only a very short time before

问题描述:

only a very short time before
牛津字典上英文解释hardly是
only a very short time before.
给的例句是.the party had hardly started when the police arrived.
这里有什么联系吗?
可是要是很短时间以前的意思。和句子没有什么联系?

只是离.开始非常短的一点时间