开放的办公室
Modern offices
Hello, I'm Rob. Welcome to 6 Minute English.
大家好，我是Rob。欢迎来到6分钟英语。
I've got Finn with me today. Hello Finn.
今天和我一起的是Finn，你好，Finn。
Hi Rob, how's it going?
你好Rob，最近怎么样？
All right. You might notice it's a bit noisier than usual –
挺好的。你或许已经注意到了，这比往常要喧闹一些--
that's because we're in our open-plan office.
那是因为我们在开放式办公室。
Yes, it's a big room full of desks with no walls between them and,
是的，这间没有墙隔着的大屋布满了桌子，并且，
as I look around, I can see maybe about 50 colleagues working very hard at their computers!
我四处看了下，大约有50名同事正守着自己面前的电脑努力工作着！
And today we're talking about open-plan offices – and learning some language related to office life.
今天我们就来讨论下开放式办公室--学习一些跟办公生活相关的一些语言。
That's right. Rob, shall we just go back into the studio where it's a bit quieter?
是的。Rob我们去演播室吧，那里更安静些。
Good idea. Let's go. (in the studio) Right, come in here.
好主意。走吧。好了，进来吧。
That's better. That's good, isn't it?
好多了。很好，不是吗？
Lovely.
很好
Rob – a question?
Rob--问你个问题？
You know a lot about sound, don't you?
关于声音你知道很多，对吧？
Well, a bit.
一点点。
What do we call a kind of noise that contains the full range of sounds that humans can hear? Is it…
有一种噪音，包含了人类可以听到的所有声音，你知道叫什么吗？
a) white noise
a) 白色噪音
b) green noise
b）绿色噪音
c) pink noise
c）粉色噪音
Good question. I'm only familiar with the term 'white noise', so I'll go for a) white noise.
好问题。我只对“白色噪音”这个词比较熟悉，我选a）白色噪音。
Well, we'll see if you're right at the end of the programme.
好的，我们在节目的最后来看看你回答的是否正确。
So shall we continue talking about offices?
我们继续来讨论下办公室的话题？
Yes, millions of people like us work in open-plan offices these days, but they're not new.
这些天，数以百万计的人像我们一样在开放式办公室工作，但这不是最近才有的。
Do you remember Henry Ford, the American industrialist from the late 19th Century and early 20th Century?
你还记得亨利·福特吗，那个19世纪末二十世纪初美国实业家？
Yes, he owned factories and he made the famous Ford cars.
是的，他拥有好几个工厂，生产著名的福特汽车。
He's also one of the main names in the story of open-plan offices.
他也是开放式办公室故事中一个主要人物。
Yes, Henry Ford was really concerned with efficiency, wasn't he?
是的，亨利·福特真的是很关心效率的，不是吗？
Yes. Efficiency is one of main reasons for open-plan offices –
不是的。效率是开放式办公室的一个主要原因，
they increase communication and collaboration among staff.
他们增加了员工间的交流和协作。
Now, a company's staff – its employees – work together for the same goals –
现在，一家公司的工作人员--它的员工--为了相同的目标一起工作。
they collaborate, exchanging information and ideas.
他们协作，交流信息和想法。
This can be nice, but there can be too many of us in a small space!
这很好，但房间这么小,人太多了！
Franklin Becker, social psychologist at Cornell University in the US,
Franklin Becker，美国康奈尔法学的社会心理学家，
thinks the reason open-plan offices have become acceptable and popular,
认为开放式办公室已经变得普遍和被人接受，
or as he says – the reason they have taken root – is different.
或者就像他说的--开放式办公室变得普遍和被人接受的原因是不同的。
What reason does he give?
他给出了什么样的原因呢？
The fundamental reason why open plan has taken root has nothing to do really with communication or collaboration or even flexibility.
根本原因已经真的与沟通或合作甚至灵活性无关。
It has to do with the fact that you can reduce the amount of space per person in an open-plan versus any kind of a closed cellular office.
相比任何形式的密闭办公室，开放式办公室可以减少每个人的平均面积，它与这个事实相关。
Well, it's all about saving space and money.
