自由职业者的新选择：家庭共享办公 | 双语阅读
原创： 我是小F FT每日英语 今天
本文作者艾玛•雅各布斯表示，家庭共享办公吸引的是孤独、希望找到归属感、但不必花钱租用正规共享办公空间的自由职业者。可家庭共享办公的缺点就是他们总想聊天。
It is a Thursday afternoon and I am frantically vacuuming, trying to strike the right balance between sterile and homely. Do I have time to buy biscuits? Too late, there is a knock at the door. My guest, whom I met via an app, is here.
一个周四下午，我手忙脚乱地用吸尘器打扫卫生，想尽量做到既一尘不染又有居家氛围。还有时间买饼干吗？来不及了，有人在敲门。我在一款app上认识的客人到了。
① frantically /'fræntikəli/ adv. 疯狂似地；狂暴地
例句：How often have you been in this situation: you're running late and frantically trying to get to a meeting or appointment. 这样的情况常常发生在你身上吗：你要迟到了，急匆匆的想赶到会议室或奔赴某个约会。
② sterile /'steraɪl/ adj. 不育的；无菌的；贫瘠的；不毛的；枯燥乏味的
例句：Half of the participants drank a sterile milkshake as a placebo instead. 一半的参与者喝无菌奶昔作为安慰剂。
This is not a date in the romantic sense, though I have the jitters. Rather, I am hosting a stranger to work alongside me in my kitchen, to test out a new concept called home co-working. It appeals to lonely freelance workers hoping to find a sense of community without incurring the expense of formal co-working spaces — think of it as Airbnb meets WeWork.
这不是什么浪漫约会，虽说我有点紧张。其实我要接待的是一位陌生人，我们将一起在我的厨房里工作，以试验一种被称之为“家庭共享办公”(home co-working)的新概念。它吸引的是孤独、希望找到一种身处集体中的归属感而不必花钱租用正规共享办公空间的自由职业者——不妨把它想象成爱彼迎(Airbnb)和WeWork相结合的产物。
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The app that introduced us is called KitchinTable. It matches female hosts with female guests, in the latest iteration of the home co-working trend.
我们是通过一款名为KitchinTable的app结识的。它把女主人和女客人匹配在一起，算是家庭共享办公潮流中最新的一种型态。
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After we have figured out the ground rules, my co-worker, who does not want to be named in the Financial Times, tells me over a cup of tea that she is here because she craved a change of scene from the start-up where she works. As a newcomer to London, she is keen to meet people. She is also easy to talk to — too easy, it turns out, as we spend most of our time chatting.
这位将和我坐在一起工作的女士不希望英国《金融时报》提到她的姓名。我们搞清楚基本规则后，她一边喝着茶一边告诉我，她在一家初创企业上班，来这里是因为想换一个工作场所。她刚来伦敦没多久，迫切想多认识些人。和她交谈很轻松——事实证明是太轻松了，我们大多数时间都在聊天。
③ crave/kreɪv/vt. 渴望；恳求 vi. 渴望；恳求
例句：If I could find exercises I enjoyed then I’d not only want to do them, I’d crave doing them. 如果能发现我喜欢的锻炼方式，那么我就不只是想要去做，而是渴望去做。
The app, which was soft-launched in May, charges hosts 10 per cent of the fee, which, as it tries to build a customer base, is kept low at about £5 to £15 per day (though this varies according to services provided). One host based in Texas charged $100 a day, which included use of her pool and tennis facilities. By comparison, WeWork, the global co-working company, charges between £200 and £500 a month for a hotdesk in London.
这款app在2018年5月开始试运行，为了积累客户，价格定得很低，每天约为5-15英镑（具体视所提供的服务而定），平台向东道主一方收取10%佣金。德克萨斯州一位主人每天收费100美元，客人可以使用她的泳池和网球场。相比之下，在全球提供共享办公场所的WeWork在伦敦一个工位的月租在200-500英镑之间。
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KitchinTable is not the first venture to encourage co-working in kitchens and living rooms. Jelly was founded by New York freelancers in 2006, who held regular work meetups in homes. Others sprang up around the world in coffee shops, pubs, hotel lobbies and co-working spaces.
KitchinTable不是第一个鼓励在厨房和客厅共享办公的平台。2006年纽约的一帮自由职业者就创办了Jelly，他们定期聚集在某个人的家里一起工作。全球各地还涌现了其他许许多多的平台，办公地点包括咖啡店、酒吧、酒店大堂和共享办公空间。
One early adopter was Christofer Gradin Franzén, a Swedish psychologist. Four years ago, he had an epiphany when he realised his private and professional life did not reflect what he was espousing — the importance of collective intelligence at work.
瑞典心理学家克里斯托弗•格兰丁•弗兰森(Christofer Gradin Franzén)从很早就开始使用共享办公平台。4年前他突然明白，他的私人和职业生活都没有体现出他所信奉的理念——集体智慧在工作中的重要性。
④ epiphany /ɪ'pɪfəni/ n. 对事物真谛的顿悟；主显节（每年一月六日纪念耶稣显灵的节日）；显现（特指神的显现）
例句：But what the economy required was at odds with a necessary epiphany. 但是经济所要求的与我们必要的顿悟大相径庭。
I was generally sitting by myself at coffee shops, co-working spaces and home,” he says.
