2020年经济学人 巴托比专栏--办公室恋情为何越来越少(2)（在线收听）

Some companies ban all office romances outright. Others issue guidelines such as the stipulation that employees should not allow a relationship with a colleague to influence their behaviour at work, and that they should disclose any relationship that might give rise to a conflict of interest. These rules seem perfectly sensible, although they do involve a sacrifice of privacy.

有些公司完全禁止办公室恋情。另一些公司则发布了一些行为准则，比如规定员工不应允许自己与同事的恋爱关系对工作行为产生影响，并规定员工应披露可能导致利益冲突的关系。这些规则看起来似乎很合理，尽管它们确实涉及到牺牲隐私。

Some of these problems can be avoided if the relationship is at one remove: if people meet their partners through work, rather than at the same office. Clearly there could still be problems if, for example, a purchasing manager was dating the salesperson at a supplier. But in most circumstances these romances avoid the potential problems of favouritism or abuse of power. Bartleby was fortunate enough to meet his spouse through his job 24 years ago (a period that proves Mrs Bartleby’s infinite reserves of patience).

如果情侣关系之间存在一些隔阂的话，其中一些问题是可以避免的：如果人们是通过工作结识自己的伴侣，而不是在同一间办公室。很明显，如果采购经理和供应商的销售人员约会，问题仍然存在。但在大多数情况下，这些恋情避免了潜在的徇私或滥用职权的问题。在24年前，笔者有幸通过工作认识了自己的配偶（这段时间证明了笔者的夫人有着无限的耐心）。

For that reason, this columnist can perhaps be forgiven for hoping that the office romance does not disappear completely. Millions of happy couples have probably met by their desks or the coffee machine. Perhaps couples will get a buzz from defying company rules. But they may have to be subtle about it: “Speak low if you speak love,” as William Shakespeare wrote in “Much Ado About Nothing”. That said, romance novels may need a bit of updating to cope with the postpandemic era.

因此，大家要原谅笔者，笔者希望办公室恋情不会完全消失。数百万对幸福的夫妇可能在办公桌旁或咖啡机旁相遇。也许情侣们会因为无视公司规定而感到兴奋惊。但他们可能不得不对此小心翼翼，正如威廉·莎士比亚在《无事生非》一书中所写的那样：“说爱就要小声点”。也就是说，浪漫小说可能需要进行一些更新，来应对疫情后的时代。

Their eyes met across the bottle of hand sanitiser. “Would you like to break the social-distance rules and join my bubble?” he whispered. “Sorry, I can’t hear you through the mask,” she replied. He searched for inspiration. How could he convey his feelings? As creative director of Tomkins & Tomkins, surely there was an answer? A brainwave came: he raised his hands. Her eyes widened in understanding. “First word,” she said. “Sounds like ...”

他们的目光在一瓶洗手液上交汇。“你愿意打破社交距离规则，和我一起洗手吗？”他低声说。“对不起，你戴着口罩，我听不见你说话，”她回答说。他寻找灵感，该怎么去传达自己的感情呢？作为Tomkins-Tomkins的创意总监，他肯定会找出答案的。他有了一个念头：他举起了双手。她理解了他的意思之后，睁大了眼睛。“第一个字，”她说。“听起来像…”