美国人认为时间是一种有限的资源，所以他们尽量爱惜它，用好它。美国人经常参加有关利用时间的讨论会或阅读这方面的书籍。他们似乎都希望能把自己的时间安 排得更好。专业人士随身带着袖珍记事本（有些是电子记事本），好随时留意约会时间和工作期限。人们想尽办法要在有限的时间内挤出更多的生活内容。早期的美 国英雄本杰明·富兰克林将这种观念表达得最为透彻：“你爱生命吗？如果爱就不要浪费时间，因为生命即是由时间组成的。”
Because Americans believe time is a limited resource, they try to conserve and manage it. People in the U.S. often attend seminars or read books on time management. It seems they all want to organize their time better. Professionals carry around pocket planners some in electronic form to keep track of appointments and deadlines. People do all they can to squeeze more life out of their time. The early American hero Benjamin Franklin expressed this view best: “Do you love life? Then do not waste time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”
(Source: wwenglish.com)