守时是文明社会一切公共事务中的必要习惯。
Punctuality is a necessary habit in all public affairs in civilized society.
没有守时，任何事情都不可能有结果；一切将陷入混乱状态。
Without it, nothing could ever be brought to a conclusion; everything would be in a state of chaos.
只有在人口稀少的乡村社区里，人们才有可能无视它（守时）。
Only in a sparsely-populated rural community is it possible to disregard it.
在日常生活中，对不守时可以有一些容忍。
In ordinary living, there can be some tolerance of unpunctuality.
从事某一深奥问题研究的知识分子，会将手头事务的一切都协调安排妥当。
The intellectual, who is working on some abstruse problem, has everything coordinated and organized for the matter in hand.
因此，如果他赴晚宴迟到，人们会原谅他。
He is therefore forgiven if late for a dinner party.
但是，当人们唯一的过失只是把时间掐算得太紧时，却常常因不守时而遭到责备。
But people are often reproached for unpunctuality when their only fault is cutting things fine.
对于精力充沛、思维敏捷的人来说，浪费时间是难以忍受的，因此他们常常忍不住想在出发赴约之前再完成一项工作。
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.
如果路上没有发生任何意外，比如爆胎、交通绕行、大雾突然降临，他们将会准时到达。
If no accidents occur on the way, like punctured tyres, diversions of traffic, sudden descent of fog, they will be on time.
他们往往比那些从不迟到的人更加勤奋、更有用处。
They are often more industrious, useful citizens than those who are never late.
过于守时的人对他人造成的困扰，可以与不守时的人一样多。
The over-punctual can be as much a trial to others as the unpunctual.
提前半小时到来的客人是最大的麻烦。
The guest who arrives half an hour too soon is the greatest nuisance.
我家的一些朋友就有这种令人恼火的习惯。
Some friends of my family had this irritating habit.
唯一能做的事就是请他们比其他客人晚半小时来。
The only thing to do was ask them to come half an hour later than the other guests.
于是他们恰好在我们需要他们的时候到达了。
Then they arrived just when we wanted them.
如果你要赶火车，宁可舒舒服服地早到，也好过哪怕仅仅迟到一丁点儿。
If you are catching a train, it is always better to be comfortably early than even a fraction of a minute too late.
尽管提早到达可能意味着浪费一点时间，但这比错过火车、不得不等一个小时甚至更长时间等下一班车要少得多；而且你也避免了在火车恰好驶出站台的那一刻赶到却无法上车的那种沮丧。
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.
还有一种更加难堪的情形：你按时到达月台，却仍然眼睁睁地看着火车不带你离去。
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.
这样一次经历降临到了一个年轻女孩身上，那是她第一次独自出行。
Such an experience befell a certain young girl the first time she was travelling alone.
她在火车预定到站时间的二十分钟前就进了车站，因为她的父母一再叮嘱她，错过火车是不可原谅的，那会害得准备接她的朋友来回跑两趟。
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.
她把行李交给一个搬运工，并把车票给他看。
She gave her luggage to a porter and showed him her ticket.
令她惊恐的是，搬运工说她早来了整整两个小时。
To her horror he said that she was two hours too soon.
她在手提包里摸索，找到了父亲写下旅途全部细节的那张纸，并把它递给了搬运工。
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.
他承认，确实有一班火车在纸上所写的时间到站，而且确实会停车，但只是为了装邮件，并不接送旅客。
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.
女孩要求查看时刻表，她笃定地认为父亲不可能犯这样的错误。
The girl asked to see a timetable, feeling sure that her father could not have made such a mistake.
搬运工去取时刻表，回来时带着站长，站长夸张地取出时刻表，指出在火车到站时间旁边有一个极小的字母"o"；这个小小的"o"表示该车只停靠以装载邮件。
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.
就在这时，火车进站了。
Just at that moment the train came into the station.
女孩泪流满面，恳求被允许悄悄溜进行李车厢。
The girl, tears streaming down her face, begged to be allowed to slip into the guard's van.
但是站长态度坚决：规定不能违反。
But the station master was adamant: rules could not be broken.
而她只能眼睁睁地看着那班火车向着她的目的地驶去，而她则被留在了原地。
And she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination while she was left behind.