考研英语经济学人双语笔记精读TE-2023-07-31期|自由交流：不要逃避工作（PDF版+Word版+Mp3）
Free exchange：Don’t be workshy
Whoops! Working from home is detrimental to productivity, after all
【1】A GRADUAL REVERSE migration is under way, from Zoom to the conference room. Wall Street firms have been among the most forceful in summoning workers to their offices, but in recent months even many tech titans—Apple, Google, Meta and more—have demanded staff show up to the office at least three days a week. For work-from-home believers, it looks like the revenge of corporate curmudgeons. Didn’t a spate of studies during the covid-19 pandemic demonstrate that remote work was often more productive than toiling in the office?
【2】Unfortunately for the believers, new research mostly runs counter to this, showing that offices, for all their flaws, remain essential. A good starting point is a working paper that received much attention when it was published in 2020 by Natalia Emanuel and Emma Harrington, then both doctoral students at Harvard University. They found an 8% increase in the number of calls handled per hour by employees of an online retailer that had shifted from offices to homes. Far less noticed was a revised version of their paper, published in May by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The boost to efficiency had instead become a 4% decline.
【3】The researchers had not made a mistake. Rather, they received more precise data, including detailed work schedules. Not only did employees answer fewer calls when remote, the quality of their interactions suffered. They put customers on hold for longer. More also phoned back, an indication of unresolved problems.
【4】Those working at home were 18% less productive than their peers in the office. Another study determined that even chess professionals play less well in online matches than face-to-face tilts. Yet another used a laboratory experiment to show that video conferences inhibit creative thinking.
【5】The reasons for the findings will probably not surprise anyone who has spent much of the past few years working from a dining-room table. It is harder for people to collaborate from home. Workers in the Fed study spoke of missing their “neighbours to turn to for assistance”. Teleconferencing is a pale imitation of in-the-flesh meetings: researchers at Harvard Business School, for example, concluded that “virtual water coolers”—rolled out by many companies during the pandemic—often encroached on crowded schedules with limited benefits. All these problems represent an increase in coordination costs, making collective enterprise more unwieldy.
【6】Some of the co-ordination costs of remote work might reasonably be expected to fall as people get used to it. Since 2020, many will have become adept at using Zoom, Webex, Teams or Slack. But another cost may rise over time: the underdevelopment of human capital. In a study of software engineers published in April, researchers found that feedback exchanged between colleagues dropped sharply after the move to remote work. They documented a relative decline in learning for workers at home. Those in offices picked up skills more quickly.
【7】The price of happiness
There is more to work (and life) than productivity. Perhaps the greatest virtue of remote work is that it leads to happier employees. People spend less time commuting, which from their vantage-point might feel like an increase in productivity, even if conventional measures fail to detect it. They can more easily fit in school pickups and doctor appointments, not to mention the occasional lie-in or midmorning jog. And some tasks—notably, those requiring unbroken concentration for long periods—can often be done more smoothly from home than in open-plan offices. All this explains why so many workers have become so office-shy.
【8】Indeed, several surveys have found employees are willing to accept pay cuts for the option of working from home. Having satisfied employees on slightly lower pay, in turn, might be a good deal for corporate managers. For many people, then, the future of work will remain hybrid. Nevertheless, the balance of the work week is likely to tilt back to the office and away from home—not because bosses are sadomasochists with a kink for rush-hour traffic, but because better productivity lies in that direction.
1短语：
1.原文：Whoops! Working from home is detrimental to productivity, after all
词典：be detrimental to对......有害
例句：The policy will be detrimental to the peace process.
这项政策将不利于和平进程。
2.原文：Didn’t a spate of studies during the covid-19 pandemic demonstrate that remote work was often more productive than toiling in the office?
词典：a spate of一连串的，一系列的
例句：The bombing was the latest in a spate of terrorist attacks.
这次炸弹爆炸事件是一连串恐怖主义袭击中最近的一起。
3.原文：Unfortunately for the believers, new research mostly runs counter to this, showing that offices, for all their flaws, remain essential.
