考研英语经济学人文章阅读训练五
考研英语经济学人文章阅读训练2020021502
Youngsters’job preferences and prospects are mismatched年轻人的工作偏好与就业前景不相匹配Teenage picks青少年的选择The world of work is changing.Are people ready for the new job outlook?A survey of15-year-olds across41countries by the OECD,a club of mostly rich countries,found that teenagers may have unrealistic expectations about the kind of work that will be available.职业的世界正在发生变化。
人们做好准备接受新的就业观了吗？世界经合组织（一个以发达国家为主的组织）对41个国家的15岁青少年进行了一项调查，结果发现青少年对于未来可能从事的工作抱有不切实际的期望。
Four of the five most popular choices were traditional professional roles: doctors,teachers,business managers and lawyers. Teenagers clustered around the most popular jobs,with the top ten being chosen by47%of boys and53%of girls.Those shares were significantly higher than when the survey was conducted back in2000.在五个最受欢迎的职业选择中有四个是传统的职业角色：医生、教师、企业经理和律师。
青少年对于最受欢迎工作的选择呈现了聚集性，有47％的男孩和53％的女孩选择了排在前十位的职业。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一一五
As cars ditch fossil fuels,how can governments tax motorists?随着汽车抛弃化石燃料，政府怎么能对驾车者征税呢?Expect more taxes on congestion as levies on fuel yield lower revenues 随着对燃料征收的税收收入减少，预计将对交通拥堵征收更多的税Motoring taxes raise nearly£40bn($49bn)a year,or about5%of Britain’s total tax revenue.Nearly70%of that comes from duty on fuel,levied partly to deter consumers from using too much of the stuff.英国的机动车税收每年增长近400亿英镑（约合490亿美元），约占英国总税收的5%。
其中近70%来自于燃油税，征收燃油税在一定程度上是为了阻止消费者过多地耗费汽油。
Yet as drivers take the hint and switch to electric and hybrid vehicles,the government faces a problem in the form of falling tax revenues. Economists are therefore rethinking how to tax motoring in a low-emissions future.然而，随着司机们接受了这一暗示而转向使用电动汽车和混合动力汽车，政府又面临着税收下降的问题。
因此，经济学家正在重新思考如何在低排放的未来对机动车征税。
On October8th the Institute for Fiscal Studies(IFS),a think-tank,warned that over£33bn could all but disappear as cars become more fuel-efficient or go electric.10月8日，财政研究所（IFS，一家智库）警告称，随着汽车燃油效率的提高以及电动车的普及，超过330亿英镑的税收或将不复存在了。
考研英语经济学人文章阅读训练2020082202
Cloth of gold一块价值堪比黄金的布Why the economic value of a face mask is$56.14为什么说一个口罩的经济价值是56.14美元After a brutal first six months of the year,governments across the world are hoping for an economic bounce-back.Rich-world GDP fell by about 10%in the first half of2020.在经历今年上半年的残酷考验后，世界各国政府都期待经济能够触底反弹。
2020年上半年，发达国家的GDP下降了约10%。
Yet much has changed since—including that more people are now wearing masks.Economists,obsessed with translating everything into GDP,wonder if more widespread face-covering could help the recovery.然而，自从越来越多的人戴上口罩后，情况发生了显著变化。
经济学家痴迷于用GDP来解释一切事物，如今他们想知道，随着更多的人戴上了口罩，经济能否走向复苏。
The thinking goes that masks can,in part,substitute for lockdowns. People wearing them need not be discouraged as much from using public transport.More shops and offices might be able to reopen,albeit while practising social distancing.这种想法基于这样一个逻辑，戴口罩在一定程度上可以代替封锁措施。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
The Guardian view on plastics: a treaty could stem the tide《卫报》关于塑料的观点：一项条约可以遏制这个趋势There is no data on global plastic pollution that is equivalent to the regular measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. But as with greenhouse gases, the recent news has been nearly all bad. In 1950, worldwide production of plastics stood at 2m tons per year. In 2020, it was 367m tons (down from 368m the year before due to the coronavirus pandemic). An increase this enormous is hard to visualise. But the 8.8m tons of plastic waste that is estimated to enter the world’s marine environment each year is the equivalent of a rubbish truck filled with plastic being tipped into the sea every minute.关于全球塑料污染，目前还没有与地球大气中二氧化碳的常规测量值相当的数据。
