“What are you doing？”my fifth-grade teacherinquired1 as I hunched2 over the side of my desk.

“你在干什么？”當(dāng)我弓著腰坐在課桌邊上時(shí)，我五年級(jí)的老師問道。

“I’m packing my backpack. The bell rings in a few minutes.”

“我正在收拾背包。幾分鐘后鈴聲就要響了?！?/p>

“Unpack your assignments3. You still have five minutes. We work until theclock runs out. The more you do here in class with me， the less you have to do athome，”she countered with a small smile as she walked back to her desk. She was avery kind and sweet woman， but I knew she meant business， too.“

打開你的作業(yè)。你還有五分鐘時(shí)間。我們會(huì)一直工作到時(shí)間結(jié)束。在這里，你和我一起在課堂上做的事情越多，你在家里要做的事情就越少。”她笑著回到辦公桌前反駁道。她是一個(gè)非常和藹可親的女人，但我知道她也是認(rèn)真的。

I pulled my math assignment back out and completed one problem at a time asthe minutes on the clock ticked away. The bell finally rang， and I stuffed4 myhomework in my backpack as fast as possible and headed to my next class.

當(dāng)時(shí)間一分一秒地流逝時(shí)，我把我的數(shù)學(xué)作業(yè)重新拿出來，一道題一道題地完成。鈴聲終于響了，我以最快的速度把作業(yè)塞進(jìn)背包，然后去了下一節(jié)課。

I cannot remember how many times per day she would reiterate5， “Use yourtime wisely.”It worked. It became second nature for me to work until the bell rang.

我不記得她每天會(huì)重申多少次“明智地利用你的時(shí)間”。這句話很管用。做作業(yè)到下課鈴響成了我習(xí)以為常的事情。

In middle school， I continued the practice she instilled6 in me. I worked onmy assignments until the bell rang. And she was right. The more I did in class， themore time off I had at home. The more time I had at home， the more time I hadfor hobbies.

在中學(xué)時(shí)，我繼續(xù)她灌輸給我的做法。我在鈴聲響起前一直做作業(yè)。她是對的。我在課堂上做得越多，在家休息的時(shí)間就越多。我在家的時(shí)間越多，就有越多的時(shí)間留給自己的愛好。

I continued the practice until my senior year in high school， having an entireyear’s worth of college classes completed before I even threw my mortarboard7into the air. I used my time wisely.

我一直繼續(xù)這一做法，直到高中的最后一年，在我把我的學(xué)位帽拋向空中之前，我已經(jīng)完成了整整一年的大學(xué)課程。我明智地利用了我的時(shí)間。

I instilled that mindset in nearly every aspect of my adult life： my education，my career8， and my family.

我把這種心態(tài)灌輸?shù)搅宋页赡晟畹膸缀醴椒矫婷妫何业慕逃?、我的事業(yè)和我的家庭。

At age ten， I didn’t understand. I do now. Learning how to use your timewisely also means learning what’s important to you. It’s not just a lesson in usingthe time you have， but in enjoying those moments， treasuring the time spent withloved ones， and living life.

十歲的時(shí)候，我不明白。我現(xiàn)在明白了。學(xué)會(huì)如何明智地利用時(shí)間也意味著學(xué)會(huì)什么對你來說是重要的。這不僅僅是關(guān)于利用現(xiàn)有時(shí)間的一堂課，也是關(guān)于享受這些時(shí)刻、珍惜與親人共度的時(shí)光和學(xué)會(huì)生活的一堂課。

（英語原文選自：chickensoup.com）