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2021高考英语真题翻译-全国乙卷（全国卷I）阅读理解D

During an interview for one of my books, my interviewer said something I still think about often. Annoyed by the level of distraction (干扰) in his open office, he said, “That’s why I have a membership at the coworking space across the street—so I can focus.” His comment struck me as strange. After all, coworking spaces also typically use an open office layout (布局). But I recently came across a study that shows why his approach works.

在针对我的一本书的采访中，采访我的人说了一些让我至今仍经常想起的事情。由于对开放式办公室的干扰感到生气，他说：“这就是我为什么在街对面的联合办公区办理会员的原因——这样我就可以集中精力工作。”他的话让我觉得很奇怪。毕竟，联合办公区通常也使用开放式办公室布局。但我最近无意中读到的一份研究报告说明，他的方法是有效的。

The researchers examined various levels of noise on participants as they completed tests of creative thinking. They were randomly divided into four groups and exposed to various noise levels in the background, from total silence to 50 decibels (分贝), 70 decibels, and 85 decibels. The differences between most of the groups were statistically insignificant; however, the participants in the 70 decibels group—those exposed to a level of noise similar to background chatter in a coffee shop—significantly outperformed the other groups. Since the effects were small, this may suggest that our creative thinking does not differ that much in response to total silence and 85 decibels of background noise.

研究人员查看了不同程度的噪声对参与完成创造性思维的人员的影响。参与者被随机地分为四组，并被置于不同等级的背景噪音环境中，从完全寂静到有50分贝、70分贝和85分贝的噪音。大多数组彼此之间的差别在统计上并不明显；然而，70分贝组的参与者——那些被置于类似咖啡店环境中喋喋不休的噪音水平的参与者——其表现明显好于其他组。由于影响很小，这也许就表明我们的创造性思维在完全寂静和有85分贝背景音中的区别并不那么大。

But since the results at 70 decibels were significant, the study also suggests that the right level of background noise—not too loud and not total silence—may actually improve one’s creative thinking ability. The right level of background noise may interrupt our normal patterns of thinking just enough to allow our imaginations to wander, without making it impossible to focus. This kind of “distracted focus” appears to be the best state for working on creative tasks.

但是，由于70分贝的噪音所产生的结果很明显，所以该研究还表明，适量的噪音环境——不太大声而不是完全寂静——实际上可能会提高一个人的创造性思维能力。适量的噪音环境可能会打断我们正常的思维模式，从而放飞我们的想象力，而不会导致我们无法集中注意力。这种“分心”似乎是从事创造性任务的最佳状态。

So why do so many of us hate our open offices? The problem may be that, in our offices, we can’t stop ourselves from getting drawn into others’ conversations while we’re trying to focus. Indeed, the researchers found that face-to-face interactions and conversations affect the creative process, and yet a coworking space or a coffee shop provides a certain level of noise while also providing freedom from interruptions.

那么为什么我们这么多人讨厌我们的开放式办公室呢？问题可能在于，在我们的办公室里，当我们试图集中注意力时，我们无法控制自己不被其他人的谈话所吸引。事实上，研究人员发现，面对面的互动和对话会影响创作过程，但联合办公区或咖啡店虽然有一定程度的噪音，同时也不会受到干扰。