Lesson 60

Punctuality is a necessary habit in all public affairs in civilized society.
准时是文明社会中所有公共事务里的一项必要习惯。
Without it, nothing could ever be brought to a conclusion; everything would be in a state of chaos.
没有它，任何事情都无法了结；一切都将陷入混乱。
Only in a sparsely-populated rural community is it possible to disregard it.
只有在一个人口稀少的农村社区，才有可能忽视它。
In ordinary living, there can be some tolerance of unpunctuality.
在日常生活中，对不守时是可以有一定的容忍度的。
The intellectual, who is working on some abstruse problem, has everything coordinated and organized for the matter in hand.
这位正在研究某些深奥问题的知识分子，为处理手头的事情而让一切都协调且有条理。
He is therefore forgiven if late for a dinner party.
因此，如果他参加晚宴迟到了，也是可以原谅的。
But people are often reproached for unpunctuality when their only fault is cutting things fine.
但是人们经常因为不守时而受到指责，而其实他们唯一的缺点只是把时间算得太紧。
It is hard for energetic, quick-minded people to waste time, so they are often tempted to finish a job before setting out to keep an appointment.
精力充沛、头脑敏捷的人很难虚度光阴，所以他们经常忍不住要在出发赴约前先完成一项工作。
If no accidents occur on the way, like punctured tyres, diversions of traffic, sudden descent of fog, they will be on time.
如果路上没有发生意外，比如轮胎被扎、交通分流、大雾突然降临，他们会准时到达的。
They are often more industrious, useful citizens than those who are never late.
他们往往比那些从不迟到的人更勤奋，是更有用的公民。
The over-punctual can be as much a trial to others as the unpunctual.
过于准时的人对他人来说，有时和不准时的人一样令人受折磨。
The guest who arrives half an hour too soon is the greatest nuisance.
早到半小时的客人是最令人讨厌的人。
Some friends of my family had this irritating habit.
我家的几个朋友有这种令人恼火的习惯。
The only thing to do was ask them to come half an hour later than the other guests.
唯一能做的就是请他们比其他客人晚半小时来。
Then they arrived just when we wanted them.
然后他们恰好在我们想要他们的时候到达了。
If you are catching a train, it is always better to be comfortably early than even a fraction of a minute too late.
如果你要赶火车，从容地早到总是比迟到哪怕一丁点儿要好。
Although being early may mean wasting a little time, this will be less than if you miss the train and have to wait an hour or more for the next one; and you avoid the frustration of arriving at the very moment when the train is drawing out of the station and being unable to get on it.
虽然早到可能意味着浪费一点时间，但这比错过火车而不得不等一个小时甚至更久要好；而且你还避免了在火车正驶离车站时赶到却无法上车的那种挫败感。
An even harder situation is to be on the platform in good time for a train and still to see it go off without you.
更糟糕的情况是，你早早地在站台上等车，却仍然眼睁睁地看着火车抛下你离去。
Such an experience befell a certain young girl the first time she was travelling alone.
这样一个经历发生在一个年轻女孩第一次独自旅行的时候。
She entered the station twenty minutes before the train was due, since her parents had impressed upon her that it would be unforgivable to miss it and cause the friends with whom she was going to stay to make two journeys to meet her.
她在火车到站前二十分钟就进入了车站，因为她的父母反复叮嘱她，错过火车并导致她要去投宿的朋友们跑两趟去接她是不可原谅的。
She gave her luggage to a porter and showed him her ticket.
她把行李交给了一名搬运工，并向他出示了她的票。
To her horror he said that she was two hours too soon.
令她恐惧的是，他说她早到了两个小时。
She felt in her handbag for the piece of paper on which her father had written down all the details of the journey and gave it to the porter.
她在手提包里摸索着寻找那张写有她父亲记下的旅程所有细节的纸，并把它交给了搬运工。
He agreed that a train did come into the station at the time on the paper and that it did stop, but only to take on mail, not passengers.
他承认确实有一列火车在纸上标注的时间进站并停靠了，但那只是为了装载邮件，而不是为了载客。
The girl asked to see a timetable, feeling sure that her father could not have made such a mistake.
女孩要求看时刻表，因为她确信父亲不可能犯下那样的错误。
The porter went to fetch one and arrived back with the station master, who produced it with a flourish and pointed out a microscopic 'o' beside the time of the arrival of the train at his station; this little 'o' indicated that the train only stopped for mail.
搬运工去取时刻表，回来时带着站长，站长得意地拿出时刻表，指着火车到达他那个车站的时间旁一个极小的“o”字；这个小小的“o”字表示该列车只在取邮件时才停站。
Just as that moment the train came into the station.
正当那个时刻，火车进站了。
The girl, tears streaming down her face, begged to be allowed to slip into the guard's van.
女孩泪流满面，乞求能被允许溜进守车。
But the station master was adamant: rules could not be broken.
但是站长态度坚决：规矩不可破。
And she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination while she was left behind.
而她不得不看着那列火车朝着她的目的地消失，而她却被留在了身后。