Too early and too late
太早和太晚
Why did the young girl miss the train?
年轻女孩为什么错过了火车？
Punctuality is a necessary habit in all public affairs in civilized society.
守时是文明社会所有公共事务的必要习惯。
Without it, nothing could ever be brought to a conclusion; everything would be in a state of chaos.
没有它，任何事情都不可能有结果，一切都会处于混乱状态。
Only in a sparsely-populated rural community is it possible to disregard it.
只有在人烟稀少的农村社区，才有可能无视这一点。
In ordinary living, there can be some tolerance of unpunctuality.
在普通生活中，可以容忍不守时。
The intellectual, who is working on some abstruse problem, has everything coordinated and organized for the matter in hand.
知识分子在研究一些深奥的问题时，一切都会为手头的事情协调和安排好。
He is therefore forgiven if late for a dinner party.
因此，他在晚宴上迟到是可以原谅的。
But people are often reproached for unpunctuality when their only fault is cutting things fine.
但是，人们常常因为不守时而受到责备，而他们唯一的过错就是把事情做得太细。
It is hard for energetic, quick-minded people to waste time,
精力充沛、思维敏捷的人很难浪费时间、
so they are often tempted to finish a job before setting out to keep an appointment.
因此，他们往往会在完成工作后才出发赴约。
If no accidents occur on the way, like punctured tyres, diversions of traffic, sudden descent of fog, they will be on time.
如果途中不发生意外，如爆胎、交通改道、大雾突降等，他们就会准时出发。
They are often more industrious, useful citizens than those who are never late.
与从不迟到的人相比，他们往往是更勤奋、更有用的公民。
The over-punctual can be as much a trial to others as the unpunctual.
过于守时的人和不守时的人一样，都会给别人带来麻烦。
The guest who arrives half an hour too soon is the greatest nuisance.
早到半小时的客人是最大的讨厌鬼。
Some friends of my family had this irritating habit.
我家的一些朋友就有这种令人讨厌的习惯。
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来半小时。
Then they arrived just when we wanted them.
然后，他们就在我们希望他们来的时候到了。
If you are catching a train, it is always better to be comfortably early than even a fraction of a minute too late.
如果要赶火车，早到总比晚到一分一秒要好。
Although being early may mean wasting a little time,
虽然早到可能意味着浪费一点时间、
this will be less than if you miss the train and have to wait an hour or more for the next one;
但总比错过火车，要等一个小时或更长时间才能赶上下一班火车要好；
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.
还可以避免在列车驶出车站时才赶到却无法上车的挫折感。
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，你准时到达站台，却眼睁睁地看着火车开走。
Such an experience befell a certain young girl the first time she was travelling alone.
一位年轻女孩第一次独自旅行时就遇到了这样的情况。
She entered the station twenty minutes before the train was due,
她在火车到站前 20 分钟进站、
since her parents had impressed upon her
因为她的父母告诉她
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.
如果错过了火车，将不可原谅，因为她的朋友们要赶两趟火车来接她。
She gave her luggage to a porter and showed him her ticket.
她把行李交给一个搬运工，并向他出示了车票。
To her horror he said that she was two hours too soon.
令她惊恐万分的是，他说她来早了两个小时。
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.
她从手提包里摸出一张纸，父亲在上面写下了所有的行程细节，然后把纸交给了搬运工。
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.
他同意在纸上的时间确实有一列火车进站，而且火车确实停了下来，但只是为了装运邮件，而不是乘客。
The girl asked to see a timetable, feeling sure that her father could not have made such a mistake.
女孩要求看一下时刻表，她确信父亲不可能犯这样的错误。
The porter went to fetch one and arrived back with the station master,
搬运工去拿了一张，然后和站长一起回来了、
who produced it with a flourish and pointed out a microscopic 'o' beside the time of the arrival of the train at his station;
站长满面春风地拿出了时刻表，并在列车到站时间旁边指出了一个微小的 "o"；
this little 'o' indicated that the train only stopped for mail.
这个小 "o "表示火车只是停下来取信。
Just as that moment the train came into the station.
就在这时，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，恳求允许她溜进警卫的车厢。
But the station master was adamant: rules could not be broken.
但站长很坚决：规矩不能破。
And she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination while she was left behind.
她只能眼睁睁地看着火车驶向目的地，而自己却被留在了后面。
