The Late-people, of course, are always terribly sorry, "but something important came up" (in contrast to us, for instance). Besides, as they say, their minds are always so full of big questions (like The Bomb) that they never know what time it is. In comparison with the On-timers , 'they suggest , who have their little brains filled with stupid details like the big hand and the little hand on the clock.

    The problem is getting worse. If you adjust to the Late-people and accept the fact that they're half an hour behind the time you arranged to meet , they arrive an hour late.
    Fewer and fewer of us On-timers remain. We are now surprised when anyone else is on time. We have begun to make certain adjustments like setting our clocks and watches back or bringing the novel we're working on to dinner parties.
    How late we are to recognise that being on time is out of date, that in fact, our time has passed.

                         Additional Information

                         How Americans See Time

    Americans recognise that there is a past on which the present rests.But they have not developed their sense of the depth of time to the extent that this has been done in the Middle East and South Asia. The Arab,looks back two to six thousand years for his own origins. History is used as the basis for almost any modern action. The chances are that an Arab won'r start a talk or a speech or analyse a problem without first developing the historical aspects of his subject. The American assumes that time has depth, but he takes this for granted.

    The American never questions the fact that time should be planned and future events fitted into a schedule. He thinks that people should look forward to the future and not dwell too much on the past. His future is not very far ahead of him. Results must be obtained in the foreseeable futureone or two years or, at the most, five or ten. Promises to meet deadlines and appointments are taken very seriously.

There are real penalties for being late and for not keeping commitments in time. The American thinks it is natural to quantify time. To fail to do so is unthinkable. The American specifies how much time is required to do everything. "I'll be there in ten minutes. " "It will take six months to finish that job. " "I was in the Army for four and a half years. "

    The Americans, tike so many other people, also use time as a link that chains events together, If one event occurs on the heels of another, we inevitably try to find a causal relationship between them. If.A is seen in the vicinity of B's murder shortly after the crime has been committed we automatically form a connection between A and B. Conversely, events which are separated by too much. time are difficult for us to connect in our minds. This makes it almost impossible for us as a. nation to engage in long-range planning.

上一页  [1] [2] [3]