《经济学人》双语：如何在视频时代茁壮成长？

原文标题：
Bartleby
How to thrive in the video age
Screen presence is now a feature of the modern office
巴托比专栏
如何在视频时代茁壮成长？

屏幕存在感是现代办公室的一个特征

How to be a superstar on Zoom
如何成为视频会议上的超级巨星

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THE PANDEMIC embedded video into the workplace.

疫情期间，工作中使用视频已深入人心。

Workers who had never previously been on camera suddenly spent every hour of the day getting used to the sight of themselves and their colleagues on screen.

以前从未出现在镜头前的员工突然都要习惯每天看到自己和同事在屏幕上的情景。

Executives realised that they could send video messages to their workforces rather than having to convene town halls.

高管们意识到，他们可以向员工发送视频会议消息，而不必召开线下会议。

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There is no going back. Blogs have become vlogs.

没有回头路可走。博客已经变成了视频博客。

Meetings are now recorded as a matter of course, so that people can fail to watch them back later.

录会议视频也是理所当然的事情，以防以后看不到记录。

Some firms routinely ask applicants to record answers to certain questions on video, so that people can see how well prospective recruits communicate.
一些公司通常会要求求职者录视频回答问题，以便人们可以看到潜在新员工的沟通能力如何。

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Since video has become more central to work, it pays to be good at it.

由于视频在工作中已变得越来越重要，因此擅长调节视频非常必要。

Being a star in the video age means having the right set-up, speaking well and listening well.

成为视频时代的明星意味着需要拥有正确的设置、出众的口才和良好的倾听能力。

Workers can improve under their own steam, but companies can help, too.
工人可以自己提高这些能力，但公司也可以提供帮助。

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To see what the right set-up looks like, just observe the range of images on your next video-conferencing call.

要了解正确的设置是什么样子，只需观察下一次视频会议通话中的图像范围即可。

It will probably be a complete mishmash.Some people will be bathed in the warm glow of a ring light; others will be emerging from the shadows like the Emperor Palpatine.

这可能是一个大杂烩。有些人会沐浴在环形灯的温暖光芒中；有些人像帕尔帕廷皇帝一样从阴影中现身。

Some will have high-definition cameras that show off every pore and follicle; others will be smeared across the screen.

有些人配备高清摄像头，可以看清楚每个毛孔和毛囊；有些人则模糊不清。

Some will be Hollywood types, observing the rule of thirds by positioning themselves slightly off-centre; others seem to have learned their craft from “The Blair Witch Project”.
有些人是好莱坞类型，通过稍微偏离中心定位来遵守三分法则；有些人似乎从《布莱尔女巫计划》中学到了诡异画风。

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There is a limit to how level the playing-field between home offices can be, when living arrangements between employees differ so greatly.

当员工之间的生活安排差异如此之大时，在家办公办的公平竞争环境就会受到限制。

Not everyone needs to look like an A-lister: people who regularly make presentations or see clients have greater claim on fancier gear.

不是每个人都需要看起来像一线明星：经常做演讲或见客户的人对高档设备的要求更高。

Some people are photogenic, others less so. But this range in video quality can nonetheless be narrowed.
有些人很上镜，而有些人则不太上镜。但是，即使在视频质量方面存在差距，这种差距仍然可以缩小。

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A study published last year by Katherine Karl of the University of Tennessee and her co-authors looked at workers’ most common complaints about video-conferencing meetings: camera angles, proximity to the screen and bad lighting all feature in the list of frustrations.

去年田纳西大学的凯瑟琳·卡尔及其合著者发表的一项研究调查了员工对视频会议最常见的抱怨：摄像机角度、靠近屏幕的距离和光线不足都在清单之列。

Whether providing decent home-working equipment or just giving feedback on how people appear on screen, employers can help everyone improve their video game.
无论是提供体面的家庭办公设备，还是仅仅就人们在屏幕上的表现提供反馈，雇主都可以帮助每个人改进他们的视频质量。

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Advice on how to present well on video is not that different to advice on presenting in general. But there are some specific pitfalls with video.

在视频中表现出色的建议与一般的表现建议没有太大区别。但视频也有一些特定的陷阱。

One is where to look. Staring into the camera is unnatural; some advise pinning a photo of someone you respect right by the lens (whether you would really use the opportunity to talk to Volodymyr Zelensky to tell him about your product road map is another question).

一是眼睛应该看哪里。直视镜头会不自然；一些人建议在镜头旁边贴一张你尊重的人的照片（例如沃洛迪米尔·泽连斯基的照片，你是否真的会利用这个机会与 他交谈，告诉他你的产品路线图是另一个问题）。

But looking at the camera is harder if you are referring to notes on the screen at the same time.

但是，如果你看屏幕上笔记的同时看镜头会更难。

The speaker whose eyes dart from one to the other is in fear of imminent attack; the speaker who gazes at a point somewhere just off to the left of the camera is appearing in “The Office”.

说话者的眼睛从一个人身上移到另一个人身上，因为害怕随时会发生的攻击；美剧《办公室》里的说话者则会凝视镜头左侧某个点。

Teleprompter software may be the right answer.
选择提词器软件会有帮助。

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Another danger lies in the temptation to use technology just because it is there.

