本文选自《北外网院》的博客，点击查看博客原文

　　Do you take part in office gossip? I don't like to think of myself as a gossip, but I have to admit I often do it. In my turbulent industry, I justify my behavior--perhaps wrongly--by reasoning that gossip helps me get information and figure out what is going on。

　　办公室里的八卦你会参加吗？我不想让人觉得我八卦，但我也承认我常会参与其中。在我这个千变万化的行业中，我认为我的行为是合理的，理由是八卦可以帮我获得信息，弄清形势──也许这样想是错误的。

　　Amid a rise inoffice gossip, researchers are disagreeing over whether it isfundamentally good or bad. Some defend it as a way of buildingbonds among people and sharing essential information。

　　随着办公室八卦的兴起，研究人员对它到底是好是坏也存在不同看法。一些人为它辩解说，这是同事间建立关系和分享必要信息的一种途径。

　　But othershold that office gossip can be savage and destructive, as the NewYork Times reports. At one company, PrintingForLess.com, which hasa strict no-gossip policy, gossiping about colleagues can become afiring offense。

　　但根据《纽约时报》的报导，也有人认为，办公室八卦可能十分低级，具有破坏性。一家名为PrintingForLess.com的公司制定了严格限制八卦的政策，谈论同事的闲话可能面临被解雇。

　　In one caseanalyzed in a scholarly journal, middle school teachers' gossipabout their principal became so poisonous that the principalretaliated, many teachers fled the school and students' test scoresdeclined. In this case, gossip amounted to "a form of warfare thatbrought everyone down."

　　在某学术期刊分析的一个案例中，中学教师对他们校长的八卦影响很坏，以至于校长进行了报复，很多教师逃离了学校，学生的考试成绩一落千丈。在这个案例中，八卦成为了一种损人不利己的战争。

　　On the otherhand, less malignant gossip that stops short of repeating lies orbreaching confidences can serve as a source ofunderstanding。

　　另一方面，没有重复谎言或泄漏机密的不存恶意的八卦可能带来互相理解。

　　Gossiphelps us analyze the motivations of other people, and enables thoselow on the food chain, in particular, to understand how power isused in their organizations, says this New York Times article. Itis relaxing, it brings people together, and as a pastime it beatsgambling, drinking or doing drugs, this reasoning holds。

　　《纽约时报》的文章说，闲谈可以帮助我们分析其他人的动机，尤其是那些处于食物链低端的人可以了解所处组织中的权力是如何使用的。它是一种放松，可以让人们融洽，作为一种消遣它比赌博、饮酒或吸毒要好，这种判断也不无道理。

　　Whatever sideyou take, gossip is here to stay. It is a universal human practiceand it is too complex to say it is either good or bad, a Universityof Colorado researcher says。

　　无论你站在哪一面，八卦都不会改变。美国科罗拉多大学的研究人员说，这是人类普遍存在的，很难说清到底是好是坏。

　　Whenresearchers at Case Western University asked students to citelessons they had learned from gossip, the students gave theseexamples: "Infidelity will eventually catch up with you" and"Cheerful people are not necessarilyhappy. "

　　当凯斯西大学的研究人员要求学生列出从八卦中得到的教训时，学生举出的例子有：“最终将众叛亲离”和“快乐的人不一定幸福”。

　　I have seen gossip help co-workers in some places where I have worked,giving rise to compassion or offers of support when someone isgoing through hard times. On the other hand, I have also seengossip--over an office romance, for example--distract people fromtheir work and even force unwanted transfers。

　　我看到八卦在我曾工作过的一些地方给同事带来了好处，增进了感情或给遇到困难的人提供了支持。另一方面，我也看到八卦──比如针对办公室恋情──分散了人们的工作精力，甚至带来了意想之外的变动。