奧裏森·馬登/Orison Marden
Caesar's delay to read a message cost him his life when he reached the senate house.
“Delays have dangerous ends.”Colonel Rahl, the Hessian commander at Trenton, was playing cards when a messenger brought a letter stating that Washington was crossing the Delaware. He put the letter in his pocket without reading it until the game was fnished, when he rallied his men only to die just before his troops were taken prisoners. Only a few minutes'delay, but he lost honor, liberty, and life!
Success is the child of two very plain parents—punctuality and accuracy. There are critical moments in every successful life when if the mind hesitates or a nerve finches all will be lost.
Napoleon laid great stress upon that“supreme moment,”that“nick of time”which occurs in every battle, to take advantage ofwhich means victory, and to lose in hesitation means disaster. He said that he beat the Austrians because they did not know the value of fve minutes；and it has been said that among the trifles that conspired to defeat him at Waterloo, the loss of a few moments by himself and Grouchy on the fatal morning were the most significant. Blucher was on time, and Grouchy was late. It was enough to send Napoleon to St. Helena.
It is a well-known truism that has almost been elevated to the dignity of a maxim, that what may be done at any time will be done at no time.
“The fact is,”says the Rev. Sydney Smith,“that, in order to do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank, and thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can. It will not do to be perpetually calculating risks and adjusting nice chances. It did all very well before the food, but at present a man waits, and doubts, and hesitates, and consults his brother, and his uncle, and his cousin, and his particular friends, till, one fine day, he finds that he is sixty-five years of age，—that he has lost so much.”
The energy wasted in postponing until tomorrow a duty of today, would often do the work. How much harder and more disagreeable, too, it is to do work which has been put off. What would have been done at the time with pleasure or even enthusiasm becomes drudgery after it has been delayed for days and weeks. Letters can never be answered so easily as when frst received. Many large frms make it a rule never to allow a letter to lie unanswered overnight. Promptness takes the drudgery out of an occupation.
Putting off usually means leaving off, and going to do becomes going undone. Doing a deed is like sowing a seed；if not done at justthe right time it will be forever out of season. The summer of eternity will not be long enough to bring to maturity the fruit of a delayed action. If a star or planet were delayed one second, it might throw the whole universe out of harmony.
愷撒大帝沒有及時閱讀一份報告，便去參加一次會議，結果搭上了自己的性命。
“耽擱意味著後果不堪設想。”駐紮在特頓的雇傭軍總指揮拉爾總督有一次正在玩牌時，有人給他送來一份報告，報告中說華盛頓的大軍已經越過了特拉華。拉爾看都沒看便把這份緊急報告隨手放進兜裏，直到一場牌局結束之後才想起來讀。他緊急調遣部下出發應戰，結果全軍覆沒，拉爾自己也戰死沙場。僅僅因幾分鍾的延遲，拉爾便丟掉了榮譽、自由和性命。
準時與精確是成功之母。成功的生活中充滿了危急時刻，切忌躊躇不前或畏首畏尾，否則你將一事無成。
拿破侖就是一個善於搶占先機的人。在他指揮的戰爭中，這種情況隨處可見。先發製人，意味著勝利，而躊躇不前往往會造成災難性的結局。拿破侖曾經說過，他能夠戰勝奧地利人的奧秘就在於奧地利人不知道利用五分鍾的價值。據說，使拿破侖慘敗滑鐵盧的眾多瑣事中，最致命的就是在那個生死攸關的上午，他和格魯希幾分鍾的損失。布魯歇爾及時到達了，而格魯希卻遲到了。正是這導致了拿破侖被流放至聖赫勒拿島。
這一事件證實了一句名言：“機不可失，時不再來。”
悉尼·史密斯曾經說過：“事實上，為了能在這個世界上有所作為，站在河邊的我們，千萬不要因懼怕河水冰冷或危險重重而躊躇，而是應該馬上跳入河中，然後全力向對岸遊去。反複地估量危險、等待機會是沒有任何用處的。我們本可以在洪水來臨之前就解決問題。可是，大多數人常常找來他的親戚和朋友為自己出謀劃策，等到他覺得時機成熟時，卻發現自己已經65歲了，這樣做付出的代價實在太沉重了。”
今天的工作推遲到明天去做，往往精力也隨之耗盡。做一些延誤的工作，是多麽艱難與無奈的事情。原本在情緒高漲的時候可以輕鬆完成的事，若被耽誤幾天或幾個星期之後，就會變成負擔。收到信件立即回複，比其他任何時候回複都要容易。許多大公司都有這樣一個不成文的規定：所有信件必須在當天回複。當機立斷可以使乏味的工作變得不再乏味。
拖延時間往往意味著逃避，其結果大都是一事無成。做一件事情就像播種一樣，如果沒有在適當的季節采取行動，就絕不可能有好的收成。再漫長的夏天，也無法彌補已經耽擱的事情。如果宇宙中有一顆行星改變了運行軌道——哪怕僅僅比平時晚了一秒鍾，也會使整個宇宙不再和諧。
W詞匯筆記
accuracy['?kjur?si]n.精確度；準確性
例 The results demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the algorithm.
數值結果證明了該算法的有效性和精確性。
trifle['traifl]n.瑣事；少量；蛋糕
例 Don't waste the time on this trifle.
不要為這種瑣事浪費時間。
truism['tru:iz?m]n.自明之理；老生常談；眾所周知
例 Brooks's Law has been widely regarded as a truism.
布魯克斯定律早已被廣泛認可。
maxim['m?ksim]n.格言；座右銘；準則
例 Humility is the maxim in his life.
謙卑是他的人生座右銘。
S小試身手
準時與精確是成功之母。
譯________________________________________
今天的工作推遲到明天去做，往往精力也隨之耗盡。
譯________________________________________
拖延時間往往意味著逃避，其結果大都是一事無成。
譯________________________________________
P短語家族
It is to do work which has been put off.
put off：推遲；扔掉；阻止
造________________________________________
Putting off usually means leaving off, and going to do becomes going undone.
leave off：停止
造________________________________________