工作效率低？也許是辦公室空氣的錯

Working in a well-ventilated 'green' office can help boost your brainpower, researchers have found.
研究人員發現，通風良好的“綠色”辦公室有助於提升腦力。

People whose desk space is well ventilated with below average indoor pollution and carbon dioxide levels, showed more ability to think, understand, remember and learn, according to a study.
一項研究稱，在辦公桌通風條件良好，室內空氣污染和二氧化碳水平均低於平均水平的地方，人們表現出更強的思考、理解、記憶和學習能力。

It suggests that the indoor environmental quality can have a profound impact on the decision-making and performance of workers.
這表明，室內環境質量對員工的決策力和工作表現有很大的影響。

Researchers at Harvard looked at the decision making abilities of 24 people, who were exposed to different indoor working conditions over six days.
哈佛大學的研究人員觀察了24個人的決策能力，這些人在不同室內環境下工作了六天的時間。

The findings, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, showed those with higher levels of pollutants were less able.
研究發現：污染物水平越高，人們的決策能力越低，這一研究結果發表在《環境健康展望》期刊上。

Participants scored an average 61 percent higher while working in buildings with low pollution levels, compared to days working in a conventional building.
研究參與者在污染程度較低的辦公大樓工作時的得分平均比在常規辦公大樓工作時高了61%。

They were tested on everything from basic tasks to crisis response and information seeking.
他們進行了各種各樣的測試，包括完成基本任務、危機應對和尋求信息的能力。

When low carbon dioxide levels were combined with lower pollutants in buildings, cognitive scores were 101 percent higher than in conventional buildings, which researchers said was significant as it is not typically thought of as a direct indoor pollutant.
在二氧化碳含量低而且室內污染物少時，研究參與者的認知能力得分比在常規辦公室裏時高出101%。研究人員稱這一發現十分重要，因爲通常人們並不認爲二氧化碳是直接的室內污染物。

Dr Joseph Allen, director of the healthy buildings program at the Harvard Centre for Health and the Global Environment, said it was an area that had been largely ignored.
哈佛大學健康和全球環境中心（Harvard Centre for Health and the Global Environment）的約瑟夫·艾倫（Joseph Allen）博士說，一直以來這都是個很大程度上被人們忽視的地方。

'We spend 90 per cent of our time indoors and 90 per cent of the costs of a building are (related to) the occupants, yet indoor environmental quality and its impact on health and productivity are often an afterthought,' he said.
他說：“我們90%的時間都是在室內，一棟建築90%的花費都與居住使用者有關，但是我們卻常常在事後才考慮室內環境質量和它對健康以及生產力的影響。”

'These results suggest even modest improvements to indoor environmental quality may have a profound impact on the decision making performance of workers.'
“這些研究結果表明，即使只對室內環境質量稍加改善，也可能對員工的決策能力和工作表現產生深遠影響。”

The findings follow British research which found having plants in offices boosts productivity by 15 per cent by making workers more physically, cognitively and emotionally involved in their jobs.
此前，英國有研究表明在辦公室擺放植物可以使員工在身體、認知和情感上都更投入工作，從而提高15%的生產力。哈佛大學的研究發現支持了這一結論。

Vocabulary

well-ventilated：通風良好的

carbon dioxide：二氧化碳

cognitive：認知的