Americans believe time is a limited resource; they try to conserve and manage it. People i

n the U.S. often【C1】______ seminars or read books on time management. It seems they all want to 【C2】______ theft time better. Professionals carry around pocket planners—some in electronic form—to keep 【C3】______ of appointments and deadlines. People do all they can to 【C4】______ more life out of their time. The early American hero Benjamin Franklin expressed this 【C5】______ best: "Do you love life？ Then do not waste time, for that is the

【C6】______ life is made of."

To Americans, punctuality is a 【C7】______ of showing respect for other people’s time.【C8】______ more than 10 minutes late to an appointment usually 【C9】______ an apology, and maybe an explanation. People who are running late often call 【C10】______ to let others know of the delay. Of course, the less 【C11】______ the situation, the less important it is to be exactly on time. At informal get-togethers, for example, people often arrive 【C12】______ 30 minutes past the appointed time. But they usually don’t try that at work.

To outsiders, Americans seem tied to the clock. People in other cultures value relationships more than 【C13】______ . In these societies, people don’t try to 【C14】______ time, but to experience it. Many Eastern cultures, for example, view time as a cycle. The 【C15】______ of nature—from the passing of the seasons to the monthly cycle of the moon—shapes their view of events. People learn to 【C16】______ to their environment. As a result, they find it easier to "go with the flow" than Americans, who like plans 【C17】______ and unchangeable.

Even Americans would 【C18】______ that no one can master time. Time, like money, 【C19】______ all too easily through our fingers. And time, like the weather, is very hard to predict. 【C20】______ , time is one of life’s most precious gifts. And unwrapping it is half the fun.

【C1】

A．participate

B．attend

C．adjoin

D．associate