福尔摩斯-冒险史-歪唇男人1

2018-03-20 Julia BetterSoul

1891

SHERLOCK HOLMES

THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to opium.He habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of,

and for many years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble man.

Theological 神学的

opium 鸦片

drenched 浸泡

laudanum 鸦片酊

mingled 混合

pasty 苍白的

pin-point 针点型

艾萨·惠特尼是圣乔治大学神学院已故院长伊莱亚斯·惠特尼的兄弟，他沉溺于鸦片烟，瘾癖很大。据我所知，他染上这一恶习是由于在大学读书时产生的一种愚蠢的怪念头造成的。当时他因为读了德·昆西对梦幻和激情的描绘，就将烟①草在鸦片酊里浸泡过后来吸，以期获得梦幻和激情的效果。他象许多人一样，后来才发觉这样做上瘾容易戒除难，所以他多年来便吸毒成癖不能自拔，他的亲属和朋友们对他既深为厌恶，同时又不无怜惜之感。他的那副神态我至今还记忆犹新：面色青黄憔悴，眼皮耷拉，两瞳无神，身体缩成一团蜷曲在一把椅子里，活现出一副落迫王孙的倒霉相。

One night-it was in June, '89-there came a ring to my bell, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment.

"A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out."

I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day.We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room.

"You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then,suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help."

groaned 抱怨

linoleum 油布

一八八九年六月的一个夜晚，有人在门外揿铃，那正是一般人开始打呵欠、抬眼望钟的时刻。我当即从椅子里坐起身来，我的妻子把她的针线活放在膝盖上，脸上露出一副不乐意的样子。
    “有病人，”她说，“你又得出诊了。”
    我叹了口气，因为我忙了一整天，疲惫不堪，刚从外面回来。
    ①ＴｈｏｍａｓＤｅＱｕｉｎｃｅｙ，１７８５—１８５９，英国作家。——译者注
    我听到开门声和急促的话音，然后一阵快步走过地毡的声响。接着我们的房门突然大开。一位妇女身穿深色呢绒衣服，头蒙黑纱，走进屋来。
    “请原谅我这么晚来打搅您！"她开始说，随即克制不住自己，快步向前，搂着我妻子的脖子，伏在她的肩上啜泣了起来。"噢！我真倒霉！"她哭着说，“我多么需要能得到一点儿帮助啊！”

"Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when you came in."

"I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds to a light-house.

"It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or should you rather that I sent James off to bed?"

"Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about him!"

It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it possible that we could bring him back to her?

veil 面纱

light-house 灯塔

soothed 安慰

“啊！"我的妻子说，同时掀开她的面纱，“原来是凯特·惠特尼啊。你可吓着我了，凯特！你进来时我简直想象不到是你！”
    “我不知道怎样才好，我就直接跑来找你。"事情总是这样。人们一有发愁的事，就来找我的妻子，好象黑夜里的鸟儿齐向灯塔一样来寻找慰藉。
    “我们很高兴你的来临！不过，你得喝一点兑水的酒，平静地坐一会儿，再跟我们讲是怎么一回事，要不然我先打发詹姆斯去就寝，你看好吗？”
    “哦！不，不！我也需要大夫的指点和帮助呢。是关于艾萨的事情，他两天没回家了。我为他害怕极了！”
    对我来说作为一个医生，对我妻子来说作为一个老朋友和老同学，听她向我们诉说她丈夫给她带来的苦恼，这已经不是第一次了。我们尽量找些类似这样的话来安慰她，例如，她知道她的丈夫在哪里吗？我们有可能替她把他找回来吗？

It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him eight-and forty hours,and he lay there, doubtless among the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the effects. There he was to be found,

she was sure of it, at the Bar of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him?

surest 一定的

den 鸦片馆

Hitherto 迄今，至今

orgies orgy的复数，狂欢

confined to 关在里面，限制在

twitching 抽搐

dreg 残渣

pluck 拉，拽

ruffian 恶棍，无赖

看来好象有可能。她得到确切的消息说，近来他的烟瘾一发作，就到老城区最东边的一个鸦片馆去过瘾。到目前为止，他在外放荡从来不超出一天，每到晚上他就抽搐着身体，垮掉了似的回到家里。可是这次鬼迷心窍已经四十八小时了。现在准是躺在那儿，和在码头上的社会渣滓偃卧在一起吞云吐雾地吸毒。或者竟在酣睡，好从鸦片所起的作用中缓过劲来。到那儿一定会找得到他，这一点她确信无疑。地点是天鹅闸巷的黄金酒店。可是，她可怎么办呢？她，一个年轻娇怯的女人家，又怎能闯进那样一个地方，把厮混在一群歹徒中间的丈夫拽走呢？

There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it.Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second thought,why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to be.

cheery 愉快的，活泼的

errand 差事

情况就是如此，而且当然也只有这样一个办法。我想是否就由我陪同她去那地方呢？随着，又一转念，她又何必去呢？我是艾萨·惠特尼的医药顾问，以这层关系讲，我对他有些影响力。我倘若独自前往，也许能解决得更好些。我答应她，如果他真是在她告诉我们的那个地方的话，我会在两小时内雇辆出租马车把他送回家去。于是，在十分钟内，我就已经离开了我的那张扶手椅和那舒适愉快的起居室，乘了一辆双轮小马车，在向东疾驶的途中了。这趟差事，当时我已觉得有点离奇，不过只有到了后来才显出它是离奇到了何等程度。

But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet and by the light of a flickering oillamp above the door I found the latch and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the forecastle of an emigrant ship.

vile 肮脏的

lurking 潜伏，隐藏

wharves 码头

slop-shop 廉价成衣商店

gin-shop 酒馆

tread 踩，踏

flickering 闪烁的

oillamp 油灯

latch 门闩

terraced 阶梯状的

berth 卧铺

forecastle 前甲板下的水手仓

但是，在我这探奇之始，倒没有多大的困难。天鹅闸巷是一条污浊的小巷，它隐藏于伦敦桥东沿河北岸的高大码头建筑物后边。在一家出售廉价成衣的商店和一家杜松子酒店之间，靠近有一条陡峭的阶梯往下直通一个象洞穴似的黑乎乎豁口，我发现了我要寻访的那家烟馆。我叫马车停下来等着，便顺着那阶梯走下去。这阶梯的石级中部已被川流不息的醉汉们双脚踩磨得凹陷不平。门上悬挂着灯光闪烁不定的油灯。借着灯光，我摸到门闩，便走进一个又深又矮的房间，屋里弥漫着浓重的棕褐色的鸦片烟的烟雾，靠墙放着一排排的木榻，就象移民船前甲板下的水手舱一样。

友情链接

学霸撩妹

当她变美的时候，他却变残了

职场丑闻

褚兰的选择

幼稚的男人

人生赢家

终于成了路人

水晶鞋-4他是总经理！

一念之间

消失的男人

2个女人