The Westhaven Express
開往威斯特海溫的快車
We have learnt to expect that trains will be punctual. After years of conditioning, most of us have developed an unshakable faith in railway timetables. Ships may be delayed by storms; flights may be cancelled because of bad weather, but trains must be on time. Only an exceptionally heavy snowfall might temporarily dislocate railway services. It is all too easy to blame the railway authorities when something does go wrong. The truth is that when mistakes occur, they are more likely to be ours than theirs.
After consulting my railway timetable, I noted with satisfaction that there was an express train to Westhaven. It went direct from my local station and the journey lasted mere hour and seventeen minutes. When I boarded the train, I could not help noticing that a great many local people got on as well. At the time, this did not strike me as odd. I reflected that there must be a great many local people besides myself who wished to take advantage of this excellent service. Neither was I surprise when the train stopped at Widley, a tiny station a few miles along the line. Even a mighty express train can be held up by signals. But when the train dawdled at station after station, I began to wonder, It suddenly dawned on me that this express was not roaring down the line at ninety miles an hour, but barely chugging along at thirty. One hour and seventeen minutes passed and we had not even covered half the distance. I asked a passenger if this was the Westhaven Express, but he had not even heard of it. I determined to lodge a complaint as soon as we arrived. Two hours later, I was talking angrily to the station master at Westhaven. When he denied the train's existence, I borrowed his copy of the timetable. There was a note of triumph in my voice when I told him that it was there in black and white. Glancing at it briefly, he told me to look again. A tiny asterisk conducted me to a footnote at the bottom of the page. It said: 'This service has been suspended.'
我們已經(jīng)習(xí)慣于相信火車總是準(zhǔn)點的。經(jīng)過多年的適應(yīng)，大多數(shù)人對火車時刻表產(chǎn)生了一種不可動搖的信念。輪船船期可能因風(fēng)暴而推延，飛機航班可能因惡劣天氣而取消，唯有火車必然是準(zhǔn)點的。只有非同尋常的大雪才可能暫時打亂鐵路運行。因此，一旦鐵路上真出了問題，人們便不加思索地責(zé)備鐵路當(dāng)局。事實上，差錯很可能是我們自己，而不是鐵路當(dāng)局的。
我查看了列車時刻表，滿意地了解到有一趟去威斯特海溫的快車。這是趟直達(dá)車，旅途總共才需1小時17分鐘。上車后，我不禁注意到許多當(dāng)?shù)厝艘采狭塑�。一開始，我并不感到奇怪，我想除我之外，想利用快車之便的也一定大有人在�；疖囬_出幾英里即在一個小站威德里停了下來。對此，我不覺得奇怪，因為即便是特別快車也可能被信號攔住。但是，當(dāng)火車一站接著一站往前蠕動時，我便產(chǎn)生了懷疑。我突然感到這趟快車并沒以時速90英里的速度呼嘯前進，而是卟哧卟哧地向前爬行，時速僅30英里。1小時17分過去了，走了還不到一半路程。我問一位乘客，這是不是開往威斯特海溫的那趟快車，他說從未聽說過有這么一趟快車。我決定到目的地就給鐵路部門提意見。兩小時后，我氣呼呼地同威斯特海溫站站長說起此事。他說根本沒有這趟車。于是我借他本人的列車時刻表，我?guī)е环N勝利者的調(diào)子告訴他那趟車白紙黑字。明明白白印在時刻表上。他迅速地掃視了一眼，讓我再看一遍。一個小小的星形符號把我的目光引到了那頁底部一個說明上。上面寫著：“此趟列車暫停運行。”
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