但和温室气体一样，最近的消息几乎都是坏的。
1950年，全球塑料产量达到每年200万吨。
2020年，这一数字为3.67亿吨（由于新冠肺炎疫情，它比前一年的3.68亿吨有所下降）。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
A global house-price slump is coming全球房价即将暴跌It won’t blow up the financial system, but it will be scary虽然不会摧毁金融体系，但仍然令人恐慌Over the past decade owning a house has meant easy money. Prices rose reliably for years and then went bizarrely ballistic in the pandemic. Yet today if your wealth is tied up in bricks and mortar it is time to get nervous.过去十年里，拥有一套房就意味着轻松赚钱。
房价多年来一直稳步上涨，甚至在疫情期间还异乎寻常地飙升了。
然而现如今，如果你的财富被套牢在房产上，那你应该感到紧张了。
House prices are now falling in nine rich economies. The drops in America are small so far, but in the wildest markets they are already dramatic. In condo-crazed Canada homes cost 9% less than they did in February.九个发达经济体的房价都在下跌。
到目前为止，美国房价的跌幅还不大，但最疯狂的市场的房价跌幅已经非常大了。
在热衷于共管公寓的加拿大，房价较今年2月下跌了9%。
As inflation and recession stalk the world a deepening correction is likely—even estate agents are gloomy. Although this will not detonate global banks as in 2007-09, it will intensify the downturn, leave a cohort of people with wrecked finances and start a political storm.随着通货膨胀和经济衰退的风险在全球范围内蔓延，房价或将迎来一场深度调整——甚至房地产经纪人也对此感到悲观。
《经济学人》英语热点文章精选8篇(中英文对照
（考研英语阅读原文很多来自《经济学人》，希望大家好好看看)印度的救赎IN MAY America’s Federal Reserve hinted that it would soon start to reduce its vast purchases of Treasury bonds. As global investors adjusted to a world without ultra—cheap money, there has been a great sucking of funds from emerging markets。
Currencies and shares have tumbled, from Brazil to Indonesia, but one country has been particularly badly hit。
今年五月，美国联邦储备委员会(Federal Reserve）暗示，它将很快开始缩减大量购买国债的规模。
随着全球投资者开始调整策略，以适应没有超廉价资金的世界，大量资金开始逃离新兴市场.从巴西到印度尼西亚，货币及股票纷纷暴跌，但有一个国家受创尤其严重.Not so long ago India was celebrated as an economic miracle. In 2008 Manmohan Singh，the prime minister，said growth of 8—9% was India’s new cruising speed. He even predicted the end of the “chronic poverty，ignorance and disease, which has been the fate of millions of our countrymen for centuries”. Today he admits the outlook is difficult. The rupee has tumbled by 13% in three months。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
One afternoon in April 2020, I took an old bamboo rod out of my shed and cut it to a length of 115cm. Stood on the ground, it came about halfway up my chest. I laid it on a scrubby patch of our garden on the island of Aegina, in Greece: one end next to a tough-looking dandelion, the other pointed northwards. Then I dug up the dandelion with a trowel and replanted it at the other end of the stick. A small step for humans, but quite the leap for the dandelion.2020年4月的一个下午，我从棚子里拿出一根旧竹竿，把它切成了115厘米的长度。
立在地上，它的长度大概是到我胸部高度的一半。
我把它搁在花园中的一小片灌木丛生的土地上，花园位于希腊的埃吉纳岛（Aegina）上。
竹竿的一端挨着一株看上去很强韧的蒲公英，另一端朝着北方。
随后我用泥铲把蒲公英挖了出来，再把它重新种进竹竿另一端的土里。
对人类来说，这是一小步的距离，但对蒲公英而言却是一次不小的跃进。
