​《经济学人》双语：为什么公司要给员工留出中午就餐时间？

《经济学人》双语：为什么公司要给员工留出中午就餐时间？

原文标题：

Bartleby

Reclaiming the office lunch

Why stopping to eat is a good idea

巴托比专栏

重拾办公室午餐

为什么停下来吃饭是个好主意

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WHEN MONICA LEWINSKY, once an intern at the White House, was cajoled into a lunch date by Linda Tripp, a colleague wearing a wire, she was met by FBI agents and taken to a room in Washington’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel to be interrogated.

曾是白宫实习生的莫妮卡·莱温斯基，她被诱导去赴一场同事午餐之约，这个同事琳达·特里普身上却带着窃听器。她遇到了联邦调查局的探员，接着被带到华盛顿丽思卡尔顿酒店的一间屋子里接受讯问。

What seemed like an innocent lunch date was one of the first steps towards a presidential impeachment.

看似一场单纯无害的午餐之约，却成了弹劾总统的第一步。

Yet one of the more remarkable aspects of the story is that even lowly workers took lunch in a restaurant back in those days.

不过，这件事情有一个值得注意的点是，在那个年代，就算是基层工作人员也会在餐厅里吃午餐。

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The clearly delineated lunch break has fallen out of favour in these more pressured times.

在如今压力剧增的时代，曾经界限分明的午休时间已不再流行。

Knocking off for a midday meal could now be perceived as a sign of idleness.

现在，停下手中的工作去吃顿午餐可能会被视为偷懒的表现。

What was once called a “lunch hour” is now more likely to consist of a sandwich “al desko”.

过去所谓的 “午餐时间 ”现在更可能是 “在办公桌前 ”吃一个三明治。

According to a study by the Hartman Group, a market-research firm, 62% of American office workers regularly eat at their workstations.

根据市场研究公司哈特曼集团的一项研究，62%的美国办公室职员经常在自己的工位上用餐。

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Some will mourn the decline of sybaritic three-course affairs with wine, perhaps bookended with cocktails and a cigar.

有人会为那些配葡萄酒的奢华三道菜式午餐的消逝而感到惋惜，这样的用餐体验或许还以鸡尾酒开场、雪茄收尾。

Once these feasts regularly punctuated the working day for the likes of bankers, lawyers and journalists (older ones, in particular, mourn long and loud).

曾几何时，银行家、律师和记者（特别是上了年纪的人，会对午餐消失深感遗憾并大肆感慨）等人的工作日中经常会有这样的盛宴。

Merrily weaving back to the office for a gentle snooze is a thing of the past.

曾经那种欢快地蹒跚走回办公室打个盹的时光，早已成为历史。

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Such lunches are not only increasingly rare, but more probably lubricated with nothing fancier than sparkling water.

这样丰盛的午餐不仅变得越来越少见，而且如今搭配的饮品很可能只有气泡水，再没有其他更高档的饮品了。

A main reason for their demise is that expense accounts are no longer so lavish.

丰盛午餐逐渐消失的一个主要原因是，公司的报销账目不再像过去那样慷慨了。

Another is that the general mentality has changed: alcohol-fuelled corporate entertaining is losing its appeal.

另一个原因是人们的普遍心态发生了变化：靠饮酒助兴的商务宴请正逐渐失去吸引力。

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But have workers lurched too far in the opposite direction?

但员工们是不是又走向了另一个极端呢？

The case for the seamless, industrious day has encouraged a trend for snatching mouthfuls of sushi or a ham-and-cheese baguette between strikes of the keyboard.

那种倡导无缝衔接且忙碌不停工作日的观念，催生了一种新趋势：人们在键盘敲击的间隙，匆忙地吃上几口寿司，或者啃上一个火腿芝士法棍面包。

Working from home has cemented it in place. According to research conducted by Nicholas Bloom at Stanford University, there is no midday dip in remote employees’ online activity.

居家办公更是强化了这种趋势。根据斯坦福大学的尼古拉斯·布鲁姆所做的研究，远程办公的员工在中午时段的线上活动量并没有下降。

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Grabbing something fast and eating hunched over a laptop may result in crumbs on the desks and sticky keyboards, but that is far from the only drawback.

匆匆抓点吃的，然后弓着背在笔记本电脑前进食，可能会导致桌面上有碎屑，键盘上黏糊糊的，但这还不是唯一的缺点。

Eating lunch at your desk also means staying seated longer, which can cause sore joints. Sitting for hours on end increases the risk of high blood pressure and even heart disease.

