英語閱讀教材：生活中的輕重緩急

Friday afternoon,a stack of paper six inches thick sat on my desk.I laid a ruler on the top of the sheet,using it to keep my place.I was a senior financial analyst at the biggest bank in Minneapolis,and my division was responsible for a billion dollars.Every number had to add up.But that's not what worried me.My mind kept wandering to a bigger problem:what my manager would say when I told him I was expecting my first child.

周五下午，一疊6寸厚的文件在我辦公桌上放著。我在最上邊放了一根尺子，以表明工作進度。我在明尼阿波斯市最大的銀行工作，是一個高級金融分析師。我的部門負責10億美元的業務，每一筆款項都必須計算進去。但是，這并不令我擔憂。我心中不停地想著另一個更大的問題：當我告訴經理說我已懷上第一個孩子時，他會說什么？

My due date meant I'd miss next year's entire budget season.Dan,my hard-driving boss,would never understand.He was so work-obsessed he practically ate three meals a day at his desk.Today he looked utterly exhausted,rushing to pack his briefcase full of work to take home.Does he have any time for his family!I wondered.Will I!

我的預產期意味著，我將不能參加明年的整個預算工作。我的老板丹是永遠不會理解的，他對下屬特別苛嚴，簡直是把人當驢使。他是一個工作狂，一天三頓幾乎都是在辦公桌上吃的。今天他看上去極度疲勞。他匆匆忙忙地往他的公文箱里塞滿文件，準備帶回家去干。我納悶：他還有時間顧及家庭嗎？我會有時間料理我的家事嗎？

I thought of talking to Mike,my team leader.Mike went home at 5 o'clock almost every night.He had two boys and a wife who went to school in the evenings.“I've got to be on time for the second shift at home”he joked.His cubicle was plastered with pictures of his children on the jungle gym he had built for them and T-ball team he coached and the family dressed up for church on Easter.

我想和邁克談一談，他是我的組長。邁克幾乎每天下午5點就下班回家。他有兩個男孩，太太要上夜校。“我得趕緊回家，以便能按時在家上下一個班。”他開玩笑說。他的隔間里貼著三張照片，一張是他的孩子們在他親手為他們做的攀援游戲架上玩耍，一張是他擔任教練的足球阻截手訓練隊的照片，還有一張是復活節全家穿著盛裝準備去教堂前的合影。

Even before I knew I was pregnant,he had said to me,“You can get your work done and leave on time.Just figure out what's important to you.Everything else follows from there.”But Dan was my real boss.You kept his hours.I couldn't postpone our talk much longer-I had to start wearing maternity dresses.Pushing aside the stack of paper,I got up.Just then,Dan's assistant dropped a memo off at my desk.We were supposed to run a new set of numbers on our report.“Have them sent to me by Monday”Dan wrote.

甚至在我知道有了身孕之前，他曾對我說過：“你可以把工作做完按時回家。弄清楚什么對你來說是重要的，其他的事可隨其后。”可是，丹才是我的老板，你得遵從他的時間按排。我不能再推遲和丹之間的談話了--我馬上要穿孕婦服。我把那疊文件往旁邊推了推，站起身來。就在此時，丹的助手在我桌子上放了一份備忘錄。我們被要求在報告中將一組新的數字包括進去。“下周一交給我。”他寫道。

I glanced at the clock.The mainframe computer was already shut down for the weekend.Making the changes by Monday meant doing them by hand on Saturday.I heard the angry voices of my teammates in Mike's office,so headed over.“It'll take at least eight hours to plug in those numbers,and the figures might not even be right”I said.Another analyst said“Dan did this just to make us work a Saturday…”“We don't need to”Mike said,smiling as he leaned back in his chair.“I'll run a program first thing Monday when the computer comes back up.And I'll explain things to Dan on Tuesday.The extra day means there won't be any mistakes.”

我看了一分鐘。主機計算機已經關閉，因為是周末。周一前改好報告意味著要在周六用手工來做。此時，我聽到邁克辦公室中傳出氣憤的大聲說話的聲音，就走了過去。“要加進這些數字至少要用8小時，而且數字還不一定準確。”我說。另一位分析師說：“丹讓我們干這個就是不讓我們周六休息……”“我們不需要這樣做，”邁克背靠椅子笑著說，“下周一，電腦一啟動，我首先運行一個程序。周二我會對丹解釋。多加一天可以保證不出任何差錯。” 精品小說推薦： 昔日落魄少年被逐出家族，福禍相依得神秘老者相助，從此人生路上一片青雲！ 我行我瀟灑，彰顯我性格！ 彆罵小爺拽，媳婦多了用車載！ 妹紙一聲好歐巴，轉手就是摸摸大！ “不要嘛！” 完整內容請點擊辣手仙醫

Tags：英語   生活