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The Value of Time 

时间的价值

"Time" says the proverb, "is money" .This means that every moment well-spent may put some money into our pockets. If our time is usefully employed, it will either turn out some useful and important piece of work which will fetch its price in the market, or it will add to our experience and increase our capacities so as to enable us to earn money when the proper opportunity comes. There can thus be no doubt that time is convertible into money. Let those who think nothing of wasting time, remember this; let them remember that all hour misspent is equivalent to the loss of a bank-note; and that an hour utilized is tantamount to so much silver or gold; and then they will probably think twice before they give their consent to the loss of any part of their time.

俗话说“时间就是金钱”。这就意味着，每分每秒只要善加利用，都会在我们的口袋里添一些钱。如果我们的时间使用得当，就能生产出有用和重要的东西，在市场上卖得一定的价钱；或者它能丰富我们的经验，增长我们的才干，使我们在时机适当时能挣到钱。因此，毫无疑问时间可以转化为金钱。让那些对浪费时间不以为然的人记住这一点。让他们记住，浪费一小时等于丢了一张钞票，而利用一小时就等于得到许多金银。这样，在他们同意浪费时间之前或许会三思而后行。

Moreover, our life is nothing more than our time. To kill time is therefore a form of suicide. We are shocked when we think of death, and we spare no pains, no trouble, and no expense to preserve life. But we are too often indifferent to the loss of an hour or of a day, forgetting that our life is the sum total of the days and of the hours we live. A day or an hour wasted is therefore so much life forfeited. Let us bear this in mind, and waste of time will appear to us in the light of a crime as culpable as suicide itself.

此外，我们的生命无非就是我们的时间，因此消磨时间也就是一种自杀。一想到死我们会感到震撼，因而不遗余力、不怕麻烦、不惜代价以求保全生命。可是我们却往往认为损失一个钟头或者一天时间是无关紧要的，而忘记了生命就是我们生活的每一小时、每一天的总和。因此，浪费一天或一个小时就是丧失一天或一小时的生命。让我们记住这一点，这样就会把浪费时间看作一种罪过，跟自杀一样应该受到谴责。

There is a third consideration which will also tend to warn us against loss of time. Our life is a brief span measuring some sixty or seventy years in all, but nearly one half of this has to be spent in sleep; some years have to be spent over our meals; some over dressing and undressing; some in making journeys on land and voyages by sea; some in merry-making, either on our own account or for the sake of others; some in celebrating religious and social festivities; some in watching over the sick-beds of our nearest and dearest relatives. Now if all these years were to be deducted from the term over which our life extends we shall find about fifteen or twenty years at our disposal for active work. Whoever remembers this can never willingly waste a single moment of his life. "It is astonishing", says Lord Chesterfield, "that anyone can squander away in absolute idleness one single moment of that portion of time which is allotted to us in this world. Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it!"

还有第三层考虑，也会使我们警醒，不至于浪费时间。人生短暂，总共不过六七十年，可是将近一半时间得花在睡眠上，还有几年时间得用于吃饭，几年用于穿衣脱衣，几年用于陆上和海上的旅行，再加上几年用于娱乐一不论是为自己还是为别人，几年用来庆祝宗教节曰和社会节曰，倘使我们挚爱的亲人病了，看护病人也得几年工夫。如果从我们的寿命中扣除所有这些岁月，我们将发现，只有十五或二十年的时间可以真正由我们支配，用于活跃的工作。任何记住了这一点的人，都不会情愿浪费他生命中的片刻光阴。切斯特菲尔德伯爵说过：“对于上帝分配给我们每一个人的时间，即使有人在游手好闲中浪费一时片刻，也是令人吃惊的。要真正认识时间的价值，要争分夺秒，享受每一片刻的乐趣。”

All time is precious; but the time of our childhood and of our youth is more precious than any other portion of our existence. For those are the periods when alone we can acquire knowledge and develop our faculties and capacities. If we allow these morning hours of life to slip away unutilized, we shall never be able to recoup the loss. As we grow older, our power of acquisition gets blunted, so that the art or science which is not acquired in childhood or youth will never be acquired at all. Just as money laid out at interest doubles and trebles itself in time, so the precious hours of childhood and youth, if properly used, will yield us incalculable advantages. "Every moment you lose," says Lord Chesterfield," is so much character and advantage lost; as on the other hand, every moment you now employ usefully is so much time wisely laid out at prodigious interest."

所有的时间都是宝贵的，而童年和青年时期的时间比一生的其他阶段更为宝贵，因为我们只有在这两个阶段才能学习知识、增长才干。如果我们任由这生命的黄金岁月从指缝间滑走而不加利用，我们将永远无法弥补这损失。等我们长大了，学习能力变得迟钝了，就再也无法学到在童年和青年时期没有学到的知识或技能。正如把金钱用于投资以获取利息，到时候就会收获两倍或者三倍，童年和青年时期的宝贵光阴，如果用法得当，将产生无可估量的利。切斯特菲尔德伯爵又说：“浪费每一片刻就等于丧失了与之相当的名和利，而你现在有效地利用每一时刻就等于用这时间做明智的投资，将来定会获取巨额的利息。”

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