办公室里总是蜚短流长，很多人甚至故意靠踩别人来抬高自己。放任这种情绪病毒扩散就会不断强化一种观念，认为只有循规蹈矩，惟命是从才是好员工。想要打造高效而又富有创造力的工作氛围，就必须及时清理这些负能量。
You've dished it out before, and you've taken it.
你肯定说过下面列出的某句话，而且曾承受过它所带来的伤害。
? "He's always taking long lunches."
“他午饭总是吃很长时间。”
? "Wish I could leave at 4:30 every day...must be nice!"
“真希望我能每天4:30下班……肯定很棒！”
? "Seems like she uses all her sick days to go shopping."
“她好像请病假去逛街了。”
? "Oh, she's home with a sick kid...again. I need to get myself a kid."
“哇，她又回家照顾生病的孩子了。我得赶紧生个孩子。”
Do any of these phrases sound familiar? We call this "sludge."
这些话听着耳熟吗？我们把它们叫做“负面言论”。
Sludge is the workplace chatter that reinforces the idea that people can't be trusted with autonomy. We identified sludge as one of the most powerful and persistent barriers to a productive, creative, and fulfilling workplace when we were developing the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE). Sludge can be mean-spirited gossip or even friendly banter. We sludge for many reasons, but it's ultimately meant to either directly or indirectly shame a coworker for not approaching work the way it's "supposed" to be approached.
负面言论就是工作场所的闲言碎语，而且它们会不断强化这样一种观点——人们配被赋予自主权。我们在开发“只问结果的工作环境”（ROWE）时发现，对于一个高效、创意和令人满意的工作场所来说，负面言论是最顽固、影响最大的障碍。负面言论可能是卑鄙的闲言碎语，也可能是友好的打趣。我们会因为许多原因传播负面言论，但这些言论最终会直接或间接地导致不按“常规方式”上班的同事感到羞辱。
Here are three things you can do to clean the sludges out of your lives.
这里有三条建议帮你清除这些负面言论。
1. Listen for sludge
留神负面言论
At first, you'll hear the obvious. You'll hear what seems to be an innocent comment from a coworker ("How nice of you to join us today.") and you'll recognize it as sludge. Then you'll recognize in yourself what we call a "back sludge" conversation (as in, sludging behind someone's back). This is the sludge that's spewed about a co-worker who isn't within earshot:
首先，你会听到一些显而易见的言论。你会听到某位同事似乎毫无恶意的言论（“你今天加入我们，真是太好了。”），你认为这是负面言论。进而，你自以为发现了所谓的“背后负面言论”（即在某人背后发表负面言论）。这种关于某位同事的负面言论是在他不在场的情况下出现的。
One coworker: "How is Steve getting a promotion? He's never even here."
同事甲：“史蒂夫怎么得到升职的？他连公司公司都没来过。”
Another coworker: "I know and when he is here, he takes long lunches and comes in late."
同事乙：“我知道，就算他来，他也总是迟到，而且中午饭吃很长时间。”
You: "And what about the jogs he takes after his long lunches on Tuesdays? That's getting ridiculous."
你：“他每周二花很长时间吃午饭，完事之后还要慢跑，对吧？笑死人了。”
The more you listen for sludge, the more you'll start to hear all of the subtle versions of it not just around you, but from you.
负面言论听的越多，你会发现，各种微妙的版本不仅围绕在你周围，而且你正在成为这些言论的源头。
2. Point it out
勇敢指出
When you hear these toxic phrases pop up in conversation, politely point it out to the person saying it. Don't let yourself or someone else feel guilty or judged by an outdated standard. We live in an amazing time where many of us (one day, maybe all of us) can own our work and live by the results we achieve, not the desk-time we put in at the office. Stand up and rebel against the system, don't be a party to it. The accountant who has worked all night on a deadline shouldn't get shamed by their coworker for "coming in late" and the mom who leaves the office at 3 p.m. to attend her daughter's ballet recital shouldn't be questioned by nosy cubicle neighbors about why she's leaving "early."摘自：英语学习资料http://www.51talkenglish.com/ziliao/