巴斯克威尔的猎犬 疑案（9）

 

"With a wood round it?"

“周围是被树林围绕着的吗？ ”

"Exactly. I fancy the yew¹ alley², though not marked under that name, must stretch along thisline, with the moor³, as you perceive, upon the right of it. This small clump⁴ of buildings here is thehamlet of Grimpen, where our friend Dr. Mortimer has his headquarters. Within a radius⁵ of fivemiles there are, as you see, only a very few scattered⁶ dwellings⁷. Here is Lafter Hall, which wasmentioned in the narrative⁸. There is a house indicated here which may be the residence of thenaturalist -- Stapleton, if I remember right, was his name. Here are two moorland farmhouses,High Tor and Foulmire. Then fourteen miles away the great convict prison of Princetown.

Between and around these scattered points extends the desolate⁹, lifeless moor. This, then, is thestage upon which tragedy has been played, and upon which we may help to play it again."“是的。 我想那条水松夹道， 虽然在这儿并没有注明， 一定是沿着这条线伸展下去的；而沼地呢， 你可以看得出来， 是在它的右侧。 这一小堆房子就是格林盆村， 咱们的朋友摩梯末医生的住宅就在这里。 在半径五里之内， 你看得到， 只有很少几座零星散布的房屋。 这里就是事件里提到过的赖福特庄园。这里有一所注明了的房屋， 可能就是那位生物学家的住宅；如果我没有记错的话， 他姓斯台普吞。 这里是两家沼地的农舍， 高陶和弗麦尔。 十四英里以外就是王子镇的大监狱。 在这些分散的各点之间和周围伸延着荒漠凄凉的沼地。 这里就是曾经演出悲剧的舞台， 也许靠我们的帮助， 在这舞台上还会演出些好戏呢。”

"It must be a wild place."

“这一定是个荒野之地。”

"Yes, the setting is a worthy¹⁰ one. If the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men--"“啊， 左近的环境可真太合适了， 如果魔鬼真想插足于人世间的事情的话……”

"Then you are yourself inclining to the supernatural explanation."“这么说， 你自己也倾向于神怪的说法了。”

"The devil's agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not? There are two questions waitingfor us at the outset. The one is whether any crime has been committed at all; the second is, what isthe crime and how was it committed? Of course, if Dr. Mortimer's surmise¹¹ should be correct, andwe are dealing¹² with forces outside the ordinary laws of Nature, there is an end of our investigation¹³.

But we are bound to exhaust all other hypotheses before falling back upon this one. I think we'llshut that window again, if you don't mind. It is a singular thing, but I find that a concentratedatmosphere helps a concentration of thought. I have not pushed it to the length of getting into abox to think, but that is the logical outcome of my convictions. Have you turned the case over inyour mind?"“魔鬼的代理人也许是血肉之躯呢， 难道不会吗？ 咱们面临着两个问题： 第一， 究竟是不是发生过犯罪的事实； 第二， 究竟是什么性质的罪行和这罪行是怎样进行的？ 当然罗， 如果摩梯末医生的疑虑是正确的话， 我们就要和超乎一般自然法则的势力打交道了 ； 那样， 我们的调查工作也就算是到了头了 。 但是我们只有在各种假设都被推翻之后， 才能再回到这条路上来探索。 如果你不反对的话， 我想咱们得关上那窗户了。 很奇怪， 我总觉得浓厚的空气能使人们的思想集中。 虽然我还没有到非钻进箱子去才能思考的地步， 可是我相信， 如果再继续发展下去的话， 势必会得到那样的结果呢。 这件案子， 你在脑子里思考过了 吗？ ”

1 yew   

n.紫杉属树木

参考例句：

• The leaves of yew trees are poisonous to cattle.紫杉树叶会令牛中毒。
• All parts of the yew tree are poisonous,including the berries.紫杉的各个部分都有毒，包括浆果。

2 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

3 moor   

n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊

参考例句：

• I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
• There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。

4 clump   

n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走

参考例句：

• A stream meandered gently through a clump of trees.一条小溪从树丛中蜿蜒穿过。
• It was as if he had hacked with his thick boots at a clump of bluebells.仿佛他用自己的厚靴子无情地践踏了一丛野风信子。

5 radius   

n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限

参考例句：

• He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
• We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。

6 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

7 dwellings   

n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The development will consist of 66 dwellings and a number of offices. 新建楼区将由66栋住房和一些办公用房组成。
• The hovels which passed for dwellings are being pulled down. 过去用作住室的陋屋正在被拆除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

9 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

10 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

11 surmise   

v./n.猜想，推测

参考例句：

• It turned out that my surmise was correct.结果表明我的推测没有错。
• I surmise that he will take the job.我推测他会接受这份工作。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。