This 115cm corresponds to a particular measurement. It is the present average velocity of climate change — how fast the effects of global heating are moving across the surface of the planet — and thus represents the speed we need to move in order for the conditions around us to stay the same. It also implies a direction: the bubble habitats where different forms of life can survive and thrive are moving uphill, and towards the poles.这115厘米所对应的是一个特定的尺寸。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Springtime lethargy – is something entirely natural春困——一种很自然的现象Spring fatigue, also known as spring lethargy, refers to a state of fatigue, lowered energy, or depression, associated with the onset of spring.春困是指一种与春天的到来有关的疲劳、精力下降或抑郁的状态。
Such a state may be caused by a normal reaction to warmer temperatures, or it may have a medical basis, such as allergies or "reverse" seasonal affective disorder. Although the causes of this springtime lethargy have not yet been fully resolved, hormone balance may play a role.这种状态可能是对对气温升高的正常反应，也可能是一种医学上的反应，如过敏或“逆向”季节性情感障碍等。
人们至今尚未完全弄清楚春困发生的原因，但荷尔蒙平衡可能是原因之一。
According to this hypothesis, the body's reserves of the "happiness hormone" serotonin, whose production depends on daylight, become exhausted over the winter, making it especially easy for the "sleep hormone" melatonin to have its effect.根据这一假说，人体储存的“快乐荷尔蒙”血清素（其产生依赖于日光）在冬季会被消耗殆尽，这使得“睡眠荷尔蒙”褪黑激素特别容易发挥作用。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Have baby, stay in school生孩子还是继续上学？Why teenage mothers in Zimbabwe struggle to get educated为什么津巴布韦的未成年妈妈很难继续接受教育Brilliant Ndlovu has never really known childhood. Since the age of seven she has headed her household in Tsholotsho, a town in rural western Zimbabwe, after her parents went to work abroad. The oldest of five, she scraped a living growing crops while trying to keep up with her schoolwork.聪明的恩德洛夫从未真正经历过童年。
自从7岁起，她的父母去国外工作后，她就一直在津巴布韦西部乡村小镇茨洛特肖主持家务。
她是五个孩子中的老大，一边靠种庄稼勉强糊口，一边还要努力完成学业。
But in 2020 the covid-19 pandemic struck, coming shortly after a devastating drought. Farmers could not afford to pay child labourers like Ms Ndlovu. “So I looked for a man to help support my family,” she recalls. She found one who demanded sex in exchange for money. Aged 17, she got pregnant.但在2020年，经历一场毁灭性的干旱后，新冠疫情又紧随其后。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Britain’s young face a poorer future英国年轻一代面临更加贫穷的未来Economic statistics will never fully capture the extent of the sacrifices of Britain’s youth during the pandemic. For a generation of students and pupils it was a lost chance to make friends, explore who they are and, gradually, become adults — as well as to learn, in person. In the face of the deaths in the broader population, it is easy to dismiss as frivolous the setbacks of those who missed partying, travelling and dating during the long months stuck inside but these are still years of carefree youth they will not get back. What is more, most of these privations were primarily to protect those from older generations, the most vulnerable to the coronavirus.经济统计数字将永远不能完全反映出英国青年在这场大流行病中牺牲了多少。
对于这一代学生来说，他们失去了结交朋友、探索自我并逐渐成长为人,以及亲身学习的机会。
在有人死于新冠疫情之际，我们很容易认为被困在室内长达数月而错过聚会、旅行和约会的人所经历的这些挫折无关痛痒，但这是他们再也无法重返的无忧无虑的青春时光。
考研英语经济学人文章阅读训练2020011801
Unpacking the rise of urban coyotes揭秘城市郊狼的崛起The attacker sprang from the tall grass in a lakefront park,leaving a five-year-old victim terrified,blood streaming from his head.After the boywas taken to hospital,a hunt ensued.Helicopters,police and specialist trackers fanned across the Chicago neighbourhood.从湖滨公园高出的草丛中扑出来的袭击者让一名5岁的受害者头破血流、惊恐万分。
