四签名 16寻求解答（3）

It was a September evening and not yet seven o'clock,

这一天是九月的傍晚，还不到七点钟，

but the day had been a dreary¹ one, and a dense² drizzly³ fog lay low upon the great city.

天气阴沉，浓浓的迷雾笼罩了这个大城。

Mud-coloured clouds drooped⁴ sadly over the muddy streets.

街道上一片泥泞，空中低悬着令人抑郁的卷卷黑云。

Down the Strand⁵ the lamps were but misty⁶ splotches of diffused⁷ light which threw a feeble circular glimmer⁸ upon the slimy pavement.

伦敦河滨马路上的暗淡路灯，照到满是泥浆的人行道上，只剩了萤萤的微光。

The yellow glare from the shop-windows streamed out into the steamy,

还有淡淡的黄色灯光从两旁店铺的玻璃窗里射出来，

vaporous air and threw a murky⁹, shifting radiance across the crowded thoroughfare.

穿过迷茫的雾气，闪闪地照到车马拥挤的大街上。

There was, to my mind, something eerie¹⁰ and ghostlike in the endless procession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light--sad faces and glad, haggard and merry.

我心里想着：在这闪闪的灯光照耀下络绎不绝的行人，他们的面部表情有喜欢的和忧愁的，有憔悴的和快活的，其中含有无限的怪诞和奇异的事迹，

Like all humankind, they flitted from the gloom into the light and so back into the gloom once more.

好象人类的一生，从黑暗来到光明，又由光明返回黑暗。

I am not subject to impressions, but the dull, heavy evening,

我不是易于产生感触的人，但是这个沉闷的夜晚

with the strange business upon which we were engaged, combined to make me nervous and depressed¹¹.

和我们将要遇到的奇事，使我不禁精神紧张起来。

I could see from Miss Morstan's manner that she was suffering from the same feeling.

我可以从摩斯坦小姐的表情中看得出来，她和我有同样的感觉。

Holmes alone could rise superior to petty influences.

只有福尔摩斯不受外界的影响。

He held his open notebook upon his knee, and from time to time he jotted¹² down figures and memoranda¹³ in the light of his pocket-lantern.

他将记事簿放在自己的膝盖上，借着怀中电筒的光亮，不断地在记事簿上写字。

At the Lyceum Theatre the crowds were already thick at the side-entrances.

莱西厄姆剧院两旁入口处的观众已经拥挤不堪。

In front a continuous stream of hansoms and four-wheelers were rattling¹⁴ up,

双轮和四轮的马车象流水一般地辚辚而至。

discharging their cargoes¹⁵ of shirt-fronted men and beshawled, bediamonded women.

穿着礼服露着白胸的男子和披着围巾、珠光空气的女人，一个个地从车上下来。

We had hardly reached the third pillar, which was our rendezvous¹⁶, before a small, dark, brisk man in the dress of a coachman accosted¹⁷ us.

我们刚刚走近约定的第三个柱子前面，就来了一个身材短小、面貌黧黑、穿着马车夫装束的精壮男子，向我们招呼。

"Are you the parties who come with Miss Morstan?" he asked.

他问道："你们是同摩斯坦小姐同来的吗？"

"I am Miss Morstan, and these two gentlemen are my friends," said she.

她答道："我就是摩斯坦小姐，这两位是我的朋友。"

He bent¹⁸ a pair of wonderfully penetrating¹⁹ and questioning eyes upon us.

那人用细心的眼光逼视着我们，

"You will excuse me, miss," he said with a certain dogged manner,

态度顽强地说道："小姐请原谅我，

"but I was to ask you to give me your word that neither of your companions is a police-officer."

我需要请您保证您的同伴中没有警官。"

"I give you my word on that," she answered.

她答道："我可以保证。"

He gave a shrill²⁰ whistle, on which a street Arab led across a four-wheeler and opened the door.

他用嘴唇吹了一下口哨，就有一个街头流浪的人引着一辆四轮马车来到跟前，他开了车门。

The man who had addressed us mounted to the box, while we took our places inside.

和我们搭话的人跳到车夫的座上，我们陆续上车，

We had hardly done so before the driver whipped up his horse, and we plunged²¹ away at a furious pace through the foggy streets.

还没有坐定，马夫已经扬鞭驱车，迅速地驰行在雾气迷蒙的街道上了。

1 dreary   

adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的

参考例句：

• They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
• She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。

2 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

3 drizzly   

a.毛毛雨的(a drizzly day)

参考例句：

• This section of the country is drizzly in the winter. 该国的这一地区在冬天经常细雨蒙蒙。
• That region is drizzly in winter. 那个地区冬天常下小雨。

4 drooped   

弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。
• The flowers drooped in the heat of the sun. 花儿晒蔫了。

5 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

6 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

7 diffused   

散布的，普及的，扩散的

参考例句：

• A drop of milk diffused in the water. 一滴牛奶在水中扩散开来。
• Gases and liquids diffused. 气体和液体慢慢混合了。

8 glimmer   

v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光

参考例句：

• I looked at her and felt a glimmer of hope.我注视她，感到了一线希望。
• A glimmer of amusement showed in her eyes.她的眼中露出一丝笑意。

9 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

10 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

11 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

12 jotted   

v.匆忙记下( jot的过去式和过去分词 )；草草记下，匆匆记下

参考例句：

• I jotted down her name. 我匆忙记下了她的名字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The policeman jotted down my address. 警察匆匆地将我的地址记下。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 memoranda   

n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式

参考例句：

• There were memoranda, minutes of meetings, officialflies, notes of verbal di scussions. 有备忘录，会议记录，官方档案，口头讨论的手记。
• Now it was difficult to get him to address memoranda. 而现在，要他批阅备忘录都很困难。

14 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

15 cargoes   

n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负

参考例句：

• This ship embarked cargoes. 这艘船装载货物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The crew lashed cargoes of timber down. 全体船员将木材绑牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 rendezvous   

n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇

参考例句：

• She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
• I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。

17 accosted   

v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭

参考例句：

• She was accosted in the street by a complete stranger. 在街上，一个完全陌生的人贸然走到她跟前搭讪。
• His benevolent nature prevented him from refusing any beggar who accosted him. 他乐善好施的本性使他不会拒绝走上前向他行乞的任何一个乞丐。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

19 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

20 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

21 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。