Chapter4 亨利·巴斯克维尔爵士-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《福尔摩斯探案经典之巴斯克维尔的猎犬The Hound of the Baskervilles》

Chapter 4 Sir Henry Baskerville Our breakfast table was cleared early,and Holmes waited in his dressing-gown for the promised interview.Our clients were punctual to their appointment,for the clock had just struck ten when Dr.Mortimer was shown up,followed by the young baronet.The latter was a small,alert,dark-eyed man about thirty years of age,very sturdily built,with thick black eyebrows and a strong,pugnacious face.He wore a ruddy-tinted tweed suit and had the weather-beaten appearance of one who has spent most of his time in the open air,and yet there was something in his steady eye and the quiet assurance of his bearing which indicated the gentleman. "This is Sir Henry Baskerville,"said Dr.Mortimer. "Why,yes,"said he,"and the strange thing is,Mr.Sherlock Holmes,that if my friend here had not proposed coming round to you this morning I should have come on my own account.I understand that you think out little puzzles, and I've had one this morning which wants more thinking out than I am able to give it.” "Pray take a seat,Sir Henry.Do I understand you to say that you have yourself had some remarkable experience since you arrived in London?" "Nothing of much importance,Mr.Holmes.Only a joke,as like as not.It was this letter,if you can call it a letter,which reached me this morning." He laid an envelope upon the table,and we all bent over it.It was of common quality,grayish in colour.The address,"Sir Henry Baskerville, Northumberland Hotel,"was printed in rough characters;the post-mark"Charing ·054· 第四章亨利·巴斯克维尔爵士 我们用过早餐后，餐桌早早地就收拾好了。福尔 摩斯穿着晨衣，等待约好的来客。客人很准时，时钟 刚敲响十点，莫蒂默医生便出现了，身后跟着那位年 ①baronet[baronit]n.准男 轻的从男爵。从男爵身材矮小，神态机警，黑色眼睛， 爵（低于男爵的爵位， 三十岁的样子，身板很是结实，眉毛又浓又黑，面容 被称为“Sir”) ②sturdy['st:di]a,强壮 显得坚毅强悍。他身穿红色粗花呢衣裤，从外表看， 的，结实的 是一个久经风霜、在户外活动的时间居多的人。但同 ③pugnacious [pAg'ncifs】a 好斗的，好战的：爱吵 时，他眼神沉稳，举止安详，充满自信，一派绅土 架的 风度。 “这位是亨利·巴斯克维尔爵士。”莫蒂默医生说。 “啊，是的，”亨利爵士说，“事情蹊跷的是，福尔 摩斯先生，即便我的这位朋友今天早上没有建议我来这 里拜访您，我自己也会来的。我听说您是一个善解谜团 ④on one's own account为 的人。我今天早上就遇到了一个谜团，自己无法解开， 自身利益 只有求您帮助了。” “请坐，亨利爵士，您是说，您到伦敦后遇到了不 可思议的情况，对吧？” “没什么大不了的情况，福尔摩斯先生。我觉得， 可能是有人在跟我闹着玩吧。如果您能称之为信的话， 我今天早上收到了这封信。” 他把信封放在桌上，我们都弓着身子看。信封的 质地很普通，呈暗灰色。地址栏上用潦草的字迹写着 “诺森伯兰旅馆，亨利·巴斯克维尔爵士”，邮截盖的是 “查令十字”，邮寄时间是头一天傍晚。 ·055· Chapter 4 Sir Henry Baskerville Cross,"and the date of posting the preceding evening. "Who knew that you were going to the Northumberland Hotel?"asked Holmes,glancing keenly across at our visitor. "No one could have known.We only decided after I met Dr.Mortimer." "But Dr.Mortimer was no doubt already stopping there?" “No,I had been staying with a friend,”said the doctor..