词典：run counter to 违反；与……背道而驰
例句：The government"s plans run counter to agreed European policy on this issue.
政府的计划违反了有关这个问题已协商好的欧洲政策。
4.原文：Teleconferencing is a pale imitation of in-the-flesh meetings: researchers at Harvard Business School, for example, concluded that “virtual water coolers”—rolled out by many companies during the pandemic—often encroached on crowded schedules with limited benefits.
词典：roll out 推出，展开
例句：Northern Telecom says its products will roll out over 18 months beginning early next year.
北方电讯公司表示其产品将从明年初起用18个多月的时间推出。
词典：encroach on 侵占，侵犯
例句：The new institutions do not encroach on political power.
这些新机构没有侵犯到政治权力。
5.原文：Since 2020, many will have become adept at using Zoom, Webex, Teams or Slack.
词典：adept at擅长、熟练、精于
例句：As a composer he proved himself adept at large dramatic forms.
作为一名作曲家，他显示出自己擅长创作大型的戏剧体裁。
6.原文：And some tasks—notably, those requiring unbroken concentration for long periods—can often be done more smoothly from home than in open-plan offices.
词典：open-plan office开放式办公室
例句：The company decided to adopt an open-plan office to encourage collaboration among employees.
公司决定采用开放式办公室，以鼓励员工之间的合作。
②长难句
1.原文：A good starting point is a working paper that received much attention when it was published in 2020 by Natalia Emanuel and Emma Harrington, then both doctoral students at Harvard University.
分析：本句较长，含有定语从句。“A good starting point”作主语，“is”是系动词，“a working paper”是名词，作表语，同时也是后面定语从句的先行词；后“that”引导定语从句，从句内容对先行词进行解释、说明；“when”引导时间状语从句，对动作时间进行说明。
译文：先来看一篇在2020年发表时受到广泛关注的工作论文，作者是当时在哈佛大学攻读博士学位的娜塔莉亚·伊曼纽尔(Natalia Emanuel)和艾玛·哈林顿(Emma Harrington)。
2.原文：People spend less time commuting, which from their vantage-point might feel like an increase in productivity, even if conventional measures fail to detect it.
分析：本句包含非限定性定语从句、让步状语从句。“People ”是主语，“spend”是谓语动词，此处为“spend some time (in) doing sth.”固定用法，表示“花费时间做某事”；“which”引导非限定性定语从句，指代前面提到的“人们花在通勤上的时间更少了”这件事，并对此事进行具体的解释说明；“even if”引导让步状语从句。
译文：人们花在通勤上的时间减少了，从他们的角度来看，这可能会让他们觉得生产率提高了，即使传统的衡量方法无法检测到这一点。
3写作技巧：
1. Another study determined that even chess professionals play less well in online matches than face-to-face tilts.
另一项研究表明，即使是国际象棋专业棋手在网上比赛中的表现也不如面对面比赛好。
Nevertheless, the balance of the work week is likely to tilt back to the office and away from home—not because bosses are sadomasochists with a kink for rush-hour traffic, but because better productivity lies in that direction.
然而，工作周的平衡很可能会向办公室倾斜而非家庭——这不是因为老板们施虐受虐狂，对高峰时段的交通有变态的癖好，而是因为办公室里有更高的生产率。
生词：
tilt
v.（使）倾斜，（使）倾侧；（使）倾向于，（使）偏向于；
n.倾斜，倾侧，倾斜度；（对某人、某信仰或某行为的）倾向，偏向；（意欲赢得某物或战胜某人的）企图，尝试；（口头或文字的）抨击，攻击；（摄影机的）俯仰转动，上下摇摄；<美，非正式>（双人或两队间的）比赛，竞赛；<史>骑马持矛冲刺，马上比枪，比武
“tilt”这个词，相信不少同学在阅读过程中已经见过了，很巧合，本文中有两处都出现了这个词，咱们一起对这个词进行更深入一些的学习，我们最常见的释义就是“倾斜、倾向”，本文中同时出现了该词的名词用法“<美，非正式>（双人或两队间的）比赛，竞赛”，平时阅读中鲜少见到，而我们常见的表达比赛、竞赛的词有“contest，competition，game，match，tournament”请大家一定牢记。
例句：
She tilted the mirror and began to comb her hair.
