职场双语：室友对女老板不忠

 I recently moved to Grand Cayman to avoid London in the recession. I'm house-sharing with a friend of a friend, and came home recently to find him in a compromising position on the sofa with my boss. The problem, besides feeling as if my mum is dating my headteacher, is that my boss has told me she has strong feelings for him – but I know he is seeing at least three other women. I don't feel comfortable discussing it with either of them. Will I be judged by my boss once the truth comes out? Do I risk ruining an otherwise peaceful (and cheap) house-share to protect my boss?

　　不久前我搬到了大开曼岛，以远离经济衰退中的伦敦。我与一位朋友的朋友合住，但最近回家的时候，我发现他和我的老板以暧昧的姿势呆在沙发上。问题是，除了感觉就像我妈妈和我的班主任约会一样，我的老板曾告诉我，她对我的室友非常有感觉——但我知道，他至少还在和其他三个女人约会。和他们之中的任何一人讨论此事，我都感觉不自在。一旦真相大白，我的老板会不会对我有看法？为了保护老板，我是不是有可能毁了这种本来相安无事（且廉价）的合租关系？
　　Consultant 1, male, 25咨询顾问，男，25岁In conventional organisations, knowledge is power. If you know something scurrilous 2 about your boss, you have a weapon against her. In less conventional ones, knowledge is dangerous. If you have dirt on your boss, your boss can take you out. I fear your outfit 3 may fall into the second group.　我要收藏在传统机构里，知识就是力量。如果你知道老板的某些龌龊事儿，你就有了一个对付她的武器。在不那么传统的机构中，知识很危险。如果你给老板泼脏水，老板就能赶走你。恐怕你的情况属于第二种。
　　Your problem is not just that you stumbled on your mother embracing the headteacher. That must have been traumatic, but is now in the past. The difficulty is that your mother has chosen to confide 4 in you.
　　你的问题不仅在于无意中撞见你的妈妈在拥抱班主任。那必然会令人痛苦，但如今都已过去了。麻烦在于，你的妈妈选择向你吐露真情。
　　Your boss has now breached 5 all the usual divides between professional and personal life and by treating you like an intimate, she makes you feel you ought to tell her about your lothario flatmate. I beg you not to do this: you would be jeopardising your cheap lodgings 6 and will make her doubly dislike you.
　　你的老板如今违反了职业与个人生活之间所有的传统分界线，她待你就像一位密友，令你感到有义务告诉她有关那位浪荡合租者的事情。我劝你别这样做：否则你可能会失去廉价住所，还会让她加倍地讨厌你。
　　I dare say she dislikes you already: that she has confided 7 in you is almost certainly born of distrust more than trust. You burst in on her doing something dubious 8 and she is trying to neutralise it by involving you. Unless she is a very odd woman indeed, she would not pick the newest hire, and a young man at that, as a confidant on matters of the heart.
　　我敢说，她已经讨厌你了：几乎可以肯定，她向你吐露秘密，不信任的成分要多于信任。你在她做可疑事情的时候突然出现，她是在试图把你卷进来，从而息事宁人。除非她真的是一个非常古怪的女人，否则她不会选择最新的下属——偏偏又是一位年轻男性——作为倾诉衷肠的密友。
　　To prevent further confidences, you must adopt the role of gauche 9 young Englishman (even if you are not English, this is the best role for you). Next time you must blush and look uncomfortable and give surprised utterances 10 such as “Oh dear me”. This will make these conversations so sticky that she will desist. And when the blow falls on her she will be less likely to take revenge on you.
　　为了避免听到更多秘密，你必须表现得像一个不善交际的年轻英格兰人（即使你不是英国人，这对你也是最好的面具）。下一次，你必须脸红，看上去很扭捏，吃惊地说“噢！我的老天”。这会令对话变得很难进行，从而让她打消念头。当她受到打击的时候，就不太可能报复你了。
　　You could solve the problem by coming back to recession-hit London, where you would be less likely to have such excitements in your life. Though you would also be less likely to have a job.
　　你也可以回到受衰退重创的伦敦，从而解决问题。在伦敦，你的生活中不太可能碰到此类刺激。不过，你也不太可能找到工作。