Soon after word spread that Sarah Kay and Matt Lacks were conducting an office romance, Ms. Kay found herself in the office of the director of human resources. There was a time when such a meeting would have signaled a death knell for the relationship, and even jeopardized the employees’ careers. 莎拉‧凱伊與麥特‧雷克斯傳出辦公室戀情不久，凱伊被請入人力資源部主任辦公室，從前這種約談可能會為這段戀情敲響喪鐘，甚至危及兩位員工的飯碗。- ph. []1. 結束的信號
- []vt.1. 使瀕於危險境地;冒...的危險;危及
Yet as Ms. Kay, 29, cheerfully recounted, the human resources director told her, “We’re just all really glad that you made a friend.” 結果，29歲的凱伊愉快地說起約談過程，人資部主任告訴她：「我們都很樂見妳交了個朋友。」
- []vt.1. 敘述,講述
That some people believe they can openly date co-workers without endangering their job reflects what those who study the workplace and several surveys suggest: the conventional wisdom about dating the person in the next cubicle is going the way of outdated. 有人認為，和同事公開交往不會危及工作，這種看法呼應那些研究職場的學者及幾項調查的結論：有關「與隔壁辦公桌的人約會」的傳統看法已愈來愈不合時宜。
- []n.1. 小臥室2. 小隔間
Despite years of stern warnings – touched off by the heightened consciousness of sexual harassment in the 1990s – more workers in the United States think dating a colleague is not only acceptable, but logical. Those who follow the evolution of the workplace romance say the stigma may be fading because the line between business and personal life is blurring among younger workers. They are working longer hours. Their workplaces encourage collaboration. And, of course, most single people are in the work force. 儘管多年來不斷嚴厲警告（源自1990年代對職場性騷擾提高警覺），愈來愈多美國上班族認為，同事約會不僅可以接受，也合情合理。長期追蹤職場戀情發展的人說，辦公室戀情的汙名逐漸消失，因為對年輕工作者，工作與私生活之間的分際日益模糊。他們工時比從前長，工作場所也鼓勵團隊合作。當然，單身者絕大多數是上班族。
- []a.1. 嚴格的,嚴厲的;嚴峻的;苛刻的
- ph. []1. 引起;觸發
- []n.1. 煩惱;煩擾;騷擾[U]
- []n.[C]1. 恥辱,污名
- []n.1. 模糊;模糊不清的事物vt.1. 使模糊不清,使朦朧
- []vi.1. 共同工作;合作
“I graduated from college seven and a half years ago, and with the exception of maybe two people, I’ve only dated people I work with,” said Ms. Kay, who has never worried about whether workplace dating was professional or even allowed. Ms. Kay and Mr. Lacks, 26, eventually got married. 凱伊從不擔心辦公室戀情是否有損專業形象，或職場是否容許：「我大學畢業已經七年半，我約會的對象也許只有兩個不是同事。」凱伊與26歲的雷克斯後來結婚了。
- []ph.1. 除...外
In 1999, when Whitney Chianese, of Rye, N.Y., began dating the man who is now her husband at a sports marketing company, “it was very hush-hush,” she said. 1999年，在紐約州萊伊城一家運動行銷公司上班的惠妮‧奇安尼斯開始和現在的老公約會，她說：「當時我們都不敢張揚。」
- []a.1. 極祕密的n.1. 祕密氣氛;祕密政策
“It was known within our inner circle at work,” said Ms. Chianese, 28, “but it was like ‘how comfortable do you feel with senior management knowing?’” 現年28歲的奇安尼斯說：「只有最親近的同事才知道，但他們還是會問：『上頭知道你們在交往，你們覺得自在嗎？』」
- []ph.1. (團體)內圈人士;內圈;核心集團
As it turns out, more comfortable than one might think. An online survey this year by CareerBuilder.com, job search Web site, found a significant drop in the number of workers who are keeping an office romance a secret, down from 46 percent in 2005 to 34 percent in 2007. About half of workers say they have dated a co-worker. 事實上，他們比外人想像的要自在。工作搜尋網站CareerBuilder.com 今年做了一項網路調查，發現不公開辦公室戀情的上班族明顯減少，從2005年的46%降為2007年的34%。將近一半職場人表示他們曾和同事約會。
In “Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding – and Managing – Romance on the Job,” the writers Stephanie Losee and Helaine Olen (who both married colleagues) say the workplace is the new village – and therefore an ideal place to find love. 《辦公室愛侶：員工尋覓/處理職場戀情指南》作者史蒂芬妮‧羅西與荷藍‧歐倫（兩人都和同事結婚）在書中說，職場是個新的村莊，因此也是尋覓真愛的理想地方。
Ms. Losee said the growing acceptance of office dating is something of a backlash against dating Web sites. “I’m not surprised that the Internet has not proven to be the locus of community we thought it would be,” she said. “We need to be physically near each other to feel happier and better in our everyday lives.” 羅西說，大家愈來愈接受辦公室戀情，是對約會交友網站的某種反彈。她說：「事實證明，網路不是我們心目中所以為的社交地點，我對此一點也不感到訝異。我們必須實際與人接觸，日常生活才比較愉快如意。」
- []ph.1. 有幾分
- []n.1. 反衝,反撞2. 強烈反應;強烈反對
- []n.1. 所在地
- []ad.1. 按照自然規律2. 身體上3. 實際上;完全地,全然
