血字的研究 90尾声（1）

Chapter 7 THE CONCLUSION

第七章 尾声

We had all been warned to appear before the magistrates¹ upon the Thursday;

我们事先都接到了通知，要我们在本周星期四出庭。

but when the Thursday came there was no occasion for our testimony².

可是，到了星期四那天，再也用不着我们去作证了。

A higher Judge had taken the matter in hand,

一位更高级的法官已经受理了这个察件，

and Jefferson Hope had been summoned before a tribunal where strict justice would be meted³ out to him.

杰弗逊·侯波已被传唤到另一个法庭上去，对他进行一次极为公正的审判了。

On the very night after his capture the aneurism burst,

原来，就在他被捕的当天晚上，他的动脉血瘤就迸裂了。

and he was found in the morning stretched upon the floor of the cell, with a placid⁴ smile upon his face,

第二天早晨，发现他躺在监狱中的地板上死了。他的脸上流露着平静的笑容，

as though he had been able in his dying moments to look back upon a useful life, and on work well done.

好象在他临死的时候，他回顾过去的年华并未虚度，报仇大业已经如愿以偿了。

"Gregson and Lestrade will be wild about his death," Holmes remarked, as we chatted it over next evening.

第二天傍晚，当我们闲谈着这件事情的时候，福尔摩斯说道："葛莱森和雷斯垂德知道这个人死了，他们一定要气得发疯。

"Where will their grand advertisement be now?"

这样一来，他们自吹自擂的本钱不就完蛋了吗？"

"I don't see that they had very much to do with his capture," I answered.

我回答说："我看不出，他们两个人在捉拿凶手这件事上，究竟干了多少工作。"

"What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence," returned my companion, bitterly.

我的伙伴尖酸地说道："在这个世界上，你到底做了些什么，这倒不关紧要。

"The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done? Never mind," he continued, more brightly, after a pause.

要紧的是，你如何能够使人相信你做了些什么。"停了一会，他又轻松地说："没关系。

"I would not have missed the investigation⁵ for anything.

不管怎样，我也不会放过这件案子的。

There has been no better case within my recollection.

在我的记忆中，再没有比这件案子更为精采的了。

Simple as it was, there were several most instructive points about it."

它虽然简单，但是其中有几点却是值得深以为训的。"

"Simple!" I ejaculated.

"简单！"我情不自禁地叫了起来。

"Well, really, it can hardly be described as otherwise," said Sherlock Holmes, smiling at my surprise.

"是的，的确是简单。除此以外，很难用别的字眼来形容它。"歇洛克·福尔摩斯说。他看到我满脸惊讶的神色，不觉微笑了起来。

"The proof of its intrinsic simplicity⁶ is,

"证明案子实质上是非常简单的是，

that without any help save a few very ordinary deductions⁷ I was able to lay my hand upon the criminal within three days."

你想，没有任何人的帮助，只是经过一番寻常的推理，我居然在三天之内捉到了这个罪犯。"

"That is true," said I.

我说："这倒是实在的。"

"I have already explained to you that what is out of the common is usually a guide rather than a hindrance⁸.

"我已经对你说过，凡是异乎寻常的事物，一般都不是什么阻碍，反而是一种线索。

In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backward.

在解决这类问题时，最主要的事情就是能够用推理的方法，一层层地回溯推理。

That is a very useful accomplishment⁹, and a very easy one,

这是一种很有用的本领，而且也是很容易的，

but people do not practise it much.

不过，人们在实践中却不常应用它。

In the everyday affairs of life it is more useful to reason forward,

在日常生活中，向前推理的方法用处大些，

and so the other comes to be neglected.

因此人们也就往往容易忽略回溯推理这一层。

There are fifty who can reason synthetically¹⁰ for one who can reason analytically¹¹."

如果说有五十个人能够从事务的各个方面加以综合推理的话，那么，能够用分析的方法推理的，不过是个把人而已。"

1 magistrates   

地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to come up before the magistrates 在地方法院出庭
• He was summoned to appear before the magistrates. 他被传唤在地方法院出庭。

2 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

3 meted   

v.（对某人）施以，给予（处罚等）( mete的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The severe punishment was meted out to the unruly hooligan. 对那个嚣张的流氓已给予严厉惩处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The money was meted out only after it had been carefully counted. 钱只有仔细点过之后才分发。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

7 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。

8 hindrance   

n.妨碍，障碍

参考例句：

• Now they can construct tunnel systems without hindrance.现在他们可以顺利地建造隧道系统了。
• The heavy baggage was a great hindrance to me.那件行李成了我的大累赘。

9 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

10 synthetically   

adv. 综合地，合成地

参考例句：

• The time sequence model synthetically reflects trends of groundwater level. 总体来说，季节性时序模型的模拟和预测精度较高。
• You can't do It'synthetically, by just flying around and dropping in. 你不能仅靠坐着飞机到处蜻蜓点水地看看就得出一个综合印象。

11 analytically   

adv.有分析地，解析地

参考例句：

• The final requirement,'significant environmental impact", is analytically more difficult. 最后一个规定“重大的环境影响”，分析起来是比较困难的。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The overwhelming majority of nonlinear differential equations are not soluble analytically. 绝大多数非线性微分方程是不能用解析方法求解的。