“There was no possible indication that we intended to go to this hotel." "Hum!Someone seems to be very deeply interested in your movements." Out of the envelope he took a half-sheet of foolseap paper folded into four.This he opened and spread flat upon the table.Across the middle of it a single sentence had been formed by the expedient of pasting printed words upon it.It ran: As you value your life or your reason keep away from the moor. The word"moor"only was printed in ink. "Now,"said Sir Henry Baskerville,"perhaps you will tell me,Mr.Holmes, what in thunder is the meaning of that,and who it is that takes so much interest in my affairs?" "What do you make of it,Dr.Mortimer?You must allow that there is nothing supernatural about this,at any rate?" "No,sir,but it might very well come from someone who was convinced that the business is supernatural." “What business?”asked Sir Henry sharply..“It seems to me that all you gentlemen know a great deal more than I do about my own affairs." "You shall share our knowledge before you leave this room,Sir Henry.I promise you that,"said Sherlock Holmes."We will confine ourselves for the present with your permission to this very interesting document,which must have been put together and posted yesterday evening.Have you yesterday's Times,Watson?” "It is here in the corner." "Might I trouble you for it-the inside page,please,with the leading articles?"He glanced swiftly over it,running his eyes up and down the columns. "Capital article this on free trade.Permit me to give you an extractfrom it. ·056· 第四童亨利·巴新克维尔爵士 ①preceding (pri'si:dinl a.在 “有谁知道您打算住在诺森伯兰旅馆吗？”福尔摩 前的，在先的 斯一边问道，一边用锐利的目光打量着我们这位来客。 “不可能会有人知道。这是我见到莫蒂默医生之后， 我们一同决定的。” “但是，莫蒂默医生无疑已经下榻在那儿了吧？” “没有，我之前同一个朋友住在一起的，”医生解释 @indication Lindi'keifon]n. 说，“我们根本没表示过要去那家旅馆住的意思。” 暗示，预示 “哼！这样看来，有人对您的一举一动很感兴趣 啊。”福尔摩斯说着，一边从信封里抽出了半张折成四 ③foolscap ['fu:Lskap]n.大 裁（不同尺寸的书写纸 折的大裁纸，把它打开后平铺在桌面上。信笺的中间位 张，尤指美国为13×16 置是用剪下来的铅字拼凑贴成的一句话：“如果您珍惜 英寸的纸张) D expedient [ik'spi:diont]n. 自己的生命，或是您还有理性，那就请远离荒原。” 应急的手段（或办法） 只有“荒原”这个词是用墨水写的。 ⑤paste['peistl用韬糊粘 贴 “对啦，”亨利·巴斯克维尔爵士说，“您或许可以 告诉我，福尔摩斯先生，这句话到底是什么意思，谁又 会对我的事情如此上心呢？” “莫蒂默医生，您是怎么看这件事情的呢？不管怎 ⑥in thunder到底，究竞 么说，您必须得认可，这其中并不存在着什么超自然的 因素，对吧？” “对啊，先生，不过，写信的人很可能相信，这事 情超自然。” “什么事情？”亨利·巴斯克维尔爵士问，显得很 急切，“我感觉，关于我自己的事情，你们几位先生比 我知道的还要多呢。” “亨利爵士，您离开这个房间前，我会把我们知道 的事情全部告诉您，我向您保证。”福尔摩斯说，“眼 下，请您允许我们把注意力全部集中在这封非常有趣的 信件上。它应该是昨晚拼贴好寄出的。华生，你有昨天 的《泰晤士报》吗？” “放在那边角落里呢。” “麻烦你去拿一下一请翻到里面一个版面，有大 标题的，好吗？”他眼睛从上到下，把内容快速浏览了 一遍，“头篇文章是谈自由贸易的。请允许我选一段念 给大家听。 ①extract [ik'straekt]n,摘录 您或许会被花言巧语哄骗，从而相信保护性关税将 ·057· Chapter 4 Sir Henry Baskerville "You may be cajoled into imagining that your own special trade or your own industry will be encouraged by a protective tariff,but it stands to reason that such legislation must in the long run keep away wealth from the country,diminish the value of our imports,and lower the general conditions of life in this island. “What do you think of that,,Watson?”cried Holmes in high glee③，rubbing his hands together with satisfaction."Don't you think that is an