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hj_美丽人生: 新3课文背诵第一天：背诵第３７课
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, air flights may be cancelled because of bad weather, but trains must be on time. Only an exceptionally heavy snow fall might temporarily dislocate railway services. It's all too easy too 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 to Westhaven. It went direct from my local station and the journey lasted a 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 people besides myself who wished to take advantage of this excellent service as well. Neither was I surprised 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 wodner. It suddenly dawned on me that the train was not roaring down the line at ninty miles an hour, but barely chugging along at thirty. One hour and seventeen minutes passed and we had not even corverd half the distance. I asked a passenger if this was the Westhaven Express, but he had not even heard of it. I decided to lodge a complaint as soon as we arrived. Two hours later, I was talking angrily to the station master in Westhaven. When he denied the train's existence, I borrowed his copy of railway timetable. There was a note of triumph in my voice when I told him it was there in black and white. Glancing at it briefly, he asked me to look again. A tiny asterisk conducted me a footnote at the bottom of the page. It said:" This service has been suspended."
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