好吧，都是为了节省空间和金钱。
He says it takes less space per person in an open-plan office than it does in a cellular office –
他说在开放式办公室每个人所占平均空间比密闭式的要小。
that's an office which is made up of lots of small, closed rooms.
这办公室是由很多小房间组成的。
In those offices, the space for each individual – per person - is limited.
在这些办公室里，每一个人（每人）的空间是有限的。
Which is why open-plan offices have taken root.
这就是问什么开放式办公室会出现的原因。
So some very good reasons for open-plan offices.
所以开放式办公室有一些很好的原因。
But what about the noise?
但是噪音怎么办呢？
The noise! Yes! Although open-plan offices can save a company money, they have hidden costs.
噪音！是的！尽管开放式办公室给公司节省了钱，但他们有一些隐藏的成本。
Sound expert Julian Treasure explains what they are.
声音专家 Julian Treasure给出了解释。
He uses a very important word for business. Which word is it?
对于商业他使用了一个非常重要的词。是什么呢？
Nobody can understand two people talking at the same time.
每人能够同时听两个人在说话。
We have bandwidth for about 1.6 people talking.
我们的听觉宽度大约为1.6个人。
Now that's key when we are talking about open-plan offices because if I'm trying to do work it requires me to listen to a voice in my head to organise symbols, to organise a flow of words and put them on paper, for example.
我们在开放式办公室说话的时候是很关键的，因为比如说我正在努力工作呢，这时让我听一个声音来组织符号，组织一串话，并写在纸上。
And if you're talking at the same time, then you're taking up one of my 1.6. I'm left with 0.6 in my head.
如果这时你也在说话，你就占据了我带宽的1.6分之一。我脑中就只剩了0.6。
That doesn't work very well - it reduces my productivity dramatically.
这使工作并不好--大大降低了我的工作效率。
The word, right at the end there, was productivity.
那个词，就在话的末尾，就是工作效率。
Workers in open-plan offices get distracted when others speak, and their ability to produce work – their productivity - is reduced.
在开放式办公室工作的人分散了注意力当其他人说话的时候，然后他们的工作能力--工作效率就会下降。
The expert says we can concentrate on 1.6 voices saying different things at the same time.
专家说我们可以在1.6个人的声音带宽的情况下同时说不同的事。
That's not even two people!
这甚至都不到两个人！
No, not really.
是的啊。
He says one voice is in your own head, to organise the flow, the movement, of words and ideas when you think and write.
他说你脑海里有一个声音来组织词语的排序，当你在思考和书写的时候。
And the other is… well, people like you on the phone all the time!
另一个，好吧，像你这样的人一直在打电话！
Oh, come on Rob. I suppose I do speak on the phone quite a lot but I didn't know I was disturbing your work.
得了吧Rob，我的确是打过很多电话但我不知道我打扰到你工作。
You are.
是的，你打扰到了、
Oh, sorry. Shall we go back to the question I asked earlier?
Oh，很抱歉。我们回到之前我问你的问题吧？
Okay.
ok。
I asked you about the colour of noise that contains the full range of sounds that humans can hear.
我问你人类可以听到的所有声音组合的颜色是什么？
Was it white, green or pink noise?
是白色的，绿色的还是粉色的呢？
Yes. And I went for white noise.
是的，我选的是白色的噪音。
The answer is, in fact, pink noise.
答案是，实际上是粉色的噪音。
That's the name scientists give noise…
那就是科学家给噪音的名字。
Interesting colour.
有趣的颜色
… the full range of audio frequencies or sounds that humans can hear.
.....人类能够听到的音频频率或声音的完整范围。
Okay. Well, it's almost time to go but could you remind us of some of the English words we heard today?
好的。时间差不多了，你能让大家想一下今天听到的英语单词吗？
Of course. We heard: open-plan office ;industrialist ;
当然. 我们听到了： open-plan office--开放式办公室 ;industrialist--实业家 ;
collaboration ;staff ;to take root
collaboration--协作 ;staff--员工 ;to take root--生根
per person ;flow ;productivity
per person--每个人 ;flow-- 流动;productivity--工作效率
Thanks Finn. Well that's it for this programme.
谢谢Finn。这就是今天节目的全部内容了。
Please join us soon again for 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
请继续加入我们BBC6分钟英语。
Bye.
拜~