Anonymous

心靈寄語

如果有人問你“你現在怎么樣？”“很忙”是否會脫口而出？“還好，我有許多休閑時間”這樣的回答應該是很久以前的事了。現在每個人都在忙碌，而且永遠覺得時間不夠用。這是正常狀態嗎？當然不是，盡管你已經習以為常。其實，癥結在于我們不懂得如何高效利用時間。

I must have been about 14 then， and I dismissed1 the incident

with the easy carelessness of youth. But the words Carl Walter spoke that day came back to me years later， and ever since have been of inestimable value to me.

Carl Walter was my piano teacher. During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing. I said three or four hours a day.

“Do you practice in long stretches， an hour at a time？”

“I try to.”

“Well， don"t！”he exclaimed.“When you grow up， time won"t come in long stretches. Practice in minutes， whenever you can find them—five or ten before school， after lunch， between chores. Spread the practice throughout the day， and piano-playing will become a part of your life.”

When I was teaching at Columbia， I wanted to write， but recitations， theme-reading and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. For two years I got practically nothing down on paper， and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I recalled what Carl Walter had said.

During the next week I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five unoccupied minutes， I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my astonishment， at the end of the week I had a sizable manuscript2 ready for revision.

Later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal3 method though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever， in every day there were idle moments which could be caught and put to use. I even took up piano-playing again， finding that the small intervals of the day provided sufficient time for both writing and piano practice.

There is an important trick in this time-using formula：you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for writing， you can"t afford to waste four chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand， and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately， rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.

I confess I have never learned how to let go easily at the end of the five or ten minutes. But life can be counted on to supply interruptions. Carl Walter has had a tremendous influence on my life. To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all the useful hours I need， if I plunge in without delay.

佚名

當年我肯定有14歲了，但由于年少無知，我事后并沒有做過多的思考。但是許多年后，我又想起了卡爾·沃爾特那天跟我說的話，那些話給我帶來了不可估量的價值。

卡爾·沃爾特是我的鋼琴老師。有一次上課時，他問我每天練琴多長時間，我回答說每天練三四個小時。

“你都用一整段的時間練琴嗎？每次持續一個小時嗎？”

“我盡量這樣。”

“不，千萬別這樣！”他突然提高了音量說，“你長大以后，就不會有整段的時間去練琴了。利用一切可利用的時間，隨時練琴。利用上學前，午飯后或是做家務時，空閑的五分鐘或十分鐘。把每天練琴的時間分散開來，這樣彈鋼琴就自然而然成為你生命的一部分了。”

當我在哥倫比亞教書時，希望寫些文章，但是上課、批改作業以及開委員會議幾乎占據了我的生活。在接下來的兩年里，我事實上什么也沒寫，我為自己找的借口就是沒時間。之后，我回想起卡爾·沃爾特跟我說過的話。

在接下來的一周里，我做了個實驗。只要有五分鐘的空閑時間，我就坐下來寫上一百來個字。出乎我的意料，到了周末，我已經有數量可觀的一部分底稿可供修改了。

后來，我用了同樣的方法，把空閑時間利用起來寫小說。盡管我的教學任務比以前更加繁重，但是每天我總能抓住一些空余時間，并把它們利用起來。我甚至又開始彈鋼琴了，我發現把每天那些短短的空閑時間加起來，足夠我寫寫東西、彈彈鋼琴了。

在施行這種利用時間的方案時，還有個重要的訣竅需要注意：你必須很快投入進去。如果你只有五分鐘的寫作時間，你就不能花四分鐘咬著鉛筆構思。你必須事先有足夠的精神準備，一有時間就立刻投入要做的事中。幸運的是，迅速集中精力比我們大部分人想象的要容易很多。

坦白的講，至今我還沒有學會在間歇的五分鐘或十分鐘結束時如何輕易將手中的事放下。但生活能夠保證不斷地給我們提供許多這樣短暫的空余時間。卡爾·沃爾特對我的一生產生了巨大的影響。正是他讓我發現，如果我做事能毫不拖沓地立即投入，即使是十分短暫的空閑時間，只要都利用起來，也會累積成為我所需要的幾個小時。

詞匯空間 ocabulary

1.dismiss v. 拒絕考慮，簡單處理

2.manuscript n. 手稿，底稿

3.piecemeal adj. 逐漸的，零碎的

文化鏈接 Culture Background

樂器之王——鋼琴

人們口中所說的樂器之王就是鋼琴，而樂器之后是小提琴，樂器王子是古典吉他。在世界各國的成千上萬種古今樂器當中，現代鋼琴被眾多的音樂家們譽為“樂器之王”。這不僅是由于它的體積最大、內部結構最復雜，更主要的還是由于它優良全面的性能和廣泛的用途，這都是其他任何樂器（除為數不多的教堂、音樂廳中的管風琴外）無法與之相比擬的。

妙語拾珠

1.There is an important trick in this time-using formula：you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for writing， you can"t afford to waste four chewing your pencil.

這種利用時間的方法有個重要的訣竅：你必須很快投入進去。如果你只有五分鐘的寫作時間，你就不能花四分鐘咬著鉛筆構思。

2.To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all the useful hours I need， if I plunge in without delay.

多虧了他，我才發現如果能都做到立即投入，即使是很短暫的空閑時間，只要都利用起來也會累積成為我所需要的有用的幾個小時。