領略原汁原味漢英對照經(jīng)典名作
布魯斯-帕廷頓圖紙

? ? ? In the third week of November, in the year 1895, a dense yellow fog settled down upon London. From the Monday to the Thursday I doubt whether it was ever possible from our windows in Baker Street to see the loom of the opposite houses. The first day Holmes had spent in cross-indexing his huge book of references. The second and third had been patiently occupied upon a subject which he had recently made his hobby—the music of the Middle Ages. But when, for the fourth time, after pushing back our chairs from breakfast we saw the greasy, heavy brown swirl still drifting past us and condensing in oily drops upon the window-panes, my comrade’s impatient and active nature could endure this drab existence no longer. He paced restlessly about our sitting-room in a fever of suppressed energy, biting his nails, tapping the furniture, and chafing against inaction.
? ? ? “Nothing of interest in the paper, Watson?” he said.
? ? ? I was aware that by anything of interest, Holmes meant anything of criminal interest. There was the news of a revolution, of a possible war, and of an impending change of government; but these did not come within the horizon of my companion. I could see nothing recorded in the shape of crime which was not commonplace and futile. Holmes groaned and resumed his restless meanderings.
? ? ? “The London criminal is certainly a dull fellow,” said he in the querulous voice of the sportsman whose game has failed him. “Look out of this window, Watson. See how the figures loom up, are dimly seen, and then blend once more into the cloud-bank. The thief or the murderer could roam London on such a day as the tiger does the jungle, unseen until he pounces, and then evident only to his victim.”
? ? ? “There have,” said I, “been numerous petty thefts.”
? ? ? Holmes snorted his contempt.
? ? ? “This great and sombre stage is set for something more worthy than that,” said he. “It is fortunate for this community that I am not a criminal.”
? ? ? “It is, indeed!” said I heartily.
? ? ? “Suppose that I were Brooks or Woodhouse, or any of the fifty men who have good reason for taking my life, how long could I survive against my own pursuit? A summons, a bogus appointment, and all would be over. It is well they don’t have days of fog in the Latin countries—the countries of assassination. By Jove! here comes something at last to break our dead monotony.”
It was the maid with a telegram. Holmes tore it open and burst out laughing.
? ? ? “Well, well! What next?” said he. “Brother Mycroft is coming round.”
? ? ? “Why not?” I asked.
? ? ? “Why not? It is as if you met a tram-car coming down a country lane. Mycroft has his rails and he runs on them. His Pall Mall lodgings, the Diogenes Club, Whitehall—that is his cycle. Once, and only once, he has been here. What upheaval can possibly have derailed him?”
? ? ? “Does he not explain?”
? ? ? Holmes handed me his brother’s telegram.
? ? ? Must see you over Cadogan West. Coming at once.
? ? ? Mycroft.
? ? ? “Cadogan West? I have heard the name.”
? ? ? “It recalls nothing to my mind. But that Mycroft should break out in this erratic fashion! A planet might as well leave its orbit. By the way, do you know what Mycroft is?”
I had some vague recollection of an explanation at the time of the Adventure of the Greek Interpreter.
? ? ? “You told me that he had some small office under the British government.”
Holmes chuckled.
? ? ? “I did not know you quite so well in those days. One has to be discreet when one talks of high matters of state. You are right in thinking that he is under the British government. You would also be right in a sense if you said that occasionally he is the British government.”
? ? ? “My dear Holmes!”
? ? ? “I thought I might surprise you. Mycroft draws four hundred and fifty pounds a year, remains a subordinate, has no ambitions of any kind, will receive neither honour nor title, but remains the most indispensable man in the country.”
? ? ? “But how?”
? ? ? “Well, his position is unique. He has made it for himself.
There has never been anything like it before, nor will be again. He has the tidiest and most orderly brain, with the greatest capacity for storing facts, of any man living. The same great powers which I have turned to the detection of crime he has used for this particular business. The conclusions of every department are passed to him, and he is the central exchange, the clearing-house, which makes out the balance. All other men are specialists, but his specialism is omniscience. We will suppose that a minister needs information as to a point which involves the Navy, India, Canada and the bimetallic question; he could get his separate advices from various departments upon each, but only Mycroft can focus them all, and say offhand how each factor would affect the other. They began by using him as a short-cut, a convenience; now he has made himself an essential. In that great brain of his everything is pigeon-holed and can be handed out in an instant. Again and again his word has decided the national policy. He lives in it.
