1、 Lesson60TheimportanceofPunctualityPunctualityisanecessaryhabitinallpublicaffairsofacivilizedsociety.Withoutit,nothingcouldeverbebroughttoaconclusion;everythingwouldbeinastateofchaos.Onlyinasparsely-populatedruralcommunityisitpossibletodisregardit.Inordinarylivingtherecanbesometoleranceofunpunctuali

2、ty.Theintellectual,whoisworkingonsomeabstruseproblem,haseverythingcoordinatedandorganizedforthematterinhand.Heisthereforeforgiven,iflateforadinnerparty.Butpeopleareoftenreproachedforunpunctualitywhentheironlyfaultiscuttingthingsfine.Itishardforenergetic,quick-mindedpeopletowastetime,sotheyareoftente

3、mptedtofinishajobbeforesettingouttokeepanappointment.Ifnoaccidentsoccurontheway,likepuncturedtyres,diversionsoftraffic,suddendescentoffog,theywillbeontime.Theyareoftenmoreindustrious,usefulcitizensthanthosewhoareneverlate.Theover-punctualcanbeasmuchatrialtoothersastheunpunctual.Theguestwhoarriveshal

4、fanhourtoosoonisthegreatestnuisance.Somefriendsofmyfamilyhadthisirritatinghabit.Theonlythingtodowasaskthemtocomehalfanhourlaterthantheotherguests.Thentheyarrivedjustwhenwewantedthem.Ifyouarecatchingatrain,itisalwaysbettertobecomfortablyearlythanevenafractionofaminutetoolate.Althoughbeingearlymaymean

5、wastingalittletime,thiswillbelessthanifyoumissthetrainandhavetowaitanhourormoreforthenextone;andyouavoidthefrustrationofarrivingattheverymomentwhenthetrainisdrawingoutofthestationandbeingunabletogetonit.Anevenhardersituationistobeontheplatformingoodtimeforatrainandstilltoseeitgooffwithoutyou.Suchane

6、xperiencebefellacertainyounggirlthefirsttimeshewastravellingalone.Sheenteredthestationtwentyminutesbeforethetrainwasdue,sinceherparentshadimpresseduponherthatitwouldbeunforgivabletomissitandcausethefriendswithwhomshewasgoingtostaytomaketwojourneystomeether.Shegaveherluggagetoaporterandshowedhimherti

7、cket.Toherhorrorhesaidthatshewastwohourstoosoon.Shefeltinherhandbagforthepieceofpaperonwhichherfatherhadwrittendownallthedetailsofthejourneyandgiveittotheporter.Heagreedthatatraindidcomeintothestationatthetimeonthepaperandthatitdidstop,butonlytotakeonwater,notpassengers.Thegirlaskedtoseeatimetable,f

8、eelingsurethatherfathercouldnothavemadesuchamistake.Theporterwenttofetchoneandarrivedbackwiththestationmaster,whoproduceditwithaflourishandpointedoutamicroscopicobesidethetimeofthearrivalofthetrainathisstation;thislittleoindicatedthatthetrainonlystoppedforwater.Justasthatmomentthetraincameintothesta

9、tion.Thegirl,tearsstreamingdownherface,beggedtobeallowedtoslipintotheguardsvan.Butthestationmasterwasadamant:rulescouldnotbebroken.Andshehadtowatchthattraindisappeartowardsherdestinationwhileshewasleftbehind.準(zhǔn)時(shí)是文明社會(huì)中進(jìn)行一切社交活動(dòng)時(shí)必須養(yǎng)成的習(xí)慣。不準(zhǔn)時(shí)將一事無(wú)成，事事都會(huì)陷入混亂不堪的境地。只有在人口稀少的農(nóng)村，才可以忽視準(zhǔn)時(shí)的習(xí)慣。在日常生活中人們可以容忍一定程度的不準(zhǔn)時(shí)。一

10、個(gè)專心鉆研某個(gè)復(fù)雜問(wèn)題的知識(shí)分子，為了搞好手頭的研究，要把一切都協(xié)調(diào)一致，組織周密。因此，他要是赴宴遲到了會(huì)得到諒解。但有些人不準(zhǔn)時(shí)常常因?yàn)槠婞c(diǎn)所致，他們常常受到責(zé)備，精力充沛、頭腦敏捷的人極不愿意浪費(fèi)時(shí)間，因此他們常想做完一件事后再去赴約。要是路上沒(méi)有發(fā)生如爆胎、改道、突然起霧等意外事故，他們決不會(huì)遲到。他們與那些從不遲到的人相比，常常是更勤奮有用的公民。早到的人同遲到的人一樣令人討厭。客人提前半小時(shí)到達(dá)是令人討厭的。我家有幾個(gè)朋友就有這有令人惱火的習(xí)慣。唯一的辦法就是請(qǐng)他們比別的客人晚來(lái)半小時(shí)。這樣，他們可以恰好在我們要求的時(shí)間到達(dá)。如果趕火車，早到總比晚到好，哪怕早到一會(huì)兒也好。雖然早

11、到可能意味著浪費(fèi)一點(diǎn)時(shí)間，但這比誤了火車等上一個(gè)多小時(shí)坐下班車?yán)速M(fèi)的時(shí)間要少，而且可以避免那種正好在火車駛出站時(shí)趕到車站，因上不去車而感到的沮喪。更難堪的情況是雖然及時(shí)趕到站臺(tái)上，卻眼睜睜地看著那趟火車啟動(dòng)，把你拋下。一個(gè)小姑娘第一次單獨(dú)出門就碰到了這種情況。在火車進(jìn)站20分鐘前她就進(jìn)了車站。因?yàn)樗母改冈偃f(shuō)，如果誤了這趟車，她的東道主朋友就得接她兩趟，這是不應(yīng)該的。她把行李交給搬運(yùn)工并給他看了車票。搬運(yùn)工說(shuō)她早到了兩個(gè)小時(shí)，她聽(tīng)后大吃一驚。她從錢包里摸出一張紙條，那上面有她父親對(duì)這次旅行詳細(xì)說(shuō)明，她把這張紙條交給了搬運(yùn)工。搬運(yùn)工說(shuō)，正如紙條所說(shuō)，確有一趟火車在那個(gè)時(shí)刻到站，但它只停站裝郵件，不載旅客。姑娘要