TED演讲:为什么你应该知道你同事的工资(1)

 How much do you get paid? Don't answer that out loud. 你的工资是多少？先别说出来。

But put a number in your head.  在脑子里想一下。

Now: How much do you think the person sitting next to you gets paid? Again, don't answer out loud. 现在想想：你觉得邻座的工资是多少？也别说出来。

At work, how much do you think the person sitting in the cubicle¹ or the desk next to you gets paid? Do you know? Should you know? 你觉得办公室里坐在旁边的同事的工资又是多少？你知道吗？你应该知道吗？

Notice, it's a little uncomfortable for me to even ask you those questions. 问这些问题连我都觉得不太自在。

But admit it -- you kind of want to know.  但是承认吧--你有点想知道答案。

Most of us are uncomfortable with the idea of broadcasting our salary.  我们大多数人都不想告诉别人自己的工资。

We're not supposed to tell our neighbors, and we're definitely not supposed to tell our office neighbors.  我们不想把工资告诉邻居，也绝对不想告诉办公室的同事。

The assumed reason is that if everybody knew what everybody got paid, then all hell would break loose.  可能如果大家都知道别人的工资，就要天下大乱了。

There'd be arguments, there'd be fights, there might even be a few people who quit.  可能会出现争吵，打架，甚至会有人辞职。

But what if secrecy² is actually the reason for all that strife³?  但如果这个秘密恰恰就是冲突的起因呢？

And what would happen if we removed that secrecy?  如果我们揭开这个秘密会发生什么呢？

What if openness actually increased the sense of fairness and collaboration⁴ inside a company?  公开薪资能不能增进公司内部的合作，还有公平感呢？

What would happen if we had total pay transparency? 如果完全公开薪资信息，那会发生什么呢？

For the past several years, I've been studying the corporate⁵ and entrepreneurial leaders 过去的几年里，我一直在研究那些

who question the conventional wisdom about how to run a company.  质疑传统经营理念的企业家和创业者。

And the question of pay keeps coming up. And the answers keep surprising. 而薪资待遇的问题不断浮出水面。答案也在不断挑战传统观念。

1 cubicle   

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。

2 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

3 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

4 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

5 corporate   

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。