陳云珍

Once upon a time， a very strong woodcutter3 asked for a job in a timber merchant4 and he got it. The pay was really good and so was the work condition. For those reasons， the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the place where he supposed to work.

The first day， the woodcutter cut down 18 trees.

“Congratulations，” the boss said. “Go on that way！”

Very moved by the boss words， the woodcutter tried harder the next day， but he could only cut down 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder， but he could only bring 10 trees. Day after day he was cutting down fewer and fewer trees.

“I must be losing my strength”， the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and said that he could not understand what was going on.

“When was the last time you sharpened your axe？” the boss asked.

“Sharpen？ I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees...”

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we dont take time to “sharpen the axe”. In todays world， it seems that everyone is busier than ever， but if we dont take the time to “sharpen the axe”， we will become dull5 and lose our effectiveness6.

從前有個很強壯的伐木工，在木材商那里找到了一份工作。報酬和工作條件都很不錯，因為這些，伐木工決心盡全力把工作做好。

他的老板給他一把斧子，并帶他來到他應該工作的地方。

第一天，伐木工砍了18棵樹。

“祝賀你，”老板說，“繼續(xù)這樣干下去！”

老板的話令伐木工非常感動，第二天，他更賣力了，可是他只能砍倒15棵樹。第三天，他還要賣力，但是他只能砍下10棵樹。日復一日，他砍下的樹越來越少。

伐木工想：“我一定是失去了力量?！彼ダ习迥抢铮f他不能理解事情為什么會這樣。

老板問道：“你最后一次磨斧子是什么時候？”

“磨斧子？我根本沒有時間磨斧子。我一直在忙著砍樹……”

我們的生活也像那樣。我們有的時候很忙，忙到?jīng)]有時間去“磨斧子”。在當今世界，似乎每個人都比以前要忙，但是如果我們不花時間去“磨斧子”，我們就會變得遲鈍和低效。endprint