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上期划线句答案
Because they are often expected to help fill the role of caregivers, they may be more nurturing, responsible, and motivated to excel.
由于他们常常被期望充当照顾者的角色，他们可能变得更加关心他人、有责任感，并且更有动力去取得成功。
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本期内容
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双语阅读
Para.1
The Pareto Principle says that around 80 percent of the effects arise from around 20 percent of the causes. In business, a rule of thumb is that 80 percent of output is produced by 20 percent of the workers, 80 percent of the sales come from 20 percent of the products, and so on. Natural and social scientists call these large imbalances power laws. Another example is Zipf’s law, which applies to examples such as the population of cities or how often are words used. It says that the largest value is often roughly twice the second-largest, three times the third, four times the fourth, and so on.
Para.2
What does this mean for you? I argue that it means that you are often wrong about how much you will get out of a task or project. Make a list of (similar) tasks you have to do at work, or of personal interests. What this list contains depends on your job and your interests. It might be clients, projects, topics to write about, books to read, games to buy, or trips to plan. For each list, you should think about what you want to get from each item. Maybe it’s income from clients, or number of views for blog posts, or something more fuzzy like your personal enjoyment and satisfaction.
Para.3
Whatever it is, not all items on your list give you the same amount of what you want. No surprise there. But what the Pareto Principle says is that the difference is probably much larger than you think. Most (around 80 percent) of your income, views, personal development, satisfaction, and enjoyment probably come from just a small part (around 20 percent) of the items on your list. That means that you could drop many of them, saving a lot of your time, for little cost.
Para.4
In management, items (products, projects, issues, etc.) are sometimes classified into an A-B-C scheme. “A” items are the best 20 percent, also called the vital few, which give 80 percent of the results. “B” items are the next 30 percent, which give around 10 percent of the results. “C” items, also called the trivial many, are the worst 50 percent, which give only 10 percent of the results.
Para.5
You should drop the trivial many and concentrate on the vital few. But which one is which? If your results are quantifiable (product sales, blog views, and so on), this might be easy. Drop projects which give low results and demand a lot of your time. Concentrate on the topics that give you the most results.
本文节选自：Psychology Today（今日心理学）
发布时间：2024.12.30
作者：Carlos Alós-Ferrer
原文标题：Reclaim Your Time With the Pareto Principle
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写作句总结
原句：Most (around 80 percent) of your income, views, personal development, satisfaction, and enjoyment probably come from just a small part (around 20 percent) of the items on your list.
结构：Most (around X percent) of Y probably come from just a small part (around Z percent) of the items on your list.
例句：Most (around 80 percent) of my energy and focus probably come from just a small part (around 20 percent) of my daily activities.
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阅读理解题
The author uses the "A-B-C scheme" primarily to illustrate:
A. How to quantify the results of different tasks
B. That tasks should be prioritized by their difficulty
C. How the Pareto Principle applies to task management
D. That some tasks are not worth doing at all
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全文概括
The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule, asserts that 80% of outcomes stem from 20% of causes. This principle applies broadly, from worker productivity to product sales. Similar power laws, like Zipf's law, describe these uneven distributions. The text argues that individuals often underestimate this imbalance in their own endeavors, suggesting that focusing on the most productive 20% of tasks (the "vital few") yields significantly better results than spreading effort across many less impactful activities (the "trivial many"). An A-B-C classification system helps prioritize tasks based on their return.
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