身份案 24玩弄感情的骗子(5)

Holmes stuck his feet up on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands in his pockets,

福尔摩斯把脚搁在壁炉台的壁角上，手插在口袋里，向后仰着身子，

began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, than to us.

自言自语似地开始说起来。

"The man married a woman very much older than himself for her money," said he,

"那个男人为了贪图金钱而跟一个年龄远比他大的女人结了婚，"他说道，

"and he enjoyed the use of the money of the daughter as long as she lived with them.

"只要女儿跟他们一起生活，他就可以享用她的钱。

It was a considerable sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have made a serious difference.

就他们所处的地位来说，这笔钱财相当可观。失掉这笔钱，境况将大不相同。

It was worth an effort to preserve it.

所以值得去拼命保住它。

The daughter was of a good, amiable¹ disposition², but affectionate and warm-hearted in her ways,

女儿为人心地善良、和蔼，个性温柔、多情。

so that it was evident that with her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would not be allowed to remain single long.

显而易见，有她这样品貌和收入的姑娘是不会空守闺房的。

Now her marriage would mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her stepfather do to prevent it?

如果她嫁人的话，这当然将意味着每年损失一百英镑的收入，那么她的继父怎样才能防止这桩亲事？

He takes the obvious course of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of people of her own age.

他显然是想设法把她关在家中，禁止她和同样年纪的朋友们交往。

But soon he found that that would not answer forever.

不久，他发现这样做不是长久之计。

She became restive³, insisted upon her rights, and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain ball.

她变得不那么听话了，坚持自己的权利，最后竟然声称一定要赴舞会了。

What does her clever stepfather do then?

这么一来，她那个诡计多端的继父怎么办呢？

He conceives an idea more creditable to his head than to his heart.

他想出了一个毒辣的妙计。

With the connivance⁴ and assistance of his wife he disguised himself,

在妻子的默许和协助之下，他把自己伪装起来，

covered those keen eyes with tinted⁵ glasses, masked the face with a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers,

给敏锐的眼睛戴上墨镜，给自己的脸戴上假髭和毛蓬蓬的假络腮胡子，

sunk that clear voice into an insinuating⁶ whisper, and doubly secure on account of the girl's short sight,

把自己清晰的说话装作柔声媚气的耳语，由于女儿近视，他的伪装就更显得万无一失。

he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off other lovers by making love himself."

他以霍斯默·安吉尔先生的名义出现。他自己向女儿求爱，免得她爱上别的男人。"

1 amiable   

adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的

参考例句：

• She was a very kind and amiable old woman.她是个善良和气的老太太。
• We have a very amiable companionship.我们之间存在一种友好的关系。

2 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。

3 restive   

adj.不安宁的，不安静的

参考例句：

• The government has done nothing to ease restrictions and manufacturers are growing restive.政府未采取任何措施放松出口限制,因此国内制造商变得焦虑不安。
• The audience grew restive.观众变得不耐烦了。

4 connivance   

n.纵容；默许

参考例句：

• The criminals could not have escaped without your connivance.囚犯没有你的默契配合，是逃不掉的。
• He tried to bribe the police into connivance.他企图收买警察放他一马。

5 tinted   

adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• a pair of glasses with tinted lenses 一副有色镜片眼镜
• a rose-tinted vision of the world 对世界的理想化看法

6 insinuating   

adj.曲意巴结的，暗示的v.暗示( insinuate的现在分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入

参考例句：

• Are you insinuating that I' m telling a lie ? 你这是意味着我是在说谎吗？ 来自辞典例句
• He is extremely insinuating, but it's a vulgar nature. 他好奉承拍马，那是种庸俗的品格。 来自辞典例句