一个小姑娘第一次单独出门就碰到了这种情况。
She entered the station twenty minutes before the train was due,
在火车进站20分钟前她就进了车站。
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.
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。
She gave her luggage to a porter and showed him her ticket.
她把行李交给搬运工并给他看了车票。
To her horror he said that she was two hours too soon.
搬运工说她早到了两个小时，她听后大吃一惊。
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。
He agreed that a train did come into the station at the time on the paper and that it did stop,
搬运工说，正如纸条所说，确有一趟火车在那个时刻到站，
but only to take on mail, not passengers.
但它只停站装邮件，不载旅客。
The girl asked to see a timetable, feeling sure that her father could not have made such a mistake.
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。
The porter went to fetch one and arrived back with the station master,
搬运工跑回去取时刻表，同时请来了站长。
who produced it with a flourish and pointed out a microscopic 'o' beside the time of the arrival of the train at his station;
站长拿着时刻表一挥手，指着那趟列车到站时刻旁边一个很小的圆圈标记。
this little 'o' indicated that the train only stopped for mail.
这个标记表示列车是为装邮件而停车。
Just as that moment the train came into the station.
正在这时，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，央求让她不声不响地到押车员车厢里去算了。
But the station master was adamant:^但站长态度坚决，
rules could not be broken. And she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination while she was left behind.
规章制度不能破坏，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。
音频下载：http://f1.hxen.com/m2/tingli/nce2/3/60.mp3
