温馨夜读II PART2 9.The Priorities of Life

 

[00:00.74]9.The Priorities¹ of Life

[00:04.22]Friday afternoon, when I was worrying about my pregnancy² and the future conflicts between work and family, 

[00:11.62]Dan’s assistant dropped a memo³ at my desk. 

[00:15.01]We were supposed to run a new set of numbers on our report. 

[00:18.81]“Have them sent to me by Monday,” Dan, my work-obsessed boss, wrote.

[00:23.72]It was near leaving time. 

[00:26.00]The mainframe computer was already shut down for the weekend, which meant doing them by hand on Saturday. 

[00:31.88]Working extra hours always made me doubt if I would have time with my family.

[00:37.33]I had to talk to Mike, my team leader. 

[00:41.26]“We don’t need to,” Mike said, “I’ll run a program first thing Monday when the computer comes back up. 

[00:47.68]And I’ll explain things to Dan on Tuesday. 

[00:50.40]The extra day means there won’t be any mistakes.”

[00:53.67]I had a terrible weekend. 

[00:56.40]After this, how would Dan view my maternity⁴ leave?

[01:00.11]Monday, Mike finished running the program before I came in. 

[01:04.24]I checked the information for my division. 

[01:07.23]Tuesday, Dan asked me into his office. 

[01:10.27]“I wanted those reports yesterday so I could get my notes ready. 

[01:14.41]If that meant working on a Saturday, that is normal at your level of responsibility. 

[01:19.42]Instead, you deliberately⁵ disobeyed me.”

[01:22.47]I struggled to hold back my tears. 

[01:25.84]That was when Mike breezed in, plopping the new report on his desk. 

[01:30.09]“Here we go, Dan,” he said, “Guaranteed accuracy down to the decimal⁶. To me that was worth taking an extra day.”

[01:38.04]“Why didn’t you work on Saturday to finish this?”

[01:41.42]“It seemed like a huge waste when we could just use the computer and get it right,” 

[01:46.64]Mike said, “so we waited until Monday.” 

[01:49.36]Dan stared at the top page for a long while, then nodded. 

[01:53.28]At that moment the tension went out of the room like air going out of a balloon. 

[01:58.08]He even cracked a smile.

[02:00.25]Later, finally on my way to talk to Dan about my pregnancy, I stopped by Mike’s cubicle⁷. 

[02:07.01]There he was, working as hard as ever, surrounded by the photos of his boys, 

[02:11.36]the football team he coached, his family on Easter Sunday. 

[02:14.86]That’s why he didn’t make time wasting decisions or worry about office politics. 

[02:21.43]He had his priorities right: faith, family, then work. 

[02:27.00]And because of that he was good at all three.

[02:30.18]“Thanks, Mike.” I said. “I learned to get my priorities straight. 

[02:35.86]Now I’m ready to tell my boss the good news.”

1 priorities   

n.先( priority的名词复数 )；优先；优先权；优先考虑的事

参考例句：

• The document provided a revealing insight into the government's priorities. 这份文件使人看出政府的轻重缓急是怎样安排的。
• We must work together to fund only our most important priorities. 我们必须共同努力，只为最重要的项目提供资金。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

2 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

3 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

4 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

5 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

6 decimal   

adj.十进的，小数的，十进制的；n.小数

参考例句：

• He knows the decimal rules.他懂得十进制的用法。
• Britain converted to decimal currency on February 15th,1971.英国于1971年2月15日改用十进位币制。

7 cubicle   

n.大房间中隔出的小室

参考例句：

• She studies in a cubicle in the school library.她在学校图书馆的小自习室里学习。
• A technical sergeant hunches in a cubicle.一位技术军士在一间小屋里弯腰坐着。