我们一想起侦探,第一个想到的就是夏洛克·福尔摩斯。甚至在距离关于他的第一个故事已一百多年的今天,他仍然是我们心中伟大的侦探。游客们仍然会到伦敦的贝克街去看他的公寓。有很多关于他的电影和图片——我们都知道他的样子,知道他穿什么衣服。 When we think of a detective, we think first of Sherlock Holmes. Even now, more than a hundred years after the first story about him, he is still the greatest detective of all. Tourists still go to Baker Street, in London, to see the place where he had his flat. There are films about him, pictures of him — we all know what he looked like, we all know what kind of clothes he wore. 但是他从来就没存在过。他的故事仅仅是故事而已,那么我们为什么记住他了呢? And yet he never existed. The stories about him are just stories. So, why do we remember him? 因为他喜欢抓罪犯。夏洛克·福尔摩斯追踪罪犯就像猎人追踪狐狸一样。他像猎犬和警犬一样,鼻子贴在地上——追踪罪犯到世界的尽头。罪犯可能试图藏匿——但只要夏洛克·福尔摩斯开始追踪,我们就知道他终会成功。 It is because he loves catching criminals. Sherlock Holmes chases the criminal as a hunter chases a fox. He is a bloodhound, a police dog, with his nose to the ground following the criminal to the end of the world. The criminal may try to hide — but when Sherlock Holmes has started the chase, we know that he will finish it with a ’kill’.
At the time of this story, I was still living at my friend SherlockHolmes’s flat in Baker Street in London. Very early one morning, a young woman, dressed in black, came to see us. She looked tired and unhappy, and her face was very white. ’I’m afraid! Afraid of death, Mr Holmes!’ she cried. ’Please help me! I’m not thirty yet and look at my grey hair! I’m so afraid!’
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“先坐下,给我们讲讲你的事。”福尔摩斯温和地说。
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Just sit down and tell us your story,’ said Holmeskindly.
My name is HelenStoner,’ she began, ’and I live with my stepfather, Dr Grimesby Roylott, near a village in the country. His family was once very rich, but they had no money when my stepfather was born. So he studied to be a doctor, and went out to India. He met and married my mother there, when my sister Julia and I were very young. Our father was dead, you see.’
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“你母亲大概有些钱吧?”夏洛克·福尔摩斯问道。
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Your mother had some money, perhaps?’ asked SherlockHolmes.
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“噢,是的,我母亲有很多钱,所以继父从此摆脱了穷困。”
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Oh yes, mother had a lot of money, so my stepfather wasn’t poor any more.’
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“再多给我讲些他的情况,斯托纳小姐。”福尔摩斯说。
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Tell me more about him, Miss Stoner,’ said Holmes.
Well, he’s a violent man. In India he once got angry with his Indian servant and killed him! He had to go to prison because of that, and then we all came back to England. Mother died in an accident eight years ago. So my stepfather got all her money, but if Julia or I marry, he must pay us £250 every year.’
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“现在你们和他住在乡下。”福尔摩斯说。
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And now you live with him in the country,’ said Holmes.
Yes, but he stays at home and never sees anybody, Mr Holmes!’ answered Helen Stoner. ’He’s more and more violent now, and sometimes has fights with the people from the village. Everybody’s afraid of him now, and they run away when they see him. And they’re also afraid of his Indian wild animals which run freely around the garden. A friend sends them to him from India. And the animals are not the only wild things in the garden; there are also gipsies. My stepfather likes these wild people, and they can come and go where they like. Poor Julia and I had very unhappy lives. We had no servants. They always left because they were afraid of my stepfather, and we had to do all the work in the house. Julia was only thirty when she died, and her hair was already grey, like my hair now.’
She died two years ago, and that’s why I’m here. We never met anybody in the country, but sometimes we visited some of my family who live near London. There Julia met a young man who asked to marry her. My stepfather agreed, but soon after this she died.’ Miss Stoner put her hand over her eyes and cried for a minute.
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夏洛克·福尔摩斯一直闭着眼睛听,但是现在他睁开眼睛看着海伦·斯托纳。
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SherlockHolmes was listening with his eyes closed, but now he opened them and looked at Helen Stoner.
I can remember it all very well. It was a terrible time!’ she answered. ’Our three bedrooms are all downstairs. First there is my stepfather’s room. Julia’s room is next to his, and my room is next to Julia’s. The rooms all have windows on the garden side of the house, and doors which open into the corridor. One evening our stepfather was smoking his strong Indian cigarettes in his room. Julia couldn’t sleep because she could smell them in her room, so she came into my room to talk to me. Before she went back to bed, she said to me, "Helen, have you ever heard a whistle in the middle of the night?"
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“我很吃惊。‘没听到过。’”我说。
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I was surprised. "No," I said.
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“‘很奇怪,’她说,‘有时候我会听到口哨声,但是我不知道是从哪儿传来的。你为什么听不到呢?’”
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"It’s strange," she said. "Sometimes I hear a whistle, but I don’t know where it comes from. Why don’t you hear it?"
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“我笑了,说:‘我比你睡得好呗。’朱莉娅回她的房间去了,并且锁上了门。”
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I laughed and said, "I sleep better than you do." So Julia went to her room, and locked the door after her.’
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“你们为什么要锁门呢?”夏洛克·福尔摩斯问道。
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Why did you lock your doors?’ asked SherlockHolmes.
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“因为我们害怕那些野生动物,还有那些吉普赛人。”她回答。
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We were afraid of the wild animals, and the gipsies,’ she answered.
I couldn’t sleep that night. It was a very stormy night, with a lot of wind and rain. Suddenly I heard a woman’s scream. It was my sister’s voice. I ran into the corridor, and just then I heard a whistle, and a minute later the sound of falling metal. I didn’t know what it was. I ran to my sister’s door. She opened it and fell to the ground. Her face was white and afraid, and she was crying, "Help me, help me, Helen, I’m ill, I’m dying!" I put my arms around her, and she cried out in a terrible voice: "Helen! Oh my God, Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!" She wanted to say more, but she couldn’t. I called my stepfather, who tried to help her, but we could do nothing. And so my dear, dear sister died.’
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“你确定听到了口哨声和金属落地的声音?”福尔摩斯问道。
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Are you sure about the whistle and the sound of falling metal?’ asked Holmes.
I think so,’ answered Helen. ’But it was a very wild, stormy night. Perhaps I made a mistake. The police couldn’t understand why my sister died. Her door was locked and nobody could get into her room. They didn’t find any poison in her body. And what was "the speckled band"? Gipsies wear something like that round their necks. I think she died because she was so afraid, but I don’t know what she was afraid of. Perhaps it was the gipsies. What do you think, Mr Holmes?’
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福尔摩斯想了一会儿。“唔,”他说,“那可是个难题。不过请继续说下去。”
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Holmes thought for a minute. ’Hmm,’ he said. ’That is a difficult question. But please go on.’
That was two years ago,’ Helen Stoner said. ’I have been very lonely without my sister, but a month ago a dear friend asked me to marry him. My stepfather has agreed, and so we’re going to marry soon. But two days ago I had to move to my sister’s old bedroom, because some men are mending my bedroom wall, and last night I heard that whistle again! I ran out of the house immediately and came to London to ask for your help. Please help me, Mr Holmes! I don’t want to die like Julia!’