鸽群中的猫（英伦音原文朗读）
如果您喜欢我们的内容，请点击上方蓝色的“商务印书馆英语编辑室”关注我们，每周至少两次精彩内容，第一时间呈现给您！欢迎留言和转发！
某天深夜，当其他师生都在沉睡中时，有两名教师决定前往体育馆，对那里的神秘闪光探个究竟。就在一堆曲棍球棒当中，她们发现了女体育教师的尸体。大侦探波洛来了，为了找出那只混在鸽群中的猫而展开调查。
Chapter 8 Murder
One night the telephone rang at the local police station. The Sergeant① who answered quickly wrote down some details, and then hurried off to find his colleagues.
“A murder at Meadowbank school?” said Detective Inspector Kelsey, greatly surprised. “Who’s been murdered?”
“The Games teacher, sir?’ said the Sergeant. “Her name’s Miss Springer. She’s been found shot dead in the school’s Sports Pavilion.”
“Did they find the gun?” asked Kelsey.
“No, sir.”
“Interesting,” said Detective Inspector Kelsey. He called his team together, and they left quickly to do their job.
At Meadowbank Inspector Kelsey was met by Miss Bulstrode. “What would you like to do first? Inspector,” she asked, “visit the Sports Pavilion or hear the full details?”
“If someone could show the doctor and my two Sergeants where the body is?” replied Kelsey, “I’d like a few words with you first.”
“Certainly.” Miss Bulstrode arranged everything without fuss. “Come with me.”
“Who found the body?” asked Kelsey, as he followed Miss Bulstrode into her sitting room.
“Miss Johnson, the matron,” said Miss Bulstrode.
“I’ll talk to her in a minute,” Kelsey said. “First, can you tell me about the murdered woman?”
“Her name is Grace Springer — she was new this term.”
“And what do you know about her?”
“I hadn’t met her before this term, but her references were excellent.” said Miss Bulstrode.
“Have you got any idea at all why this happened? Was she unhappy? Was she seeing anyone — a man, perhaps?”
Miss Bulstrode shook her head. “Not that I know of,” she replied. “And it seems very unlikely. She was not that kind of woman.”
“Was there any reason why Miss Springer should be in the Sports Pavilion at night?” continued Kelsey.
“No reason at all,” said Miss Bulstrode.
“Very well, Miss Bulstrode. I’ll talk to Miss Johnson now.”
① sergeant n. 警长
Miss Johnson had been given a lot of brandy to drink after her discovery of the body, which made her very talkative. “Such an awful thing to happen,” she said to Inspector Kelsey. “I can’t believe it. Miss Springer was so — well, so sure of herself. The sort of woman who could deal with a burglar all by herself.”
“A burglar?” said Inspector Kelsey. “Was there anything to steal in the Sports Pavilion?’
“Well, no, not really — just swimsuits and sports equipment.”
“Were there any signs of a break-in?” asked the Inspector.
“I don’t really know,” said Miss Johnson. “The door was open when we got there and —”
“There were no signs of a break-in,” interrupted Miss Bulstrode.
“I see,” said Kelsey. “Someone used a key.” He looked at Miss Johnson. “Did people like Miss Springer?” he asked.
“I don’t think so,” said Miss Johnson slowly. “She was very sure of herself — sometimes quite rude — and was quite nosey.”
“Now, Miss Johnson,” said Kelsey. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
“It was late, and I was up with one of our pupils, who was ill. I looked out of the window and saw a light in the Sports Pavilion. It was moving about.”
“So it was a torch①?”
“Yes, it must have been. I didn’t think of burglars. I thought it was one of our pupils — meeting a boy, perhaps. I didn’t want to disturb Miss Bulstrode, so I went to ask Miss Chadwick to come with me and see what was going on. We went out by the side door and were standing on the path, when we heard a shot from the Sports Pavilion. We ran there as fast as we could. The door was open, and we switched on the light and —”
Kelsey interrupted. “So the Sports Pavilion was dark when you got there?”
“Yes. We switched on the light and there she was. She —”
“That’s all right,” said Inspector Kelsey kindly, “I’ll go and see for myself. Did you meet anyone, or hear anyone running away?”
“No, we didn’t,” said Miss Johnson.
“Well, thank you,” said Inspector Kelsey. “That’s very clear. I’ll go out to the Sports Pavilion now.”
① tourch n. 手电筒
文化注释
Boarding schools in the 1950s
Boarding schools like “Meadowbank”, where students could live as well as study, were a popular alternative to the usual “day schools” for richer parents, and they still exist today. In the past, most of these schools — just like Meadowbank — were single-sex: the students were either all boys, or all girls. Nowadays, many of them are mixed.
Agatha Christie actually never went to a school at all; she was taught at home instead. She had experience of boarding schools, however, because her sister went to one, and then later she sent her own daughter to one. Meadowbank is a fairly typical 1950s English boarding school.
20世纪50年代的寄宿学校
富裕的父母经常会选择“梅多邦克”一样的寄宿学校，代替普通的“走读学校”。在寄宿学校，学生们既可学习也可住宿；此类学校今天依然存在。过去，大多数寄宿学校——就像梅多邦克一样——都是男女分开的：要么全部是男生，要么全部是女生。可如今，也有很多男女同校的情况。
实际上，阿加莎·克里斯蒂从未上过学；她是在家接受的教育。她对于寄宿学校的了解来自她姐姐，后来她把女儿也送到寄宿学校。梅多邦克便是一所典型的20实际50年代的英国寄宿学校。
阿加莎•克里斯蒂是世界著名的推理小说女王，她的小说多次被搬上银幕，她在中国粉丝众多，被亲切地称为“阿婆”。
“阿加莎•克里斯蒂经典侦探作品集”丛书经英语专家改写，适当简化，既保留扣人心弦的故事，又使读者能轻松阅读，学习英语。
中文脚注，提示生词含义；文化注释，讲解背景知识。
扫描书中的二维码可跳转到音频链接，收听录音，还可搭配点读笔使用。
朗读录音由英国本土人士录制，发音地道，声情并茂。
《怪屋》（Crooked House）
《密码》（N or M？）
《魔手》（The Moving Finger）
《地狱之旅》（Destination Unknown）
《古屋疑云》（Peril at End House）
《借镜杀人》（They Do It with Mirrors）
《罗杰疑案》（The Murder of Roger Ackroyd）
《寓所谜案》（The Murder at the Vicarage）
《云中奇案》（Death in the Cloud）
《死亡约会》（Appointment with Death）
《葬礼之后》（After the Funeral）
《鸽群中的猫》（Cat among the Pigeons）
《命案目睹记》（4.50 from Paddington）
《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》（The Mysterious Affair at Styles）
《闪光的氰化物》（Sparkling Cyanide）
《穿棕色套装的人》（The Man in the Brown Suit）
《国际学舍谋杀案》（Hickory Dickory Dock）
扫描二维码关注我们
点击“阅读原文”挑选您喜爱的图书