马斯格雷夫礼典02

One winter's night, as we sat together by the fire, I ventured to suggest to  him that, as he had finished pasting extracts into his common-place book, he  might employ the next two hours in making our room a little more habitable. He  could not deny the justice of my request, so with a rather rueful face he went  off to his bedroom, from which he returned presently pulling a large tin box  behind him. This he placed in the middle of the floor and, squatting¹ down upon a  stool in front of it, he threw back the lid. I could see that it was already a  third full of bundles of paper tied up with red tape into separate packages.

“There are cases enough here, Watson,” said he, looking at me with mischievous  eyes. “I think that if you knew all that I had in this box you would ask me to  pull some out instead of putting others in.”

“These are the records of your early work, then?” I asked. “I have often  wished that I had notes of those cases.”

“Yes, my boy, these were all done prematurely² before my biographer had come to  glorify³ me.” He lifted bundle after bundle in a tender, caressing⁴ sort of way.  “They are not all successes, Watson,” said he. “But there are some pretty  little problems among them. Here's the record of the Tarleton murders, and the  case of Vamberry, the wine merchant, and the adventure of the old Russian woman,  and the singular affair of the aluminium⁵ crutch⁶, as well as a full account of  Ricoletti of the club-foot, and his abominable⁷ wife. And here—ah, now, this  really is something a little recherché.”

He dived his arm down to the bottom of the chest, and brought up a small wooden  box with a sliding lid, such as children's toys are kept in. From within he  produced a crumpled⁸ piece of paper, an old-fashioned brass⁹ key, a peg¹⁰ of wood  with a ball of string attached to it, and three rusty¹¹ old disks of metal.

“Well, my boy, what do you make of this lot?” he asked, smiling at my  expression.

“It is a curious collection.”

“Very curious, and the story that hangs round it will strike you as being more  curious still.”

“These relics¹² have a history then?”

“So much so that they are history.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Sherlock Holmes picked them up one by one, and laid them along the edge of the  table. Then he reseated himself in his chair and looked them over with a gleam  of satisfaction in his eyes.

有一年冬季的夜晚，我们一起坐在炉旁，我冒然向他提出，等他把摘要抄进备忘录以后，用 两小时整理房间，搞得稍稍适于居住一些。他无法反驳我这正当的要求，面有愠色，走进寝 室，一会儿就返回，身后拖着一只铁皮大箱子。他把箱子放在地板当中，拿个小凳蹲坐大箱 子前面，打开箱盖。我见箱内已有三分之一装进了文件，都是用红带子绑成的小捆。

“华生，这里有很多案件，”福尔摩斯调皮地望着我说道，“我想，如果你知道我这箱子里 装的都是什么，那么你就会要我把已装进去的拿出来，而不要我把没有装的装进去了。”

“这么说，这都是你早期办案的记载了？”我问道，“我总想对这些案件做些札记呢。”

“是的，我的朋友，这都是在我没成名以前办的案子。”福尔摩斯轻轻而又一爱一惜地拿出 一捆捆的文件。“这些并不都是成功的记录，华生，”他说道，“可是其中也有许多很有趣 。这是塔尔顿凶杀案报告，这是范贝里酒商案，俄国老妇人历险案，还有铝制拐杖奇案以及 跛足的里科里特和他可恶妻子的案件。还有这一件，啊，这才真是一桩有点儿新奇的案件呢 。”

他把手伸进箱子，从箱底取出一个小木匣，匣盖可以活动，活象儿童玩具盒子。福尔摩斯从 匣内取出一张一揉一皱了的纸，一把老式铜钥匙，一只缠着线球的木钉和三个生锈的旧金属 圆板。

“喂，我的朋友，你猜这些东西是怎么回事？”福尔摩斯看到我脸上的表情，笑容满面地问 道。

“这简直是一些稀奇古怪的收藏品。”

“非常希奇古怪，而围绕它们发生的故事，更会使你感到惊奇不迭呢。”

“那么，这些遗物还有一段历史吗？”

“不仅有历史，而且它们本身就是历史啊。”

“这是什么意思呢？”

歇洛克-福尔摩斯把它们一件一件拿出来，沿桌边摆成一行，然后又坐到椅子上打量着这些 东西，两眼露出满意的神情。

1 squatting   

v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。

参考例句：

• They ended up squatting in the empty houses on Oxford Road. 他们落得在牛津路偷住空房的境地。
• They've been squatting in an apartment for the past two years. 他们过去两年来一直擅自占用一套公寓。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

3 glorify   

vt.颂扬，赞美，使增光，美化

参考例句：

• Politicians have complained that the media glorify drugs.政治家们抱怨媒体美化毒品。
• We are all committed to serving the Lord and glorifying His name in the best way we know.我们全心全意敬奉上帝，竭尽所能颂扬他的美名。

4 caressing   

爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的

参考例句：

• The spring wind is gentle and caressing. 春风和畅。
• He sat silent still caressing Tartar, who slobbered with exceeding affection. 他不声不响地坐在那里，不断抚摸着鞑靼，它由于获得超常的爱抚而不淌口水。

5 aluminium   

n.铝 (=aluminum)

参考例句：

• Aluminium looks heavy but actually it is very light.铝看起来很重，实际上却很轻。
• If necessary, we can use aluminium instead of steel.如果必要，我们可用铝代钢。

6 crutch   

n.T字形拐杖；支持，依靠，精神支柱

参考例句：

• Her religion was a crutch to her when John died.约翰死后，她在精神上依靠宗教信仰支撑住自己。
• He uses his wife as a kind of crutch because of his lack of confidence.他缺乏自信心，总把妻子当作主心骨。

7 abominable   

adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的

参考例句：

• Their cruel treatment of prisoners was abominable.他们虐待犯人的做法令人厌恶。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

8 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

9 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

10 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

11 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

12 relics   

[pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸

参考例句：

• The area is a treasure house of archaeological relics. 这个地区是古文物遗迹的宝库。
• Xi'an is an ancient city full of treasures and saintly relics. 西安是一个有很多宝藏和神圣的遗物的古老城市。