福爾摩斯探案集·紅發(fā)會 第14期:正式應聘(5)
'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' said I.
我說，'一共只有四個小時，我是怎么也不會離開一步的。'
'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness nor business nor anything else.
鄧肯·羅斯先生說，'不得以任何理由為借口，不管是有病、有事或其他理由都不行。
There you must stay, or you lose your billet.''And the work?'
你必須老老實實呆在那里，否則你就會丟掉你的位置。''干什么工作呢？'
'Is to copy out the Encyclopaedia Britannica. There is the first volume of it in that press.
'你的工作是抄寫《大英百科全書》，這里有這個版本的第一卷。
You must find your own ink, pens, and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair.
你要自備墨水、筆和吸墨紙。我們只提供給你這張桌子和這把椅子。
Will you be ready to-morrow?' 'Certainly,' I answered.
你明天能來上班嗎？'我回答說，'當然可以。'
'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson,
'那么，杰貝茲·威爾遜先生，
and let me congratulate you once more on the important position which you have been fortunate enough to gain.'
再見，讓我再一次祝賀你這么幸運地得到這個重要職位。'
He bowed me out of the room, and I went home with my assistant,
他向我鞠了個躬。我隨即離開了那個房間，和我伙計一起回家去。
hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at my own good fortune.
我為自己的好運氣簡直高興得六神無主，不知所措了。
Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in low spirits again;
唔，我整天都在思量這件事。到晚上，我的情緒又消沉下來了，
for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud,
因為我總覺得這件事一定是某種大片局或大詭計，
though what its object might be I could not imagine.
雖然我猜想不出它的目的是什么。
It seemed altogether past belief that anyone could make such a will,
看來說有人立下這樣的遺囑，
or that they would pay such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
或者給那么多的錢讓人做象抄寫《大英百科全書》這種簡單的工作，簡直都是不可思議的。
Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing.
文森特·斯波爾丁想盡一切辦法來寬慰我。到就寢時，我已使自己從這整個事件中得出結論，
However, in the morning I determined to have a look at it anyhow,
不管怎樣，我決定第二天早晨去看看究竟是怎么回事。
so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Pope's Court.
我花一個便士買了一瓶墨水、一根羽毛筆、七張大頁書寫紙，然后動身到教皇院去。
