2014中石油職稱英語考試新版通用選讀文章1

　　1.the value of time 時間的價值

　　1."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 produce 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 an hour misspent is equivalent to the loss of a banknote; 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.

　　1、諺語說：“時間就是金錢?！边@句話的意思是，一時片刻只要用得有效， 都會讓我們的口袋增添一些錢。如果我們的時間使用得當(dāng)，就能生產(chǎn)出有用 的、重要的產(chǎn)品，在市場上賣得一定的價錢;就能充實經(jīng)驗，增長才干，等 到適當(dāng)?shù)臅r機(jī)來臨時，我們就能掙得金錢。因此，毫無疑問，時間可以轉(zhuǎn)化 為金錢。讓那些對浪費(fèi)時間滿不在乎的人記住這一點。讓他們記住，浪費(fèi)一 小時等于損失一張鈔票，而利用一小時就等于得到若干金銀。這樣，他們想 浪費(fèi)時間時或許會三思而后行。

　　2.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 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.

　　2、再說，我們的生命無非就是我們活在人世的時間。因此，浪費(fèi)時間也 就是一種自殺。我們想到死，便驚恐不已，因而不惜一切努力、麻煩和費(fèi)用 來保全我們的生命。可是，我們對于損失一個小時或者一天的時間卻往往漠 不關(guān)心、無動于衷，忘記了我們的生命原本就是我們生活的每一天、每一小 時的總和。因此，浪費(fèi)一天或一小時也就是喪失一天或一小時的生命。讓我 們記住這一點，這樣就會把浪費(fèi)時間看作一種罪過，跟自殺一樣應(yīng)該受到懲 罰。

　　3.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!"

　　3、還有第三層考慮，也會提醒我們別浪費(fèi)時間。人生短暫，總共不過六 七十年，可是將近一半時間必須用于睡眠;吃飯時間加起來也得花去一些年; 穿衣脫衣又是一些年;水陸、陸路旅行又是一些年;再加上一些年娛樂時間 (不論是為自己還是為別人);一些年宗教節(jié)日和社會節(jié)日的慶?；顒?還有 一些年在病床邊照看至親至愛。現(xiàn)在如果從我們的壽命中扣除所有這些歲月， 我們將會發(fā)現(xiàn)，能受我們支配的有效的工作時間大約僅十五或二十年而己。 誰能記住這一點，誰就不會心甘情愿地浪費(fèi)他生命的分分秒秒和每時每刻。 查斯特菲爾德勛爵說過，“對于分配給我們這一生的時間，若有人游手好閑， 即使浪費(fèi)片刻，也是令人吃驚的。要認(rèn)識到時間的真正價值，要爭分奪秒， 充分利用有限的時間?！?/P>

　　4.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."

　　4、所有的時間都是寶貴的，而我們童年和青年時期的光陰比一生中的其他階段都更為寶貴，因為只有在這兩個階段我們才能獲取知識、增長才干和發(fā)展各種才能。如果我們讓這些生命的早晨時光悄悄溜走，這損失將永遠(yuǎn)也 無法彌補(bǔ)。等我們長大了，獲得知識的能力就變得遲鈍了，因此在童年和青年時期未能獲得的知識和技能將永遠(yuǎn)不能獲得了。儲蓄金錢，產(chǎn)生利息，到 時候會翻兩三倍;同樣，童年和青年時期的寶貴時光，如果使用得當(dāng)，必將帶來不可估量的收益。查斯特菲爾德勛爵還說過，“喪失的每一時刻就等于喪失了與之相當(dāng)?shù)拿屠?。從另一方面看，你現(xiàn)在有效利用的每一時刻正是明 智地以這時間作為投資，將來定會獲取巨額的利息?！?/P>

　　5.a proper employment of time is of great benefit to us from a moral point of view. idleness is justly said to be the rust of the mind and an idle brain is said to be satan’s workshop. it is mostly when you do not know what to do with yourself that you do something ill or wrong. the mind of the idler preys upon itself. as watts has said:

　　in works of labor or of skill

　　let me be busy too;

　　for satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.

　　5、從道德的觀點來看，恰當(dāng)?shù)乩脮r間對我們也有很大的好處。懶惰是心靈上的銹跡，懶人的頭腦是撒旦的作坊，這話說得很有理。犯錯誤大多數(shù)是由于無所事事、百無聊賴所致。懶人只會自尋煩惱和作繭自縛。正如艾薩克，瓦茨所說，“我要勤快地工作，不管是粗活還是細(xì)活;因為撒且還有些壞事，專借懶人的手去做。”