VOA标准英语2012--美国公司白领对办公环境叫苦不迭

US Worker Bees Toil¹ in Cubicles³

美国公司白领对办公环境叫苦不迭
Every day, and certainly on Sunday when many newspapers produce a separate comics section, millions of Americans check out the strip called “Dilbert,” created by cartoonist Scott Adams. It satirizes⁴ worklife in white-collar offices, particularly those in which people toil in confined spaces called “cubicles.”
每一天,尤其是在周日的时候，许多报纸会为读者奉上一个单独的漫画栏目,数百万的美国人会意犹未尽的享受由漫画家斯科特?亚当斯创造的这个被称为“呆伯特”的漫画。它专门讽刺位于狭窄空间内,人们俗称“一人占一坑”的办公室白领阶层。
Fortune magazine, which writes about the people who make, well, a fortune, once focused on average "worker bees” in the corporate⁵ world who sit inside these "modules," as they're called, separated by partitions, at built-in desks with eye-level shelves, all easily interchangeable. The movable walls are designed to give workers at least a tad of privacy.
财富杂志曾写报道过那么多的人发迹,而这一次却将注意力集中在当下世界公司里的“工蜂”们，这类人坐在被称为“独立单元”的办公区域。当中内置书桌和与眼同高的置物架轻易可互换位置。而移动墙的设计初衷是给工人们增加至少一点点隐私。
As Fortune lays out the story, Robert Propst, a young industrial designer in the Midwest state of Michigan, dreamed up the office cubicle² in 1968.
财富杂志讲的这个故事,罗伯特?普罗斯特，一位年轻的密歇根州中西部设计师，在1968年空想出了这种办公室结构，并使其变为现实。
Soon office mazes⁶, or "cubicle farms," sprouted⁷ everywhere. It seemed like everyone below the rank of vice⁸ president soon worked in one of these office boxes, identical to the next one save for the photos of the family and dog.
很快这种办公室迷宫,或“小室格局”将会发芽生根无处不在。看起来每个职位像副总统的人很快就会在这样一间办公室中工作，和隔壁屋子相同的设置是都有家人和狗的照片。
Today, cubicles are ridiculed⁹ - even loathed¹⁰ - as symbols of conformity¹¹, their inhabitants as clones and drones. Even the privacy part didn't work, as workers cannot help but overhear their colleagues' conversations and phone calls.
今天,这种办公室布局风格被人厌恶甚至嘲笑作为符号的统一,其居民是一直忍辱负重。隐私部分甚至没办法让人工作,员工不得不听同事们的对话和电话内容。
Lots of people, including cartoonist Adams, have tried to humanize the sterile¹² cubicle. In real life, he’s even designed what he calls the "ultimate cubicle," which would allow occupants to vary the flooring and lighting¹³. They can even add a fish tank. But a box is still a box.
很多人,包括漫画家亚当斯,都试图让这种办公室格局更加人性化。而在现实生活中,他甚至设计出一种“终极工作间”，这将允许使用者可以享受不同的地板和照明，甚至可以增加一个鱼缸。但是盒子终归是盒子，不管人们如何装饰，终究也无法摆脱。
Before he died in 2000, Bob Propst, the father of the cubicle, told friends he was sorry, all his days, that he’d unleashed¹⁴ the idea on the world. He called his invention an act of "monolithic¹⁵ insanity¹⁶.”
直到2000年去世前,这种办公室格局的缔造者罗伯特?普罗斯特,告诉他的朋友自己感到很难过,在他不多的日子里,他会致力于向全世界传达这种思想，他称自己的发明是“整体的疯狂。”

1 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

2 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。

3 cubicles   

n.小卧室，斗室( cubicle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Security guards, operating inside bullet-proof glass cubicles, and speaking through microphones, scrutinized every arrival and departure. 警卫们在装有防弹玻璃的小室里值勤，通过麦克风细致盘问每一个进出的人。 来自辞典例句
• I guess they thought me content to stay in cubicles. 我猜他们认为我愿意呆在小房间里。 来自互联网

4 satirizes   

v.讽刺，讥讽( satirize的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This detestable custom satirizes humanity. 这个可厌的风俗违反人性。 来自辞典例句
• This idiom satirizes those who instead of taking changed circumstances account. “刻舟求剑”这个成语讽刺那些办事迂腐，不知道变通情况的人。 来自互联网

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。

6 mazes   

迷宫( maze的名词复数 )； 纷繁复杂的规则； 复杂难懂的细节； 迷宫图

参考例句：

• The mazes of the dance were ecstatic. 跳舞那种错综曲折，叫人快乐得如登九天。
• For two hours did this singlehearted and simpleminded girl toil through the mazes of the forest. 这位心地单纯的傻姑娘在林间曲径中艰难地走了两个来小时。

7 sprouted   

v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• We can't use these potatoes; they've all sprouted. 这些土豆儿不能吃了，都出芽了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rice seeds have sprouted. 稻种已经出芽了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 ridiculed   

v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败，代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 loathed   

v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢

参考例句：

• Baker loathed going to this red-haired young pup for supplies. 面包师傅不喜欢去这个红头发的自负的傻小子那里拿原料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self! 因此，他厌恶不幸的自我尤胜其它！ 来自英汉文学 - 红字

11 conformity   

n.一致，遵从，顺从

参考例句：

• Was his action in conformity with the law?他的行动是否合法？
• The plan was made in conformity with his views.计划仍按他的意见制定。

12 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

13 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

14 unleashed   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
• The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 monolithic   

adj.似独块巨石的；整体的

参考例句：

• Don't think this gang is monolithic.不要以为这帮人是铁板一块。
• Mathematics is not a single monolithic structure of absolute truth.数学并不是绝对真理的单一整体结构。

16 insanity   

n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐

参考例句：

• In his defense he alleged temporary insanity.他伪称一时精神错乱，为自己辩解。
• He remained in his cell,and this visit only increased the belief in his insanity.他依旧还是住在他的地牢里，这次视察只是更加使人相信他是个疯子了。