斑点带子案 39提前准备(3)

"But what harm can there be in that?"

"但是，那又会有什么妨害呢？"

"Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates.

"嗯，至少在时间上有着奇妙的巧合。

A ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Does not that strike you?"

凿了一个通气孔，挂了一条绳索，睡在床上的一位小姐送了命。这难道还不足以引起你的注意吗？"

"I cannot as yet see any connection."

"我仍然看不透其间有什么联系。"

"Did you observe anything very peculiar¹ about that bed?" "No."

"你注意到那张床有什么非常特别的地方吗？""没有。"

"It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like that before?" "I cannot say that I have."

"它是用螺钉固定在地板上的。你以前见到过一张那样固定的床吗？""我不敢说见到过。"

"The lady could not move her bed.

"那位小姐移动不了她的床。

It must always be in the same relative position to the ventilator and to the rope

那张床就必然总是保持在同一相应的位置上，既对着通气孔，又对着铃绳

or so we may call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull."

也许我们可以这样称呼它，因为显而易见，它从来也没有被当作铃绳用过。"

"Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at.

"福尔摩斯，"我叫了起来，"我似乎隐约地领会到你暗示着什么。

We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime."

我们刚好来得及防止发生某种阴险而可怕的罪行。"

"Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals.

"真够阴险可怕的。一个医生堕入歧途，他就是罪魁祸首。

He has nerve and he has knowledge. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession.

他既有胆量又有知识。帕尔默和奇里查德就在他们这一行中名列前茅。

This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall be able to strike deeper still.

这个人更高深莫测，但是，华生，我想我们会比他更高明。

But we shall have horrors enough before the night is over;

不过天亮之前，担心害怕的事情还多得很。

for goodness' sake let us have a quiet pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more cheerful."

看在上帝的份上，让我们静静地抽一斗烟，换换脑筋，在这段时间里，想点愉快的事情吧。"

1 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。