美国人的时间观

　　What is time? Is it a thing to be saved or spent or wasted, like money? Or is it something we have no control over, like the weather? Is time the same all over the world? That's an easy question, you say. Wherever you go, a minute is 60 seconds, an hour is 60 minutes, a day is 24 hours, and so forth. Well, maybe. But in America, time is more than that. Americans see time as a valuable resource. Maybe that's why they are fond of the expression, "Time is money."

　　时间是什么？是一种像金钱一样可以节省、花用或浪费的东西吗？或者它像天气那样，是一种我们无法掌握的东西？全世界的时间是不是都一样呢？你会说，那是一个简单的问题，不管你去那里，一分钟都是60秒，一小时是60分钟，一天是24个小时，以此类推。嗯，也许是这样吧。但是在美国，时间的意义不只是如此而已。美国人视时间为一项重要的资源，也许这就是为什么他们喜欢说「时间就是金钱」的缘故。

　　Because Americans believe time is a limited resource, they try to conserve and manage it. People in the U.S. often attend seminars or read books on time management. It seems they all want to organize their time better. Professionals carry around pocket planners-some in electronic form-to keep track of appointments and deadlines. People do all they can to squeeze more life out of their time. The early American hero Benjamin Franklin expressed this view best: "Do you love life? Then do not waste time, for that is the stuff life is made of."

　　美国人认为时间是一项有限的资源，所以他们试着去爱惜时间且加以管理。美国人经常参加有关时间管理的研习会或阅读这方面的书籍，他们似乎都希望能把自己的时间安排得更好。专业人士随身带着口袋型记事本，有些甚至是电子的记事本，好随时留意所订的约会与工作截止日期。人们想尽办法要在有限的时间内挤出更多的时间来。早期的美国英雄班哲明?富兰克林将这种想法表达得最淋漓尽致：「你爱生命吗？如果爱就不要浪费时间，因为生命即是由时间组成的。」