《死亡约会》选段（原文朗读）

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博因顿老夫人是家族的暴君，她把几位儿女牢牢地控制在身边，不让他们和外界接触，并以此为乐。每个人都对她厌憎无比，却又无力摆脱。古怪的博因顿一家来到约旦。炎热的一天，在佩特拉迷人的玫瑰色峭壁上，博因顿老夫人像尊怪异的佛像一般端坐不动——她死了。她的手腕上留有一个微小的针孔。这一次留给波洛解谜的时间只有24小时。

Appointment with Death   

Part 1   Chapter 1

“Don’t you agree that she’s got to be killed?” The words seemed to hang in the still night air, before disappearing into the darkness.

It was Hercule Poirot’s first night in the city of Jerusalem, and he was shutting his hotel-room window — the night air was a danger to his health! — when he overheard① these words. He smiled. “Even on holiday, I am reminded of crime,” he said to himself. “No doubt someone is talking about a play or a book.” As he walked over to his bed, he thought about the voice he had heard. It was the voice of a man — or a boy — and had sounded nervous and excited. “I will remember that voice,” said Hercule Poirot to himself, as he lay down to sleep. “Yes, I will remember.”

In the room next door, Raymond Boynton and his sister Carol looked out of their window into the dark-blue night sky. Raymond said again, “Don’t you agree that she’s got to be killed? It can’t go on② like this — it can’t. We must do something — and what else can we do?”

Carol said in a hopeless voice, “If only we could just leave somehow! But we can’t — we can’t.”

“People would say we were crazy,” said Raymond bitterly③. “They would wonder why we can’t just walk out —”

Carol said slowly, “Perhaps we are crazy!”

① overhear v. 无意中听到

② go on 持续

③ bitterly adv. 气愤地

“Perhaps we are,” agreed Raymond. “After all, we are calmly planning to kill our own mother!”

“She isn’t our real mother!” said Carol. “She’s our stepmother①!”

There was a pause②. “Do you still think she has to die?” asked Raymond quietly.

“Yes, I do,” said Carol. “She’s mad — she must be. She — she wouldn’t treat us so badly, torture③ us like this if she wasn’t mad. It’s lasted for years and years, and I don’t think it will ever stop. We keep saying, 'She’ll die some time’— but she hasn’t died! I don’t think she will ever die, unless —”

“Unless we kill her,” said Raymond. “And you or I must do it — not our brother Lennox, or our sister Ginevra. They mustn’t be involved.”

“And we must do it quickly,” said Carol, “I’m really worried about Ginevra — she’s getting worse.”

“And it’s not really wrong,” said Raymond. “It’s just like killing a mad dog, before it hurts anyone else.”

Carol stood up suddenly, pushing back her red brown-hair from her face. “But we would still be sent to prison④ if we were found out. How could we explain what mother is like? It would sound crazy — as if we were imagining it.”

“Nobody will know,” said Raymond. “I’ve got a plan. We’ll be safe.”

“Ray,” said Carol, “you’re different in some way. Something’s happened to you. Was it that girl you met on the train?”

① stepmother n. 继母

② pause n. 停顿

③ torture v. 折磨

④ prison n. 监狱

“No, of course not,” said Raymond. “Carol, don’t talk nonsense①. Let’s talk about my plan.”

“Are you sure it will work?” asked Carol.

“Yes, I am,” replied her brother. “We must wait for the right opportunity, of course. And then — we'll all be free.” “Free?” Carol looked up at the stars. Then suddenly she started to cry. “It’s such a lovely night, with the stars in the sky. If only we could be part of it all, like other people. But instead we are strange and twisted② and wrong. Even if mother dies — isn't it too late for us to change?”

“No, Carol, it’s not too late,” said Raymond. “But if you don’t want to —“

“I do want to — we must do it,” said Carol. “Because of the others — and especially Ginevra. We must save Ginevra!”

Raymond paused a moment. “All right, we’ll do it,” he said. “I’ll tell you my plan.”

① nonsense n. 胡说八道

② twisted adj. 扭曲的

文化注释

Petra

Petra is an ancient and beautiful city, built into the tall red-coloured cliffs over two thousand years ago by people called the Nabataeans. They made the city an important place to stop for traders, people who travelled across the country from China, India and Egypt selling spices and silks.

Although there have always been people living in Petra since the time of the Nabataeans, the city was only rediscovered by travellers from Europe in 1812. To get there you still have to walk or ride — like Sarah King and her companions did — over half a mile (1 kilometre) through the Siq, a narrow valley with tall steep cliffs at either side.

The city is spread across a large area and has hundreds of buildings, including streets, temples and tombs, where the dead were buried. There are also remains of Roman buildings，an open-air theatre and a religious monastery — and of course the “Place of Sacrifice”，where animals were killed to please the gods.

佩特拉

佩特拉是一座古老而美丽的城市，它是两千多年前纳巴泰人在高高的红土悬崖上建立起来的。他们把该城建成了一个供商旅们歇脚的重要之地，商旅来自遥远的中国、印度和埃及，他们在这里销售香料和丝绸。

尽管自纳巴泰人时代以来一直有人类居住在佩特拉，该城直到1812年才被来自欧洲的旅行者重新发现。要到那里，只有通过步行或骑行——正如Sarah King及其旅伴们那样——穿过半英里长的西克峡谷，这是一处狭窄的山谷，两边是又高又陡峭的悬崖。

该城布局开阔，有好几百座建筑物，包括街道、庙宇和埋葬死者的墓地。还有罗马时期建筑物的废墟、一座露天剧场和一座宗教寺庙，当然啦，还有把牲畜杀死以取悦众神的“祭祀之地”。

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。

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