巴斯克威尔的猎犬 巴斯克维尔庄园（8）（在线收听）

I remembered the case well, for it was one in which Holmes had taken an interest on accountof the peculiar ferocity of the crime and the wanton brutality which had marked all the actions ofthe assassin. The commutation of his death sentence had been due to some doubts as to hiscomplete sanity, so atrocious was his conduct. Our wagonette had topped a rise and in front of usrose the huge expanse of the moor, mottled with gnarled and craggy caims and tors. A cold windswept down from it and set us shivering. Somewhere there, on that desolate plain, was lurking thisfiendish man, hiding in a burrow like a wild beast, his heart full of malignancy against the wholerace which had cast him out. It needed but this to complete the grim suggestiveness of the barrenwaste, the chilling wind, and the darkling sky. Even Baskerville fell silent and pulled his overcoatmore closely around him.

那件案子我记得很清楚， 他的罪行极端残忍， 全部暗杀的过程都贯串着绝顶的暴行， 因而此案曾引起了福尔摩斯的兴趣。 后来所以减免了他的死刑， 是由于他的行为出奇地残暴，人们对他的精神状态是否健全发生了一些怀疑。 我们的马车爬上了斜坡的顶巅， 面前出现了广袤的沼地， 上面点缀着很多圆锥形的石冢和凹凸不平的岩岗， 色彩斑驳， 光怪陆离。 一股冷风从沼地上吹来， 使我们都打起了寒战。 在那荒无人迹的平原上， 这个魔鬼似的人， 不定在哪一条沟壑之中象个野兽似地潜藏了起来， 他内心充满着对摈弃他的那些人们的憎恨。 光秃秃的荒地， 冷飕飕的寒风和阴暗的天空， 再加上这个逃犯， 就益发显得恐怖了 。 即使巴斯克维尔也沉默了， 他把大衣裹得更紧了些。

We had left the fertile country behind and beneath us. We looked back on it now, the slantingrays of a low sun turning the streams to threads of gold and glowing on the red earth new turnedby the plough and the broad tangle of the woodlands. The road in front of us grew bleaker andwilder over huge russet and olive slopes, sprinkled with giant boulders. Now and then we passed amoorland cottage, walled and roofed with stone, with no creeper to break its harsh outline.

Suddenly we looked down into a cuplike depression, patched with stunted oaks and fus which hadbeen twisted and bent by the fury of years of storm. Two high, narrow towers rose over the trees.

The driver pointed with his whip. "Baskerville Hall," said he.

丰饶的乡 区已落在我们的后下方， 我们回头遥望了一下， 夕阳斜照， 把水流照得象金丝一般， 照得初耕的红色土地和宽广的密林都在闪烁发光。 前面赤褐色和橄榄色斜坡上的道路益发变得荒芜萧瑟了， 到处罗列着巨石。 我们时而路过一所沼地里的小房， 墙和屋顶都是用石料砌成的， 墙上也没有蔓藤掩饰它那粗糙的轮廓。 我们俯望下面， 忽然看到了 一处象碗似的凹地， 那里长着小片小片的因年久而被狂风吹弯了的发育很坏的橡树和枞林。 在树林的顶上， 伸出了两个又细又高的塔尖。 车夫用鞭子指了指说道： “这就是巴斯克维尔庄园。”