領(lǐng)略原汁原味漢英對(duì)照經(jīng)典名作
白額閃電
? ? ? “I am afraid, Watson, that I shall have to go,” said Holmes as we sat down together to our breakfast one morning.
? ? ? “Go! Where to?”
? ? ? “To Dartmoor; to King’s Pyland.”
? ? ? I was not surprised. Indeed, my only wonder was that he had not already been mixed up in this extraordinary case, which was the one topic of conversation through the length and breadth of England. For a whole day my companion had rambled about the room with his chin upon his chest and his brows knitted, charging and recharging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks. Fresh editions of every paper had been sent up by our news agent only to be glanced over and tossed down into a corner.
? ? ? Yet, silent as he was, I knew perfectly well what it was over which he was brooding. There was but one problem before the public which could challenge his powers of analysis, and that was the singular disappearance of the favourite for the Wessex Cup, and the tragic murder of its trainer.
? ? ? When, therefore, he suddenly announced his intention of setting out for the scene of the drama, it was only what I had both expected and hoped for.
? ? ? “I should be most happy to go down with you if I should not be in the way,” said I.
? ? ? “My dear Watson, you would confer a great favour upon me by coming. And I think that your time will not be misspent, for there are points about the case which promise to make it an absolutely unique one. We have, I think, just time to catch our train at Paddington, and I will go further into the matter upon our journey. You would oblige me by bringing with you your very excellent field-glass.”
? ? ? And so it happened that an hour or so later I found myself in the corner of a first-class carriage flying along en route for Exeter, while Sherlock Holmes, with his sharp, eager face framed in his ear-flapped travelling-cap, dipped rapidly into the bundle of fresh papers which he had procured at Paddington. We had left Reading far behind us before he thrust the last one of them under the seat and offered me his cigarcase.
? ? ? “We are going well,” said he, looking out of the window and glancing at his watch. “Our rate at present is fifty-three and a half miles an hour.”
? ? ? “I have not observed the quarter-mile posts,” said I.
? ? ? “Nor have I. But the telegraph posts upon this line are sixty yards apart, and the calculation is a simple one. I presume that you have looked into this matter of the murder of John Straker and the disappearance of Silver Blaze?”
? ? ? “I have seen what the Telegraph and the Chronicle have to say.”
? ? ? “It is one of those cases where the art of the reasoner should be used rather for the sifting of details than for the acquiring of fresh evidence. The tragedy has been so uncommon, so complete, and of such personal importance to so many people that we are suffering from a plethora of surmise, conjecture, and hypothesis. The difficulty is to detach the framework of fact—of absolute undeniable fact—from the embellishments of theorists and reporters. Then, having established ourselves upon this sound basis, it is our duty to see what inferences may be drawn and what are the special points upon which the whole mystery turns. On Tuesday evening I received telegrams from both Colonel Ross, the owner of the horse, and from Inspector Gregory, who is looking after the case, inviting my cooperation.”
? ? ? “Tuesday evening!” I exclaimed. “And this is Thursday morning. Why didn’t you go down yesterday?”
? ? ? “Because I made a blunder, my dear Watson—which is, I am afraid, a more common occurrence than anyone would think who only knew me through your memoirs. The fact is that I could not believe it possible that the most remarkable horse in England could long remain concealed, especially in so sparsely inhabited a place as the north of Dartmoor. From hour to hour yesterday I expected to hear that he had been found, and that his abductor was the murderer of John Straker. When, however, another morning had come and I found that beyond the arrest of young Fitzroy Simpson nothing had been done, I felt that it was time for me to take action. Yet in some ways I feel that yesterday has not been wasted.”
? ? ? “You have formed a theory, then?”
? ? ? “At least I have got a grip of the essential facts of the case. I shall enumerate them to you, for nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person, and I can hardly expect your cooperation if I do not show you the position from which we start.”
? ? ? I lay back against the cushions, puffing at my cigar, while Holmes, leaning forward, with his long, thin forefinger checking off the points upon the palm of his left hand, gave me a sketch of the events which had led to our journey.

