聊不完的“辦公室八卦”

　　早上來(lái)到辦公室，先去飲水機(jī)那里接杯水，恰好遇到其他部門(mén)的同事，于是閑聊幾分鐘。這樣的場(chǎng)景大概每個(gè)辦公室都會(huì)出現(xiàn)，可能閑聊的場(chǎng)地不一定在飲水機(jī)旁邊，但英文中一直習(xí)慣用watercooler來(lái)指代同事們?cè)谵k公室聊八卦的場(chǎng)所。

　　Watercooler games refer to discussions between co-workers, usually about non-work related things like office politics or suspected inter-colleague romances.

　　Watercooler games指同事之間有關(guān)辦公室政治以及同事間戀情等非工作相關(guān)話(huà)題的議論，我們可稱(chēng)之為“辦公室八卦”。

　　It's a classic workplace scene: Two or three co-workers arrive at the office watercooler more or less simultaneously and a brief — and ideally non-work-related — conversation ensues. Nowadays, these confabs are just as likely to break out in the coffee room, alongside the photocopier, or while waiting to use the fax machine. But the "watercooler" was long ago chosen as the symbolic location for spontaneous workplace chinwagging.

　　這個(gè)短語(yǔ)為我們展現(xiàn)的是辦公室常見(jiàn)的一個(gè)情景：三兩個(gè)同事前后來(lái)到茶水間，然后一些簡(jiǎn)短的寒暄就開(kāi)場(chǎng)了，寒暄內(nèi)容通常與工作無(wú)關(guān)。現(xiàn)在，這樣的寒暄或閑聊可能會(huì)發(fā)生在咖啡間、復(fù)印機(jī)旁，或者等候使用傳真機(jī)的間隙。但是watercooler(茶水間、飲水機(jī))在很久以前就被選為辦公室閑聊的標(biāo)志性場(chǎng)所了。