At high noon last October 1st, the citizens of Ecuador（厄瓜多尔）did something they’d never dreamed possible: they synchronized（同步）their watches. In doing so, they embarked on a national campaign against lateness. A special group organized this campaign. The group invited the President to join in them, but actually the President was infamously unpunctual. Anyway, the President agreed to vow to participate. His spokesman, going on television to announce this vow, arrived at the studio, needless to say, several minutes late.
Such a campaign may be scorned or laughed at, because it seems not serious and even nonsense, without any practical meaning, but it comes out of a basic economic fact: punctuality pays. According to one study, chronic lateness costs Ecuador $ 2.5 billion a year ― hardly small change in a country with a gross domestic product of just twenty-four billion dollars. The fundamental challenge for a modern economy is to coordinate the actions of millions of independent people so that goods may be produced and services delivered as efficiently as possible. It’s a lot easier to do this when people are where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there. This is especially true in light of recent innovations such as just-in-time manufacturing.
Dell computer’s suppliers have to be able to deliver parts to Dell’s factories within ninety minutes. Under those conditions, “I’ll get to it later” won’t do.
In some punctual countries like Japan, pedestrians walk fast, business transactions take place quickly, and bank clocks are always accurate. In less punctual places, such as Indonesia, pedestrians amble, workers idle, and bank clocks are usually wrong. In other words, Ecuadorians are trying to revolutionize the way they live and work.
Can they do it? There are obvious obstacles. Tardiness can be quite pleasant, especially when it’s what you’ve accustomed to. There is also the tricky question of class. Lateness can be a way for the rich and powerful to assert themselves, to show how much more valuable their time is. In Ecuador, members of the military and the government are the most notorious offenders, and businessmen are far more likely to show up late than blue-collar workers are. There’s no point in getting to a meeting on time if no one is going to be there. Tardiness feeds on itself, creating a vicious cycle.
1.It is implied in the first paragraph that the president of Ecuador（ ）.
2.The word “pay” has the same meaning in “punctuality pays” as in （ ）.
3.Which of the following statements about Ecuador people is correct?
4.It can be inferred from the passage that（ ）.
