悠游度过一天的24小时：第六章 牢记人的天性

CHAPTER VI Remember Human Nature

第六章 牢记人的天性

I have incidentally mentioned the vast expanse of forty-four hours between leaving business at 2 p.m. on Saturday and returning to business at 10 a.m. on Monday. And here I must touch on the point whether the week should consist of six days or of seven. For many years—in fact, until I was approaching forty—my own week consisted of seven days. I was constantly being informed by older and wiser people that more work, more genuine living, could be got out of six days than out of seven.

我已顺带提及了从周六下午2点下班到周一早上10点上班之间有一大段时间长达44小时。此刻我须谈谈一周应该是六天还是七天。多年来——实际上，直到我快要四十岁时——我的一周是七天。一直以来，年长睿智的人不断告诉我一周工作六天比七天更有效率，生活得更好。

And it is certainly true that now, with one day in seven in which I follow no programme and make no effort save what the caprice of the moment dictates, I appreciate intensely the moral value of a weekly rest. Nevertheless, had I my life to arrange over again, I would do again as I have done. Only those who have lived at the full stretch seven days a week for a long time can appreciate the full beauty of a regular recurring idleness. Moreover, I am ageing. And it is a question of age. In cases of abounding youth and exceptional energy and desire for effort I should say unhesitatingly: Keep going, day in, day out.

确实，如今七天里有一天我不安排任何计划，除了一时兴起，并不费心做什么，我十分理解每周放松一次的道德价值。然而，如果让我重新安排我的生活，我将依然故我。只有那些长期以来一周七天都全力以赴的人才能体会到拥有固定假期是多么美妙的事情。更何况，我正渐渐老去，这也是个年龄的问题。如果遇见朝气蓬勃、精力格外旺盛并渴望做更多事的年轻人，我会毫不犹豫地说：请不舍昼夜，努力拼搏。

But in the average case I should say: Confine your formal programme (super-programme, I mean) to six days a week. If you find yourself wishing to extend it, extend it, but only in proportion to your wish; and count the time extra as a windfall, not as regular income, so that you can return to a six-day programme without the sensation of being poorer, of being a backslider.

但一般情况下，我会说：一周限定六天执行你的正式计划（我指超级计划）。如果你想延长也可以延长，但要与你的企望成比例；把额外的时间当成意外之财，而不是稳定收入，这样你恢复六天的日程安排时，就不会觉得自己“收入”减少了，也不会感觉自己在退步。

Let us now see where we stand. So far we have marked for saving out of the waste of days, half an hour at least on six mornings a week, and one hour and a half on three evenings a week. Total, seven hours and a half a week.

现在看看我们了解了什么。目前我们明确了怎样从每天浪费的时间中节约出时间：每周六天，每天早上至少半小时；加上每周三个晚上，每晚各一个半小时，每周总共有七个半小时。

I propose to be content with that seven hours and a half for the present. "What?" you cry. "You pretend to show us how to live, and you only deal with seven hours and a half out of a hundred and sixtyeight! Are you going to perform a miracle with your seven hours and a half?" Well, not to mince the matter, I am—if you will kindly let me! That is to say, I am going to ask you to attempt an experience which, while perfectly natural and explicable, has all the air of a miracle. My contention is that the full use of those seven-and-a-half hours will quicken the whole life of the week, add zest to it, and increase the interest which you feel in even the most banal occupations. You practise physical exercises for a mere ten minutes morning and evening, and yet you are not astonished when your physical health and strength are beneficially affected every hour of the day, and your whole physical outlook changed. Why should you be astonished that an average of over an hour a day given to the mind should permanently and completely enliven the whole activity of the mind?

我提议现在我们应该满足于这节省出的七个半小时。“什么？”你叫道，“你声称教我们怎样生活，可你却不过在168个小时中抽出七个半小时做文章！用这七个半小时，你准备上演什么奇迹吗？”噢，毋庸讳言，我是要上演奇迹——如果你好心应允的话！换句话说，我想请你尝试体验一下，虽然这种体验极其自然，说得清道得明，但它跟奇迹并无二致。我认为充分利用那七个半小时会使你这一周过得更快，生活变得更有激情，连你一向觉得乏味至极的工作都能唤起你的兴趣。一早一晚你花区区十分钟锻炼身体，就会全天受益，体格改善、体力增强，你整个身体状况都有所改观，对此你并不惊讶。同理，平均一天花一个多小时来陶冶性情，也应能长久地使所有精神活动充满生机，对此你又何须惊异呢？

More time might assuredly be given to the cultivation of one's self. And in proportion as the time was longer the results would be greater. But I prefer to begin with what looks like a trifling effort.

或许应该投入更多时间提高自身素质。付出的时间越多，收获就越大。但我倾向于从看似微不足道的努力开始。

It is not really a trif ling effort, as those will discover who have yet to essay it. To "clear" even seven hours and a half from the jungle is passably difficult. For some sacrifice has to be made. One may have spent one's time badly, but one did spend it; one did do something with it, however ill-advised that something may have been. To do something else means a change of habits.

其实也不是微不足道的努力，那些尚未有所尝试的人今后会发现这一点。即使从时间丛林中“清理出”七个半小时都有些困难，因为得作某种牺牲。也许一个人的确花了那些时间，不管过得多么糟糕；也许一个人也的确利用那时间做了些事，不管那些事做得多么不妥。但想要做其他事就意味着习惯的改变。

And habits are the very dickens to change! Further, any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts. If you imagine that you will be able to devote seven hours and a half a week to serious, continuous effort, and still live your old life, you are mistaken. I repeat that some sacrifice, and an immense deal of volition, will be necessary. And it is because I know the difficulty, it is because I know the almost disastrous effect of failure in such an enterprise, that I earnestly advise a very humble beginning. You must safeguard your self-respect. Self-respect is at the root of all purposefulness, and a failure in an enterprise deliberately planned deals a desperate wound at one's self-respect. Hence I iterate and reiterate: Start quietly, unostentatiously.

要改变习惯相当困难！况且，任何改变，哪怕是往好的方面改变总伴随着缺憾和不适。如果你想象自己每周都能利用那七个半小时坚持不懈地认真努力，却同时还能过着以前的生活，那你就错了。我重复一遍，某种牺牲以及过人的毅力是必需的。因为我知道要做到那样是多么困难，并且在这件事情上一旦失败会造成几乎是灾难性的后果，所以我诚恳地建议要非常缓和地开始。你必须维护你的自尊，自尊是一切动机的根本，在精心思量的事情上失败往往会给人的自尊带来致命的打击。因此我重申，再重申：要低调谦抑地开始。

When you have conscientiously given seven hours and a half a week to the cultivation of your vitality for three months—then you may begin to sing louder and tell yourself what wondrous things you are capable of doing.

如果你每周花七个半小时认真提升自己的精力，三个月下来，你就可以开始高声歌唱，可以告诉自己能做多么神奇的事。

Before coming to the method of using the indicated hours, I have one final suggestion to make. That is, as regards the evenings, to allow much more than an hour and a half in which to do the work of an hour and a half. Remember the chance of accidents. Remember human nature. And give yourself, say, from 9 to 11.30 for your task of ninety minutes.

在讲到利用那些时间的方法之前，我还有最后一个建议。就晚间活动安排而言，可以花超过一个半小时的时间做一个半小时的工作，因为要考虑到可能发生的意外，要想到人的天性。比如，让自己从晚上9点到11点半做本来计划90分钟内做完的事情。