福爾摩斯探案集·血字的研究 第91期:尾聲(2)

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"I confess," said I, "that I do not quite follow you."

我說："說老實話，我還不大明白你的意思。"

"I hardly expected that you would. Let me see if I can make it clearer.

"我也很難指望你能夠弄得清楚。讓我試試看我是否能夠把它說得更明確一些。

Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result would be.

大多數(shù)人都是這樣的：如果你把一系列的事實對他們說明以后，他們就能把可能的結(jié)果告訴你，

They can put those events together in their minds, and argue from them that something will come to pass.

他們能夠把這一系列事實在他們的腦子里聯(lián)系起來，通過思考，就能得出個什么結(jié)果來了。

There are few people, however, who, if you told them a result,

但是，有少數(shù)的人，如果你把結(jié)果告訴了他們，

would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that result.

他們就能通過他們內(nèi)在的意識，推斷出所以產(chǎn)生出這種結(jié)果的各個步驟是什么。

This power is what I mean when I talk of reasoning backward, or analytically."

這就是在我說到'回溯推理'或者'分析的方法'時，我所指的那種能力。"

"I understand," said I.

我說："我明白了。"

"Now this was a case in which you were given the result and had to find everything else for yourself.

"現(xiàn)在這件案子就是一個例子，你只知道結(jié)果，其他一切必須全部你自己去發(fā)現(xiàn)了。

Now let me endeavour to show you the different steps in my reasoning.

好，現(xiàn)在讓我把我在這個案件中進行推理的各個不同步驟盡量向你說明一下吧。

To begin at the beginning.

我從頭說起。

I approached the house, as you know, on foot, and with my mind entirely free from all impressions.

正如你所知道的一樣，我是步行到那座屋子去的。當時，我的思想中絲毫沒有先入為主的成見。

I naturally began by examining the roadway, and there, as I have already explained to you,

我自然要先從檢查街道著手，就象我已經(jīng)向你解釋過的一樣，

I saw clearly the marks of a cab, which, I ascertained by inquiry, must have been there during the night.

我在街道上清清楚楚地看到了一輛馬車車輪的痕跡。經(jīng)過研究以后，我確定這個痕跡必定是夜間留下的。

I satisfied myself that it was a cab and not a private carriage by the narrow gauge of the wheels.

由于車輪之間距離較窄，因此我斷定這是一輛出租的四輪馬車，而不是自用馬車，

The ordinary London growler is considerably less wide than a gentleman's brougham.

因為倫敦市上通常所有出租的四輪馬車都要比自用馬車狹窄一些。

"This was the first point gained.

"這就是我觀察所得的第一點。

I then walked slowly down the garden path,

接著，我就慢慢地走上了花園中的小路。

which happened to be composed of a clay soil, peculiarly suitable for taking impressions.

碰巧，這條小路是一條粘土路，它特別容易留下跡印。

No doubt it appeared to you to be a mere trampled line of slush,

毫無疑問，在你看起來，這條小路只不過是一條被人踐踏得一塌胡涂的爛泥路而已。

but to my trained eyes every mark upon its surface had a meaning.

可是，在我這雙久經(jīng)鍛煉的眼睛看來，小路上每個痕跡都是有它的意義的。

There is no branch of detective science which is so important and so much neglected as the art of tracing footsteps.

偵探學所有各個部門中，再沒有比足跡學這一門藝術(shù)更重要而又最易被人忽略的了。

Happily, I have always laid great stress upon it, and much practice has made it second nature to me.

幸而我對于這門科學一向是十分重視的；經(jīng)過多次實踐以后，它已成為我的第二天性了。

I saw the heavy footmarks of the constables,

我看到了警察們的沉重的靴印，

but I saw also the track of the two men who had first passed through the garden.

但是我也看到最初經(jīng)過花園的那兩個人的足跡。

It was easy to tell that they had been before the others,

他們的足跡，比其他人的在先，這一點是很容易說明的；

because in places their marks had been entirely obliterated by the others coming upon the top of them.

因為從一些地方可以看出，他們的足印被后來人的足印踐踏，已經(jīng)完全消失了。

In this way my second link was formed, which told me that the nocturnal visitors were two in number,

這樣我的第二個環(huán)節(jié)就構(gòu)成了。這個環(huán)節(jié)告訴我，夜間來客一共有兩個，

one remarkable for his height (as I calculated from the length of his stride),

一個非常高大，這是我從他的步伐長度上推算出來的；

and the other fashionably dressed, to judge from the small and elegant impression left by his boots.

另一個則是衣著入時，這是從他留下的小巧精致的靴印上判斷出來的。