当人类对时间越来越着迷时，失去时间的悲伤就成为人类心中永远的一个洞。人们为错失良机、效率低下的日子而烦恼。他们不断地担心自己还能活多久，因为计算生命的时刻不可避免地会导致它们倒计时。很快，在每个国家、每种语言中，时间都成为最宝贵的商品。
(As mankind grew obsessed with its hours, the sorrow of lost time became a permanent hole in the human heart. People fretted over missed chances, over inefficient days; they worried constantly about how long they would live, because counting life's moments had led, inevitably, to counting them down. Soon, in every nation and in every language, time became the most precious commodity.)