Punctuality is a necessary habit in all public affairs in civilized society. Without it, nothing could ever be brought to a conclusion; everything would be in state of chaos. Only in a sparsely-populated rural community is it possible to disregard it. In ordinary living, there can be some tolerance of unpunctuality. The intellectual, who is working on some abstruse problem, has everything coordinated and organized for the matter in hand. He is therefore forgiven if late for a dinner party. But people are often reproached for unpunctuality when their only fault is cutting things fine. It is hard for energetic, quick-minded people to waste time, so they are often tempted to finish a job before setting out to keep an appointment. If no accidents occur on the way, like punctured tires, diversions of traffic, sudden descent of fog, they will be on time. They are often more industrious, useful citizens than those who are never late. The over-punctual can be as much a trial to others as the unpunctual. The guest who arrives half an hour too soon is the greatest nuisance. Some friends of my family had this irritating habit. The only thing to do was ask them to come half an hour later than the other guests. Then they arrived just when we wanted them.
    If you are citing a train, it is always better to be comfortably early than even a fraction of a minted too late. Although being early may mean wasting a little time, this will be less than if you miss the train and have to wait an hour or more for the next one; and you avoid the frustration of arriving at the very moment when the train is drawing out of the station and being unable to get on it. An even harder situation is to be on the platform in good time for a train and still to see it go off without you. Such an experience befell a certain young girl the first time she was traveling alone.
    She entered the station twenty minutes before the train was due, 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. She gave her luggage to a porter and showed him her ticket. To her horror he said that she was two hours too soon. She felt inhere handbag for the piece of paper on which her father had written down al the details of the journey and gave it to the porter. He agreed that a train did come into the station at the time on the paper and that it did stop, but only to take on mail, not passengers. The girl asked to see a timetable, feeling sure that her father could not have made such a mistake. The porter went to fetch one and arrive back with the station master, who produced it with a flourish and pointed out a microscopic 'o' beside the time of the arrival of the train at his station; this little 'o' indicated that the train only stopped for mail. Just as that moment the train came into the station. The girl, tears streaming down her face, begged to be allowed to slip into the guard's van. But the station master was adamant: rules could not be broken and she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination while she was left behind.

1, Without it, nothing could ever be brought to a conclusion; everything would be in a state of chaos.

介词without提前，常用虚拟语气，此时往往称之为含蓄虚拟语气，如本句中could be brought 和would be 即为虚拟语气的体现，用来表示较委婉地陈述看法。

2, Only in a sparsely-populated rural community is it possible to disregard it.

Only用于句首，其后的主语和谓语动词通常构成倒装形式。

e.g. Only by doing so could they succeed. 只有这样坐，他们才能成功。

3，But people are often reproached for unpunctuality when their only fault is cutting things fine.

cut things fine, 意思是：给自己剩下最小的量（尤指时间）

reproach sb. for (doing) 意为“责备/指责某人做……”，通常指以平常关系提出意见，这种意见可以是正确地，也可以是吹毛求疵。

e.g. She reproached him for forgetting their wedding anniversary. 她责备他竟把他们的结婚周年纪念日忘了。

4，… so they are often tempted to finish a job before setting out to keep an appointment.

be tempted to do 忍不住做……

temp sb into sth./doing sth. 劝说或鼓动某人做某事

keep an appointment 守约，其反义词break an / go back on one’s appointment.

5，The over-punctual can be as much a trial to others as the unpunctual.

Over-punctual和unpunctual为形容词，其前面使用定冠词后相当于名词，同the rich, the poor一样表示“……类的人”

as much as 意为“像/和……一样”

6，since her parent shad 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.

Impress…upon/on… 把……铭刻在……，即“要……牢记……”

cause sb. to do… 迫使某人做。

7，The girl, tears streaming down her face, begged to be allowed to slip into the guard’s van.

Tears streaming down her face 为带分词短语的独立主格结构，作方式状语。