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If your office still uses internal mail, with those special envelopes that have people’s names crossed out as they wend their way round an organisation, you are in a corporate period drama.
如果你的辦公室仍然在用那種有特殊信封的內部郵件，還會當人們在公司里走來走去時，把他們的名字從信封上劃掉，那你就像是在拍一部公司歷史劇。
But most offices still retain clues to the historical importance of paper.
但大多數辦公室里仍然有幾處線索表明，紙張在過去有多么重要。
Photocopiers, scanners, shredders, guillotines and unfeasibly large staplers are echoes of a not-too-distant time when physical documents were a vital currency, when people assembled in a single room and shared ideas on pieces of paper.
復印機、掃描儀、碎紙機、切紙機以及超大的訂書機，這些會讓人想起，曾幾何時，實物文件是公司里至關重要的通貨，人們會聚在一個房間里，在紙上分享想法。
In-trays and out-trays are visible reminders of how information used to flow within organisations.
看到收文盤和發文盤就會想起人們以前是如何在公司內部傳遞信息的。
Noticeboards and business cards were once the best ways to convey news and contact details.
布告板和名片曾經是通知消息和交換聯系方式的最佳方式。
Forecasts of the paperless office have been around for decades; they are not about to come true now.
無紙化辦公室的預測已經存在了幾十年；現在它們還不會成為現實。
But the stationery cupboard will be less well stocked in future.
但文具柜里的存貨未來就不會這么滿了。
Meetings between people in the office and those working remotely rely today on platforms like Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
如今，辦公室里的人要和遠程辦公的人開會時，要依賴Zoom或Microsoft Teams等平臺。
Hunt around, though, and you may find an object that was seen as useful back in those dim and distant days of 2019: the conference-call speakerphone.
不過，四處找找，你可能會發現一種在2019年那些昏暗遙遠的日子里被視為有用的東西：免提會議電話機。
Looking a bit like a small spacecraft, this phone had to be plugged into a socket to work.
它看起來有點像一個小航天器，必須插入插座才能工作。
Lights would suddenly blink, and people would murmur in awe.
工作時，燈光會突然閃爍，人們會敬畏地喃喃低語。
Someone would dial in, each button-press a loud beep.
有人撥號時，每按一個按鈕，都會發出很響的嗶嗶聲。
They would inevitably hit the wrong one at some point and have to start again.
總會有人中途按錯，不得不重新開始。
These rituals and others are now rarely performed; the phones themselves are gathering dust on shelves, left behind by better technology and the abrupt rise of remote working.
諸如此類程序現在很少有人會做了；由于科技進步和遠程辦公的突然興起，這些電話機已經被擱置在架子上吃灰了。
The very layout of many offices is a throwback to a pre-pandemic age.
許多辦公室的布局本身就是疫情前的風格。
If you work in a place filled with identikit cubicles, still have your own nameplate or sit at a desk tethered to the floor by a digestive system’s worth of cabling, you are in an environment that made sense when the whole workforce came to the office every day, even if they just got on with their own work in silence.
如果你工作的地方到處都是千篇一律的小隔間，里面有每個人的名牌，或是有長如大小腸的電腦纜線把辦公桌拴在地板上，那么這就是以前的那種工作環境，那時候，所有人每天都會來辦公室上班，即使每個人開始工作時都不發一言。
Now that the office’s comparative advantage is as a place to collaborate with other people, socialising, sofas and hot-desking are seen as the future.
既然辦公室的比較優勢在于為合作提供場所，那么社交、沙發和輪用辦公桌就是人們眼中未來的樣子。
Real archaeologists need tools and time to do their painstaking work: paint brushes, trowels, sieves and picks.
真正的考古學家要想完成艱苦工作，是需要時間和工具的，比如畫筆、鏟子、篩子和鎬。
Corporate archaeology is easier: you just need eyes and a memory of how things used to be.
企業考古就容易多了：只需要眼睛和對過去事物的記憶。
But you also need to be quick.
但速度也要快。
As more and more workplaces are revamped for the hybrid era, now is the time to take a careful look around the office.
隨著越來越多工作場所為適應混合辦公時代而進行改造，現在是時候仔細看看辦公室了。
You may see something that will soon seem as dated as pneumatic tubes, typewriters and fax machines.
里面的東西可能很快就會像氣動管、打字機和傳真機一樣過時了。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
