"The difference between people lies in their free time"

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The great scientist Einstein once said, \"The difference between people lies in their leisure time.\" We always think that people are different from one another, due to differences in environment, opportunities, abilities, and personality. What does it have to do with “free time”? Free time means rest and recharging for each of us. 　　 According to a report in Xinhua Weekend on August 20, 2000, Dr. Wang Qiyuan, a professor at Renmin University of China, led his research team to conduct a sample survey on the time allocation of urban residents across the country. The findings showed that urban residents in China spend an average of 5 hours and 1 minute per day working, 10 hours and 42 minutes on personal needs, 2 hours and 21 minutes on household chores, and 6 hours and 6 minutes in leisure time. The time spent on the four types of activities accounts for 21%, 44%, 10%, and 25% of the total time, respectively. Every day, city dwellers spend their time in this way. Over the past 10 years, people’s leisure time has increased by 69 minutes, accounting for one-third of their lives. In our country, residents spend 3 hours and 38 minutes per day in front of televisions, using up half of their free time in this way. Japanese and Americans spend 1 hour and 37 minutes, and 2 hours and 14 minutes watching TV per day, respectively. 　 The survey results also showed that those with a higher education level, such as a bachelor’s degree or above, work four times as many years in their lifetime as those with a lower education level, and their income is more than seven times higher. The higher one’s educational level, the more emphasis is placed on lifelong learning*, with an average daily learning* time of 61 minutes. How much leisure time does each person have? How to use one's free time? There is a lot to consider here. When you have a lot of free time, and spend so much of it playing cards, dancing, chatting, or watching TV, your income will drop, just like on a seesaw – one side will go down. Conversely, the income will increase. Income is society’s reward to you, as well as the material manifestation of a person’s value. As your income tends to increase in a bull market or decrease in a bear market, your lifestyle and daily activities also change, and your ideals and aspirations become different from those of others; at this point, you inevitably start to differ from them, whether consciously or unconsciously. "The difference between people lies in their free time. This is perhaps another way in which Einstein expressed his views on humans and time, a profound and thought-provoking way of expressing them. 　　 Lenin said that without rest, there can be no work. It is time to endow it with a new meaning for the modern era. Entering the information society and embracing the era of the knowledge economy inevitably requires us to cut back on or even sacrifice our leisure time. Market competition is everywhere. In our free time, we can all sense the presence of knowledge and money. Dr. Zhang Chaoyang, president of Sohu and once named a \"Digital Hero\" of the world by Time magazine in the United States, said: \"I am just an ordinary person; I don’t see any major difference between myself and others.\" If there is any difference, it is that on average, I spend all my time working (thinking), aside from 7 hours of sleep per day. 　 It is said that Osler, a Canadian medical educator who made successful research on the third type of blood cell (now known as platelets) and achieved other accomplishments, established a routine for himself to find time to read amidst his busy schedule: he would read for 15 minutes before going to bed. No matter how late he got in bed due to his busy schedule, even at two or three in the morning, he would definitely read for 15 minutes before going to sleep. He adhered to this system for a full half century, reading a total of 82.35 million words and 1,098 books; the medical expert turned into a literary researcher. Osler endows leisure time with the magic of life. 　　 Do you want to show your value? Do you want to be different from others? So, make good use of your free time!