托福阅读材料之美国公务员因放屁太多遭上司申诉

A Social Security Administration employee was formally reprimanded earlier this month for for excessive workplace flatulence, according to a Dec. 10 letter obtained by The Smoking Gun.

据美国知名新闻爆料网站The Smoking Gun获得的一封12月10日信件中称，本月月初，美国一位社会安全局的员工因在工作场所放屁太多而被书面训斥。

The 38-year-old, who worked out of a Baltimore office, was hit with a five-page letter detailing the dates and times of his noxious offenses. The letter informed the worker that his “uncontrollable flatulence” created an “intolerable” and “hostile” environment for coworkers -- many of which had lodged complaints.

这位38岁的员工在巴尔的摩市工作。他突然收到一封长达五页的信件，信里详细列出了“排气”发生的时间和次数。信中告知这名员工，他“无法控制的放弃行为”给他的同事制造了“无法忍受的” “恶劣的”办公环境，他的很多同事都提出了投诉。

The letter's log cited 17 dates, and 60 specific times, that the worker allegedly passed gas. The formal reprimand appears to have been a last resort for management, who they say addressed the embarrassing issue with the worker multiple times.

信中详细写有17天来具体60次据称是他“排气”的记录。这封书面的申诉书似乎是管理部门的杀手锏：根据该员工上司的的说法，之前他们已经几度向他提起过这个尴尬的话题。

While the federal employee currently only has to deal with an embarrassing letter in his personnel file, there are others who have lost their jobs for less.

这名政府雇员现在要面对的只是他档案中一份尴尬的申诉书。然而，其他还有一些人却因为一些更小的事丢了工作。

In July, a receptionist in Minnesota claims she was fired from her job at the hospital's Cancer Center because she smelled of smoke at work. The receptionist was indeed a regular smoker, but she claims she never smoked while on the job or on break.

七月，一名明尼苏达州的接待员声称她被医院的癌症中心开除，原因是她在工作场合被闻出身上带有烟味。这名接线员确实经常吸烟，但她宣称自己从未在工作或工作休息时间抽过烟。

Likewise, the grounds for legal dismissal are becoming even more bizarre in some cases. On Dec, 21, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a dentist acted legally when he fired an assistant he found attractive because he and his wife viewed his attraction to the woman as a threat to their marriage.

在与之相类似的一些案例中，合法解雇的理由更加古怪。一名牙医觉得助手太有魅力，而他和妻子将他对女助手的欣赏看做是婚姻的威胁，因此女助手惨遭解雇。12月21日，爱荷华州法院下达判决，判定这名牙医的行为合法。

The court actually ruled that an employer may fire an employee they see as an "irresistible attraction," even if the employee has done nothing to encourage attraction, engage in flirtation, or otherwise done anything wrong.

该法院做出了以下判决：雇主可以解雇他们觉得有“不可抗拒的魅力”的员工——即使这名员工没有做过任何勾引雇主的事、没有对雇主调过情、也没做过任何其他错事。