绿玉皇冠案 35失而复得(6)

"Is it possible?" gasped¹ the banker.

"这是可能的么？"那银行家捏了一把汗说。

"You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks.

"正当他认为他很值得你最热烈地感谢的时候，你对他的谩骂激起了他的怒火。

He could not explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands.

他不能既说明实际情况而又不至于出卖肯定值得他认真考虑手下留情的人。

He took the more chivalrous² view, however, and preserved her secret."

他认为应有骑士风度，于是将她的秘密隐藏了起来。"

"And that was why she shrieked³ and fainted when she saw the coronet," cried Mr. Holder⁴.

"这就是为什么她一看到那顶皇冠便发出一声尖叫昏了过去，"霍尔德先生大声嚷着。

"Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes!

"噢！我的天！我真是瞎了跟的蠢人！是的，他要求过我让他出去五分钟！

The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!"

这亲爱的孩子是想到争夺的现场去寻找那皇冠的失落部分。我是多么残酷无情地冤枉了他！"

"When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes,

"当我来到你屋子的时候，"福尔摩斯接着说，

"I at once went very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the snow which might help me.

"我立即到四周仔细地察看了一下，看看雪地里有什么痕迹有助于我的调查。

I knew that none had fallen since the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to preserve impressions.

我知道从前天晚上到现在没有再下过雪，并且这期间恰好有重霜保护着印迹。

I passed along the tradesmen's path, but found it all trampled⁵ down and indistinguishable.

我经过商贩所走的那一条小路，但是脚印都已经被践踏得无法辨别了。

Just beyond it, however, at the far side of the kitchen door,

不过，正好在它这一边，离厨房门稍远的地方，

a woman had stood and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed that he had a wooden leg.

却发现有过一个女人站在那里同一个男人谈话时留下的痕迹，那里的脚印有一个是圆的，这正说明此人有一条木制的假腿。

I could even tell that they had been disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door,

我甚至可以断定有人惊动了他们，因为有那个女人赶紧跑回到门口的痕迹，

as was shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had waited a little, and then had gone away.

这可以从雪上前脚印深后脚印浅的形状看出来，那个装木头假腿的人看来在那里呆了一会儿才走开。

I thought at the time that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had already spoken to me, and inquiry⁶ showed it was so.

我那时猜想这可能是那女仆和她情人，有关他们的事你已经告诉过我，后来我经过调查证明确是这样。

I passed round the garden without seeing anything more than random⁷ tracks, which I took to be the police;

我到花园里绕了一圈，除了杂乱的脚印外，别的没看到什么，我知道这是警察留下的；

but when I got into the stable lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in front of me."

但是我到了通往马厩的小道时，印在雪地上的一段很长很复杂的情景便展现在我的面前。"

1 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 chivalrous   

adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的

参考例句：

• Men are so little chivalrous now.现在的男人几乎没有什么骑士风度了。
• Toward women he was nobly restrained and chivalrous.对于妇女，他表现得高尚拘谨，尊敬三分。

3 shrieked   

v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
• Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

4 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

5 trampled   

踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• He gripped his brother's arm lest he be trampled by the mob. 他紧抓着他兄弟的胳膊，怕他让暴民踩着。
• People were trampled underfoot in the rush for the exit. 有人在拼命涌向出口时被踩在脚下。

6 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

7 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。