中文翻譯

? ? ? “要我說，華生，恐怕我不得不走一趟了，”福爾摩斯說道。他說這話的時(shí)候，我倆剛剛坐上桌子，正準(zhǔn)備吃早餐。
? ? ? “走！走哪兒去？”
? ? ? “去達(dá)特穆爾，去津斯派藍(lán)馬房?！?br> ? ? ? 聽他這么說，我并不覺得驚訝。實(shí)際上，惟一讓我驚訝的事情是，到現(xiàn)在才有人來請(qǐng)他介入這件全英格蘭街談巷議的非凡案子。之前的一整個(gè)白天，我室友一直在房間里東游西蕩，眉頭緊鎖，下巴貼著胸膛，一斗接一斗地抽著勁道最大的黑煙絲，無論我問了什么或者說了什么，他都是充耳不聞。報(bào)販送來了當(dāng)天所有的報(bào)紙，可他只是匆匆地掃了一眼，跟著就把報(bào)紙扔到了角落里。不過，盡管他一言不發(fā)，我還是非常清楚他究竟在思考什么。眼下這個(gè)時(shí)刻，公眾面前只有一個(gè)問題能對(duì)他的分析本領(lǐng)構(gòu)成考驗(yàn)，那就是“威塞克斯杯”馬賽的奪冠熱門為何離奇失蹤，它的練馬師又因何慘遭殺害。因此，他雖然是突然宣布自己打算前往這出大戲的事發(fā)現(xiàn)場，我聽了卻只有兩種感覺，一種是不出所料，另一種則是正中下懷。
? ? ? “如果不礙事的話，我非常樂意跟你一起去，”我說道。
? ? ? “親愛的華生，你要是肯去的話，等于是幫了我一個(gè)大忙。此外，按我看，你一定會(huì)覺得不虛此行，因?yàn)檫@件案子包含著一些不同尋常的特點(diǎn)，多半會(huì)成為一樁絕無僅有的奇案。我覺得，咱們不妨現(xiàn)在就去帕丁頓車站，剛好能趕上去那邊的火車，上路之后，我再跟你細(xì)說這件事情。還有，麻煩你幫個(gè)忙，帶上你那個(gè)非常不錯(cuò)的雙筒望遠(yuǎn)鏡?！?br> ? ? ? 這么著，大概一個(gè)鐘頭之后，我已經(jīng)坐進(jìn)了一節(jié)頭等車廂的角落，列車飛速駛向埃克塞特 。歇洛克?福爾摩斯飛快地瀏覽著剛從帕丁頓車站買來的一大捆當(dāng)天報(bào)紙，帶護(hù)耳的旅行便帽如同一個(gè)畫框，圍住了他那張機(jī)敏熱切的面孔。直到列車遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)駛過雷丁之后，他才把最后一張報(bào)紙塞到座位下面，又把自己的雪茄煙盒遞給了我。
? ? ? “這列火車跑得挺快的，”他看看窗外，又看看自己的表?！澳壳暗臅r(shí)速是五十三點(diǎn)五英里 ?！?br> ? ? ? “我倒沒去數(shù)那些每隔四分之一英里一根的標(biāo)桿，”我說道。
? ? ? “我也沒數(shù)。不過，這條鐵路線上的電報(bào)線桿子是每隔六十碼一根，火車的速度很容易算。按我看，你已經(jīng)對(duì)約翰?斯特雷克遇害和‘白額閃電’失蹤的事情有所了解，對(duì)吧？”
? ? ? “我看了《每日電訊報(bào)》和《每日紀(jì)事報(bào)》刊登的相關(guān)報(bào)道。”
? ? ? “就這類案件來說，演繹專家的工作重點(diǎn)應(yīng)該是篩選案情細(xì)節(jié)，而不是獲取新的證據(jù)。這件慘案如此非同凡響、如此駭人聽聞，又與如此眾多的人利害攸關(guān)，所以呢，擺在咱們面前的猜測、推斷和假設(shè)真可謂嚴(yán)重過剩，難點(diǎn)在于如何抽絲剝繭，把事實(shí)的框架——我指的是那些絕對(duì)不容置疑的事實(shí)——跟牛皮匠和記者的添油加醋區(qū)分開來。打好這樣一個(gè)牢固的基礎(chǔ)之后，咱們的職責(zé)就是設(shè)法理清，這些事實(shí)能夠引出什么樣的推論、整件謎案的關(guān)鍵又在些地方。星期二晚上，我同時(shí)收到了兩封電報(bào)，一封來自失蹤名馬的主人羅斯上校，另一封則來自負(fù)責(zé)偵辦此案的格雷戈里督察 ，他倆都邀請(qǐng)我參與調(diào)查。”
? ? ? “星期二晚上！”我忍不住叫了起來?！艾F(xiàn)在已經(jīng)是星期四上午了啊，你為什么不趕在昨天動(dòng)身呢？”
? ? ? “因?yàn)槲曳噶藗€(gè)大錯(cuò)，親愛的華生，依我看，我犯錯(cuò)的時(shí)候恐怕要比你那些讀者想象的多一些，如果他們對(duì)我的認(rèn)識(shí)僅僅來自你那些回憶錄的話。事實(shí)就是，當(dāng)時(shí)我根本不相信，英格蘭最引人注目的名馬能夠長時(shí)間隱匿不出，更何況，達(dá)特穆爾北部人煙十分稀少，馬兒可以躲藏的地方實(shí)在是非常有限。昨天，我等了一個(gè)鐘頭又一個(gè)鐘頭，盼望著消息傳來，讓我知道名馬已經(jīng)找回、拐馬的人就是殺害約翰?斯特雷克的兇手?？墒?，又一個(gè)早晨已經(jīng)來臨，我發(fā)現(xiàn)他們僅僅是逮捕了年輕的菲茨羅伊?辛普森，并沒有取得其他任何進(jìn)展，所以我才覺得，我必須立刻采取行動(dòng)。
? ? ? 話說回來，從某些方面來看，我昨天的等待也不能算是白費(fèi)?！?br> ? ? ? “如此說來，你已經(jīng)有什么結(jié)論了嗎？”
? ? ? “最低限度，我已經(jīng)掌握了案子當(dāng)中的關(guān)鍵事實(shí)。我這就給你列舉一下，原因在于，理清案子的最好方法就是把案情向別人復(fù)述一遍，再者說，我不讓你了解目前的情況，又怎么能指望你幫忙呢?！?br> ? ? ? 我靠到座位的軟墊上，叼著雪茄吞云吐霧，福爾摩斯則探過身來，一邊簡要地介紹我們這趟旅程的緣由，一邊伸出又細(xì)又長的右手食指、一五一十地在左手的手掌上指指點(diǎn)點(diǎn)。

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