What was the mistake the author made?

We have learnt to expect that trains will be punctual. After years ofconditioning, most of us have developed an unshakable faith in railwaytimetables. Ships may be delayed by storms; flights may be cancelled because ofbad weather, but trains must be on time. Only an exceptionally heavy snowfallmight temporarily dislocate railway services. It is all too easy to blame therailway authorities when something does go wrong. The truth is that whenmistakes occur, they are more likely to be ours than theirs.

After consulting my railway timetable, I noted with satisfaction that therewas an express train to Westhaven. It went direct from my local station and thejourney lasted a mere hour and 17 minutes. When I boarded the train, I could nothelp noticing that a great many local people got on as well. At the time, thisdid not strike me as odd. I reflected that there must be a great many peoplebesides myself who wished to take advantage of this excellent service. Neitherwas I surprised when the train stopped at Widley, a tiny station a few milesalong the line. Even a mighty express train can be held up by signals. But whenthe train dawdled at station after station, I began to wonder, It suddenlydawned on me that this express was not roaring down the line at 90 miles anhour, but barely chugging along at 30. One hour and 17 minutes passed and we hadnot even covered half the distance. I asked a passenger if this was theWesthaven Express, but he had not even heard of it. I determined to lodge acomplaint as soon as we arrived. Two hours later, I was talking angrily to thestation master at Westhaven. When he denied the train's existence, I borrowedhis copy of the timetable. There was a note of triumph in my voice when I toldhim that it was there in black and white. Glancing at it briefly, he told me tolook again. A tiny asterisk conducted me to a footnote at the bottom of thepage. It said: 'This service has been suspended.'

New words and expressions 生词与短语

express

n. 快车;

adj. 高速的

punctual新概念第三册

adj. 准时的

condition

v. 使习惯于

unshakable

adj. 不可动摇的

faith

n. 信任

cancel

v. 取消

exceptionally

adv. 例外地

dislocate

v. 打乱(计划等)

blame

v. 责怪

consult

v. 请教，查阅

direct

adv. 径直地

odd

adj. 奇怪的，异常的

reflect

v. 细想

advantage

n. 优势

mighty

adj. 强大的，有力的

dawdle

v. 慢吞吞地动或做

chug

v. 咔嚓咔嚓地响

lodge

v. 提出

complaint

n. 抱怨

triumph

n. 胜利

asterisk

n. 星号(*)

conduct

v. 引向，引导

本文参考译文

我们已经习惯于相信火车总是准点的。经过多年的适应，大多数人对火车时刻表产生了一种不可动摇的信念。轮船船期可能因风暴而推延，飞机航班可能因恶劣天气而取消，唯有火车必然是准点的。只有非同寻常的大雪才可能暂时打乱铁路运行。因此，一旦铁路上真出了问题，人们便不加思索地责备铁路当局。事实上，差错很可能是我们自己，而不是铁路当局的。

我查看了列车时刻表，满意地了解到有一趟去威斯特海温的快车。这是趟直达车，旅途总共才需1小时17分钟。上车后，我不禁注意到许多当地人也上了车。一开始，我并不感到奇怪，我想除我之外，想利用快车之便的也一定大有人在。火车开出几英里即在一个小站威德里停了下来。对此，我不觉得奇怪，因为即便是特别快车也可能被信号拦住。但是，当火车一站接着一站往前蠕动时，我便产生了怀疑。我突然感到这趟快车并没以时速90英里的速度呼啸前进，而是卟哧卟哧地向前爬行，时速仅30英里。1小时17分过去了，走了还不到一半路程。我问一位乘客，这是不是开往威斯特海温的那趟快车，他说从未听说过有这么一趟快车。我决定到目的地就给铁路部门提意见。两小时后，我气呼呼地同威斯特海温站站长说起此事。他说根本没有这趟车。于是我借他本人的列车时刻表，我带着一种胜利者的调子告诉他那趟车白纸黑字。明明白白印在时刻表上。他迅速地扫视了一眼，让我再看一遍。一个小小的星形符号把我的目光引到了那页底部一个说明上。上面写着：“此趟列车暂停运行。”

(兼职编辑：张博)