在将这名男孩送往医院后，一场狩猎随之展开。
直升机、警察和专业追踪人员在芝加哥周边地区展开了行动。
A man brought himself to hospital saying he,too,had been bitten.Two nearby schools were locked down for a day.Eventually a suspect—a brindle coyote with puppy-dog eyes—was apprehended behind a theatre.随后又有一名男子自行来到医院，声称自己也被咬伤。
附近的两所学校也因此停课一天。
最终，人们在一家剧院的后面逮到了嫌疑犯（一只长着小狗般眼睛、身上布满斑点的郊狼）。
The incident excited much of Chicago.Although coyote attacks on humans are rare,the animals have become an increasingly common part of urban American life.Once mostly found west of the Mississippi,they have spread east.这一事件让许多芝加哥市民激愤不已。
考研英语经济学人文章阅读训练2020010405
A study suggests that higher minimum wages hit poorer bosses’pockets一项研究表明，最低工资标准的上调会给穷老板带来沉重的负担Wage floors are still progressive,but can have unintended consequences最低工资标准的上调仍具有进步意义，但或许会产生意想不到的后果A minimum wage is supposed to redistribute money from rich to poor. But economists disagree about whether it actually does so.Some researchers,for example,have found that,in America,Canada and Europe, raising the minimum wage tends to decrease employment among the least-skilled workers,as firms downsize to trim costs.最低工资标准的设立本是为了将富人手中的钱重新分配给穷人。
但对于它是否真的能起到作用，经济学家们一直存在着分歧。
例如，一些研究人员发现，在美国、加拿大和欧洲，最低工资标准的上调往往会导致低技能工人的失业，因为公司需要缩减规模以降低成本。
Others have found no effect on employment.And although no one doubts that the policy raises wages for the workers who stay employed,still unsettled is the question of where that extra money comes from.但也有其他研究发现，最低工资标准的改变不会对就业产生影响。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文阅读经济学人
China’s “dreamchild” is stealthily winning the battery race中国“梦之子”悄然引领电池竞赛In America, if you want to dominate an industry, you channel your inner Elon Musk and shout about it. But CATL, the Chinese company that makes batteries for some of Mr Musk’s Tesla electric vehicles (EVs), is different. When your columnist first contacted it in 2017, the brush-off was swift.在美国，如果你想主宰一个行业，你就得调动自己内心的埃隆·马斯克并大声咆哮。
但为马斯克的部分特斯拉电动汽车供应电池的中国公司宁德时代则不同。
当笔者在2017年第一次与该公司取得联系时，对方直接拒绝了我们的采访。
“We want to concentrate on our products only and do not accept any interviews at present.” These days it is only marginally less blunt. “Unfortunately, we are sorry that it’s hard for us to arrange [interviews] at the moment.” The temptation is to give it a dose of its own medicine and ignore it.“我们只想专注于我们的产品，目前不接受任何采访。
”如今，该公司的态度没有过去那么生硬了，但也只是稍微缓和。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
A new study finds preschool can be detrimental to children一项新的研究发现，学前教育对孩子可能并没有好处But the picture may not be as gloomy as it seems但前景或许并不那么悲观Free, universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds is a key component of the Democrats’ agenda. Proponents say pre-kindergarten, or pre-K, education can be transformative for children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. A new study seems to contradict this.为三、四岁儿童提供免费、普及的学前教育是民主党议程的一个关键组成部分。
支持者表示，学前教育对儿童（尤其是对那些来自弱势家庭的儿童来说）能够起到变革性作用。
一项新的研究似乎得出了与之相矛盾的结论。
It finds that children who attended a pre-K programme in Tennessee actually scored worse on a range of education and behavioural measures. Yet this might reflect general improvements in early education rather than the impact of one programme.该研究发现，在田纳西州参加学前教育项目的儿童实际上在一系列教育和行为指标上得分更低。
