Bob Miller was a woodcutter and he started a new job at a timber (木材) company. The pay and work conditions were quite good. In return, Bob worked as hard as he could.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him where he was supposed to work. On his first day, Bob cut down 18 trees. “Congratulations,” his boss said. “Keep going!”
Encouraged by his boss’ words, Bob worked even harder the next day, but could only cut down 15 trees. The third day, he tried even harder, but only cut down 10 trees. Day after day, he was cutting down fewer and fewer trees.
“I must be losing my strength.” Bob thought. Since the boss was treating him well, he felt really sorry and guilty. He went to his boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” his boss asked.
“Sharpen? I have no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut down trees.”
Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don’t take time to sharpen our “axe”. In today’s world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but also less happy than ever.
Why is this? There’s nothing wrong with activity and hard work. Probably it is because we have forgotten how to stay “sharp”. We have forgotten to continuously improve our skills so we lose our efficiency(效率). Then we leave ourselves in a busy state and become stressed. We will feel less happy.
So remember, it’s worth taking time to sharpen your skills. As the saying goes, “More preparation may quicken the speed in doing work.”
根据短文内容,回答下列问题。
56. What was Bob’s job?
___________________________________________57. How many trees did Bob cut on the third day?
___________________________________________58. Why did Bob cut fewer trees day by day?
___________________________________________59. According to the story, if people don’t sharpen the “axe” often, how will they feel?
___________________________________________60. What can we learn from this story?
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