The professional benefits of marriage have long been extolled. Married couples tend to make more money over their professional lifetimes. And tying the knot can come with a number of perks—financially and socially. Senior executives often prefer the stability associated with the coupled, which can lead to promotions. Married people are said to live longer as well。

　　婚姻给职业发展带来的好处，一直广受赞扬。在整个职业生涯中，已婚人士往往能够获取更高的收入。结婚还可以带来经济和社交方面的额外好处。高管通常更欣赏已婚人士具有的稳定性，这一优势可以给已婚者带来升职机遇。而且，有人认为已婚者的寿命更长。

　　Recently published research by Washington University’s Joshua Jackson even suggests that you are more likely to rise the ranks fastest with a “conscientious” spouse; one who is reliable, organized, and good at managing chores and finances。

　　华盛顿大学教授约书亚-杰克森最近发布的一项研究甚至暗示，如果你的配偶“尽职尽责”，可靠、有条理并且擅长处理家务和财务，你就更有可能以最快的速度平步青云。

　　But where does that leave those Americans who simply haven’t found “the one” yet? In many ways, staying single can do wonders for your career. It gives you more flexibility—you are less likely to feel guilty about spending long hours in the office。

　　但这样一来，那些还没有找到“另一半”的人该怎么办?在许多方面，单身其实能够给职业发展带来意想不到的好处。它可以让你更灵活——在办公室工作很长时间，也不会有愧疚感。

　　In fact, at certain points in a company’s life, it may be better for the top spot to be filled by a lonesome dove. That’s because the unhitched are more willing to take chances on investment in research and development or mergers, according to recent research. Such efforts can turn a small struggling business into a publicly traded gem. In fact, a number of CEOs without a marriage certificate are at the helm of fast-growing companies。

　　事实上，在公司发展的某些阶段，由单身人士担任最高领导职务，或许是更好的选择。这是因为，根据最近一项研究，单身者更愿意抓住机遇，在研发或并购方面进行大胆投资。这些方面的努力可以将一家苦苦挣扎的小公司打造成一家集万般宠爱于一身的上市公司。事实上，许多快速增长的公司CEO都未正式成家。

　　This is certainly the case in the boom and bust world of startups. These four companies have been aided by the attention, dedication, and attentiveness of their unmarried CEOs. At least most of the time. These four executives have found love; it just doesn’t necessarily include a living, breathing partner。

　　繁荣与萧条并存的创业界确实存在这种情况。下面四家公司便得益于其单身CEO的专注、奉献和投入。至少在大多数时间里，单身CEO给公司带来的是好处。这四位高管已经找到了挚爱;只不过他们的“另一半”并不一定是一位有血有肉的配偶。

　　谢家华， Zappos.com

　　Hsieh, 41, serves as testament that single people just know how to have more fun. He has turned his online shoe retail operation into a perennial favorite on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For list. Amazon bought the company in 2009 for $1.2 billion, but Hsieh still has a lot of room to run Zappos how he sees fit, which includes plenty of booze, parties, and Kilt Fridays. The office environment has produced a number of Zappos marriages。

　　41岁的谢家华充分证明，单身人士很清楚如何寻找乐趣。他将自己的在线鞋业零售公司，变成了《财富》最适宜工作的公司榜单上的常客。2009年，亚马逊以12亿美元收购了该公司，但在Zappos的运营方面，谢家华仍有很大的自主权，他可以按照自己认为合适的方式经营公司，比如举办各种酒会、派对和周五苏格兰裙聚会(Kilt Fridays)等。这种办公环境让许多Zappos员工喜结连理。

　　But not for Hsieh, whose singlehood has left him with plenty of time to focus on the company he built. His days are long. He reportedly holds meetings often from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. In 2010, he wrote a New York Times bestselling business book, Delivering Happiness, in two weeks, and undertook a Las Vegas economic development project in 2012. The project seeks to revitalize the area of the city in which Zappos is headquartered by funneling $350 million into new shops and restaurants。

　　但谢家华并不是其中之一，单身状态让他有大量时间专注于自己创建的公司。他非常忙碌。据报道，他通常从早上8点开会一直到晚上10点才结束。在2010年，他在两周内就撰写了一本登上《纽约时报》畅销书榜的图书——《传递幸福》(Delivering Happiness)，并在2012年承接了拉斯维加斯的经济发展项目。通过向新商店和餐厅注资3.5亿美元，该项目希望推动Zappos公司总部所在的市区实现复兴。

　　Don’t expect him to settle down soon, though. Hsieh recently responded to a question from Playboy about the virtues of monogamy:

　　但不要以为他很快就会安定下来。最近，《花花公子》杂志大谈一夫一妻制的各种好处，谢家华这样回应一个相关问题：

　　From a purely evolutionary point of view, the guy who’s monogamous will have fewer copies of his genes in the next generation than a guy who’s not. I think it’s pretty hard to find one partner and call it a day. Using the analogy of friends, why not find just one friend and call it a day? The answer is because you get a different type of connection, different conversations, different experiences with different friends. I would say the same thing is true on the dating side。

　　从纯进化论的角度来说，一夫一妻制的人，其基因在下一代中被复制的次数更少。我认为很难找到一位伴侣，结束单身。借用一位朋友的说法，为什么不找个朋友一起生活?答案在于，因为你与不同的朋友会有不同的联系，不同的交流和不同的体验。我想说，约会也是如此。