第60课

旁白 neutral

Punctuality is a necessary habit in all public affairs in civilized society.

在文明社会中，准时是处理一切公共事务的必要习惯。

旁白 neutral

Without it, nothing could ever be brought to a conclusion; everything would be in a state of chaos.

没有它，任何事情都无法成功；一切都将处于混乱之中。

旁白 neutral

Only in a sparsely-populated rural community is it possible to disregard it.

只有在人口稀少的乡村社区，才有可能忽视它。

旁白 neutral

In ordinary living, there can be some tolerance of unpunctuality.

在日常生活中，对不准时可以有一些宽容。

旁白 neutral

The intellectual, who is working on some abstruse problem, has everything coordinated and organized for the matter in hand.

正在研究某个深奥问题的知识分子，会把手头的一切事物都协调组织好。

旁白 neutral

He is therefore forgiven if late for a dinner party.

因此，如果他赴晚宴迟到了，是可以被原谅的。

旁白 neutral

But people are often reproached for unpunctuality when their only fault is cutting things fine.

但人们常常因为不准时而受到指责，尽管他们唯一的过错只是把时间安排得太紧凑。

旁白 neutral

It is hard for energetic, quick-minded people to waste time,

对于精力充沛、头脑敏捷的人来说，浪费时间是很难的，

旁白 neutral

so they are often tempted to finish a job before setting out to keep an appointment.

所以他们常常想在赴约之前完成一项工作。

旁白 neutral

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，比如爆胎、交通改道、突如其来的大雾，他们就会准时到达。

旁白 neutral

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劳、更有用。

旁白 neutral

The over-punctual can be as much a trial to others as the unpunctual.

过分准时的人和不准时的人一样，都会给别人带来麻烦。

旁白 neutral

The guest who arrives half an hour too soon is the greatest nuisance.

提前半小时到达的客人是最让人讨厌的。

旁白 neutral

Some friends of my family had this irritating habit.

我家里有些朋友就有这种令人恼火的习惯。

旁白 neutral

The only thing to do was ask them to come half an hour later than the other guests.

唯一的办法就是请他们比其他客人晚半小时来。

旁白 neutral

Then they arrived just when we wanted them.

这样他们就能在我们想要的时候到达。

旁白 neutral

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，最好是提前充足时间，而不是哪怕晚一分钟。

旁白 neutral

Although being early may mean wasting a little time,

尽管提前到达可能会浪费一点时间，

旁白 neutral

this will be less than if you miss the train and have to wait an hour or more for the next one;

但这比你错过火车，不得不等一个多小时才能搭乘下一班车要好；

旁白 neutral

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.

而且你还能避免那种火车正驶出车站而你却无法上车的沮丧。

旁白 neutral

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.

更令人恼火的情况是，你准时到了站台，却眼睁睁看着火车没有你开走。

旁白 neutral

Such an experience befell a certain young girl the first time she was travelling alone.

这样的经历就发生在一个年轻女孩身上，那是她第一次独自旅行。

旁白 neutral

She entered the station twenty minutes before the train was due,

她在火车到站前20分钟就进了车站，

旁白 neutral

since her parents had impressed upon her

因为她的父母曾告诫她

旁白 neutral

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.

错过火车是不可原谅的，那会让她要去拜访的朋友来接她两次。

旁白 neutral

She gave her luggage to a porter and showed him her ticket.

她把行李交给一个搬运工，并给他看了她的车票。

旁白 neutral

To her horror he said that she was two hours too soon.

让她吃惊的是，他说她早来了两个小时。

旁白 neutral

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.

她从手提包里摸索出父亲写下所有旅行细节的纸条，交给了搬运工。

旁白 neutral

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.

他承认火车确实在纸上写的时间到达车站，也确实停靠了，但那只是为了装载邮件，而不是载客。

旁白 neutral

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，她确信她父亲不可能犯这样的错误。

旁白 neutral

The porter went to fetch one and arrived back with the station master,

搬运工去拿时刻表，回来时带着站长，

旁白 neutral

who produced it with a flourish and pointed out a microscopic 'o' beside the time of the arrival of the train at his station;

站长得意地拿出时刻表，指出了他们车站火车到站时间旁边的一个微小的“o”；

旁白 neutral

this little 'o' indicated that the train only stopped for mail.

这个小小的“o”表示火车只停靠装载邮件。

旁白 neutral

Just as that moment the train came into the station.

就在那时，火车进站了。

旁白 neutral

The girl, tears streaming down her face, begged to be allowed to slip into the guard's van.

女孩泪流满面，乞求允许她溜进守车。

旁白 neutral

But the station master was adamant: rules could not be broken.

但站长态度坚决：规则不能打破。

旁白 neutral

And she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination while she was left behind.

她不得不眼睁睁看着那列火车开往目的地，而她却被留在了原地。