托福考试：经济学人对开放式办公的看法

　　外刊阅读对于托福考试十分重要，从现在开始阅读外刊，每周一篇，会大幅提升自己的阅读能力。这篇文章选自《经济学人》2018年7月28日Open offices can lead to closed minds(开放的办公室，封闭的心灵)。文章主要讲的是采用开放式办公室为了确保员工和同事能有更多接触，并由此促进协作，带来更高的生产率。但是，研究发现面对面互动在改为开放式办公后减少了三分之一，发送电子邮件的数量增加了22％到50％。

　　为何会出现这种转变呢，今天课窝网就跟大家一起学习这两段。

　　第一段：

　　The authors suggest that employees value their privacy and find new ways to preserve it in an open-plan office. They shut themselves off by wearing large headphones to keep out the distractions caused by nearby colleagues. Indeed, those who champion open-plan offices seem to have forgotten the importance of being able to concentrate on your work.

　　作者认为，员工重视自己的隐私，当他们身处开放式办公室中，就会寻找新的办法来保护隐私。他们戴上大大的耳机来隔绝身边同事的干扰，不与同事互动。其实，那些提倡开放式办公室的人似乎忘记了能专注自己的工作有多重要。

　　第一句：The authors suggest that employees value their privacy and find new ways to preserve it in an open-plan office.

　　1.Suggest[səˈdʒɛst]v.建议，表明，认为，后面经常跟that引导的宾语从句。在这句中表示认为，同义词还可以用think; consider; hold; deem表示。

　　2. value[ˈvælju] vt.评价;重视，看重。value their privacy重视自己的隐私。

　　3.写作和翻译句型推荐：在写工作经验重要还是证书重要的话题时，就可以说：许多公司更重视工作经验，而非证书。A lot of companies value the work experience over credentials.

　　4.preserve [prɪˈzɜ:rv] vt.保护;保持，保存。preserveit中的it表示前面的privacy.同义词是protect。

　　5.in an open-planoffice身处开放式办公室中。open-plan[ˈopən plæn] adj.（建筑物、办公室、房间等）开敞式的，大开间的，无隔断的。

　　这句话的翻译：

　　原文：The authors suggestthat employees value their privacy and find new ways to preserve it in an open-plan office.

　　译文：作者认为，员工重视自己的隐私，当他们身处开放式办公室中，就会寻找新的办法来保护隐私。

　　第二句：They shut themselves off by wearing large headphones to keep out the distractions caused by nearby colleagues.

　　1.shut off关掉;停止;隔绝;比如形容一个人爱不爱与人交往，就可以说He tends to keep things to himself more and shut himself off.他更加倾向于把事情藏在心里，不与他人来往。by wearing large headphones中的by是介词通过，表示方式。戴上大大的耳机wearing large headphones.

　　2.to keep out是动词词组，表示防止进入；阻止；遮挡；与keep 有关的常用短语还有：

　　keep on 继续；

　　keep up with 赶得上；和…保持联系

　　keep in mind 记住

　　keep to oneself 保守秘密；不交际

　　keep away from 远离，回避

　　keep an eye on 照看；留意；密切注视

　　3.句子结构分析：to keep out the distractions caused by nearby colleagues.是wearing large headphones的目的，不是shut themselves off的目的。这句话caused by是过去分词作the distractions的后置定语，表示由......造成/带来的。

　　这句话的翻译（英语一般是先出重点，再出次要内容，汉语一般相反）：

　　原文：They shut themselves off by wearing large headphones to keep out the distractions caused by nearby colleagues.

　　译文：他们戴上大大的耳机来隔绝身边同事的干扰，不与同事互动。

　　第三句：Indeed, those who championopen-plan offices seem to have forgotten the importance of being able to concentrate on your work.

