Step 1: Intensive reading.
Try to answer the question below while you’re reading:
Question: Why did the young girl miss the train?
Vocabulary:
punctuality n .准时
puncture v .刺破（轮胎）
rural adj .农村的
diversion n .改道；绕道
disregard v .不顾，无视
trial n .讨厌的事、人
intellectual n .知识分子
fraction n .很小一点儿
abstruse adj .深奥的
flourish n .挥舞（打手势）
coordinate v .协调
microscopic adj .微小的
reproach v .责备
adamant adj .坚定的，不动摇的
Passage:
Punctuality is a necessary habit in all public affairs in civilized society. Without it,
nothing could ever be brought to a conclusion; everything would be in a state of chaos.
Only in a sparsely-populated rural community is it possible to disregard it. In ordinary
living, there can be some tolerance of unpunctuality. The intellectual, who is working
on some abstruse problem, has everything coordinated and organized for the matter in
hand. He is therefore forgiven if late for a dinner party. But people are often
reproached for unpunctuality when their only fault is cutting things fine. 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. If no accidents occur on the way, like
punctured tyres, diversions of traffic, sudden descent of fog, they will be on time.
They are often more industrious, useful citizens than those who are never late. The
over-punctual can be as much a trial to others as the unpunctual. The guest who
arrives half an hour too soon is the greatest nuisance. Some friends of my family had
this irritating habit. The only thing to do was to ask them to come half an hour later
than the other guests. Then they arrived just when we wanted them.
准时是文明社会中进行一切社交活动时必须养成的习惯。不准时将一事无成，事
事都会陷入混乱不堪的境地。只有在人口稀少的农村，才可以忽视准时的习惯。
在日常生活中人们可以容忍一定程度的不准时。一个专心钻研某个复杂问题的知
识分子，为了搞好手头的研究，要把一切都协调一致、组织周密。因此，他要是
赴宴迟到了会得到谅解。但有些人不准时常常是因为掐钟点所致，他们常常会受
到责备。精力充沛、头脑敏捷的人极不愿意浪费时间，因此他们常想做完一件事
后再去赴约。要是路上没有发生如爆胎、改道、突然起雾等意外事故，他们是决
不会迟到的。他们与那些从不迟到的人相比，常常是更勤奋有用的公民。早到的
人同迟到的人一样令人讨厌。客人提前半小时到达是最令人讨厌的。我家有几个
朋友就有这种令人恼火的习惯。唯一的办法就是请他们比别的客人晚来半小时。
这样，他们可以恰好在我们要求的时间到达。
If you are catching a train, it is always better to be comfortably early than even a
fraction of a minute too late. Although being early may mean wasting a tittle 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. 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.
Such an experience befell a certain young girl the first time she was travelling alone.
如果赶火车，早到总比晚到好，哪怕早到一会儿也好。虽然早到可能意味着浪费
一点时间，但这比误了火车、等上一个多小时坐下一班车浪费的时间要少，而且
可以避免那种正好在火车驶出站时赶到车站，因上不去车而感到的沮丧。更难堪
的情况是虽然及时赶到站台上，却眼睁睁地看着那趟火车启动，把你抛下。一个
小姑娘第一次单独出门就碰到了这种情况。
Notes:
1 Only in a sparsely-populated…is it possible…，这是一个倒装句，因为 only 放在
句首。
2 for the matter in hand，为手中的事。
3 if late for a dinner party ，在以 if，when ，though 等连词引导的从句中，当其谓
语为 be 时，而主语又与主句的主语相同，从句中往往可以将主语和谓语省去。
上句 if 后就省略了 he is。
4 cut things fine，把时间安排得不留余地。
5 The over-punctual can be as much a trial to others as the unpunctual .到得过早的人
和迟到的人同样使人无法忍受。as much as，和……一样。
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. She gave her
luggage to a porter and showed him her ticket. To her horror he said that she was two
hours too soon. 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. 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. The girl asked to see a timetable, feeling sure that her
father could not have made such a mistake. 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. Just as that moment the train came into
the station. The girl, tears streaming down her face, begged to be allowed to slip into
the guard's van. But the station master was adamant: rules could not be broken. And
she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination while she was left
behind.
在火车进站 20 分钟前她就进了车站。因为她的父母再三跟她说，如果误了这趟
车，她的东道主朋友就得接她两趟，这是不应该的。她把行李交给搬运工并给他
看了车票。搬运工说她早到了两个小时，她听后大吃一惊。她从钱包里摸出一张
纸条，那上面有她父亲对这次旅行的详细说明，她把这张纸条交给了搬运工。搬
运工说，正如纸条上所说，确有一趟火车在那个时刻到站，但它只停站装邮件，
不载旅客。姑娘要求看时刻表，因为她相信父亲不能把这么大的事给弄错。搬运
工跑回去取时刻表，同时请来了站长。站长拿着时刻表一挥手，指着那趟列车到
站时刻旁边的一个很小的圆圈标记。这个标记表示列车是为装邮件而停车。正在
这时，火车进站了。女孩泪流满面，央求让她不声不响地到押车员车厢里去算了。
但站长态度坚决，规章制度不能破环，姑娘只得眼看着那趟火车消逝在她要去的
方向而撇下了她。
Notes:
6 half an hour too soon（= half an hour earlier），早到半个小时。
7 in good time，作“适当地”、“及时地”讲。
60.2【阅读理解】Too early and too late
Step 2: Comprehension questions.