他说道：“那个时候，我一般都是一个人独自坐在咖啡店、共享办公空间或者家里。”
Co-working offices, such as those run by WeWork, promise a community, but this is illusory, says Mr Franzén: “Community is something that emerges from a group of peers who feel motivated to belong and contribute.”
弗兰森说，共享办公场所，比如WeWork所运营的，都承诺会创造一个社群(community)，但这是不现实的。他说道：“社群是由一群有相似特征的人组成的，他们积极地想成为这个群体的成员，并决心为它做出贡献。”
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He believes that a workers’ community that facilitates collaboration on projects, and encourages an exchange of ideas and skills is not forged through a financial transaction. Paying for membership means that workers are likely to abdicate that responsibility to the service provider.
他认为，一个能帮助促成项目合作、鼓励思想交流和技能交换的工作者社群不是通过金钱交易就能缔造的。花钱成为成员，意味着共享工作者可能把责任都推给服务提供者。
⑤ abdicate /'æbdɪkeɪt/ vi. 退位；放弃 vt. 退位；放弃
例句：However, there is no serious sign the erratic leader might abdicate. 尽管如此，现在还没有迹象表明这个古怪的领导人有可能会退位。
Together with a friend, he invited freelancers to work at his home in Stockholm, which has evolved into a network called Hoffice. That the sessions were not-for-profit appealed to him.
他和一位朋友一道，邀请自由职业者到他在斯德哥尔摩的家中办公，发展到后来就诞生了Hoffice。他所热衷的是这些活动的非营利性。
This, he says, is the true meaning of the sharing economy, using “underutilised” homes in working hours.
他说，这才是共享经济的真谛，在工作时间利用“未充分利用的”家庭空间。
As I found with my guest, one of the pitfalls is the temptation to chat. In order to get around “work drift”, Hoffice participants complete 45-minute bursts of concentrated work followed by 15 minutes of socialising before starting again.
正如我和我的客人相处时所发现的，这种办公方式的一个缺点是老想聊天。为了克服“工作不专心”问题，Hoffice的参与者每专心工作45分钟就有15分钟的社交时间，然后又开始集中精神工作。
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In Mr Franzén’s experience there are two types of people who want to attend: those who have difficulty focusing, and those who get lost in their work and need “to socialise to get more energy”.
按照弗兰森的经验，有两种类型的人会想参加共享办公：很难专心做事的人，以及对自己的工作感到迷茫、需要“与人交往以获得更多动力”的人。
Mr Franzén now does it only when he needs to combat procrastination on administration, such as invoicing clients. Others use sessions to complete “tedious tasks”, rewarding themselves with a chat after bouts of concentration.
弗兰森现在只在需要克服行政管理工作方面的拖延症时才举办共享办公活动，比如为客户开发票。还有些人会利用共享办公来完成“单调乏味的工作”，在全神贯注工作一段时间后再和人聊天，以此奖励自己。
The sessions work best, he says, with groups of three-to-six people. Larger groups call for more facilitating which makes it harder for the host to focus on his or her own work. Trust is important: “In groups that are growing too fast, people become a bit afraid of inviting people. They should grow slowly.”
弗兰森说，由3至6个人组成的工作群是效果最好的。如果群太大了，就需要主人投入更多精力，这样他或她本人就难以专心做自己的事。信任很重要。他说：“如果群成员发展得太快，大家就会变得有点害怕邀请人加入，所以应该慢一点发展。”
There can be friction. “If someone is not adhering to the norms of the group, the facilitator has to bring this up. This is one of the tricky concepts.”
摩擦在所难免。“如果有人不遵守群的规范，发起人必须制止。这是难点之一。”
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Yet with an affable guest — and if the chemistry is right — it is a great way to make connections for people, like me, who hate networking. In fact, the only downside was we wanted to chat.
不过，如果能碰上一位和蔼可亲的客人——而且如果人和人真的会产生相互吸引的化学反应——那么对于像我这样讨厌社交的人来说，这是一种认识人的绝好途径。事实上，唯一的缺点是我们总想聊天。
⑥ affable /'æfəb(ə)l/ adj. 和蔼可亲的；友善的
例句：There is no adversity on Christmas day. Even the soldiers are adverse to fighting. Everyone is affable. 圣诞节没有苦难，即使是士兵也反对打仗，人人都是一团和气。
词组拓展
spring up
出现；涌现；萌芽
例句：But even as some obstacles are removed, new ones spring up. 但即使有些障碍已经被扫清，新的障碍还会涌现。
soft-launch
试营运
例句：In soft-launch mode since mid-December, the desktop app has been downloaded some 3, 000 times. 自从12月中旬试运营以来，这款桌面应用程序下载量已达到约3,000次。