| 你的辦公桌是整齊還是凌亂的？如果是亂的，不必覺得有罪惡感了，因為你的效率可能比辦公桌整齊的人更高。一起來讀這篇輕鬆有趣的研究，進入之前先想想，辦公桌凌亂有哪些說法。
a) messy ; b) untidy ; c) disorganized
Managers and office busybodies might be keen on a clean desk - but it seems that in terms of productivity, they could have it all wrong.
A messy desk can actually lead people towards clearer thinking, say researchers from Germany.
主管和辦公室的好管閒事的人也很在意辦公桌整不整齊，但如果從工作效率來看，也許他們都錯了。
德國的研究人員說，淩亂的辦公桌其實可以讓員工思維更清晰。
The researchers found in a series of linked studies - using a messy desk and a messy shop front - that people actually thought more clearly when all around was chaos, as they sought to simplify the tasks at hand.
Visual and mental clutter forces human beings to focus and think more clearly.
研究人員通過一系列的相關研究發現，員工在身處淩亂的環境中時，在試圖簡化手頭的任務時，其實思維更清晰。研究人員使用淩亂的辦公桌或者店面進行了調查。
視覺和心理的雜亂會迫使人們集中精力，而且更能釐清思路。
Famous thinkers and writers such as Albert Einstein and Roald Dahl have been notorious for their untidy desks.
'Messy desks may not be as detrimental as they appear to be, as the problem-solving approaches they seem to cause can boost work efficiency or enhance employees' creativity in problem solving,' say the authors.
愛因斯坦和羅德達爾等著名思想家和作家都以桌子的淩亂而“著稱”。
研究報告的作者說：“淩亂的辦公桌也許並不那麼有害，它們所激發起的解決問題的方式，可以提高工作效率，或者增強員工處理問題時的創造力。”
Oddly, the effect seems to work most on conservatives - political liberals are less liable to be worried about mess in the first place, say the researchers.
'Business and government managers often promote 'clean desk' policies to avoid disorganized offices and messy desks, for the purpose of boosting work efficiency and productivity,' write lead researcher Jia Liu of the University of Groningen in a paper published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
'This practice is based on the conventional wisdom that a disorganized and messy environment can clutter one's mind and complicate one's judgments.'
奇怪的是，這種效果對保守派人士最為有效，政治自由主義派的人本就不太擔心髒亂問題，研究者說。
研究負責人、格羅寧根大學的劉佳在發表在《消費者調查》期刊上的文章中指出，“商業和政府領導經常推廣‘乾淨的辦公桌’政策，避免雜亂的辦公室和淩亂的辦公桌，想以此提高工作效率和生產力。”
“這種觀點認為，無組織的和淩亂的環境會擾亂人們的思維，使人們更難做出判斷。”
'However, not all evidence supports this conventional link between a messy environment and a messy mind.'
The scientists tested people's response in various 'messy' environments - including a messy shop front, a disorganized desk, and even a work environment where a language task 'reminded' people of messiness.
“但不盡然證據都支持傳統上人們所認為的淩亂的環境和混亂的思維之間的聯繫。”
科學家在多種“淩亂”的環境中測試了人們的反映，包括混亂的店面，雜亂的辦公桌，甚至在辦公環境中進行一項語言任務會讓人聯想到“雜亂”。
The authors found in the series of six studies tended towards simplicity in their thinking.
'They categorized products in a simpler manner, were willing to pay more for a t-shirt that depicts a simple-looking picture, and sought less variety in their choices,' said the researchers.
作者發現，在一系列的六項研究中，儘管在雜亂中這些人的思維都趨向於簡單。
“他們會按照更簡單的方式給產品分類，願意花更多錢購買印有簡單圖案的T恤衫，並且簡化選擇的種類。”
口語字彙
1. in terms of 就....而言、從....看來
這是一個好用的慣用語，中文的意思是「由…觀點；依據…」。多看幾個例句，熟悉用法，才能脫口而出。
•In terms of price, it’s not a good deal. 就價格而言，這不是一項好交易
•This is an awful year in terms of economy. 就經濟而言，這是很糟糕的一年
•Think of it in terms of an investment. 以投資的角度來思考這件事。
2. in the first place 原來、當初、一開始
in the first place字面上看是“在第一個地方”，也可以理解為“開始的地方”、“第一步”，其實就是“首先”的意思。
•You already ate breakfast！ Why didn't you tell me that in the first place？你已經吃過啦！你為什麼一開始不告訴我呢？
•We would have finished the job long ago if we had listened to him in the first place．要是我們一開始就聽他的話，這工作早就完成了。 | 
