,他称自己的发明是“整体的疯狂。”


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1 toil WJezp     
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事
参考例句:
  • The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
  • Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。
2 cubicle POGzN     
n.大房间中隔出的小室
参考例句:
  • She studies in a cubicle in the school library.她在学校图书馆的小自习室里学习。
  • A technical sergeant hunches in a cubicle.一位技术军士在一间小屋里弯腰坐着。
3 cubicles 2c253b5743169f8c175c584374cb1bfe     
n.小卧室,斗室( cubicle的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Security guards, operating inside bullet-proof glass cubicles, and speaking through microphones, scrutinized every arrival and departure. 警卫们在装有防弹玻璃的小室里值勤,通过麦克风细致盘问每一个进出的人。 来自辞典例句
  • I guess they thought me content to stay in cubicles. 我猜他们认为我愿意呆在小房间里。 来自互联网
4 satirizes fab63db34313b119df175df4b569c121     
v.讽刺,讥讽( satirize的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • This detestable custom satirizes humanity. 这个可厌的风俗违反人性。 来自辞典例句
  • This idiom satirizes those who instead of taking changed circumstances account. “刻舟求剑”这个成语讽刺那些办事迂腐,不知道变通情况的人。 来自互联网
5 corporate 7olzl     
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的
参考例句:
  • This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
  • His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
6 mazes 01f00574323c5f5c055dbab44afc33b9     
迷宫( maze的名词复数 ); 纷繁复杂的规则; 复杂难懂的细节; 迷宫图
参考例句:
  • The mazes of the dance were ecstatic. 跳舞那种错综曲折,叫人快乐得如登九天。
  • For two hours did this singlehearted and simpleminded girl toil through the mazes of the forest. 这位心地单纯的傻姑娘在林间曲径中艰难地走了两个来小时。
7 sprouted 6e3d9efcbfe061af8882b5b12fd52864     
v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 );抽芽;出现;(使)涌现出
参考例句:
  • We can't use these potatoes; they've all sprouted. 这些土豆儿不能吃了,都出芽了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The rice seeds have sprouted. 稻种已经出芽了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
8 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
9 ridiculed 81e89e8e17fcf40595c6663a61115a91     
v.嘲笑,嘲弄,奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败,代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 loathed dbdbbc9cf5c853a4f358a2cd10c12ff2     
v.憎恨,厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 );极不喜欢
参考例句:
  • Baker loathed going to this red-haired young pup for supplies. 面包师傅不喜欢去这个红头发的自负的傻小子那里拿原料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self! 因此,他厌恶不幸的自我尤胜其它! 来自英汉文学 - 红字
11 conformity Hpuz9     
n.一致,遵从,顺从
参考例句:
  • Was his action in conformity with the law?他的行动是否合法?
  • The plan was made in conformity with his views.计划仍按他的意见制定。
12 sterile orNyQ     
adj.不毛的,不孕的,无菌的,枯燥的,贫瘠的
参考例句:
  • This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上,保持奶嘴无菌。
  • The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。
13 lighting CpszPL     
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光
参考例句:
  • The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
  • The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。
14 unleashed unleashed     
v.把(感情、力量等)释放出来,发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
  • The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 monolithic 8wKyI     
adj.似独块巨石的;整体的
参考例句:
  • Don't think this gang is monolithic.不要以为这帮人是铁板一块。
  • Mathematics is not a single monolithic structure of absolute truth.数学并不是绝对真理的单一整体结构。
16 insanity H6xxf     
n.疯狂,精神错乱;极端的愚蠢,荒唐
参考例句:
  • In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱,为自己辩解。
  • He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里,这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。
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