14.Describe a time when you missed or were late for a meeting

Describe a time whenyou missed or were late for a meeting 迟到

You should say:

When it happened

What happened

Why you missed/were late for it

And explain how you felt about this experience

Time ispriceless（无价的）, and oncelost, you will paydearly（代价极大地）for thesquandered（浪费的）moments. Imissed a job interview because I was late, and I stillpine for（怀念）ittoday.  I was invited to a formal interview at Halo for the position ofcommunications manager. I applied for therole(职位）about twomonths ago, and theyinquired（要求）me to firsttake the written test. I took the test and became the tenth applicant toqualify（使具有资格）it. Theautonomy（管理者）then told usto contact them later, and I received the latest emailimploring（邀请）me to theformal interview. But,regretfully（令人遗憾的是）, I was unableto attend the interview on time and thusmissed out（错过）on the job.Trafficcongestion（交通拥堵）is a common occurrence（发生的事情）in my city.Every day, many people are stuck in thetraffic jam（交通堵塞）during therush hours（高峰）of themorning, and thescenarios（场景）are worst inthe central area, whichhouses（坐落）almost all ofthe important offices. I left for the interview about an hour before the scheduledtime（约定的时间）but was unable to show up（到场）on time. Atfirst, I stood in a bus line, and when the bus turned up（出现）, I couldn'tget on because it was alreadypacked（挤满）withoffice-goers（打工人）. As a result,I missed the bus and will be late for the next metro service. I immediatelybooked a car to get to the Halo office.Initially（起初）, I felt thatmy luck was not on my side（非常倒霉）,and that missing out（错过）on theinterview was also frustrating(令人沮丧的). As a result, I was filled withrage（非常愤怒）. Traffic congestion is a common occurrence in thecity, and ordinary citizens bear the brunt of（首当其冲）theburden（重担）. Theinterview's delay taught me a lot about those people's emotions. Finally, Ifelt sorry for myself because I couldn't get to my current office on time andwas also late for the interview. Finally, I arrived at the Halo office buildingabout an hour and a half after the scheduled time. When I entered the interviewroom, the interview was about to end（接近尾声）,but theystill let me sit for it. However, because I was late, they wereuninterested（敷衍的）and onlyasked a few questions about myself. I realized I wasdiscarded（除名）from thelist based on the interview board members' behavior and attitudes.

Part 3

1. Are you a punctual person?

Indeed（确实如此）, punctualityis my crown jewel（引以为傲的事情）. Growing up, my parentsinstilled（灌输）in me theimportance of punctuality. This method of discipline（教育方式）, I believe, isacatalyst（诱发因素）for otherirrefutable（颠簸不破的）changes inmy life andaids（帮助）incombating（避免）any form ofpassiveness（消极）orpessimistic（负面）behavior frommy childhood. However, living in a city where traffic is aninexorable（难以避免的） dilemma（事情）, it becomesdifficult to be punctual. But I stronglybelieve（非常相信）that no excuse can help youelude（逃避）from the principles of life. I alsobelieve that being athriving（朝气蓬勃的）person inlifeentails（使成为必要）achieving one's goals on time with appropriate planning andadherence（坚持）, which canonly be attained by being punctual. As a result, punctuality is theessence（重要性）of life. Itiscritical（关键的）that we develop such qualities in order to leadourselves and our country to greater heights（更高的高度）.

1.  Do you think it is important to be on time?

Without a doubt（毫无疑问）, as Iaforementioned（上述）earlier I'msomeone who honors time. One important thing Icommit to mymemory（记牢）is that punctuality shows respect for other people in their life.There's a saying that respect is atwo-way street（双向的）. When you’repunctual, you show others you respect them as a person as well as their time.You're not only thinking about yourself, but also about their lives, roles, andresponsibilities. You're thinking about how your actions will affect their workor studies.On top of that（除此之外）,being ontime canaid（帮助）you toconsummate（完成）  thenext task and the one after that. While the difference may befrivolous（微不足道的）, thoseminutes add up. Punctuality is a value that can affect howprolific（富有创造力的）you areduring the day and how much you get done. It is also a value withaccumulativeeffects（累积效应）,as you are likely toreap（获得）moregolden parachutes（薪酬）over time.Overall（总的来说）, being ontime is anunpretentious（简单的）habit that can make anenormous（巨大的）differencein your life. It does notcall for（需要）excessive（大量的）effort, but it canalter（改变）how othersperceive（看待）you, make you more dynamic, make you feel morein the saddle（处在控制地位）, andboost（增加）the chancesfor a positive outcome in any givenpredicament（困境）.

