第6章 A Little at a Time 循序渐进

Anonymous

心灵寄语

如果有人问你“你现在怎么样？”“很忙”是否会脱口而出？“还好，我有许多休闲时间”这样的回答应该是很久以前的事了。现在每个人都在忙碌，而且永远觉得时间不够用。这是正常状态吗？当然不是，尽管你已经习以为常。其实，症结在于我们不懂得如何高效利用时间。

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

当年我肯定有14岁了，但由于年少无知，我事后并没有做过多的思考。但是许多年后，我又想起了卡尔·沃尔特那天跟我说的话，那些话给我带来了不可估量的价值。

卡尔·沃尔特是我的钢琴老师。有一次上课时，他问我每天练琴多长时间，我回答说每天练三四个小时。

“你都用一整段的时间练琴吗？每次持续一个小时吗？”

“我尽量这样。”

“不，千万别这样！”他突然提高了音量说，“你长大以后，就不会有整段的时间去练琴了。利用一切可利用的时间，随时练琴。利用上学前，午饭后或是做家务时，空闲的五分钟或十分钟。把每天练琴的时间分散开来，这样弹钢琴就自然而然成为你生命的一部分了。”

当我在哥伦比亚教书时，希望写些文章，但是上课、批改作业以及开委员会议几乎占据了我的生活。在接下来的两年里，我事实上什么也没写，我为自己找的借口就是没时间。之后，我回想起卡尔·沃尔特跟我说过的话。

在接下来的一周里，我做了个实验。只要有五分钟的空闲时间，我就坐下来写上一百来个字。出乎我的意料，到了周末，我已经有数量可观的一部分底稿可供修改了。

后来，我用了同样的方法，把空闲时间利用起来写小说。尽管我的教学任务比以前更加繁重，但是每天我总能抓住一些空余时间，并把它们利用起来。我甚至又开始弹钢琴了，我发现把每天那些短短的空闲时间加起来，足够我写写东西、弹弹钢琴了。

在施行这种利用时间的方案时，还有个重要的诀窍需要注意：你必须很快投入进去。如果你只有五分钟的写作时间，你就不能花四分钟咬着铅笔构思。你必须事先有足够的精神准备，一有时间就立刻投入要做的事中。幸运的是，迅速集中精力比我们大部分人想象的要容易很多。

坦白的讲，至今我还没有学会在间歇的五分钟或十分钟结束时如何轻易将手中的事放下。但生活能够保证不断地给我们提供许多这样短暂的空余时间。卡尔·沃尔特对我的一生产生了巨大的影响。正是他让我发现，如果我做事能毫不拖沓地立即投入，即使是十分短暂的空闲时间，只要都利用起来，也会累积成为我所需要的几个小时。

词汇空间 ocabulary

1.dismiss v. 拒绝考虑，简单处理

2.manuscript n. 手稿，底稿

3.piecemeal adj. 逐渐的，零碎的

文化链接 Culture Background

乐器之王——钢琴

人们口中所说的乐器之王就是钢琴，而乐器之后是小提琴，乐器王子是古典吉他。在世界各国的成千上万种古今乐器当中，现代钢琴被众多的音乐家们誉为“乐器之王”。这不仅是由于它的体积最大、内部结构最复杂，更主要的还是由于它优良全面的性能和广泛的用途，这都是其他任何乐器（除为数不多的教堂、音乐厅中的管风琴外）无法与之相比拟的。

妙语拾珠

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.

这种利用时间的方法有个重要的诀窍：你必须很快投入进去。如果你只有五分钟的写作时间，你就不能花四分钟咬着铅笔构思。

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.

多亏了他，我才发现如果能都做到立即投入，即使是很短暂的空闲时间，只要都利用起来也会累积成为我所需要的有用的几个小时。