“Where do we still have that physical proximity of neighborhoodliness?” she said. “It’s at the office.” 她問：「哪裡還找得到鄰居情誼帶來的那種親近感？就在辦公室。」
- []n.1. 接近,鄰近;親近[U][(+to/of)]
People who work together have time to get to know one another, Ms. Losee and Ms. Olen said, to see how potential paramours behave under stress or how they treat colleagues and underlings. Unlike online daters, singles in the workplace are less likely to dismiss a good partner based on hasty judgments. Take Ms. Losee’s husband, who is shorter than her and who liked to wear an oversize linen jacket, she said, that leaves something to be desired. “If I met him at a bar I would not have given him a chance,” she said. 羅西與歐倫說，一起工作的人有時間了解彼此，看看潛在的情人在壓力下如何自處、如何對待同事與屬下。職場單身者與網戀男女不同，他們比較不會因草率判斷而放棄優質伴侶。羅西說，以她丈夫為例，他丈夫比她矮，又愛穿特大號亞麻布夾克，這個男人的條件顯然不是太理想。她說：「我要是在酒吧碰上他，絕不會給他任何機會。」
- []n.[C]1. 情夫;情婦
- []n.1. 【貶】部下,下屬;下手;走卒
- []a.1. 匆忙的,急忙的2. 倉促的,輕率的
- []n.1. 亞麻布,亞麻線(紗)[U]2. 亞麻布製品(如床單,桌巾,內衣等)[P1]
Attempts to regulate office relationships are not just meant to avoid sexual harassment claims. Romance among colleagues can lead to unfair and unethical treatment, and to a poisonous atmosphere that affects many others. In her book, “Giving Notice: Why the Best and the Brightest Leave the Workplace and How You Can Help Them Stay,” Freada Kapor Klein explains how unproductive, even hostile, a work environment can be if there is a culture of crudeness or rampant extramarital affairs, especially those that cross lines of power and authority. 管制辦公室戀情的諸多努力，不只是為了避免性騷擾。同事戀情可能導致不公平或不道德的對待，而且形成影響許多其他人的不快氣氛。芙瑞塔‧卡波‧克萊恩在她的著作《通知：為何最優秀聰穎的員工離開職場，你該怎麼留人》中寫道，辦公室如充斥粗魯或婚外情盛行的文化，將使工作環境生產力低落，甚至充滿敵意，當事人如跨越權力與職權的界線，尤其如此。
- []ph.1. 性騷擾
- []a.1. 敵人的,敵方的2. 懷敵意的;不友善的[(+to)]
- []n.[U]1. 天然狀態2. 粗陋;粗糙;未成熟3. 粗魯;粗野
- []a.1. 繁茂的;蔓生的2. 狂暴的,猛烈的,不能控制的
- []a.1. 婚外的
Yet Ms. Kapor Klein, the founder of the Level Playing Field Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes fairness in the workplace and in society, said that forbidding office dating, even between superiors and subordinates, is no solution. “The real issue is not that they’re sleeping with each other,” she said. “The real issue is that their emotional attachment to each other may get in the way of their business judgment.” 不過，提倡職場與社會公平的非營利組織「公平競爭研究所」創辦人卡波‧克萊恩女士說，禁止辦公室戀情，甚至禁止上司和屬下談戀愛，並非解決之道。她說：「同事上床不是問題關鍵，真正關鍵在於他們之間的愛慕情愫可能影響專業判斷。」
- []a.1. 下級的[(+to)]n.1. 部下,部屬;下級職員
- []ph.1. 妨礙2. 在...方面;關於
Ms. Kapor Klein is married to her former chief executive, Mitchell Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development Corporation. 卡波‧克萊恩嫁給曾是她任職公司執行長的米契爾‧卡波，卡波是蓮花發展公司創辦人。
So is the woman to whom companies turn for policy advice in favor of office love? 那麼，常有企業向她尋求政策建議的這位女士，支持辦公室戀情嗎？
“Keep in mind the current success rate of marriage is about 50-50,” Ms. Kapor Klein said. “Just thinking purely in terms of probability, what do you think the odds are of an office romance working out? Has to be less than 50-50. So before you rush ahead, think about how it’s going to feel to sit in this weekly staff meeting with somebody who you had a miserable breakup with and who you actually wish didn’t exist on the planet. Think about it. And then take a reasonable risk.” 卡波‧克萊恩說：「別忘了，當前婚姻成敗機率各半。單單考量或然率，你認為辦公室戀情成功的機率多高？一定不到50%。所以在你一頭栽入辦公室戀情前，要先想想，每星期員工會議時，坐在和你痛苦分手、你巴不得他從未現身地球的這個人旁邊，會是什麼感受？想一想，認為風險合理，就試試吧。」
- []1. 就...而論;在...方面
- []1. 有可能
- []1. 有好結果
- []n.1. 中斷;中止2. 分離,分散,分裂
關鍵字句 
經典老歌The Nearness of You歌詞說，「蒼白月色不能使我激動，令我興奮愉快，唯有你在我身旁」（It’s not the pale moon that excites me. That thrills and delights me. It’s just the nearness of you.），生動描述「近水樓台」之樂。
本文標題中的cubicle，意指彼此相連卻以牆隔間的辦公桌。愛情花朵在這些辦公室隔間中綻放（Love blossoms amid cubicles.），就是「辦公室戀情」（office romance）。
例句：他們在戰火方熾時相愛（Their love blossoms in times of war.）。
本文重點是標題提到的態度轉變（attitude shift）。作者說，上班族對於「和隔壁辦公桌的同事約會」（dating the person in the next cubicle），態度已有所改變。眾所周知的傳統智慧（conventional wisdom）顯得不合時宜（outdated），大家不再視辦公室戀情為禁忌。
愈來愈多人願意公開辦公室戀情，也凸顯那些約會交友網站（dating websites）其實無法提供寂寞芳心需要的實際肢體親近感（physical proximity）。
- []n.1. 接近,鄰近;親近[U][(+to/of)