不过，这可能反映了早期教育的普遍改善，而不是一个项目的影响。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Plastic surgeons make a bundle despite Lebanon’s economic crisis尽管黎巴嫩遭遇经济危机，但整形外科医生还是赚了一大笔钱Many people have no jobs. Others, nose jobs许多人失业了，除了隆鼻医生Rhinoplasty has long been a rite of passage in Lebanon. Teenage girls want a dainty new nose in time for their graduation parties, celebrated in selfies. Lebanon’s many woes have not hindered the habit.隆鼻手术一直以来都是黎巴嫩人的一种成人礼。
十几岁的女孩想要一个精致的新鼻子，以便在毕业派对上自拍庆祝。
黎巴嫩的许多苦难并没有妨碍这种习惯。
Plastic surgeons are apparently making as much as or more than they did before an economic crisis, starting in 2019, that the World Bank has ranked as the third-worst anywhere, ever.从2019年开始，整形外科医生的收入显然与经济危机（世界银行将其列为有史以来最严重的第三大经济危机）前持平，甚至更高。
The World Health Organisation reckons that Lebanon’s economic meltdown prompted nearly 40% of the country’s doctors to leave. But for those who have stayed, the pickings, especially for nose jobs, may have increased. The pool of patients has stayed the same. There are fewer dexterous doctors to paddle in it.世界卫生组织估计，黎巴嫩的经济崩溃促使该国近40%的医生离开。
2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二五
Don’t panic about e-cigarettes不必对电子烟恐慌Banning them all will cause far more harm than good全面禁令将会弊大于利“It’s time to stop vaping,”says Lee Norman,a health official in Kansas. Six people are dead in America,apparently from smoking e-cigarettes. More than450have contracted a serious lung disease.So Mr Norman’s advice sounds reasonable.堪萨斯州的卫生官员诺曼·李说：“是时候禁止吸食电子烟了。
”美国已有6人明显死于吸食电子烟。
超过450人因吸食电子烟而患上了严重的肺病。
因此，诺曼的建议似乎合情合理。
The Centres for Disease Control and the American Medical Association agree:the country’s11m vapers should quit.A new idea is circulating,that vaping is worse than smoking.On September11th the Trump administration said it intends to ban non-tobacco flavoured vaping fluid.Some politicians want a broader ban on all e-cigarettes.美国疾病预防控制中心和美国医学会一致认为：美国1100万电子烟民应该戒烟。
如今大家普遍认为，电子烟的危害比传统香烟更大。
9月11日，特朗普政府表示将计划禁止非烟草味的电子烟烟液。
考研英语经济学人文章阅读训练五十九
Africans with disabilities are at higher risk of HIV非洲残疾人感染艾滋病的风险更大And they are less likely to receive treatment而接受治疗的可能性更小Nomasomi Limako,who lives in South Africa,was often told that she could not get HIV because she is wheelchair-bound.She had never met a disabled person with the disease,as far as she knew,so she believed the rumour.Then came her own diagnosis.生活在南非的Nomasomi Limako常常听别人说，她是不会感染艾滋病的，因为她是个残疾人。
而据她所知，她也从未见到过感染艾滋病的残疾人，所以她相信了这个谣言。
然而，她最终确诊感染了艾滋病。
Today the48-year-old pharmacy assistant knows that her disability actually made her more vulnerable to the disease.Even as covid-19 creates a new public-health crisis,Africa is continuing to grapple with an old one.Studies show that Africans with disabilities are at least twice as likely to get HIV as those without.直到今天，这位48岁的药房助理才知道，残疾实际上会让她更容易感染这种疾病。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Housework may promote health in old age, study suggests研究表明，做家务可以促进老年健康Household chores might seem a drag, but researchers have suggested tasks like dusting, scrubbing floors and washing the windows might help adults to stay healthy into old age.家务事或许看起来很累人，但研究人员表示，清扫灰尘、拖地和擦窗户等家务活可能有助于人们在老了之后保持身体健康。