　　1.champion ['tʃæmpɪən] n.冠军;捍卫者，拥护者;战士。我们之前的一篇外媒谈法国夺冠文章中有说过相关表达，become/clinchthe champion获得了冠军。也可以表示动词，vt.为…而斗争，捍卫，声援。在这里是表示支持/提倡。同义词有call for, Promote;advocate;uphold.比如He passionately championed the poor.他满腔热情地捍卫穷人的利益。

　　2.语法结构分析：those who champion open-plan offices seem to have forgotten the importance of being able to concentrate on your work.主干是those seem to have forgotten the importance. who引导的定语从句修饰those.

　　3.写作和翻译句型推荐：我们在表达“有多重要/很重要”时可能会说how important.而原文是have forgotten the importance of being able to concentrate on your work.用the importance of表达有多重要的句型值得大家借鉴使用。比如我们在说互联网教育的重要性的时候，我们可以说Researchers havestressed theimportanceof connectingeducationwith technology.研究人员强调了技术与教育结合的重要性。研究人员强调技术与教育结合很重要。

　　这句话的翻译很简洁：

　　原文：Indeed, those who champion open-plan offices seem to have forgotten the importance of being able to concentrate on your work.

　　译文：其实，那些提倡开放式办公室的人似乎忘记了能专注自己的工作有多重要。

　　第二段：

　　Employees also find other ways of communicating with their fellow workers. Rather than have a chat in front of a large audience, employees simply send an e-mail; the result (as measured at one of the two companies surveyed) was that productivity declined.

　　员工们还开始用其他方式和同事交流。他们不会在众人面前聊天，只要发封电子邮件就好；结果（在其中一家公司测量到的情况）就是生产率下降了。

　　第一句：Employees also find other ways of communicating with their fellow workers.

　　1.find other ways of与上一段的find new ways to是同义词，都是表示寻找其他方式，只是一个用介词of后面跟-ing形式，另一个是动词to后面跟动词原型。

　　2.fellow workers同事。表示同事还可以用：colleague；co-worker；workmate。

　　这句话的翻译：

　　原文：Employees also find other ways of communicating with their fellow workers.

　　译文：员工们还开始用其他方式和同事交流。

　　第二句：Rather than have a chat in front of a large audience, employees simply send an e-mail;

　　1.Rather than（要）…而不…，与其…倒不如…; 关于它的其他用法。rather than 放句首时，其后可接不定式或动名词，但接不定式时通常省略to。所以一般后面接do或doing，比如：

　　Theywaitforthegrouptodecideratherthanmakemakingindividualdecisions. 他们等待团体作决定而不是各自作出决定。

　　2.a large audience固定表达：大量的观众/众人。比如：the company demonstrates itsnewsolar powersystembeforealargeaudience.公司在一大群观众面前演示了新的太阳能系统。

　　这句话的翻译：

　　原文：Rather than have a chat in front of a large audience, employees simply send an e-mail;

　　译文：他们不会在众人面前聊天，只会发封电子邮件；

　　第三句：the result (as measured at one of the two companies surveyed) was that productivitydeclined.

　　1.这句话the result引导的是表语从句，the resultwas that productivity declined.(as measured at one of the two companies surveyed).as measured at:as+done的形式在我们高斋翻译学堂年会员和冲刺课外刊英译汉里面讲过，如As demonstrated /displayed in.

　　2.decline[dɪˈklaɪn] n.下降;（力量、健康、品格、权力、价值等的）衰退;下倾;这个词在经济学人中很常见，18年6月份的经济学人文章中就出现过讲的是在很多大城市公共交通工具正在衰退。Public transport is in decline in many wealthy cities.

　　这句话的翻译：

　　原文：the result(as measured at one of the two companies surveyed)was that productivity declined.

　　译文：结果（在其中一家公司测量到的情况）就是生产率下降了。

　　以上就是小编为大家分享的关于外刊中的优秀表达积累，打击啊可以按照这个思路每天读外刊哦。更多托福阅读时间、托福口语评分标准等问题，可以咨询我们。