It was sharply different from the West, where an evening was hurried from phase to phase toward its close, in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself.

• 这和西部截然不同，在那里每逢晚上二待客总是迫不及待地从一个阶段到另一个阶段推向结尾，总是有所期待而又不断地感到失望，要不然就对结尾时刻的到来感到十分紧张和恐惧。