住院的病人14

“My dear fellow,” said he, “it was one of the first solutions which occurred  to me, but I was soon able to corroborate¹ the doctor's tale. This young man has  left prints upon the stair-carpet which made it quite superfluous² for me to ask  to see those which he had made in the room. When I tell you that his shoes were  square-toed instead of being pointed³ like Blessington's, and were quite an inch  and a third longer than the doctor's, you will acknowledge that there can be no  doubt as to his individuality. But we may sleep on it now, for I shall be  surprised if we do not hear something further from Brook⁴ Street in the morning. ”

Sherlock Holmes's prophecy was soon fulfilled, and in a dramatic fashion. At  half-past seven next morning, in the first glimmer⁵ of daylight, I found him  standing⁶ by my bedside in his dressing-gown.

“There's a brougham waiting for us, Watson,” said he.

“What's the matter, then?”

“The Brook Street business.”

“Any fresh news?”

“Tragic, but ambiguous,” said he, pulling up the blind. “Look at this—a  sheet from a note-book, with ‘For God's sake come at once—P. T.,’ scrawled  upon it in pencil. Our friend, the doctor, was hard put to it when he wrote  this. Come along, my dear fellow, for it's an urgent call.”

In a quarter of an hour or so we were back at the physician's house. He came  running out to meet us with a face of horror.

“Oh, such a business!” he cried, with his hands to his temples.

“What then?”

“Blessington has committed suicide!”

Holmes whistled.

“Yes, he hanged himself during the night.”

“我亲一爱一的朋友，”福尔摩斯说道，“最初我也这样想过。不过我很快就证实了医生所 讲的故事。那个年轻人在楼梯地毯上留下了脚印，这样我就没有必要再去看他留在室内的那 些脚印了。我只要告诉你，他的鞋是方头的，不象布莱星顿的鞋那样是尖头的，又比医生的 鞋长一英寸三，你就可以知道，毫无疑问，是有这么个年轻人了。不过话就说到这里，我们 现在可以安睡了。如果明天早晨我们从布鲁克街听不到新情况，那倒会使我惊奇呢。”

歇洛克-福尔摩斯的预言很快就实现了，并且颇具戏剧一性一的形式。第二天早晨七点半， 在晨光熹微中，我看到福尔摩斯穿着晨衣站在我的一床一旁。

“外面有一辆马车等着我们，华生，”福尔摩斯说道。

“那么，是怎么回事？”

“是布鲁克街的事。”

“有什么新消息吗？”

“是一个悲剧，不过还不一定，”福尔摩斯一边说着一边拉起窗帘，“请看这个，这是从笔 记本上撕下来的一张纸条，上面用铅笔草草写着：‘请看在上帝的面上，立即前来。珀西- 特里维廉。’我们的朋友，这位医生写这张便条时，处境是极为困难了。随我来，我亲一爱 一的朋友，因为情况很紧急。”

过一刻钟左右，我们又来到这位医生的寓所。他面带惊恐之色跑来迎接我们。

“啊，竟出了这样的事情！”他双手捂住太一陽一穴一，大声喊道。

“出了什么事？”

“布莱星顿已经自一杀了！”

福尔摩斯打了一声呼哨。

“是的，昨晚他上吊了。”

1 corroborate   

v.支持，证实，确定

参考例句：

• He looked at me anxiously,as if he hoped I'd corroborate this.他神色不安地看着我，仿佛他希望我证实地的话。
• It appeared that what he said went to corroborate my account.看来他所说的和我叙述的相符。

2 superfluous   

adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的

参考例句：

• She fined away superfluous matter in the design. 她删去了这图案中多余的东西。
• That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举。

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

5 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。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。