admirable sentiment?" Dr.Mortimer looked at Holmes with an air of professional interest,and Sir Henry Baskerville turned a pair of puzzled dark eyes upon me. "I don't know much about the tariff and things of that kind,"said he,"but it seems to me we've got a bit off the trail so far as that note is concerned." "On the contrary,I think we are particularly hot upon the trail,Sir Henry. Watson here knows more about my methods than you do,but I fear that even he has not quite grasped the significance of this sentence." "No,I confess that I see no connection." "And yet,my dear Watson,there is so very close a connection that the one is extracted out of the other.'You,''your,''your,''life,'reason,''value,''keep away,''from the.'Don't you see now whence these words have been taken?" "By thunder,you're right!Well,if that isn't smart!"cried Sir Henry. "If any possible doubt remained it is settled by the fact that 'keep away' and‘from the'are cut out in one piece.” “WelL,now-so it is!” "Really,Mr.Holmes,this exceeds anything which I could have imagined," said Dr.Mortimer,gazing at my friend in amazement."I could understand anyone saying that the words were from a newspaper;but that you should name which,and add that it came from the leading article,is really one of the most remarkable things which I have ever known.How did you do it?" "I presume,Doctor,that you could tell the skull of a negro from that of an Esquimau⑦？ "Most certainly." But how?” ·058· 第四章亨利·巴新克维尔爵士 ①cajole [k'dulk劝诱： 给您自己的特殊贸易或者特殊产业带来强心剂。但理智 哄骗 ②taif'trif]n.关税 地分析一下便可知道：从长远来看，此项立法将会导致 财富远离本国，出口总值锐减，从而降低岛国民众的总 体生活水平。 “你怎么看这一段话，华生？”福尔摩斯大声说 他兴致勃勃，满意地搓着双手，“你难道不觉得这种态 ③glee['gli:l.欢乐，高兴 度令人钦佩吗？” 莫蒂默医生以其职业的敏感性审视福尔摩斯，而 亨利·巴斯克维尔爵土的那双茫然的黑眼睛却盯着 我看。 “我对税收之类的事情一窍不通。不过，我觉得， 我们离纸条涉及的问题相距甚远啊。” ④off the trail迷失方向 “恰恰相反，亨利爵士，我觉得，我们正好找到 ⑤hot [hot)a.紧跟的：接近 了他们之间的关联。华生比您更加了解我看问题的 的 方法，不过，现在恐怕连他也看不到这段文字的重要 性。” “对啊，实话实说，我看不出存在什么关系。” “不过啊，亲爱的华生，关系密切得很呢，信上 的文字都是从这一段话里摘剪下来的。‘您'，‘您的’， ‘您的’，‘生命’，‘理性’，‘珍视’，‘远离’，‘离’，你 ⑥whence [hwens]ad.从何 处 还看不出这些词都是从这里面剪下来的吗？” “天啊，您还真说对了！啊，真高明啊！”亨利爵 土大声说。 “如果还有什么疑惑的话，看看这个事实，‘远离' 和‘离’这几个字是从同一个地方剪下来的，那就足以 打消疑虑了。” “是啊，可不是嘛—确实如此啊！” “说真格的，福尔摩斯先生，这超乎了我的想象 啊，”莫蒂默医生说，惊诧不已，眼睛盯着我的朋友看， “如果有人说这封信上的字都是从报纸上剪下来的，我 还能理解。但是，您却能直接说出是哪份报纸，还附带 说明是从头篇文章里剪下来的，真是神奇了，这样的本 Esquimaux ['eskimou(z)] 事我连听都没听说过呢。您是怎么做到的呢？” :爱斯基摩人 “我猜想，医生，您一定能够把黑人的颅骨和爱斯 基摩人的区别开来，对吧？” ·059· Chapter 4 Sir Henry Baskerville "Because that is my special hobby.The differences are obvious.The supra- orbital crest,the facial angle,the maxillary curve,the-" "But this is my special hobby,and the differences are equally obvious. There is as much difference to my eyes between the leaded bourgeois type of a Times article and the slovenly print of an evening half-penny paper as there could be between your negro and your Esquimau.The detection of types is one of the most elementary branches of knowledge to