英语美文：Big Rocks
时间：2012-12-17 05:46:34
（单词翻译:单击）
One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of students. He stood in front of them and said, “Okay, time for a quiz1.” Then he pulled out a wide-mouthed Mason jar and set it on the table. He then produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is the jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.”
He replied, “Really?” He reached under the table and pulled out a
bucket2 (一桶) of
gravel3(碎石), then dumped(倾倒) some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel down into the space between the big rocks.
He asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered.
“Good!” he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started
dumping4 the sand in the jar and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is the jar full?” “No!” the class shouted.
Then he began to pour water in until the jar was filled to the
brim5 (边缘). Then he looked at the class and asked, “What is the point of this
illustration6 (演示)?” One student raised her hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule (日程安排) is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in!”
“Good answer,” the speaker replied, “this illustration also teaches us the truth: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all. What are the ‘big rocks’ in your life?”
一天，一名时间管理专家在对一群学生讲话时，站在这群出类拔萃的学生面前，他说：“来，做个小测试。”他拿出一个广口玻璃瓶放在桌上。接着他拿出一小堆拳头大小的石块，小心翼翼地、一块一块地放进瓶子里。等石块装满到瓶子，再也塞不下时，他问：“瓶子满了吗？”大家都说：“满了。”
他问：“真的满了吗？”他伸手到桌下提出一桶碎石，将碎石倒进瓶子里，摇晃瓶子让碎石漏进石块的间隙里去。
他又问学生：“瓶子装满了吗？”这时学生们领悟过来了。“可能还没满吧!”一个学生回答说。
“好！”他说道。他伸手从桌底下拎出了一桶沙，把沙往瓶子里倒，沙子塞满了石块与碎石的缝隙，他又一次问：“满了吗？”“没满！”全班学生大声回答。
然后他又往瓶子里倒水，一直倒到水升到瓶口高。他看着学生们问：“这个演示说明了什么？”一个学生举手说：“说明了不管时间安排得多紧，只要你想办法，总是可以见缝插针地做更多的事情。”
“回答得好，”专家说：“不过这个例子还告诉我们一个事实：如果你不是先放大石块，以后它们就永远摆不进去。你生活中的‘大石块’是什么呢？”
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