福爾摩斯探案集·血字的研究 第9期:演繹法(4)

During the first week or so we had no callers,

在頭一兩個星期中，沒有人來拜訪我們。

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

我曾以為我的伙伴也象我一樣，孤零零的沒有朋友。

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

可是，不久我就發(fā)現(xiàn)他有許多相識，而且是來自社會上各個迥然不同的階層的。

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

其中有一個人面色發(fā)黃，獐頭鼠目，生著一雙黑色的眼睛。

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

經(jīng)福爾摩斯介紹，我知道他叫雷斯垂德先生。這個人每星期要來三四次。

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

一天早上，有一個時髦的年輕姑娘來了，坐了半個多鐘頭才走。

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

當(dāng)天下午，又來了一個頭發(fā)灰白、衣衫襤褸的客人，模樣兒很象個猶太小販，

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

他的神情似乎非常緊張，身后還緊跟著一個邋邋遢遢的老婦人。

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

還有一次，一個白發(fā)紳士拜訪了我的伙伴；

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

另外一回，一個穿著棉絨制服的火車上的茶房來找他。

When any of these nondescript individuals put in an appearance,

每當(dāng)這些奇特的客人出現(xiàn)的時候，

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

歇洛克·福爾摩斯總是請求讓他使用品居室，我也只好回到我的臥室里去。

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

他因為給我?guī)磉@樣的不便，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.”

他說："我不得不利用這間起居室作為辦公的地方，這些人都是我的顧客。"

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

這一次，我又找到了一個單刀直入向他提出問題的好機會，

and again my delicacy prevented me from forcing another man to confide in me.

但是，為了謹慎起見，我又沒有勉強他對我吐露真情。

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

我當(dāng)時想，他不談出他的職業(yè)，一定有某種重大理由。

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

但是，他不久就主動地談到了這個問題，打破了我原來的想法。

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

我記得很清楚，那是三月四日，我比平時期得早了一些；

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

我發(fā)現(xiàn)福爾摩斯還沒有吃完早餐。

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

房東太太一向知道我有晚起的習(xí)慣，因此餐桌上沒有安排我的座位，我的一份咖啡也沒有預(yù)備好。

With the unreasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt intimation that I was ready.

我一時沒有道理地發(fā)起火來，立刻按鈴，簡捷地告訴房東太太，我已準備吃早餐。

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

于是我從桌上拿起一本雜志翻翻，借此消磨等待的時間，

while my companion munched silently at his toast.

而我的同伴卻一聲不響地只管嚼著他的面包。

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

雜志上有一篇文章，標題下面有人畫了鉛筆道，我自然而然地就先看了這一篇。

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

文章的標題似乎有些夸大，叫做什么"生活寶鑒"。

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

這篇文章企圖說明：一個善于觀察的人，如果對他所接觸的事物加以精確而系統(tǒng)地觀察，他將有多么大的收獲。

It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity.

我覺得這篇文章很突出，雖有其精明獨到之處，但也未免荒唐可笑；

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

在論理上，它嚴密而緊湊；但是在論斷上，據(jù)我看來，卻未免牽強附會，夸大其辭。

The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thoughts.

作者聲稱，從一個人瞬息之間的表情，肌肉的每一牽動以及眼睛的每一轉(zhuǎn)動，都可以推測出他內(nèi)心深處的想法來。

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

根據(jù)作者的說法，對于一個在觀察和分析上素有鍛煉的人來說，"欺騙"是不可能的事。

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

他所作出的結(jié)論真和歐幾里得的定理一樣的準確。

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

而這些結(jié)論，在一些門外漢看來，確實驚人，在他們弄明白他所以得到這樣結(jié)論的各個步驟以前，

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

他們真會把他當(dāng)作一個未卜先知的神人。