the special expert in crime,though I confess that once when I was very young I confused the Leeds Mercury with the Western Morning News.But a Times leader is entirely distinctive,and these words could have been taken from nothing else.As it was done yesterday the strong probability was that we should find the words in yesterday's issue.” "So far as I can follow you,then,Mr.Holmes,"said Sir Henry Baskerville, "someone cut out this message with a scissors-" "Nail-scissors,"said Holmes."You can see that it was a very short-bladed scissors,since the cutter had to take two snips over'keep away." "That is so.Someone,then,cut out the message with a pair of short-bladed scissors,pasted it with paste-" “Gum,”said Holmes. "With gum on to the paper.But I want to know why the word'moor' should have been written?" "Because he could not find it in print.The other words were all simple and might be found in any issue,but'moor'would be less common." "Why,of course,that would explain it.Have you read anything else in this message,Mr.Holmes?" "There are one or two indications,and yet the utmost pains have been taken to remove all clues.The address,you observe is printed in rough characters. But the Times is a paper which is seldom found in any hands but those of the highly educated.We may take it,therefore,that the letter was composed by an educated man who wished to pose as an uneducated one,and his effort to conceal his own writing suggests that that writing might be known,or come to be known,by you.Again,you will observe that the words are not gummed on in an accurate line,but that some are much higher than others.'Life,'for example, ·060· 第四章亨利·巴新克维尔爵士 “毫无疑问。” D maxillary ['macksileri]a. “但那是如何区分的呢？” 【解剖学】上颌的：上 颌骨的 “因为那是我的特别爱好，两者的区别显而易见， 眉骨的隆起，脸部的轮廓，腭骨的曲线，还有一” “但这也是我的特别爱好啊，两者的区别同样显而 易见啊。《泰晤士报》用五号字排印出的文章和半个便 士一份的晚报草率印刷之间的区别，我一眼就能看出 来，就像您一眼就能看出两种颅骨之间的区别一样。对 于一个破案专家来说，识别不同字体只是必须掌握的基 本知识的一部分。当然，我得承认，我年轻时曾有一次 distinctive [dis'tigktiv]a. 把《利兹信使报》和《西部晨报》上的字体给弄混淆 有特色的，与众不同的 了。但《泰晤士报》上的字体同其他报刊所用字体的区 别很大，这些字不可能是从别的报纸上剪下来的。因为 信是昨天剪拼的，因此我们就很有可能可以从昨天的报 纸上找到这些字。” “那么，按照我的理解，福尔摩斯先生，”享利·巴 斯克维尔爵士说，“您是说信上的字是有人用剪刀从那 份报纸上剪下来的—” “用指甲剪，”福尔摩斯说，“您看，‘远离’这两个 字剪了两下才剪下来，这说明剪刀的刀刃很短。” “确实如此。这么说，有人是用短刃剪刀把字一个 个地剪下来，然后用浆糊把它们贴在一” “是用胶水。”福尔摩斯说。 “用胶水把它们贴在这张纸上。但我不明白，‘荒 原’这个词为何又用手写呢？” “因为他在报上找不到那个词啊，其他的字都很简 单常用，在任何文章里都可以找到，但‘荒原’一词就 没那么常用了。” “啊，当然，这样就解释得通了。您从这封信上还 看出了别的什么信息吗，福尔摩斯先生？” “还有一两处蛛丝马迹，不过，写信人为了清除所 有痕迹可谓煞费苦心。您看，这地址栏上的字体很是 潦草，但《泰晤士报》是有相当文化程度的人才看的， 并不是人手一份。