Ever since the cubicle was invented, office workers have dealt with the distractions that go along with a workplace devoid of privacy. Sights, sounds and smells that would be private in a hard-walled office become everyone's business in a cubicle officescape. Coping with life inside a cubicle can be difficult.

　　自從小隔間的出現(xiàn)，辦公室的白領(lǐng)們就需要應(yīng)對各種各樣的干擾，隨之也失去了個人隱私。各種視覺，聽覺，還有嗅覺上的沖擊，也許在一間被墻圍得嚴(yán)絲密縫的辦公室里是私人的，但在小隔間的公司卻隱私全無。在小隔間的日常工作就會變得相對困難。

　　Going hand in hand with the lack of privacy is a lack of productivity induced by constant distractions. Anyone who has worked in a cubicle for more than a day can fess up to listening to someone else's entire phone conversation. And there is a good chance nosiness wasn't to blame. A conversation on the other side of the flimsy partition doesn't even have to be interesting to pull those nearby out of their work. The reaction is natural.

　　與同事共同在缺乏隱私的空間里工作，都會常常受各種干擾，從而降低工作創(chuàng)造力。每個曾經(jīng)長時間在小隔間工作的白領(lǐng)都會很坦率地表示——他們常常受到別人通話的影響。不過也有不能怪罪于噪音的時候。在薄薄的擋板外的對話也并不有趣得足以轉(zhuǎn)移周遭人的工作注意力。這種反應(yīng)也是自然的。

　　So what are you to do in an environment constantly pulling your attention away from what you are supposed to be doing? Try these tips to keep office distractions at bay.

　　那么，在一個一直干擾你注意力的工作環(huán)境中你該如何應(yīng)對呢?下面這些小提示就能幫助你解決這個難題。

　　1. Invest in some noise-canceling headphones.

　　1. 在消音耳機(jī)上花點(diǎn)功夫。

　　Offices can be loud and raucous, or they can be quiet as a cemetery. Both can be distracting. Noisy offices can make it hard to concentrate because of all the different things going on. For some, silent offices make it difficult to stay on task.

　　辦公室都有可能是聲音嘈雜的，或者是靜如墓園的。但兩種都有可能對你造成干擾。喧鬧的辦公室讓你難以集中注意力，因為太多不同的事情都在同時進(jìn)行。而某些安靜的辦公室則會讓你難以堅持完成一件任務(wù)。

　　No matter which camp you're in, noise-canceling headphones allow you to set the soundtrack to your workday. If you like quiet, they can shut out ringing phones and jabbering co-workers. If you like background music to fend off other sounds, you can have that.

　　無論你身處哪家公司，消音耳機(jī)可以讓你調(diào)整日常工作的聲音頻道。如果你偏愛安靜，耳機(jī)就能為你阻隔煩人的鈴聲和喋喋不休的同事。如果你需要背景音樂抵消其他聲音，你也可以做到。

　　There are a few drawbacks to noise-canceling headphones. One, you may not hear your phone ring. If your phone has a light to indicate it is ringing -- which most office phones have -- put your phone in your peripheral vision where you will see when the light illuminates. Second, you may not hear the fire alarm. Fortunately, today's fire alarm system also have flashing lights that are hard to miss no matter where you are on the office floor. Third, you can easily be startled by co-workers coming to visit you. You can try repositioning yourself within the cubicle so that people cannot sneak up on you.

　　不過完全消音的耳機(jī)還是有一些缺點(diǎn)的。首先，你可能聽不到你的手機(jī)鈴聲。如果你的電話有來電的指示燈——一般大多數(shù)辦公室都有的——把手機(jī)放到次要顯眼的位置，這樣你就能看到提示燈亮了。其次，你可能聽不到火警警報。不過幸運(yùn)的是，如今的火警警報系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)備有閃光燈，這樣無論你在辦公室的哪個地方都能注意到了。再者，你很容易被前來的同事嚇到。你可以重新調(diào)整自己在小隔間的位置，以防同事們悄悄地靠近你而把你嚇到。

　　2. Book a conference room when you need total silence.

　　2. 在需要完全安靜的環(huán)境時，預(yù)約會議室。

　　Think a conference room is only for meetings? Think again.

　　你以為會議室只能用作開會嗎?再想想。

　　If you need total silence to work on something, booking a conference room is a perfectly legitimate strategy. You might get some funny looks if you plop down in a conference room with glass walls, but you need to get your work done, so those rubberneckers can just keep on walking.

　　如果你需要一個完全安靜的環(huán)境處理一些事情，那么預(yù)約會議室就是一個再好不過的策略。也許你在玻璃墻里的會議室摔倒看起來是一件很逗趣的事情，但你的確需要完成工作，而那些湊熱鬧的人只能繼續(xù)他們的步行與張望。

　　Now, you can't make a conference room your permanent office, so use this tactic only when necessary. If you need to do some quality assurance work on some data or screen a stack of job applications, you need uninterrupted silence, and in some workplaces, the only places to get that are conference rooms.

　　但是，你不能把會議室作為你永久的辦公場地，所以這個技巧還是在有必要的時候再使用吧。如果你需要處理一些數(shù)據(jù)上保證質(zhì)量的工作，或瀏覽一堆工作的申請，你就需要一個不受打擾的安靜的地方，而在一些公司，唯一能夠符合要求的就是會議室了。

　　3. Work from home when you can.

　　3. 如有條件，在家工作。

　　Working from home is not an option for some government employees, but for many, telework is an option either on a routine basis or occasionally. Telework provides flexibility for government workers. For an employee to telework, the arrangement must fit two things: the employee and the position. This means the employee's work ethic, style and supervision needs must fit with telework, and the employee's job duties must be able to be performed remotely.

　　在家辦公并不是只為某些公務(wù)員(課程)的特權(quán)，但對于很多人來說，遠(yuǎn)程辦公也是一個要么是日常所需，要么是偶爾的選擇。遠(yuǎn)程辦公能為公務(wù)員提供非常靈活的辦公條件。如果一位員工需要進(jìn)行遠(yuǎn)程辦公，那么辦公的安排就需要符合這兩點(diǎn)要求：員工和崗位。這意味著員工的職業(yè)規(guī)范，風(fēng)格以及管理都必須與遠(yuǎn)程辦公相適應(yīng)，而且員工的工作性質(zhì)也要允許遠(yuǎn)程操控。

　　Working from home allows you to set an environment that works for you. Noise level, temperature and aromas are all under your control. Can you work better at your dining room table than in your cubicle? Do it.

　　在家辦公可以讓你自己布置適合自己的工作場所。噪音，溫度以及氣味程度，一切都掌握在你的手中。你能在餐桌上工作比在小隔間更有效率嗎?那就這樣做吧。

　　If working from home or some other location is possible, give it a try. You might like it. If you don't, you can go back to your old way of working.

　　如有可能，就在家里或其他地方辦公。也許你會喜歡這種模式。如果你并不喜歡，那就回歸原本的工作模式吧。

　　Keep a close eye on your productivity. If it goes down, you should notice before your boss does, and you should know when to call off the telework experiment.

　　密切地關(guān)注自己的創(chuàng)造力。如果創(chuàng)造力低下，你必須比上司更早發(fā)現(xiàn)，并且你還需要知道何時停止這種遠(yuǎn)程辦公的模式。