Two years ago Shirley Michels of St. Louis found herself getting up earlier and earlier, and going to bed later and later, just to meet everyday demands. The wife, mother and ophthalmic technician met her responsibilities『责职;任务』, but lacked time for the things that mattered most.
两年前，圣路易斯州的雪莉·米歇尔斯发现自己起得越来越早，睡得越来越晚却仅能满足日常的生活需求。尽管无论是作为一名妻子，一位母亲，还是眼科技师她都已尽了职责，但她却没有时间做最重要的事情。
She and her husband, Vic, an attorney, began searching for ways to simplify『简化;精简』their lives. “We had to decide what was really important,” says Shirley. They knew they wanted more time to play with their three-year-old son, Ryan, to exercise and eat right, and to nurture『培育;养育』friendships.
她和她的丈夫维克，一名律师，开始想办法简化他们的生活。雪莉说：“我们得决定什么是生活中真正重要的。”他们知道自己想拥有更多的时间和三岁的儿子瑞安在一起，做做游戏，做做运动，让他吃好，以培养他们之间的感情.
So the couple chose to live more modestly『适中的;适度的』, shopping with care for necessities and enjoying inexpensive pleasures such as reading, cooking and going to the park. Shirley quit her job and began working part time from home. She printed up business cards that read “At your service—buy yourself a little time,” and hired herself out for personal tasks such as shopping, paying bills, organizing parties, doing Internet research—whatever clients needed.
因此这对夫妻选择了一种更简单的生活方式，注意只买生活的必需品，从事一些花钱不多的消遣，诸如阅读、烹调、逛公园。雪莉辞掉了原来的工作，开始做半天工作，比如说为私人购物、付款、组织聚会、做国际互联网研究方面的事情——做客户所要求做的一切。她在她的商业名片上印上“听候您的吩咐——给你自己留点时.
“I still work hard, but being able to control my hours makes all the difference,” she says. “I can carve out『(雕)刻出;开辟出』time to take my son to the zoo or play basketball with him. My stress headaches are gone. Having a chance to get to know neighbors not only has been fun, but it’s also helped us further simplify.
她说：“我仍然在努力工作，但现在能够自己控制时间却使一切变得大不一样了。我能抽出一些时间领儿子去动物园或，和他一起玩玩篮球。我因压力而造成的头痛消失了。有机会去了解邻居不仅给生活带来了乐趣，而且还有助于使我的生活变得更加简单化。 .