据此，我们便可以推断，写信的人 具有较高的文化程度，但他却装成没有文化的样子， 想方设法要掩盖自己的笔迹，说明他的字迹可能会被 ·061· Chapter 4 Sir Henry Baskerville is quite out of its proper place.That may point to carelessness or it may point to agitation and hurry upon the part of the cutter.On the whole I incline to the latter view,since the matter was evidently important,and it is unlikely that the composer of such a letter would be careless.If he were in a hurry it opens up the interesting question why he should be in a hurry,since any letter posted up to early morning would reach Sir Henry before he would leave his hotel.Did the composer fear an interruption-and from whom?" "We are coming now rather into the region of guesswork,"said Dr.Mortimer. "Say,rather,into the region where we balance probabilities and choose the most likely.It is the scientific use of the imagination,but we have always some material basis on which to start our speculation.Now,you would call it a guess, no doubt,but I am almost certain that this address has been written in a hotel." "How in the world can you say that?" "If you examine it carefully you will see that both the pen and the ink have given the writer trouble.The pen has spluttered twice in a single word and has run dry three times in a short address,showing that there was very little ink in the bottle.Now,a private pen or ink-bottle is seldom allowed to be in such a state,and the combination of the two must be quite rare.But you know the hotel ink and the hotel pen,where it is rare to get anything else.Yes,I have very little hesitation in saying that could we examine the waste-paper baskets of the hotels around Charing Cross until we found the remains of the mutilated Times leader we could lay our hands straight upon the person who sent this singular message.Halloa!Halloa!What's this?" He was carefully examining the foolscap,upon which the words were pasted,holding it only an inch or two from his eyes. 4“Well? "Nothing,"said he,throwing it down."It is a blank half-sheet of paper, without even a water-mark upon it.I think we have drawn as much as we can from this curious letter;and now,Sir Henry,has anything else of interest happened to you since you have been in London?" “Why,no,Mr.Holmes..I think not.” "You have not observed anyone follow or watch you?" "I seem to have walked right into the thick of a dime novel,"said our ·062· 第四童亨利·巴新克维尔爵士 您认出来，或者会被您查出来。还有一点，您看到了， agitation [di'teifan]n. 这些字贴得并不整齐一致，而是高低不一。例如，‘生 (情绪等的)纷乱，骚 动，激动不安 命'这个词就贴得很不是地方。这说明剪贴的人要么 粗心大意，要么激动慌张。总体上看，我倾向于后一 种猜测，因为此事显然至关重要，写这封信的人不大 可能会粗心大意。如果他匆忙行事，那就出现了一个 很有意思的问题，他为何要匆忙行事？因为任何信件 只要清早发出，亨利爵士都可以在离开旅馆前收到信 件。难道写信人是害怕被人打扰一—害怕什么人打扰 呢？” “我们至此这是在猜谜语啊。”莫蒂默医生说。 “确切地说，我们这是在比较权衡各种可能性，从 中选择可能性最大的。这是科学地运用想象力，但我们 自始至终都是以事实作为思考问题的基础的。是啊，您 会说这是在猜谜语，但是，毫无疑问，我几乎可以肯 ②splutter ['splAto】（液 定，信封上的地址是在旅馆里面写的。” 体)溅泼 “您到底凭什么这么说呢？” “您如果仔细观察一下，就可以看得出，笔尖和墨 水都给写信人带来了不少麻烦。每写一个字，笔尖就溅 出了两次墨水。写一个这么简短的地址，墨水就干了 三次，这说明墨水瓶里的墨水已经所剩无几了。您想 想看，私人的钢笔和墨水瓶很少会出现这种情况，而 3 mutilated ['mju:tileitid]a. 这两种情况同时发生的概率更是少之又少了。但您知 残缺的：破坏的 道，旅馆里的钢笔和墨水却很少不是这个样子的。事实 上，我可以断定，我们到查令十字附近的旅馆里去查查 废纸篓，找到那份被抠剪过的《泰晤士报》，那就可以 直接找出那位寄出奇特信件的人了。嘿！嘿！这是什么 啊？” 他拿起信纸，把它凑到离眼睛仅有一两英寸处，仔 细端详起来。 “呃？” “没什么，”他说，放下信纸，“这是半张白底信笺 上面连水印都没有。我看，我们从这封无头信中能找到 的线索也就只有这些了。亨利爵士，我想问问您，您到 伦敦后，是否遇到过别的什么怪事？ ④thick0ik]n,最激烈处 “啊，没有，福尔摩斯先生，感觉没有啊。” ·063·