美國人的時間觀

　　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."

　　時間是什么？是一種像金錢一樣可以節省、花用或浪費的東西嗎？或者它像天氣那樣，是一種我們無法掌握的東西？全世界的時間是不是都一樣呢？你會說，那是一個簡單的問題，不管你去那里，一分鐘都是60秒，一小時是60分鐘，一天是24個小時，以此類推。嗯，也許是這樣吧。但是在美國，時間的意義不只是如此而已。美國人視時間為一項重要的資源，也許這就是為什么他們喜歡說「時間就是金錢」的緣故。

　　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."

　　美國人認為時間是一項有限的資源，所以他們試著去愛惜時間且加以管理。美國人經常參加有關時間管理的研習會或閱讀這方面的書籍，他們似乎都希望能把自己的時間安排得更好。專業人士隨身帶著口袋型記事本，有些甚至是電子的記事本，好隨時留意所訂的約會與工作截止日期。人們想盡辦法要在有限的時間內擠出更多的時間來。早期的美國英雄班哲明?富蘭克林將這種想法表達得最淋漓盡致：「你愛生命嗎？如果愛就不要浪費時間，因為生命即是由時間組成的。」