她把镜子斜放，开始梳头。
Leonard tilted his chair back on two legs and stretched his long body.
伦纳德把他的椅子向后斜着撑在两条脚上，然后舒展他修长的身躯。
Political will might finally tilt toward some sort of national health plan.
政治意愿可能最终会倾向于某种全民医疗方案。
She aims to have a tilt at the world championship next year.
她的目标是明年问鼎世界冠军。
He continued to urge the Republican Party to tilt rightward.
他继续力劝共和党右倾。
The table is at a slight tilt.
这桌子有点儿歪。
2. They can more easily fit in school pickups and doctor appointments, not to mention the occasional lie-in or midmorning jog.
他们更方便安排学校接送和预约医生的时间，更不用说偶尔睡个懒觉或上午慢跑了。
生词：
fit in 安排时间处理；相处融洽；(在某情形、体系中)发挥作用；适应、相适应
“fit in”这个词组，看起来并不起眼，其中的两个词，大家一定再熟悉不过了，但二者放在一起，是不是看着既眼生，又眼熟呢？在考试阅读、翻译中，我们常常遇到这样的情况，为了避免用时的迷惑，平时学习中就要打好基础，“基础不牢地动山摇”这句话一点都不假，请大家在词汇本上记下这个词组，说不定以后就是考试中的小陷阱。下面举几个例子，大家深刻体会一下~
例句：
We work long hours both outside and inside the home and we rush around trying to fit everything in.
我们在家在外都长时间地工作，我们到处奔波，尽力安排时间做每一件事。
She was great with the children and fit in beautifully.
她对孩子们很有一手，相处得非常融洽。
He knew where I fitted in and what he had to do to get the best out of me.
他知道我在哪里能发挥作用，以及他怎样做才能发挥我的最佳水平。
Where do I fit in?
哪里有我适合的地方？
She didn"t fit in and she had few social graces.
她不适应而且没有什么社交风度。
We can"t fit in any more chairs.
我们没有地方再摆更多的椅子了。
All the kids will fit in the back of the car.
所有的孩子都可以坐到车的后排。
It"s true that he could do the job, but would he fit in with the rest of the team?
他确实能做这项工作，但他是否能和团队其他人配合得好呢？
4背景知识：
“饮水机”对于一起工作的同事来说，是友情和交流的象征。而且它甚至可能不是真正的饮水机，而是茶水间、饮料贩卖机或咖啡角，甚至只是办公室外的吸烟区，从本质上讲，它是工作场所中的一个地方，允许人们聚集或闲聊的地方。但是，当没有实体业务而是虚拟业务时，特别是如果员工是远程分布的状态，饮水机还有存在的必要吗？当然。实际上，为企业构建虚拟饮水机是明智之举。也许你会问：为什么需要虚拟饮水机？闲聊难道不会耽误工作，降低效率，鼓励人们“磨洋工”么？下面这四个原因可能会让你信服：1.提高团队凝聚力；2.可以激发新的创意；3.加强联系和归属感；4.远程公司可以使用各种虚拟饮水机。
段落大意：
【1】办公形式正在从远程居家办公逐渐恢复到办公室办公。
【2】新研究表明，尽管办公室存在种种缺陷，但它仍然是不可或缺的。
【3】研究人员得到了更精确的数据，表明远程办公时，员工工作效率确实受到了影响。
【4】多项研究表明线上工作或比赛没有在面对面工作或比赛效果好。
【5】线上工作的弊端。
【6】远程工作的另一个成本可能会上升：人力资本的不足，另外，同事之间信息交流大幅减少、学习效率下降。
【7】远程工作最大的优点是它能让员工更快乐。
【8】未来的工作形式仍将是混合型的，但很可能会向办公室倾斜，因为办公室里有更高的生产率。
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