Writing in the journal BMJ Open, a Singapore-based team of researchers said regular physical activity “improves physical and mental health, mitigates the risks and effects of chronic diseases, and reduces falls, immobility, dependency and mortality among older adults”.新加坡的一个研究团队在《英国医学杂志》上发表论文称，定期体育锻炼“可以改善身心健康，减轻慢性疾病的风险和影响，减少老年人跌倒、瘫痪、失去独立生活能力以及死亡的风险”。
The team randomly recruited adults from the town of Yishun in Singapore, and asked them to complete cognitive function tests as well as activities to assess their physical capabilities, such as standing up from a chair as quickly as they could.该研究团队从新加坡义顺区随机招募了一些成年人，对他们进行了认知功能测试，并通过体力活动对他们的体能进行了评估，比如坐在椅子上以最快的速度站起来。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
The 19th century French philosopher Auguste Comte got it wrong: demography is not destiny.19世纪法国哲学家奥古斯特•孔德错了：人口并不决定命运。
Population trends are some of the strongest forces in economics, affecting global prosperity, the growth of individual nations and the strength of public finances. But reducing the success of countries and regions to their trends in births, deaths and migration is a simplification too far.各种人口趋势是经济学中最强大的一些力量，影响着全球繁荣、单个国家的增长和公共财政的实力。
但是，将国家和区域的成功归结于其出生、死亡和人口移徙趋势是一种过于简单化的做法。
As the coronavirus pandemic has shown, the confident predictions in 2020 of a lockdown baby boom followed by the 2021 fear of a Covid baby bust demonstrate that demographic trends are far less stable than often imagined. Small changes in fertility, mortality and migration can have immense effects.正如新冠疫情所显示的那样，2020年对疫情封锁会带来一波婴儿潮的自信预测，以及接下来的2021年对疫情会造成婴儿荒的担忧，表明人口趋势远没有通常想象的那么稳定。
考研英语阅读理解外刊原文经济学人
Surging living costs force Britons to work past retirement age生活成本飙升迫使英国人退休后继续工作The share of older UK workers planning to carry on working in their retirement has nearly doubled in two years due to rising living costs and insufficient pension savings, according to a survey from Abrdn.根据Abrdn的一项调查，由于生活成本上升和养老金储蓄不足，计划退休后继续工作的英国老年员工比例在两年内增加了近一倍。
The investment manager’s stark findings underscore the impact of soaring energy and food prices on household budgets, which is pressuring people’s finances as inflation hits a 30-year high.这家投资管理公司的严峻调查结果凸显出能源和食品价格飙升对家庭预算的影响。
随着通胀触及30年高点，家庭预算正给人们的财务状况带来压力。
Surveying people planning to retire in 2022, Abrdn found that 66 per cent respondents proposed to continue with some form of employment beyond retiring, up from just over 50 per cent in a similar study last year and just 34 per cent in 2020.Abrdn对计划2022年退休的人进行了调查，发现66%的受访者打算在退休后继续从事某种形式的工作，而在去年的一项类似研究中，这一比例略高于50%，而在2020年，这一比例仅为34%。
- 1、下载文档前请自行甄别文档内容的完整性，平台不提供额外的编辑、内容补充、找答案等附加服务。
- 2、"仅部分预览"的文档,不可在线预览部分如存在完整性等问题,可反馈申请退款(可完整预览的文档不适用该条件!)。
- 3、如文档侵犯您的权益，请联系客服反馈,我们会尽快为您处理(人工客服工作时间：9:00-18:30)。
The decline of the office romance办公室恋情的穷途末路Fewer romantic relationships will be forged at the water cooler.That is a shame在饮水机旁建立恋爱关系的机会越来越少了，这令人遗憾Their eyes met across the office photocopier.At long last,each of them had found someone who could push their buttons.Eventually,they settled down and decided to reproduce.Read more in“Fifty Sheets of Grey Paper”,out soon in paperback.隔着办公室的打印机，他们四目相对。
终于，每个人都找到了能够触动彼此内心的人。
最后，他们相爱并结婚生子。
更多内容详见即将出版的《五十页灰纸》平装版。
Romance is a long-established side-effect of office life.After all,people may spend almost half their waking hours at work,and their colleagues will frequently have something in common with them,even if it is only complaining about the manager.Some relationships are inevitably bound to result.爱情是办公室生活长期以来存在的副产品。
