工作时能不能听音乐？

THE guy in the next cubicle is yammering away on the phone. Across the room, someone begins cursing loudly at a jammed copy machine.

坐在旁边格子间里的人对着电话讲个没完，在房间的另一头，有人对着卡住的复印机大声咒骂。

The headphones on the other end of your desk suddenly look very appealing. Would anyone mind if you tapped into your iTunes playlist for a while?

放在桌子另一边的耳机突然显得如此诱人。有人会在意你听一会儿iTunes播放列表上的歌曲吗?

Some workers like to listen to music when they find themselves losing focus. They may also plug in their earbuds to escape an environment that’s too noisy — or too quiet — or to make a repetitive job feel more lively.

一些员工在感到注意力无法集中时喜欢听音乐，或者是戴上耳机来逃避太过嘈杂，或太过安静的环境，或是借此让重复性的工作变得更生动一些。

In biological terms, melodious sounds help encourage the release of dopamine in the reward area of the brain, as would eating a delicacy, looking at something appealing or smelling a pleasant aroma, said Dr. Amit Sood, a physician of integrative medicine with the Mayo Clinic.

梅约诊所(Mayo Clinic)的整合医学医师阿米特·苏德(Amit Sood)博士说，从生物学角度来讲，优美的旋律有助于刺激大脑奖赏区释放多巴胺，同样的反应也可以发生在享用美味佳肴、观赏美好事物、或闻到怡人香味的时候。

People’s minds tend to wander, “and we know that a wandering mind is unhappy,” Dr. Sood said. “Most of that time, we are focusing on the imperfections of life.” Music can bring us back to the present moment.

人的注意力易于游走，“而且我们知道走神是不愉快的，”苏德博士说。“大多数时候，我们关注的是生活中不完美的地方。”音乐能把我们带回到当下的时刻。

“It breaks you out of just thinking one way,” said Teresa Lesiuk, an assistant professor in the music therapy program at the University of Miami.

“它让你突破单一的思维方式，”迈阿密大学(University of Miami)音乐治疗项目的助理教授特里萨·莱西乌克(Teresa Lesiuk)说道。

Dr. Lesiuk’s research focuses on how music affects workplace performance. In one study involving information technology specialists, she found that those who listened to music completed their tasks more quickly and came up with better ideas than those who didn’t, because the music improved their mood.

莱西乌克博士的研究集中在音乐怎样影响工作表现这一课题上。有一个研究的对象是信息技术专家，从中她发现，听音乐的人能比那些不听音乐的人更迅速地完成工作和提出更好的想法，因为音乐改善了他们的情绪。

“When you’re stressed, you might make a decision more hastily; you have a very narrow focus of attention,” she said. “When you’re in a positive mood, you’re able to take in more options.”

“当你压力大的时候，你可能会更仓促地做决定;你的注意力很有局限，”她说，“而当你心情好的时候，你能考虑到更多方面。”

Dr. Lesiuk found that personal choice in music was very important. She allowed participants in her study to select whatever music they liked and to listen as long as they wanted. Those who were moderately skilled at their jobs benefited the most, while experts saw little or no effect. And some novices regarded the music as distracting.

莱西乌克博士发现，个人对音乐的选择相当重要。她让研究参与者任意选择他们喜爱的音乐和听歌时间。那些对工作中等熟练的员工从音乐中获益最大，而专家却很少或几乎没有受到影响，还有一些工作新手认为音乐让人分心。

Dr. Lesiuk has also found that the older people are, the less time they spend listening to music at work.

莱西乌克博士还发现，年龄越大的人在工作时听音乐的时间越短。

Few companies have policies about music listening, said Paul Flaharty, a regional vice president at Robert Half Technology, the staffing agency. But it is still a good idea to check with your manager, even if you see others wearing headphones in the office.

人才中介公司Robert Half Technology的区域副总裁保罗·弗拉哈迪(Paul Flaharty)说，很少有公司出台有关听音乐的政策规定。但即使你看到办公室里别的员工戴着耳机，也还是最好先询问公司经理。

He said some supervisors might think that workers wearing headphones weren’t fully engaged and were blocking out important interactions “because they are going into their own world.”

他说，一些管理人员可能会觉得戴耳机听音乐的员工没有全心投入工作，而且他们隔绝了重要的交流，“因为他们沉浸在自己的世界里了”。

“If someone’s not doing a good job,” he said, “then you can have a hiring manager say that all they do is listen to music all day and that it’s hampering productivity.”

“如果有些人工作表现不好，”他说，“你就会听到招聘经理说，他们成天都在听音乐，降低了工作效率。”

For those who choose to listen to music, it’s best to set limits, because wearing headphones for an entire shift can be perceived as rude by those nearby.

对那些选择听音乐的人来说，最好是有一些限度，因为在整个上班时间里都戴着耳机对周围的人来说是一种不尊重。

Dr. Sood, at the Mayo Clinic, said it takes just 15 minutes to a half-hour of listening time to regain concentration. Music without lyrics usually works best, he said.

梅约诊所的苏德博士说，只需听上15分钟到半个小时的音乐就能重新集中注意力。没有歌词的音乐通常效果最好，他说。

Daniel Rubin, a columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer, said he has listened to jazz and piano concertos for most of his 33-year newspaper career — but only when writing on deadline. He started off using a Sony Walkman, but now makes use of 76 days’ worth of music on his iTunes playlist.

《费城询问报》(The Philadelphia Inquirer)的专栏作家丹尼尔·鲁宾(Daniel Rubin)说，他在自己33年的报纸工作生涯中，一直习惯听爵士乐和钢琴协奏曲，但只是在截稿期前赶稿的时候。他最初用的是索尼随身听(Sony Walkman)，但现在他的iTunes播放列表上的音乐可以听上76天。

“The person clicking their nails three desks away and the person humming next to me all sound equally loud and it’s hard for me to block them out,” he said.

“有人在三张桌子之外剪指甲，还有人在旁边哼歌，这些噪音在我听来一样地吵，很难把噪音阻隔，”他说。

As a columnist, he works mostly alone, and people in the office seldom need to approach him. But when he was a budding reporter, he noticed that colleagues would become irritated when trying to get his attention. “It was really annoying because suddenly you would hear ‘Dan ... DAN ... DAN RUBIN! People were screaming at you because they needed you.”

作为专栏作家，很多时候他是单独工作，办公室里的人几乎不需要和他交流。但当他刚做记者的时候，他发现同事们经常为了要引起他的注意而上火。“那真的是相当烦人，因为突然你就听到有人大喊‘丹…丹…丹·鲁宾!’别人朝着你喊叫，因为他们有事找你。”

ANDREW ENDERS, 28, a lawyer and insurance broker in Linglestown, Pa., said he and an officemate bonded over a local radio station when they worked at the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office. They switched off the radio only when speaking with a client, and they lowered the volume when their boss was around.

宾夕法尼亚州林格斯镇的28岁律师兼保险经纪人安德鲁·恩德斯(Andrew Enders)说，当他在道芬县地区检察官办公室工作时，他和另一个同事因为收听当地的广播建立了友谊。他们只在和客户谈话时才关上收音机，在老板在时会降低音量。

“I do these very serious things, reviewing insurance policies and evaluating risk and liability exposure,” Mr. Enders said. “A big part of my personality is the artistic side, and music helps me balance who I am as an individual with what I’m doing at work.”

“我从事都是很重要的事情，查阅保单，以及评估风险和责任，”恩德斯说。“我的性格很大一方面是偏艺术的，音乐帮助我在个人和工作之间找到平衡。”