I must have been about fourteen then, and I dismissed the incident with the easy carelessness of youth. But the words, Carl Walter spoke that day, came back to me years later, and ever since have been of ines-timable value to me.
争分夺秒

　　那时我一定有十四岁了，由于少年时期的无忧无虑，我并没有把那件事太放在心上。但是当时卡尔·沃尔特的话许多年后仍回响在我的耳畔，并且自那以后对我起了很大的帮助作用。

　　Carl Walter was my piano teacher. During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing. I said three or four hours a day.
　　卡尔·沃尔特是我的钢琴教师。一次课上他问我每天练习多少时间，我回答说一天三四个小时。
　　"Do you practice in long stretches, an hour at a time?"
　　“每次连续弹很长时间吗？连续有一小时吗？”
　　"I try to." 　　“我尽力做到。”
　　"Well, don't," he exclaimed. "When you grow up, time won't come in long stretches. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch, between chores. Spread the practice through the day. and piano-playing will become a part of your life."
　　“哦，不要这样，”他批评道，“你长大时，不会有大量的时间的。只要可能，利用几分钟时间进行练习，无论五分钟还是十分钟，无论是在上学前，还是在午饭后，或是在做家务的间隙。把练习分散在一天的时间里，这样弹钢琴就会成为你生活的一部分。”
　　When I was teaching at Columbia, I wanted to write, but recitations, theme-reading, and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. For two years I got practically nothing down on paper, and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I recalled what Carl Walter had said.
　　我在哥伦比亚教书时，想写点东西，但是教学、阅卷和委员会议占据了我全部时间。两年里我实际上没有任何东西落实在纸上，我的借口是没有时间。然后我想起了卡尔·沃尔特曾经说过的话。
　　During the next week I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my astonishment, at the end of the week I had a sizable manuscript ready for revision. Later on I wrote novels tby the same piecemeal method. Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, in every day there were idle moments which could be caught and put to use. I even took up piano-playing again, finding that the small interval of the day provided sufficient time for both writing and piano practice.
　　第二个星期，我做了个实验，只要有五分钟空闲，我就坐下来写上百余字。令我吃惊的是，到了周末我已经有相当的手稿供修改了。后来我用同样的办法写小说。尽管我的教学任务变得异常繁重，但是每天总能捕捉到几分钟的闲暇利用。我甚至又弹起了钢琴，发现每天短短的间隔时间用来写作和弹琴是足够了。
　　There is an important trick in this time-using formula: you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for wirting, you can't afford to waste four chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on you task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately, rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.
　　这样利用时间有一个诀窍，那就是你必须很快的进入工作状态。如果你只有五分钟写作时间，你就不能把四分钟的时间花在咬笔杆儿上。你必须事先有心理准备，几乎一有时间就全身心地投入工作。所幸的是，快速集中精力要比我们大多数人认识到的要容易得多。
　　I confess I have never learned how to let go easily at the end of the five or ten minutes, But life can be counted on to supply interruptions. Carl Walter had had a tremendous influence on my life. To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all useful hours I need, if I plunge in without delay.
　　我承认我还没有学会在到了五分钟或十分钟的时候便能轻易地放下所干的事情。但在生活中我们是能够指望找到空闲时间。卡尔·沃尔特对我的一生产生了巨大的影响。多亏他我才发现如果能立即投入工作，哪怕是很短的时间累加起来也会成为我所需要的有用的几个小时。