福爾摩斯探案集·工程師大拇指案 第25期:被砍掉的大拇指(11)

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And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my heart into my mouth.

這時，在寂靜之中，我突然聽到了一種聲音，這聲音一下子使我急得心都要跳出來了。

It was the clank of the levers and the swish of the leaking cylinder.

那是杠桿的鏗鏘聲和水管漏水的颼颼聲。

He had set the engine at work.

他開動了機(jī)器。

The lamp still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the trough.

燈還在地板上，是我檢查鐵槽時放在那里的。

By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming down upon me, slowly, jerkily,

借著燈光我看到黑黝黝的房頂正緩慢地、搖搖晃晃地向我壓下來。

but, as none knew better than myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a shapeless pulp.

沒有人比我更清楚了，它的壓力足夠在一分鐘內(nèi)把我碾成爛肉醬。

I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and dragged with my nails at the lock.

我尖聲呼喊，用身體撞門，用指摳門鎖。

I implored the colonel to let me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my cries.

我苦苦哀求上校放我出去，但是無情的杠桿鏗鏘聲淹沒了我的呼喊。

The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface.

房頂離我的頭只有一兩英尺了，我舉起手就能摸著那堅硬粗糙的表面。

Then it flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend very much upon the position in which I met it.

這時候我心里突然掠過一個念頭，想到一個人死亡時的痛苦很大程度上是取決于臨死時的姿勢。

If I lay on my face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to think of that dreadful snap.

如果我是趴著的，重量就會落在脊椎骨上。一想到那壓斷骨頭時可怕的劈啪聲，我不禁渾身打起顫來。

Easier the other way, perhaps; and yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black shadow wavering down upon me?

也許另一個姿勢會好一些；然而是否我有膽量仰面躺在那里眼巴巴地望著那一團(tuán)要命的黑影搖搖晃晃地向我壓下來呢？

Already I was unable to stand erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope back to my heart.

我已經(jīng)站不直了，突然我的眼光落在一件東西上，心里迸發(fā)出了希望的火花。