另一个陷阱在于只因为技术存在就有使用它的诱惑。

The same rule of thumb that should stop you exploring the animations menu in PowerPoint also applies to pre-recorded video.

阻止你浏览PPT中的动画菜单的经验法则，也同样适用于预先录制的视频。

Don’t do jump cuts or special effects unless you really know what you are doing.

除非你真的知道自己在做什么，否则不要使用跳跃切换或特效。

This is not “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Quarters”.
这不是在拍英剧《两杆大烟枪》。

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Perhaps the least recognised skill in the video age is listening well.

也许在视频时代最不被认可的技能是善于倾听的能力。

After all, one of the great boons of the virtual meeting is that you can get actual work done in it—being able to turn your camera off when your time is being royally wasted may be the pandemic’s greatest gift to productivity.

毕竟，虚拟会议的一个巨大优点是——当你感觉时间被浪费时，你能够关闭摄像头来完成实际工作，这可能是疫情对生产力的最大贡献。

And at the other end of the scale, one of video’s great downsides is how distracting it can be: as well as checking yourself out and following the online chat, you can critique someone’s new wallpaper while watching their next-tile neighbour shovel noodles into their mouth.

另一个极端是，视频的一大缺点是它会让人分心：除了检查镜头里的自己和关注在线聊天外，你还可以评价别人的新墙纸，还能看着他们旁边的人吃面条的动作。

It takes real effort to stay focused in such circumstances.
在这种情况下保持专注确实需要很大努力。

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The wrong way for firms to tackle the problem of inattentiveness is to insist that cameras stay on or use artificial intelligence to analyse the sentiment of meeting participants in real time.

公司解决注意力不集中问题的错误方法是：始终要求摄像头保持开启状态或使用人工智能实时分析参会者的情绪。

As if life were not intolerable enough, imagine having to nod and smile dementedly the whole time in case an algorithm decides you are insufficiently engaged.

似乎还嫌生活还不够难，想象一下你必须全程疯狂点头微笑，以防算法判定你不够投入。

The right way for companies to respond is to make meetings shorter and more relevant.

公司采取的正确方法应该是：缩短会议时间并提高会议相关性。

Whether you are on camera or in the room, it is always easier to listen when there is something worth hearing.
无论你是在镜头前还是在房间里，当有值得聆听的内容时，专心倾听并不难。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量792左右）
原文出自：2023年4月15日《The Economist》Business版块

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene

本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
Emperor Palpatine皇帝帕尔帕廷是《星球大战》系列电影中的反派角色，由伊恩·麦克迪阿梅德饰演。他是西斯帝国的皇帝，黑暗势力的幕后BOSS。银河帝国的皇帝是曾担任银河共和国最高议长的希夫·帕尔帕廷——同时也是西斯黑暗尊主达斯·西迪厄斯。他是电影中最大的反派之一，实现了“二人法则”初创的目的，达到了西斯在银河系的有史以来的第一个巅峰，但同时也是“二人法则”衰亡的前夕。

三分法则（the rule of thirds）是一种在摄影、绘画、设计等艺术中经常使用的构图手段。当攝影師由觀景窗望出去时，他假想有兩條直線將畫面垂直畫分成三區，又有兩條橫線將畫面水平畫分成三區，而這四條假想線所構成的任何一個交接點〈共有四個交接點〉，都是安置被攝主體的理想位置。这种构图方式可以使画面更加生动、有趣，同时也可以避免画面过于单调和呆板。

The Blair Witch Project《布莱尔女巫计划》是一部于1999年上映的美国恐怖电影，由丹尼尔·迈里克和爱德华多·桑切斯执导，海瑟·多纳休、乔什·莱昂纳德和迈克尔·威廉姆斯主演。影片讲述了三名电影专业的学生试图拍摄一部关于在马里兰州农村的一些树林中发生的奇怪而可怕的谋杀案的纪录片，他们最终失踪了，只留下了他们拍摄的录像带 。

The Office《办公室》是一部美国情景喜剧，由格雷格·丹尼尔斯创作，于2005年3月24日在美国首播。该剧以模拟纪录片的形式展现了一群普通办公室职员的日常生活，其中包括了他们的工作、生活、爱情和友谊等方面的故事。该剧在美国播出后获得了广泛的好评，被誉为“最伟大的电视剧之一”

《两杆大烟枪》（Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels）是一部英国黑色喜剧犯罪电影，由盖·里奇编剧和执导，于1998年8月28日在英国上映。该电影讲述了四个朋友为了赢回一场赌局中输掉的钱而卷入了一系列的犯罪活动。该电影在上映后获得了广泛的好评，被誉为“英国电影史上最伟大的电影之一”。

【重点句子】（3个）
Being a star in the video age means having the right set-up, speaking well and listening well.
成为视频时代的明星意味着需要拥有正确的设置、出众的口才和良好的倾听能力。

Not everyone needs to look like an A-lister: people who regularly make presentations or see clients have greater claim on fancier gear.
不是每个人都需要看起来像一线明星：经常做演讲或见客户的人对高档设备的要求更高。

The right way for companies to respond is to make meetings shorter and more relevant.
公司采取的正确方法应该是：缩短会议时间并提高会议相关性。