毕竟，人们将醒着的近一半的时间都花在工作上，并且往往会和同事存在一些共同点，即便只是一起抱怨经理。
有些关系自然而然地就会开花结果。
But the lockdown has made the forming of new romances much more difficult.Although online dating has thrived in the pandemic,the number of people who have met their soulmate via a work Zoom meeting must be vanishingly small.It is hard to flirt while your facial expressions arebeing observed by a dozen colleagues.And how private is company videoconferencing software’s private-chat function,really?但疫情下的封锁使新的办公室恋情更难形成了。
在疫情大流行期间，在线约会得以蓬勃发展，但通过Zoom会议找到灵魂伴侣的人却少得可怜。
当你的面部表情同时被十几个同事看得一清二楚时，你很难和其中一个同事调情。
而且，就算是公司视频会议软件的私人聊天功能，它又能有多私密呢？Even before the pandemic,however,office romances were in decline.In 1995,19%of(heterosexual)people met their partner at work,according to a study by Stanford University.By2017this had fallen to11%.It will be even lower now.As white-collar employees toil more hours at home and fewer at the office—which seems likely even after the virus recedes—opportunities for workplace romantic connections will dwindle.而即便是在疫情大流行之前，办公室恋情也变得越来越少了。
据斯坦福大学的一项研究显示，1995年，19%的异性恋者是在工作中与另一半相识的。
到2017年，这一比例已经下降至11%。
如今可能更低了。
由于白领们在家工作的时间越来越长，而在办公室工作的时间越来越少（即使疫情过后，这种情况可能仍将存在），发展办公室恋情的机会也将越来越小。
One reason for the decline is that companies have realised that work relationships give rise to all kinds of ethical questions.The idea of a boss marrying his secretary(or a doctor dating a nurse)is one of the oldest clichés around.办公室恋情越来越少的一个原因是，公司已经意识到办公室恋情会引发各种道德问题。
最老套的剧情就是老板娶了秘书（或是医生与护士约会）。
Sadly,the trope is so well established that secretaries and nurses have spent decades fending off the unwanted attentions of their superiors.As the#MeToo movement has demonstrated,some men use their positions of power to harass women who work for them.可悲的是，由于这种情节太过深入人心，以至于几十年来秘书和护士一直都在努力避开上级对自己不必要的关注。
正如#MeToo运动所指出的那样，一些男性利用职权之便对下属女性进行骚扰。
Consensual relationships can cause problems as well.A relationship with a subordinate makes it hard for a manager to be objective about their performance.Colleagues may understandably suspect the manager of favouritism.Things may be as bad if the romance breaks down.Hurt feelings may make it hard for the ex-partners to work together and will also make it awkward for everyone else in the office.即便是两厢情愿也会存在一些问题。
一个管理者一旦与下属存在亲密关系，就很难客观地评价下属的工作表现。
其他同事理所当然也会怀疑经理徇私舞弊。
一旦关系破裂，情况也很糟糕。
感情上受到伤害可能会让曾经的恋人很难在一起工作，同时也会让办公室里的其他同事感到尴尬。
The result of this is that many companies have policies that discourage or forbid managers from flings with someone who works for them.Office relationships were blamed for the departure of Steve Easterbrook from his role as chief executive of McDonald’s last year;the fast-food company launched a lawsuit against Mr Easterbrook this week.于是，许多公司都制定了相关政策，不鼓励或禁止经历于下属发展恋情。
去年，史蒂夫·伊斯特布鲁克卸任麦当劳首席执行官一职，许多人认为这正是因办公室恋情所致；本周，麦当劳也将对伊斯特布鲁克提起诉讼。
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。
另一些公司则通过规章制度加以限制，例如规定员工不得因与同事发展恋情而影响其工作行为，并规定员工应对任何可能导致利益冲突的关系予以披露。
尽管这些规则确实以牺牲个人隐私为代价，但也合乎情理。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)重难点词汇：vanishingly[ˈvænɪʃɪŋli]adv.难以察觉地；消遁似地；趋于零地flirt[flɜːrt]v.调情；玩弄dwindle[ˈdwɪndl]v.减少；变小ethical[ˈeθɪkl]adj.伦理的；道德的cliché[kli∫e]n.陈腔滥调fend off v.避开；挡开demonstrate[ˈdemənstreɪt]vt.证明；展示；论证vi.示威subordinate[səˈbɔːrdɪnət]adj.隶属的；次要的n.部属，下属outright[ˈaʊtraɪt]adj.完全的，彻底的。