2. Do you always avoid being late?

Yes, ofcourse! Although I’m not always aparagon（榜样）ofpunctuality, I neverintend（打算）to betardy（迟到）, so I mostlyarrive on the dot（准时）. You know, we are given a specifictimetable（具体的时间表）forcompelling reasons（充分的理由）. If we aresupposed to punch in（打卡上班）at nineo'clock, then we should beat hand（确保）for dutiesat nine o'clock. Let us not use this as an excuse to be laid off（解雇）. Arrivinglate for anything can beburdensome（难以负担的）,impertinent（不礼貌的）,andcostly（浪费）due to lostproductivity. Toensure（确保）that I amalways on time, I try to head up（安排）my timeefficiently by creating aslate（日程表）. I also usereminders（提醒）andnotifications（通知）tokeep track（记录）of all of myappointments.Finally（最后）, I stick to（严格执行）my schedule and don't squeeze in（插入）otherabrupt（突然的）appointmentsbecause it could have a domino effect（连锁反应）on myscheduled appointments.

3. Why are people often late for meetings or appointments?

Although thisis a frustrating situation, being late is sometimes unavoidable due to manyreasons. They've had a genuine emergency that caused their delays, or they areperpetually late to most appointments, or there is a culture in their companythat encourages a morelackadaisical（无精打采的）attitudetoward punctuality. Regardless of the given excuses or alibis, we must rememberto be patient with occasional latecomers and to show greater respect to theon-timers.

4. Why do people miss important events?

Well, let'sbecandid（开诚布公的） once and for all（只此一次）, we aregoing through anunprecedented（前所未有的）time. Thiscould mean an unprecedentedarray（一系列）ofheartstrings（感受）altogether（完全地）.There are various reasons forthis, and while it may bedisheartening（令人沮丧的）that peoplemiss out（错过）on yourimportantmilestone（里程碑）,keep in mind（请记住）that we aredealing with arange of（一系列的）circumstances. First, somepeople may be absent due toailment（疾病）, possibly acontagious（传染性的）one and couldmake others sick too. Second, the participants wereout of the question（不可能的）to take leavefrom work, this is aperennial（惯用的）excuse used by working professionals. Third, they havepriorcommitments（事先的承诺）that are as important as their job and cannot beneglected（忽视）. However,they couldmake it up（弥补）by sending greetingsvia（通过）personalmessage or even sending gifts; after all,it's thethought that counts（礼轻情意重）.

5. Are people in your country often late for meetings?

I supposenot. Punctuality is avirtue（美德）that wevalue in our country. Our parentsinstill（灌输）this kind ofvalue in us at a young age by waking us up early, so I believe my fellowcitizens understand it by heart. Lateness is actuallyrude（不礼貌的） and inconsiderate（思虑不周的）.When someone go for the fences（想要）to meet with you, you shouldregard（考虑）their timeand presence by showing up（出现）on time.Whether youintend（有意）to be late or not, being late without an explanation iscondescending（傲慢的）. It is ofteninexorable（不可避免的）and legible（可以理解的）that thereareexternal（客观的）causes for tardiness. If a problem arises after ameeting has been originallyslated（被预定的）, you shouldelucidate（阐明）thesituations as soon as possible（尽可能快地）. As I wasexplaining a while ago, our country's culture hasembedded（将...根植于）punctuality as part of ourdiscipline; we were taught in school to be punctual by beginning the class asearly as 7 a.m. While at work, our boss always givesincentives（奖励）to those whoarrive on time, because time is money. Therefore, it is my point ofhonor（自豪）to tell the world that Chinese people are indeed early birds（早到的人）.

6.Do you think people are born with time management skillsor they can develop them?

It seems tome that time management isn’t something you’re born with, rather it’s a skillyou have to work at.  As a matter of fact, with some patience and a wholelot of practice, anyone can learn how to improve their time management skills.The concrete evidence for this is that even children cannot manage their ownschedule for studies and playtime. Respectively, we need to allow ourselves tolearn how much time we need to complete tasks, and how much time we need torelax to give our body and mind energy to study or work. This kind of learningis impossible fortoddlers（幼儿）to acquire.With this in mind, effective time planning isnurturable（可培养的）, notinnate（天生的）.