1 What is a necessary habit in all public affairs in civilized society? (Punctuality.)
2 Could anything ever be brought to conclusion without it? (No, it couldn't.)
3 Where is it possible to disregard punctuality? (In a sparsely-populated rural
community)
4 Who can be forgiven for being late for a dinner party? (An intellectual [working on
an abstruse problem])
5 People are often reproached for being unpunctual when they have another fault.
What is that? (Cutting things fine.)
6 What do energetic, quick-minded people find it hard to do? (Waste time.)
7 What are such people tempted to do before they set out to keep an appointment?
(Finish a job.)
8 They will be on time if —what? (If no accidents occur on the way.)
9 What sort of guest is the greatest nuisance? (The one who arrives half an hour too
soon.)
10 How did the writer stop friends of his family from arriving half an hour too early?
(By asking them to come half an hour later than other guests.)
11 If you are catching a train, says the writer, it is better to be —what? (Comfortably
early.)
12 What do you feel when a train is drawing out of a station just as you arrive?
(Frustration.)
13 Who is the writer's story about a young girl or an old man? (A young girl.)
14 When did she enter the station? (Twenty minutes before the train was due.)
15 Who did she give her luggage to? (A porter.)
16 He said she was too soon. How much too soon? (Two hours.)
17 A train did come in at the time on her piece of paper, but what for? (To take on
mail, not passengers.)
18 Did the station master confirm this? (Yes, he did.)
19 When the train came into the station, what did the girl beg to be allowed to do?
(Get into the guard's van.)
20 Why did the station master say she still couldn't get on the train? (Because rules
could not be broken.)
60.3【拓展写作】Too early and too late
Step 3: Composition
Write a composition on the following subjects; the length should be between 250 and
350 words.
• Write a short story beginning ‘A piece of paper was blowing in the wind …’
Key to composition
Title: A piece of paper
Introduction: Piece of—blowing in wind—not large—drop into water? — looked very
light—tissue/toilet paper?
Development: Finished sandwiches— set off back to office—not looking forward to
afternoon
Piece of paper flew up again—noticed writing on it—flew away—dropped down
—wind took it again
Ran after it once more —landed in front of me
Conclusion: Lottery ticket—took it home—won £50!
Composition
A piece of paper was blowing in the wind. When I saw it, I was sitting in the park
eating my sandwiches. It was floating across the surface of the park lake, not large,
about half the size of a postcard, and I wondered when it would drop into the water.
But it didn't. As it got near to the surface, it rose again and the wind took it over the
bank towards some trees. Even then I thought that it looked very light —perhaps
tissue paper or toilet paper, maybe—because it almost fluttered, like a butterfly. But
then again, perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps it was just ordinary paper that had got a bit wet.
I finished my sandwiches, threw my waste paper into the bin nearby and set off
back towards the trees and my office. I was not looking forward to the afternoon. As I
walked round the edge of the lake, the piece of paper flew up again in front of me. It
began to annoy me, and intrigue me—because when it flew up, I noticed that it was
pink with some writing on it. It flew away and I chased it. It dropped down and I had
nearly reached it when the wind took it again. I ran after it once more and it landed
again some metres in front of me.
I finally caught up with it and put my foot on it to stop it flying away again. This
time I held it firmly with my foot until I could lean down and pick it up. I looked at it
and realized what it was: a lottery ticket—a little wet, and one corner was torn, but it
was a lottery ticket. I could see that the date on it was about six weeks before. It was
probably worth nothing, but I decided to take it home and dry it.
It was worth something! When I checked the numbers with the winning numbers
six weeks before, I had four the same. The ‘piece of paper’ was worth £50!
(344 words)
课外练习：
1 The only people who can afford to neglect the exercise of punctuality are
_________.
(a) ordinary citizens who have nothing to do with publicity
(b) people who live in remote places where there are few people
(c) intellectuals who have to deal with unexpected problems
(d) people who are forced to work overtime in order to finish a job
2 People who cut things fine are usually .
(a) delayed by accidents on the roads
(b) energetic, quick-minded people
(c) no more irritating than the over-punctual
(d) reproached for being late for appointments
3 The girl was very upset when the train came into the station because .
(a) her parents would not forgive her for missing it
(b) she had two hours to wait before the next train arrived
(c) she was going to have to make a second journey to reach her destination
(d) the station master insisted that passengers were not allowed on to it
4 Without it, it would be impossible to a conclusion.
(a) to have ever brought anything
(b) ever to bring anything
(c) to bring nothing ever
(d) nothing to be brought ever
5 The time you waste through being early will be less than ...
(a) must
(b) might
(c) should
(d) can
6 If you are catching a train, you comfortably early than…
(a) are better being
(b) would be better
(c) had better be
(d) will be better to be
7 -the frustration of arriving the train is drawing out ...
(a) just as
(b) immediately that
(c) in a while
(d) as soon as
8 And she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination .
(a) and left her behind
(b) and leave behind her
(c) leaving her behind
(d) while it left behind her
9 In ordinary living, unpunctuality can be tolerated .
(a) out of kindness
(b) on occasion
(c) to a certain extent
(d) in varying degrees
10 The over-punctual can be just as to others as the unpunctual.
(a) detestable
(b) trying
(c) provident
(d) inconsiderate
11 - since her parents had that it would be unforgivable…
(a) stressed the point
(b) given the impression
(c) marked it down
(d) given notice
12 the train came into the station.
(a) Only then
(b) Instantly
(c) At that very moment
(d) Precisely
答案：1b 2b 3d 4b 5b 6c 7a 8c 9c 10b 11a 12c