A punctual person is in the habit of doing a thing at the proper time and is never late in keeping an appointment.
The unpunctual man, on one hand, never does what he has to do at the proper time. He is always in a hurry and in the end loses both time and his good name. A lost thing may be found again, but lost time can never be regained. Time is more valuable than material things. In fact, time is life itself. The unpunctual man is for ever wasting and mismanaging his most valuable asset (财产) as well as other’s. The unpunctual person is always complaining that he finds no time to answer letters, or return calls or keep appointments promptly. But the man who really has a great deal to do is very careful of his time and seldom complains of want of it. He knows that he can not get through his huge amount of work unless he faithfully keeps every piece of work when it has to be attended to.
Failure to be punctual in keeping one’s appointments is the sign of disrespect towards others. If a person is invited to dinner and arrives later than the appointed time, he keeps all the other guests waiting for him. Usually this will be regarded as a great disrespect to the host and all other guests present.
Unpunctuality, moreover, is very harmful when it comes to do one’s duty, whether public or private. Imagine how it would be if those who are put in charge of important tasks failed to be at their proper place at the appointed time. A man who is known to be habitually unpunctual is never trusted by his friends or fellow men.
小题1:What does the author think is the main difference between a punctual person and an unpunctual person?
| A．A punctual person does everything ahead of time while an unpunctual person does everything behind schedule. |
| B．A punctual person does everything at the right time while an unpunctual person seldom does anything at the correct time. |
| C．A punctual person has a lot of appointments while an unpunctual person has few appointments. |
| D．A punctual person has much time to do everything while an unpunctual person has little time to do anything. |
小题2: According to the passage, the main reason that a person is always unpunctual is that _______.
| A．he has more work to do than other people |
| B．he is always in a hurry when he works |
| C．he doesn’t care much about time |
| D．he always mismanages and wastes his time |
小题3:According to the third paragraph, when you are invited to dinner, you should arrive there _______.
| A．after other guests have arrived |
| B．before all other guests |
| C．at the appointed time |
| D．after the host has got things ready |
小题4:Which of the following statements best describes the harm of unpunctuality?
| A．If you are an unpunctual person, you cannot be in charge of any important task. |
| B．If your friends know that you are unpunctual, they may not see you again. |
| C．Unpunctuality may bring about heavy losses for both public and private affairs. |
| D．Unpunctuality may make you miss a lot of appointments and lose friends. |