血字的研究 09演绎法(4)

During the first week or so we had no callers,

在头一两个星期中，没有人来拜访我们。

and I had begun to think that my companion was as friendless a man as I was myself.

我曾以为我的伙伴也象我一样，孤零零的没有朋友。

Presently, however, I found that he had many acquaintances, and those in the most different classes of society.

可是，不久我就发现他有许多相识，而且是来自社会上各个迥然不同的阶层的。

There was one little sallow, rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow,

其中有一个人面色发黄，獐头鼠目，生着一双黑色的眼睛。

who was introduced to me as Mr. Lestrade, and who came three or four times in a single week.

经福尔摩斯介绍，我知道他叫雷斯垂德先生。这个人每星期要来三四次。

One morning a young girl called, fashionably dressed, and stayed for half an hour or more.

一天早上，有一个时髦的年轻姑娘来了，坐了半个多钟头才走。

The same afternoon brought a gray-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew peddler,

当天下午，又来了一个头发灰白、衣衫褴褛的客人，模样儿很象个犹太小贩，

who appeared to me to be much excited, and who was closely followed by a slipshod elderly woman.

他的神情似乎非常紧张，身后还紧跟着一个邋邋遢遢的老妇人。

On another occasion an old white- haired gentleman had an interview with my companion;

还有一次，一个白发绅士拜访了我的伙伴；

and on another, a railway porter in his velveteen uniform.

另外一回，一个穿着棉绒制服的火车上的茶房来找他。

When any of these nondescript individuals put in an appearance,

每当这些奇特的客人出现的时候，

Sherlock Holmes used to beg for the use of the sitting-room¹, and I would retire to my bedroom.

歇洛克·福尔摩斯总是请求让他使用品居室，我也只好回到我的卧室里去。

He always apologized to me for putting me to this inconvenience.

他因为给我带来这样的不便，常常向我道歉。

“I have to use this room as a place of business,” he said, “and these people are my clients.”

他说："我不得不利用这间起居室作为办公的地方，这些人都是我的顾客。"

Again I had an opportunity of asking him a point-blank question,

这一次，我又找到了一个单刀直入向他提出问题的好机会，

and again my delicacy² prevented me from forcing another man to confide³ in me.

但是，为了谨慎起见，我又没有勉强他对我吐露真情。

I imagined at the time that he had some strong reason for not alluding⁴ to it,

我当时想，他不谈出他的职业，一定有某种重大理由。

but he soon dispelled⁵ the idea by coming round to the subject of his own accord.

但是，他不久就主动地谈到了这个问题，打破了我原来的想法。

It was upon the 4th of March, as I have good reason to remember, that I rose somewhat earlier than usual,

我记得很清楚，那是三月四日，我比平时期得早了一些；

and found that Sherlock Holmes had not yet finished his breakfast.

我发现福尔摩斯还没有吃完早餐。

The landlady⁶ had become so accustomed to my late habits that my place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared.

房东太太一向知道我有晚起的习惯，因此餐桌上没有安排我的座位，我的一份咖啡也没有预备好。

With the unreasonable⁷ petulance⁸ of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt⁹ intimation that I was ready.

我一时没有道理地发起火来，立刻按铃，简捷地告诉房东太太，我已准备吃早餐。

Then I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it,

于是我从桌上拿起一本杂志翻翻，借此消磨等待的时间，

while my companion munched¹⁰ silently at his toast.

而我的同伴却一声不响地只管嚼着他的面包。

One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.

杂志上有一篇文章，标题下面有人画了铅笔道，我自然而然地就先看了这一篇。

Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life,”

文章的标题似乎有些夸大，叫做什么"生活宝鉴"。

and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic¹¹ examination of all that came in his way.

这篇文章企图说明：一个善于观察的人，如果对他所接触的事物加以精确而系统地观察，他将有多么大的收获。

It struck me as being a remarkable¹² mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity¹³.

我觉得这篇文章很突出，虽有其精明独到之处，但也未免荒唐可笑；

The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions¹⁴ appeared to me to be far fetched and exaggerated.

在论理上，它严密而紧凑；但是在论断上，据我看来，却未免牵强附会，夸大其辞。

The writer claimed by a momentary¹⁵ expression, a twitch¹⁶ of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom¹⁷ a man’s inmost thoughts.

作者声称，从一个人瞬息之间的表情，肌肉的每一牵动以及眼睛的每一转动，都可以推测出他内心深处的想法来。

Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis.

根据作者的说法，对于一个在观察和分析上素有锻炼的人来说，"欺骗"是不可能的事。

His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid.

他所作出的结论真和欧几里得的定理一样的准确。

So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes

而这些结论，在一些门外汉看来，确实惊人，在他们弄明白他所以得到这样结论的各个步骤以前，

by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer¹⁸.

他们真会把他当作一个未卜先知的神人。

1 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

2 delicacy   

n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴

参考例句：

• We admired the delicacy of the craftsmanship.我们佩服工艺师精巧的手艺。
• He sensed the delicacy of the situation.他感觉到了形势的微妙。

3 confide   

v.向某人吐露秘密

参考例句：

• I would never readily confide in anybody.我从不轻易向人吐露秘密。
• He is going to confide the secrets of his heart to us.他将向我们吐露他心里的秘密。

4 alluding   

提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He didn't mention your name but I was sure he was alluding to you. 他没提你的名字，但是我确信他是暗指你的。
• But in fact I was alluding to my physical deficiencies. 可我实在是为自己的容貌寒心。

5 dispelled   

v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His speech dispelled any fears about his health. 他的发言消除了人们对他身体健康的担心。
• The sun soon dispelled the thick fog. 太阳很快驱散了浓雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 landlady   

n.女房东，女地主

参考例句：

• I heard my landlady creeping stealthily up to my door.我听到我的女房东偷偷地来到我的门前。
• The landlady came over to serve me.女店主过来接待我。

7 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

8 petulance   

n.发脾气，生气，易怒，暴躁，性急

参考例句：

• His petulance made her impatient.他的任性让她无法忍受。
• He tore up the manuscript in a fit of petulance.他一怒之下把手稿撕碎了。

9 curt   

adj.简短的，草率的

参考例句：

• He gave me an extremely curt answer.他对我作了极为草率的答复。
• He rapped out a series of curt commands.他大声发出了一连串简短的命令。

10 munched   

v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She munched on an apple. 她在大口啃苹果。
• The rabbit munched on the fresh carrots. 兔子咯吱咯吱地嚼着新鲜胡萝卜。 来自辞典例句

11 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

12 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

13 absurdity   

n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论

参考例句：

• The proposal borders upon the absurdity.这提议近乎荒谬。
• The absurdity of the situation made everyone laugh.情况的荒谬可笑使每个人都笑了。

14 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

15 momentary   

adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的

参考例句：

• We are in momentary expectation of the arrival of you.我们无时无刻不在盼望你的到来。
• I caught a momentary glimpse of them.我瞥了他们一眼。

16 twitch   

v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛

参考例句：

• The smell made my dog's nose twitch.那股气味使我的狗的鼻子抽动着。
• I felt a twitch at my sleeve.我觉得有人扯了一下我的袖子。

17 fathom   

v.领悟，彻底了解

参考例句：

• I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
• What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。

18 necromancer   

n. 巫师

参考例句：

• The necromancer hurls a bolt of dark energies against his enemies. 亡灵法师向对手射出一道带着黑暗能量的影束。
• The necromancer tried to keep the anticipation out of her voice. 死灵法师尽量让自己的声音不带期待。