5分钟能做什么？

 　　Here's a simple way to potentially save hours of your time each week, by investing² a total of about five minutes.

　　介绍一种能够帮助你每周都能预先节约下好多时间的简单方法，总共仅仅需要投入约5分钟的时间。

　　First thing one morning, take a piece of paper and write a column³ of numbers representing each hour from the time you wake up until you go to sleep. For me, the list would start 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1 and go all the way back to 12. (So far, you have invested⁴ about fifteen seconds.)

　　在早晨做的第一件事，找一张纸，写下一列数字代表你从醒来到睡着的每个小时。对我来说，这列数字会是6,7,8,9,10,11,12,1然后再回到12（到目前为止你总共花了15秒）。

　　For this single day, at the top of every hour stop for 20 seconds and consider how happy you are with the way you spent your time. Did you invest¹ it wisely? If the answer is yes, don't write anything.

　　在这天中，每个小时的开始花20秒思考一下你是否对过去1个小时的时间利用感到满意。你是否合理地利用了？假如答案是肯定的，不要写任何东西。

　　But if you wouldn't repeat the way you spent the last hour, next to the number representing that hour write a few words that describes what you did. On one of my lists, for example, at 3 o’clock I wrote "pointless to talk with Ralph; doesn't listen," meaning that it was a waste of my time to meet with him.

　　但要是你不愿重复你过去1个小时的过法，在代表那个小时的数字旁边写下几个字来描述你做了些什么。以我的一份列表举例：在3点时我写了“和拉尔夫说话毫无意义，他根本没听”，这代表我和他会面根本就是浪费时间。

　　Stick with this exercise all day; it takes very little time, just the discipline to stop every hour for a few seconds. But at the end of the day, you'll have a list of activities you wish you avoided. If the list has more than one or two items, you might want to continue the practice for a while.

　　整天都按照这个方法来做，这不会花太多时间，只需要每个小时花那么几秒钟。但是当一天结束时，你将会获得一张你希望避免的事情的列表。假如这张列表中有超过2个项目的话，你或许就想要继续保持这么做了。

　　If you make this a habit, you'll soon start to spot patterns. It will be easier to recognize ways in which you are wasting time and effort, and you'll do a better job of avoiding these.

　　假如你把它当成一种习惯，你很快就会找出规律了。这样做能更好地找出一天中你浪费时间和精力的那些事，假如你能避免做那些事，你就能把时间利用得更好。

　　You can also use this technique across an entire department to help all involved make better use of their time. To avoid offending⁵ people, I wouldn't suggest pooling the results. You can simply introduce the test and allow people to draw their own conclusions.

　　你也可以在整个部门推行这种方法以帮助所有人更好地利用时间。为了避免冒犯到别人，我不建议你收集结果。你可以仅仅将这种办法介绍给他们并且让他们自己得出结论。

　　Encourage people to not only list the problems that wasted their time, but to also write down solutions for using their time more wisely. For example, at the end of a long meeting, you might realize that while your initial⁶ strategy⁷ of barking out orders did not work, that once you took the time to listen to others, they became more willing to listen to you.

　　鼓励别人不仅仅是把那些浪费时间的问题列出来，还要写下如何更好地利用时间的方法。比如，在一次漫长会议的结尾，你或许会发现你最初计划的强压政策并没有奏效，因为当你更乐意花时间聆听别人时，别人也更乐意听你的话。

1 invest   

v.投资；投入(时间等)；授予，赋予

参考例句：

• I have decided to invest in a new car.我已经决定买一辆新汽车。
• The best time to invest is now.现在是投资的最佳时机。

2 investing   

v.投资，花费( invest的现在分词 )；授予；（把资金）投入；投入（时间、精力等）

参考例句：

• He was timid about investing money. 他不敢投资。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Europe also caught the excitement of investing in American railroads. 欧洲人对投资美国铁路也极感兴趣。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

3 column   

n.列，柱形图；专栏；圆柱；纵队

参考例句：

• I often read his column in the local paper.我经常在当地的报纸上看到他的专栏文章。
• A column of soldiers marched down the highway.一个士兵纵队沿着公路行进。

4 invested   

v.投资，花费( invest的过去式和过去分词 )；授予；（把资金）投入；投入（时间、精力等）

参考例句：

• The money will be invested in managed funds. 这笔钱将投资于管理基金。
• He invested his lawyer with complete power to act for him. 他让律师全权代办。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 offending   

adj.不愉快的；厌恶的v.冒犯(offend的ing形式)

参考例句：

• The offending paragraph was deleted. 令某些人不悦的那段话已经删除。
• The petty clerk was afraid of offending his boss. 这个小职员不敢得罪他的老板。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 initial   

adj.最初的，开始的，词首的；n.首字母，姓名的开头字母；vt.标注姓名的首字母于

参考例句：

• After she'd overcome her initial shyness,she became very friendly.她克服了起初的羞怯之后，变得十分友善。
• The experiments have given initial results eventually.那些试验总算初见成效了。

7 strategy   

n.方法，策略，战略

参考例句：

• The only way to take the enemy position is by strategy,not by forceful attack.只可智取，不可强攻。
• Tactics differs from strategy.战术有别于战略。