? ? ? He thinks of nothing else save when, as an intellectual exercise, he unbends if I call upon him and ask him to advise me on one of my little problems. But Jupiter is descending to-day. What on earth can it mean? Who is Cadogan West, and what is he to Mycroft?”
? ? ? “I have it,” I cried, and plunged among the litter of papers upon the sofa. “Yes, yes, here he is, sure enough! Cadogan West was the young man who was found dead on the Underground on Tuesday morning.”
? ? ? Holmes sat up at attention, his pipe halfway to his lips.
? ? ? “This must be serious, Watson. A death which has caused my brother to alter his habits can be no ordinary one. What in the world can he have to do with it? The case was featureless as I remember it. The young man had apparently fallen out of the train and killed himself. He had not been robbed, and there was no particular reason to suspect violence. Is that not so?”
? ? ? “There has been an inquest,” said I, “and a good many fresh facts have come out. Looked at more closely, I should certainly say that it was a curious case.”

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中文翻譯
? ? ? 一八九五年十一月的第三個星期，濃重的黃霧在倫敦扎下了營盤。現(xiàn)在我依然懷疑，在那個星期，星期一到星期四的那段時間里，從我們貝克街寓所的窗子望出去，究竟有沒有過能看見對面房子輪廓的時候。第一天，福爾摩斯打發(fā)時間的方法是替他那本大部頭參考手冊編制互見索引，第二天和第三天，他耐著性子研究中世紀的音樂，那是他新近培養(yǎng)起來的一個愛好?？墒?，到了第四天，我們又一次吃完早飯，把椅子從餐桌跟前挪開，又一次看見那股油乎乎、沉甸甸的黃褐色渦流飄過眼前，看見它在窗子玻璃上凝成一顆顆油汪汪的水珠，我這位天生急躁好動的室友終于對這種死水一潭的生活忍無可忍。無處發(fā)泄的精力驅(qū)使他沒完沒了地在客廳里踱來踱去，咬著指甲、敲著家具，為這種百無聊賴的局面大光其火。
“報紙上找不出什么有意思的東西嗎，華生？”
? ? ? 他說道。
? ? ? 我早就已經(jīng)知道，福爾摩斯嘴里的“有意思”，意思就是有意思的罪案。報紙上講到了一次革命，講到了一場可能爆發(fā)的戰(zhàn)爭，還講到了一個即將更迭的政府，只可惜，這些事情都不在我室友的考慮范圍之內(nèi)。我沒能在報紙上找到什么奇案大案，福爾摩斯哀嘆一聲，沒完沒了的踱步再次開始。
? ? ? “毫無疑問，倫敦的罪犯都是些庸碌之輩，”他說話的口氣憤憤不平，活脫脫是一名找不到稱心獵物的獵手。“你往窗子外面看看吧，華生。看看那些人影，看他們怎么漸漸浮現(xiàn)，模模糊糊地露個臉，轉(zhuǎn)眼就再次消失在濃霧之中。這樣的日子里，竊賊和兇手完全可以放開手腳嘛，他們可以在倫敦隨意游蕩，就像是密林之中的老虎，即便到了發(fā)起突襲的那一刻，也只有受害者能把他們看個清楚?！?br> ? ? ? “報紙上登了啊，”我說道，“小偷小摸的事情多得很呢。”
? ? ? 福爾摩斯不屑一顧地哼了一聲。
? ? ? “這么一個恢宏肅穆的舞臺是為那些更有分量的演出準備的，”他說道，“我沒有成為一名罪犯，這個社會真應該感到慶幸?！?br> ? ? ? “確實如此，千真萬確！”我發(fā)自肺腑地表示同意。