在办公桌前吃午餐还意味着要坐更长时间，这可能会导致关节酸痛。连续坐几个小时会增加患高血压甚至心脏病的风险。

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What about the cognitive fatigue that accumulates when someone is “always on”?

当一个人处于“时刻在线”的状态时，累积起来的认知疲劳该如何解决呢？

The need for a pause in the middle of the day has never been stronger.

午休的需求从未像现在这般强烈。

Monotony can lead to a dearth of fresh ideas and ultimately to reduced productivity.

一成不变的工作模式会导致缺乏新思路，最终会使工作效率大打折扣 。

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Moreover, coming together to share food has been a ritual for millennia.

而且，几千年来，人们聚在一起共享食物一直都是传统仪式。

Forming bonds with colleagues or clients with some informal chatter over a meal goes to the heart of the joys of having a job in the first place.

在进餐时，通过一些轻松的闲聊与同事或客户建立良好关系，这恰恰是一份工作最初带来乐趣的核心所在。

And there are measurable benefits to downing tools and joining colleagues over lunch.

停下手中的工作，与同事共进午餐，还能带来显著的益处。

According to a study by Kevin Kniffin and co-authors at Cornell University, firemen who eat together are more co-operative and generally better at their jobs.

根据康奈尔大学的凯文·克尼芬及其合著者的研究，一起吃饭的消防员之间的合作更加默契，总体上工作表现也更出色。

Platoons that shared a meal during the working day were found to achieve higher marks for their teams’ performance.

研究发现，在工作日一起用餐的小组，他们的团队绩效得分更高。

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Engagement goes up, too.

员工的工作积极性也会提高。

A survey of employees in North America by Tork, a hygiene company, found that those who took a lunch break every day scored higher on measures of job satisfaction, and were more likely to recommend their employer to others.

卫生用品公司Tork对北美员工进行的一项调查发现，每天午休的员工在工作满意度方面得分更高，也更愿意向他人推荐自己的雇主。

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Bosses can also profit from a lunch break.

午间休息同样能让老板们获益。

N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, a giant Indian technology firm, ate lunch in the cafeteria with employees whenever he could, even standing in line for his meal.

印度科技巨头印孚瑟斯的联合创始人纳拉亚纳·穆尔蒂只要有机会，就会和员工们一起在公司食堂吃午餐，甚至还会排队打饭。

Displaying a down-to-earth demeanour by dining with employees may not only cast bosses in a more favourable light with the rank-and-file.

通过和员工一起吃饭，展现出一种接地气的形象，这不仅能让老板在普通员工心中树立更好的印象。

Managers may also find this a useful informal way of catching up with their teams.

管理者们或许还会发现，这也是一种了解团队情况的有效且轻松的方式。

As a consequence, meetings scheduled around one o’clock surely ought to be considered a serious breach of office etiquette.

因此，如果把会议安排在中午1点左右，肯定会被看作是一种严重违背办公室礼仪的行为。

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Going out for an elegant work lunch should never be completely off the table, of course; the occasion may call for one a few times a year.

当然，出去吃一顿精致的工作午餐也不该被完全排除在外；一年当中或许会有那么几次，会有这样的场合需求。

But a pause in the middle of the working day does not require china plates or cloth napkins.

但在工作日短暂的午休时段，并不需要用到瓷质餐盘和布质餐巾。

Ditch your desk and step into the fresh air to buy your falafel wrap to eat with workmates in the communal kitchen, or even bring in your own leftover lasagne.

离开你的办公桌，到外面呼吸一下新鲜空气，买一份沙拉三明治卷饼，甚至可以带上自己吃剩的千层面，和同事们在公共厨房一起用餐吧。

Afterwards resume at full post-prandial speed, powering through the day and getting things done.

然后，带着满满的餐后活力重新投入工作，高效地完成一天的各项任务。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇739左右）

原文出自：2025年4月19日《TE》Business版块

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路VIP群

本文翻译整理: Irene

本文编辑校对: Irene

仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【重点句子】（3个）

Eating lunch at your desk also means staying seated longer, which can cause sore joints. Sitting for hours on end increases the risk of high blood pressure and even heart disease.

在办公桌前吃午餐还意味着要坐更长时间，这可能会导致关节酸痛。连续坐几个小时会增加患高血压甚至心脏病的风险。

Monotony can lead to a dearth of fresh ideas and ultimately to reduced productivity.

一成不变的工作模式会导致缺乏新思路，最终会使工作效率大打折扣 。

Displaying a down-to-earth demeanour by dining with employees may not only cast bosses in a more favourable light with the rank-and-file.

通过和员工一起吃饭，展现出一种接地气的形象，这不仅能让老板在普通员工心中树立更好的印象。

自由英语之路