美国人的"时间"观念

    美国人的"时间"观念

    There are two elements in life that Americans do save carefully： time and labor 1.

    在美国人的生活中，有两样东西他们确实在小心地节省：时间和人力。

    Americans are "slaves to nothing but the clock" jt has been said. Time is treated as if it were an almost tangible 2 entry. In their language， there are words associated with it： time can be budgeted， saved， wasted， stolen， killed， and cut. Americans also charge for time. It is a precious commodity to them. Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out of a person's hourglass， they con 3 not be replaced. They want every minute to count.

    有这样一种说法，即：美国人是"钟表的奴隶"。对他们干说，好像时间就是一个几乎看得见的通道。在他们的语言中，就有一些同时间有联系的词：时间可以安排、节省、浪费、侵占、消磨和节减等。美国人还对时间收费。他们认为时间是一项珍贵商品。许多美国人对一生时间的短促相当敏感。一个人的沙漏计时器中的沙子一旦流走了，那是无法弥补的。他们要让每分钟都有价值。

    Since people value time highly， they resent someone else" wasting" it beyond a certain courtesy point. This affects the matter of patience. In the American system of values， patience is not a high priority. Many of them have what might be called "a short fuse". They begin to splutter and move restlessly about if they feel time is slipping away without some return -- be this in terms of pleasure， work value or rest.

    由于人们非常珍惜时间，他们很讨厌那些不知趣地"浪费"别人时间的人。这影响到耐心这个问题。在美国人的价值体系中，耐心并不很重要。许多美国人可以说是"脾气急躁"的。如果他们感到时间在悄悄流失而一无所得时（这里的"所得"是就快乐、工作价值或休息而言），他们便开始说话激动，坐卧不宁。

    Normally Americans do not assess their visitors in relaxed surroundings over prolonged small talk； much less do they take them out for dinner， while they develop a pre-business sense of trust and rapport 4. Rapport to most of them is less important than performance. They seek out credentials 5 of past performance rather than evaluating a business colleague through social courtesies. Since they generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially， they start talking business very quickly.

    通常情况下，美国人不会在轻松随意的气氛中通过长时间地闲谈来评估他们的来访者；更不会饭馆宴请客人来建立一种洽淡事务前的信任感和友好关系。对大多数人来说，友好关系比不上实际表现重要。他们注重过去的工作成绩记录，而不是通过社交礼仪去评估一个同行。他们一般是从职业角度而不是从社交活动上去评价和探讨事情的，所以他们很快就开始谈正事。

    Most Americans live in time segments by engagement calendars. These calendars may be divided into intervals 6 as short as fifteen minutes. They often" give" a person two or three （or more） segments of their calendar， but in the business world they almost always have other appointments following hard on the heels of whatever they are doing. Time is therefore always ticking in their inner ear.

    多数美国人在日程表上写满了约会，把时间分成一段一段的。这些日程之间可以划出若干个短到15分钟的间歇。他们经常"留给"一个人两个或三个（或者更多个）日程时间段；然而，在商界，不管他们在干什么，几乎总是一个约会紧接着一个约会。因此，时钟的滴嗒声总是回荡在他们的耳边。