2024年05月05日 星期日
学院上海家教上海第一家教家教推荐阅读!!
My first glimpse of an office birthday party was via the movie Office Space, when the corporate drones stand awkwardly around the cake and sing “Happy Birthday” to their boss in monotone voices. Flash forward seven years: the first company I worked for as a recent college grad had its monthly birthday celebration, and I had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. We see these people every day, and yet the situation feels different when we’re holding small paper plates and plastic forks. I think there are ways around the awkwardness – if you’re willing to break a few office birthday party rules, that is.
我对公司生日派对的初次认识是在电影《上班一条虫》里——影片中，公司里那些无所事事的员工尴尬地围着蛋糕，对着老板单调地唱着“生日快乐”。从这个时间快速推进七年：我大学刚毕业从事第一份工作的那家公司每个月都举办生日庆祝会，我当时有种强烈的似曾相识的感觉。我们这些员工天天见面，但在这种场合拿着小小的纸盘和塑料叉子的时候，还是产生了异样的感觉。我认为，一定有办法消除这种尴尬氛围—— 如果你愿意打破几条办公室生日派对规则的话，办法是有的。
No more singing “Happy Birthday.”
别再唱“生日快乐”歌。
Let’s be honest: does anyone really enjoy this tradition? Everyone mumbles along because no one wants his or her voice to stand out, and the person with the birthday forces a smile and looks at the ground until the song’s over. Unless your office is filled with karaoke superstars who love belting out “Happy Birthday,” perhaps it’s time to nix the song from birthday gatherings.
让我们明说了吧：真的有人喜欢这个传统吗？每个人都咕哝着附和，因为谁都不想让自己的声音突显出来。而那个过生日的人则在歌声飘荡的时候，强挤出一丝微笑，低头看着地面。除非你们公司到处都是K 歌之王，他们大爱高歌“生日快乐”，否则，或许是时候该将这首歌逐出生日聚会了。
The birthday person shouldn’t have to cut the cake.
“寿星”不该亲自切蛋糕。
Who came up with this one? If it’s your birthday celebration, you shouldn’t be expected to do the grunt work. Have the person in charge of HR draw names out of a hat to see who gets cake-cutting duty each time, or if someone in the office volunteers to be the official cake cutter, more power to her.
这是谁想出的幺蛾子？如果是为你开的庆生会，你可不期望自己去做费力不讨好的活儿吧。以后每次都让负责人力资源的同事抓阄决定每次该谁来切蛋糕，或者，如果你们公司有人主动担当 “正式的”蛋糕执刀手，那就授予她更多权利吧。
Make it a cake free-for-all.
蛋糕自由取。
At my first office job, I was the receptionist and therefore almost always the cake cutter. It was my responsibility to hand out slices to coworkers, though I never understood why. Just arrange the plates on the table, and the people will come – albeit hesitantly, since no one wants to be the first to go for cake.
在我的第一份工作中，我是接待员，因此基本上总是我来担当蛋糕执刀手的角色。我的职责便是将切好的小块蛋糕递到同事手里，尽管我不知道这样做的缘由何在。还是把盘子摆在桌子上吧，人们会去拿的——虽然会有点迟疑不决，因为没人想第一个去拿蛋糕吃。
Think of it as a nice break from work.
将生日聚会看作工间休息。
I still can’t figure out why office workers’ gathering to enjoy afternoon dessert is so synonymous with awkward chats. But if you focus on what birthday gatherings really are – a reason to leave your cubicle for a few minutes and catch up with office mates – then it seems a lot less uncomfortable. And when you act more at ease, people around you will, too.
我仍然想不明白，为何公司同事聚在一起享受午后甜点会和尴尬的闲谈对等起来。公司生日聚会的实质不就是让大家有几分钟的时间离开小隔间，和公司同仁们聊上几句嘛。如果你专注于这个实质，不自在的感觉就会少很多。而当你表现得更轻松的时候，身边的人也会轻松许多。
Set aside one day a month for staff birthdays.
每月设定一天来庆祝员工生日。
Unless you have a very small staff, honoring everyone’s birthday individually could become tedious and costly. I’ve only worked in places that reserved a day to celebrate the birthdays that fell within a given month, and that usually worked out well. This might not work for every company, as some people who genuinely like having their special day honored. But it doesn’t hurt to suggest the change and see how people respond.
除非员工人数很少，不然单独地庆祝每个人的生日便会既枯燥又费钱。我待过的公司都在每月留出一天来为生日在当月的员工庆祝，而且通常效果很好。这种方式也许不适合每家公司，毕竟有些人确实喜欢单独庆祝自己的这个特殊日子。不过，提出这种改变看看人们如何反应也没什么坏处。
If someone doesn’t want his or her birthday celebrated, don’t make it mandatory.
如果有人不想过生日，也别强求。
Not everybody likes birthdays. Not everybody enjoys being the center of attention, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Rather than forcing people to celebrate, give them the opportunity to bow out via their HR representative. You can still have cake day, but don’t guilt someone into standing in front of the group if she doesn’t want to.
不是每个人都喜欢过生日。不是每个人都喜欢成为大家关注的焦点，即便只有几分钟也不行。与其强行要求人家庆祝，不如给他们机会，让他们通过人力资源代表来解决。你们当然仍然可以分享生日蛋糕，但是，如果“寿星”不想站在众人面前，也不要勉为其难，让人家产生负罪感。
Don’t be the office grump.
别当公司的“怨妇”。
Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine railed against the office cake-centered celebration after her coworker commented, “I think it’s nice”? She cried, “What is nice? Trying to fill the void in your life with flour and sugar and egg and vanilla? I mean, we’re all unhappy. Do we have to be fat, too?” Don’t be Elaine and ruin it for everybody else. If you’re asked to break from work monotony in order to eat a piece of sugary, buttery deliciousness, that’s hardly something to complain about.
还记得《宋飞正传》有一集里，伊莱恩在她的同事评论道“我觉得很不错” 之后，她是如何抱怨公司以蛋糕来庆祝生日这种形式的吗？她大声说，“有什么不错的？试图用面粉和糖和鸡蛋和香草精填满生活里的空虚吗？我是说，我们都够不幸福的了，难道我们还非得要变胖吗？”别像伊莱恩那样把别人的兴致也毁了。如果让你放下枯燥乏味的工作去吃一块甜蜜的、油滑的美味，这可真不是你该抱怨的。
Maybe your office birthday party experience is different, and everyone sings heartily and dives happily into the cake. If that’s the case, don’t change a thing – you’re living the dream!
或许你经历着的公司生日聚会与我说的不同，或许你们都由衷地唱着生日歌，高兴地吞咽着蛋糕。如果是这种情况，什么都不要变——你简直活在梦想世界！
Vocabulary：
1. drone n . 雄蜂；懒人，游手好闲者。
2. monotone a . 单调的。
3. déjà vu n . The experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously, although the exact circumstances of the previous encounter are uncertain.
4. belt v . 大声歌唱；痛骂。
5. grunt work: work that is menial (卑贱的) and thankless.
6. albeit conj . 尽管，虽然。
7. tedious a. 冗长乏味的，使人厌烦的。
8. bow out: 退出(某事)(常指让别人接替)。
