5.“Only this morning，you were half an hour looking foryour slate，and so lost your drawing lesson.”
6.George was a well-disposed and industrious boy，but he had one very bad fault：he was never ready，but always almost ready，to do what he knew should be done at once；and this habit was the cause of a great deal of trouble，as you will see.
7.George was the only child of his mother，and she was a widow.
8.One morning she said to him，“George，I wish you would fasten the hinge on the garden-gate.I am afraid the cattle will get into the garden.”
9.“I have not the time now，mother；I shall be late to schoolif I stop to do it now.You know I could not cut the wood lastnight，and I must do that now.After school I will fix it.”
10.“There！mother，”said George，as he was about to retire at night，“I forgot all about that gate.Well，it can not be helped now.I will fix it in the morning.”
11.But during the night，the cattle got into the garden，and destroyed everything in it；even the currant bushes and little pear-trees were broken down.
12.There was not a cabbage，nor a hill of corn，nor a melon，to be found，where，the night before，they all looked so nicely.
13.George wept，but that did not mend the matter；and he tried to console himself by saying，he would have mended the gate，but he had not the time.
14.“The better way，”said his mother，“is to take time，and not leave for to-morrow what should be done to-day.”
15.George resolved he would follow his mother’s advice，and for a time he really did better；but he soon relapsed into his old habit.
16.That very fall，a horse was drowned in a well，because the boy had not the time to cover it.
17.When he grew to be a man，the same habit clung to him.
His house was burned，with all its contents.
18.It had been insured，and George meant to renew the insurance；but he had put it off day by day，because he “had not the time”to attend to it.
19.George‘s habit of putting off till some other time what heshould have done at once，was the cause of his ruin.
20.This habit has ruined many a wellmeaning boy besidesGeorge.Shall it ruin you，my little reader？
21.It is not easy to change habits.Those that cleave to us through childhood and youth will，most generally，go with us through life.How necessary，then，that you form right habits now.
【中文阅读】
1.“乔治，我希望你能把你的书码整齐。”老师对他说。
2.“我会一点一点整理好的，但是现在我没有时间。”乔治回答。
3.“那就抽出时间去做。”沃德森先生说，“有条不紊是天堂第一守则，所以这也应该是世上的第一法则。
4.”那样会节省你很多时间，让你总是感觉舒适，所以一定要这样做。
5.“今天早晨你就用了半个小时的时间找你的石板，结果连绘画课都没上成。”
6.乔治本来是个勤勉、积极肯干的孩子，但是他有一个很不好的缺点：凡事都往后拖，该做的时候总是不能按时去做。这个习惯给他带来了很多麻烦，下面让我们看看是不是这样。
7.妈妈只有乔治一个孩子，而且已经守寡多年了。
8.一天早晨，妈妈对他说：“乔治，你去把花园的大门锁好，我怕牛会闯进去。”
9.“妈妈，我现在没时间，如果我去锁花园大门，上学就会迟到了。你知道我昨天晚上没有劈木头，现在必须先把木头劈完。放学后我再去锁门吧。”
10.“哎呀，妈妈！”到了晚上，他刚要上床睡觉，突然叫了起来，“我忘了去锁花园大门了。唉，现在锁也没用了，明天早晨再说吧。”
11.但是到了半夜，牛闯进了花园，把花园里的一切都糟蹋了，甚至连醋栗树和刚栽上的梨树苗都弄倒了。
12.卷心菜没有了，玉米垛没有了，瓜也都没有了。而这些在前一天的晚上还都完好无损呢。
13.乔治哭了，但是这并没有让他长教训。他这样安慰自己：他本想去把大门锁好的，但是他太忙了，没时间。
14.“最好的方法，”妈妈说，“就是一定要抽出时间去把事情完成，而不是总把本该今天做的事情放到明天去做。”
15.乔治下定决心按照妈妈的话做。有段时间他也确实做得不错，但是很快他又开始重蹈覆辙了。
