智慧背囊 思想的珍珠-11-人生的大石头

[00:02.58]Big Rocks 人生的大石头
[00:04.50]　　One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of students ,
[00:10.85]and to drive home a point,
[00:13.12]used an illustration those students will never forget.
[00:16.53]　　As he stood in front of the group of overachievers he said,
[00:20.34]“OK, time for a quiz.”
[00:23.01]He pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth jar
[00:26.62]and set it on the table in front of him.
[00:29.13]He also produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them,
[00:34.86]one at a time, into the jar.
[00:37.52] When the jar was filled to the top
[00:39.93]and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked,
[00:42.99]“Is this jar full?”
[00:44.41]　　Everyone in the class yelled, “Yes.”
[00:47.36]The time management expert replied, “Really?”
[00:51.41] He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel¹.
[00:55.35] He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar,
[00:58.74]causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks.
[01:04.85] He then asked the group once more,
[01:07.30]“Is this jar full?”
[01:09.19]　　By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered.
[01:15.30] “Good!” he replied.
[01:16.74]He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand.
[01:20.57] He started dumping the sand in the jar
[01:23.30] and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel.
[01:27.79] Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?”
[01:32.00]　　 “No!” the class shouted.
[01:34.25] Once again he said, “Good.”
[01:36.43] Then he grabbed a pitcher² of water
[01:38.74]and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim.
[01:43.09] Then he looked at the class and asked,
[01:45.94]“What is the point of this illustration?”
[01:48.57]One eager student raised his hand and said,
[01:51.97]“The point is, no matter how full your schedule is,
[01:55.35] if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!”
[01:59.84]　　“No,” the speaker replied,
[02:01.88]“that’s not the point.
[02:03.61]The truth this illustration teaches us
[02:06.79]is if you don’t put the big rocks in first,
[02:09.70]you’ll never get them in at all.
[02:11.72]What are the ‘big rocks’ in your life?
[02:14.23] Time with your loved ones, your education, your dreams,
[02:18.29] a worthy³ cause, or teaching others?
[02:20.97] Remember to put these big rocks in first or you’ll never get them in at all.”

1 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

2 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

3 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。