《守时有回报》译文：
有一种常会惹恼美国人的文化差异可能关系到对守时的不同理解。要想升职就要从准时上班做起。
如果你自一个对时间观念比较宽松的文化环境，那么美国人对 待时间的认真态度就很可能使你感到惊讶。
尽管不是有的美国人都是 守时，但是社会整体是在严格遵守时间的基础上进行的。无论在个人 生活、社区生活还是美国商业文化中都是如此。
下面是最近发生在我身上的一个真实故事。我本来安排了和一个来自印度的团体进行商业会晤，可是不知怎么的，忘了把它记在我的日程 表上。我到办公室时比约定时间晚了30分钟，发现有个电话录音，说那个团队在会议室等我。
由于害怕我已经错过这次约会，我赶紧跑进 会议室，却发现他们正在一起开玩新地聊天。他们的神态是在说：“啊呀，你来了！咱们现在可以开始了！”
如果这是个美国的团队，他们可能会很生气，而且不可能等 待十多分钟—这是最多的了。他们会给我留个口信，要求从新安 排会谈时间，为什么？因为美国式的约会安排有严格的结束时间 和开始时间。
如果你开始得晚了，不超出约定的结束时间你就不 可能完成手头的业务。
如果你对于美国工作、与美国人做生意或作为美国人在海外的 公司工作等情况不熟悉，下面就你在约会和守时方面的日常行为 提出了几项建议，它们一定能帮助你与美国同事愉快相处。
要提前安排会议和约见时间-----要提前几天，一周，甚至一个月。
始终要对见面会谈约定好时间，不要突然出现还指望人家有时间和你交谈。
如果你觉得约见有可能迟到几分钟，就打电话告知对方你会迟到。
要计划好自己的时间，避免在最后时间临时改变计划。
《Punctuality Pays》原文：
One of the cultural differences that tends to annoy Americans has to do with understanding of punctuality. Getting ahead at work starts with getting to work on time!
If you come from a culture that has a more relaxed view of time, you're likely to be surprised at how serious Americans are about time.
While not all Americans are punctual all the time, the society as a whole operates on the basis of well-kept schedules. This is true in personal and community life as well as in U.S. business culture.
Here's a real-life story that happened to me recently. I had scheduled a business meeting with a team from India, but had somehow forgotten to log it into my schedule.
Arriving at my office 30 minutes after the appointment, I found a voice message telling me the team was waiting for me in the meeting room.
Being afraid that I had missed the appointment,I hurried in, and found them happily chatting together. Their attitude was “Ah! You're here! We can start now!”
If the team had been American, it's likely they would have been annoyed, and unlikely they would have waited more than 10 minutes — at the most.
They would have left me a message asking to reschedule the meeting. Why?
Because American-style appointments have a firm end as well as start time,? and if you start late you won't be able to finish the business at hand without running beyond the scheduled ending time.
扩展资料
1.punctuality? n.严守时间;敏捷
（1）例句：Reliability and punctuality have become more important. ?
翻译：可靠性和准时性变得更为重要。
（2）例句：I expect punctuality from my students. ?
翻译：我期望我的学生准时。?
（3）例句：And it's got nothing to do with your punctuality. ?
翻译：但这和你的守时没关系。?
（4）例句：He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality. ?
翻译：他对守时要求越来越过分了。?
（5）例句：His concern with tidiness and punctuality ?
翻译：他对整洁和准时的关注 。
2.pays? 付；支付；偿还；给…付工资；给…付酬；工资；薪水
（1）例句：Death pays all debts and all thoughts are dashed. ?
翻译：一死百了，万念俱灰。?
（2）例句：Every bank pays close attention to the speed and accuracy of its staff. ?
翻译：每家银行都非常关注雇员的工作速度和无差错率。?
（3）例句：Sara also pays a share of the gas, electricity and phone bills.
翻译：萨拉也分摊燃气费、电费和电话费。?
（4）例句：It pays to invest in protective clothing ?
翻译：在防护服上投资是值得的。?
（5）例句：He pays too much heed these days to my nephew Tom, and Tom is no great thinker.
翻译：他最近过分重视我侄子汤姆的话了，而汤姆根本不是什么伟大的思想家。?