? ? ? “假設我是布魯克斯或者伍德豪斯，或者是其他某個有充分理由取我性命的人，那樣的人一共有五十個，那么，面臨我自己的追殺，我能活多久呢？一張傳票、一次虛假的約會，一切不就完結(jié)了嘛。那些暗殺成風的拉美國家沒有霧天，倒還真是件好事哩。
? ? ? 天哪！瞧，終于有點兒事情來打破這種死氣沉沉的局面了?！?br> ? ? ? 原來是女仆送來了一封電報。福爾摩斯拆開電報，突然間大笑起來。
? ? ? “好，好??！接下來會是什么呢？”他說道，“眼下的事情是，我哥哥邁克羅夫特要來了?！?br> ? ? ? “這有什么好奇怪的呢？”我問道。
? ? ? “有什么好奇怪？這樣的情形好比是一輛有軌電車出現(xiàn)在了鄉(xiāng)村小路上。邁克羅夫特有他自己的軌道，輕易也不會脫軌。位于樸爾莫爾大街的寓所、第歐根尼俱樂部，再加上白廳，他生活的圈子不外如是。他來過這兒一次，也只有那么一次。眼下他居脫離了自己的軌道，到底是出了什么樣的亂子呢？”
? ? ? “他自己沒有說嗎？”
? ? ? 福爾摩斯把他哥哥的電報遞給了我。
? ? ? 因卡多根?韋斯特事亟需面晤。即往你處。
? ? ? 邁克羅夫特
? ? ? “卡多根?韋斯特？我聽說過這個名字?！?br> ? ? ? “我倒是一點兒印象也沒有。不過，想想吧，邁克羅夫特竟然會以這么古怪的方式打破常規(guī)！簡直就跟行星脫離了軌道差不多。
? ? ? 對了，你知道邁克羅夫特是干什么的嗎？”
? ? ? 我依稀記得，在處理“希臘譯員案”的時候，福爾摩斯曾經(jīng)跟我說過這件事情。
? ? ? “你以前告訴過我，他是中央政府的一名小職員?！?br> ? ? ? 福爾摩斯吃吃地笑了起來。
? ? ? “那個時候，我還不怎么了解你呢。談論國家大事的時候，不謹慎一點兒是不行的。你說他替中央政府做事，沒錯；如果你說他有些時候就是中央政府，從某種意義上說，也沒錯?！?br> ? ? ? “親愛的福爾摩斯！”
? ? ? “我就知道你多半會大吃一驚。邁克羅夫特一年只掙四百五十鎊，老老實實地待在幕僚的位置上，沒有任何雄心壯志，得不到任何榮譽和頭銜，即便如此，他仍然是這個國家里最不可或缺的人物?！?br> ? ? ? “怎么叫不可或缺呢？”
? ? ? “這么說吧，他占據(jù)著一個獨一無二的位置。這樣的位置是他自己給自己打造的，以前不曾有過，將來也不會再有。他的頭腦極度縝密、極有條理、極其擅長儲存事實，世上無人可以匹敵。
我用來偵破罪案的那些高超本領他也有，只不過被他用在了他自個兒的特殊行當上。政府各部的決議都會從他手里經(jīng)過，他好比是情報交換中樞，好比是票據(jù)交換所，各個賬戶的盈虧都在他那里得到體現(xiàn)。其他的人都是擅長某一方面的專家，他的專長則是無所不知。打個比方說，某位大臣需要了解某個問題，那個問題同時牽扯到海軍事務、印度事務、加拿大事務和金銀復本位貨幣制度。在這種情況下，那位大臣固然可以從相關部門分別取得相關的材料，可是，只有邁克羅夫特同時掌握所有的材料，能夠隨口說出各種因素之間的相互影響。剛開始的時候，他們只是把他當成一條捷徑、一道方便之門，眼下呢，他已經(jīng)把自己變成了一個不可缺少的人物。他那顆了不起的頭腦分門別類地儲存著所有的材料，要用的時候就可以馬上取出來。他的意見一次又一次地決定了國家的大政方針，這就是他全部的生活。別的事情他一概不想，只有在我向他求教的時候，他才會放松放松，想想我?guī)サ哪切┬栴}，權當是練練腦子。可是，這樣一位大神卻在今天從天而降，究竟會是什么意思呢？卡多根?韋斯特到底是誰，他跟邁克羅夫特又有什么關系呢？”
? ? ? “我知道了，”我嚷了一句，一頭扎進了沙發(fā)上那堆亂七八糟的報紙?！皼]錯，沒錯，他就在這兒，錯不了！卡多根?韋斯特就是那個小伙子，星期二早晨，人們在地鐵里發(fā)現(xiàn)了他的尸體?！边@句話立刻攫住了福爾摩斯的注意，他坐直身子，正在往嘴里送的煙斗停在了半空。
? ? ? “這件事情一定是非常嚴重，華生。能讓我哥哥改變自己的生活習慣，這樣的死亡事件一定不一般。說到底，他跟這件事情能有什么關系呢？按我的記憶，這件案子并沒有什么特異之處啊。
這個小伙子顯然是掉到了車廂外面，自個兒摔死的。他沒有遭到搶劫，身上也沒有明顯的暴力傷害跡象，難道我說得不對嗎？”
? ? ? “死因調(diào)查已經(jīng)結(jié)束了，”我說道，“他們又發(fā)現(xiàn)了很多新的情況。要我說，細看起來，這還真是件古怪的案子呢?！?/p>

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