#45. Which kind of life do you like, get up early or get up late?
When I was a kid and didn't want to go to bed early, my father always used to say, "The early bird gets the worm." I certainly knew what he meant: people who stay up late at night aren't able to get up early and take full advantage of the new day's opportunities. I'm not sure how wise I am, but I can certainly feel that getting a good night's sleep and an early start helps me do a full days work.
However, every job or task always has unforeseen problems and complications. A trip to the post office seems simple enough, but could be complicated and lengthened by heavy traffic, forgetting to bring money or addresses, or long lines. When I need to do many things in a day, a delay at the post office can negatively affect all of my other tasks. To minimize these potential negative effects, I try and get an early start that leaves me plenty of time later in the day to finish my other tasks.
Another important reason to get up before 8:00 a.m. is that businesses usually start their workdays by 9:00 a.m. at the latest. A person who wakes up at 10:00 a.m. has already lost two precious business hours. This gives them less time to go to the bank, the post office, or deal with any company or government office that keeps regular business hours. People who get up early have the extra benefit of all of the hours of a full business day during which they can be more productive than they can during non-business hours.
Finally, getting up early and going to sleep early is a fairly standard schedule to which most of society adheres. If I adhere to it as well, I will have more time to spend with my family and friends. If I get up late and stay up late, I will not only lose opportunities to interact with others during business hours, I will also lose chances to interact with people because they are asleep! This would be all right if I were a hermit, but since I enjoy the company of others, I prefer to be an "early bird."
45. 你喜欢早起还是晚起？
当我还是个小孩子，不想早睡时，父亲经常说：“早起的鸟儿有虫吃。”我当然明白他的意思：熬夜的人们不能早起并充分利用新的一天的机遇。我不知道我有多聪明，但是我的确感到睡得好起得早能让我白天全力工作。
然而，每种工作或任务都有不可预料的问题与复杂情况。去一趟邮局看似十分简单，但是拥挤的交通、忘了带钱、不记得地址或者队伍排长龙都会使行程变得复杂费时。当我一天里有许多事情要处理时，在邮局一耽搁就会影响我的其他事情。为了降低这些可能的负面影响，我尽量早些开始以便一天内留有足够的时间来完成其他事情。
早晨八点以前起床的另外一个重要原因是公司通常最迟上午九点开始工作。十点醒来的人已失去了两个钟头宝贵的办公时间。这就使他们去银行、邮局、公司或政府部门这些按规定时间办公的地方办事的时间减少了。早起的人能在全天办公时间里额外受益，那时他们生产效率比在非工作时间更高。
最后，早起早睡是大多数社会遵守的标准时间表。如果严格坚持，我将有更多的时间与家人朋友共度。若是晚起晚睡，我不仅会失去在办公时间与别人相处的机会，也会在别的时间无缘与他人交流，因为那时他们正在睡觉！我若是个隐士这一切还好，但是既然我喜欢与人相处，我更愿意当一只“早起的鸟儿”。
- unforeseen ［ˈʌnfəˈsi:n］ adj. 无法预料的
- complication ［ˌka:mpliˈkeiʃən］ n. 复杂化
- minimize ［ˈminəˌmaiz］ vt. 将…减到最少
- potential ［pəˈtenʃəl］ adj. 潜在的
- negative ［ˈnegətiv］ adj. 否定的，消极的
- adhere ［ædˈhiə］ vi. 坚持
- hermit ［ˈhə:mit］ n. 隐士，隐居者