---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-3/60-too-early-and-too-late.md
description: 新概念英语第三册：Too Early and too Late。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。
---

# 60 · 太早和太晚

### 第1段

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 ask them to come half an hour later than the other guests. Then they arrived just when we wanted them.
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 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. 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 traveling alone.
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 at 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.

中文理解：在文明社会的公共事务中，守时是一种必不可少的习惯。没有它，事情便无法顺利完成，一切都会陷入混乱。只有在人烟稀少的乡村社会里，才可能不那么讲究准时。日常生活中，偶尔迟到，也可以有些宽容。一个正在钻研深奥问题的学者，心思和安排都围着手头的研究运转，因此即使赴晚宴迟了，也往往能得到谅解。但有些人挨批评，其实只是把时间算得太紧。精力充沛、头脑敏捷的人不愿浪费时间，常忍不住想在赴约前再做完一件事。只要途中没有爆胎、交通改道或突然起雾等意外，他们就能准时赶到。他们往往比那些从不迟到的人更勤奋，也为社会做出更多贡献。过分讲究准时、甚至提前到场的人，给别人造成的麻烦，可能和迟到者一样大。最让人头疼的，就是早到半小时的客人。我家的一些朋友就有这个恼人的习惯，唯一的办法，是把约定时间比其他客人推迟半小时。这样，他们反而刚好在我们希望的时间到达。
赶火车时，宁可从容地早到，也不要迟上哪怕片刻。早到也许会浪费一点时间，可总比误车后，等下一班一个小时甚至更久要少；也能免去那种眼看火车正在驶出站台，自己却怎么也上不去的懊恼。还有一种处境更难受：明明早早到了站台，却仍只能看着火车把自己留下，开走了。一个年轻姑娘第一次独自出门，就碰上了这种事。
姑娘比火车预定时间提前二十分钟进站。父母反复叮嘱过她，千万不能误车，否则要让接待她的朋友来车站跑两趟，那就太不应该了。她把行李交给搬运工，给他看车票；没想到，对方竟说她早到了两个小时，她一下慌了神。她从手提包里摸出一张纸，上面是父亲写的全部行程细节，交给搬运工看。对方承认，纸上那个时间确实有一班列车进站，也确实会停，但只装邮件，不上旅客。姑娘坚信父亲不可能犯这种错误，要求看时刻表。搬运工去拿，回来时还带来了站长。站长郑重其事地亮出时刻表，指着本站到达时间旁一个小得几乎看不清的“o”，说明这个标记表示：停车只为装邮件。就在这时，列车进站了。姑娘泪流满面，央求让她悄悄登上列车员的车厢，可站长毫不通融：规章不能破坏。她只好眼睁睁看着列车朝自己的目的地驶去，独自被留在了站台上。

* **brought to a conclusion**：完成；告一段落；bring something to a conclusion，比只背 conclusion 更利于组织句子。

* **a state of chaos**：一片混乱的状态；in a state of + 状态，不要漏掉 in。

* **In ordinary living**：在日常生活中；说明讨论范围，避免把公共事务与私人聚会的标准混为一谈。

* **the matter in hand**：眼前正在处理的事情；in hand 表正在处理，不一定真拿在手里。

* **a dinner party**：晚宴；聚餐；party在这里是社交聚会，不是政党。

* **cutting things fine**：把时间安排得太紧；常说赶时间、余量小，不是精细切割。

* **keep an appointment**：赴约；按约到场；make an appointment 是预约，keep 是守约赴约。

* **on time**：准时；表示按约定时间准时；in time 强调赶得上、来得及。

* **the greatest nuisance**：最让人头疼的人或事；a nuisance 可指人或事，评价不要扩展成品行定论。

* **half an hour later than**：比……晚半小时；时间差 + later / earlier than + 参照，不省略比较对象。

* **comfortably early**：从容地提前到达；comfortably early 强调余裕，不是提早越多越好。

* **in good time**：及早；留有充裕时间；强调有余量，与刚好 on time 略有不同。

* **traveling alone**：独自出行；alone 修饰出行状态，不是感觉 lonely。

* **To her horror**：令她惊恐的是；to + 所有格 + 情绪名词，先标明是谁的反应。

* **take on mail**：装载邮件；take on + 货物或乘客，与 take off 区分。

* **pointed out**：指出；out不可省略，区别point at用手指向。

* **only stopped for mail**：只为装卸邮件而停靠；only 的限制决定能否上车，复述不能省略。

* **begged to be allowed**：恳求获准……；beg to be allowed to do，允许者省略，动作主体仍是请求者。

* **left behind**：被落下；被留下；be left behind 表被留下，与 leave something behind 忘带物品对照。

#### 原文注释 · Punctuality is a necessary habit in all public affairs in civilized society.

注释：①a state of chaos = a condition of complete disorder and confusion。 ②sparsely-populated = with not many people living there。③disregard = ignore。 ④原文可视为if he is late for a dinner party。⑤reproached = criticized, scolded。 ⑥setting out = leaving the house。⑦diversions = moving to a different route(due to an accident, for example)。⑧industrious = busy, productive, hard-working。

#### 原文注释 · If you are catching a train, it is always better to be comfortably early than even a fraction of a minute too late.

注释：①该句首先是一个although 引导的让步状语从句，接着是if 引导的条件状语从句，最后是when 引导的定语从句修饰the very moment。

#### 原文注释 · 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.

注释：①该句中，有一个before…due 的时间状语从句，还有一个since…her 的原因状语从句，在原因状语从句中，含有一个that 引导的从句作had impressed 的宾语，该宾语从句中还有一个with...stay 的定语从句修饰friends。 ②she was left behind 在这里指的是把小姑娘撇下了，没有带上她，但在翻译的处理过程中，为了符合汉语的表达习惯，我们译成了孤零零地，也即表达了被火车撇下之意。 ③destination = the place she wanted to go to。

#### Summary 摘要

The girl entered the railway station twenty minutes early, but the porter said she was two hours too soon. When she showed him the details of the journey, he agreed it was correct, but said it was a mail train, not a passenger train. When she demanded to see a timetable, the station master came and pointed out that the train only stopped for mail. The train came in but the girl was still not allowed to get on. (79 words)

#### Composition 作文 （撞了狗屎运范文写作，哈哈）

\[1]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(v.摆动), like a butterfly. But then again, perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps it was just ordinary paper that had got a bit wet.

\[2]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(v.激起...的兴趣) 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.

\[3]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.

\[4]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)

## 学完这一课

把 Only in… is it possible to… 还原正常语序，再明确唯一适用条件。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-3/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第217—220页，2022年2月第3版。*