領(lǐng)略原汁原味漢英對(duì)照經(jīng)典名作
巴斯科維爾獵犬
? ? ? Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearthrug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a “Penang lawyer.” Just under the head was a broad silver band, nearly an inch across. “To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.,” was engraved upon it, with the date “1884.” It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry—dignified, solid, and reassuring.
? ? ? “Well, Watson, what do you make of it?”
? ? ? Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.
? ? ? “How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head.”
? ? ? “I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me,” said he. “But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of our visitor’s stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it.”
? ? ? “I think,” said I, following as far as I could the methods of my companion, “that Dr. Mortimer is a successful, elderly medical man, well-esteemed, since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation.”
? ? ? “Good!” said Holmes. “Excellent!”
? ? ? “I think also that the probability is in favour of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on foot.”
? ? ? “Why so?”
? ? ? “Because this stick, though originally a very handsome one, has been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it. The thick-iron ferrule is worn down, so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it.”
? ? ? “Perfectly sound!” said Holmes.
? ? ?“And then again, there is the ‘friends of the C.C.H.’ I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance, and which has made him a small presentation in return.”
“Really, Watson, you excel yourself,” said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. “I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing
? ? ? genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt.”
He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I had so far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval. He now took the stick from my hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes. Then with an expression of interest he laid down his cigarette, and carrying the cane to the window, he looked over it again with a convex lens.
? ? ? “Interesting, though elementary,” said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee. “There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis for several deductions.”
? ? ? “Has anything escaped me?” I asked with some selfimportance.“I trust that there is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked?”
? ? ? “I am afraid, my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous. When I said that you stimulated me I meant, to be frank, that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth. Not that you are entirely wrong in this instance. The man is certainly a country practitioner. And he walks a good deal.”
? ? ? “Then I was right.”
? ? ? “To that extent.”
? ? ? “But that was all.”
? ? ? “No, no, my dear Watson, not all—by no means all. I would suggest, for example, that a presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt, and that when
the initials ‘C.C.’ are placed before that hospital the words ‘Charing Cross’ very naturally suggest themselves.”
? ? ? “You may be right.”
? ? ? “The probability lies in that direction. And if we take this as a working hypothesis we have a fresh basis from which to start our construction of this unknown visitor.”
? ? ? “Well, then, supposing that ‘C.C.H.’ does stand for ‘Charing Cross Hospital,’ what further inferences may we draw?”
? ? ? “Do none suggest themselves? You know my methods. Apply them!”
? ? ? “I can only think of the obvious conclusion that the man has practised in town before going to the country.”
? ? ? “I think that we might venture a little farther than this. Look at it in this light. On what occasion would it be most probable that such a presentation would be made? When would his friends unite to give him a pledge of their good will? Obviously at the moment when Dr. Mortimer withdrew from the service of the hospital in order to start in practice for himself. We know there has been a presentation. We believe there has been a change from a town hospital to a country practice. Is it, then, stretching our inference too far to say that the presentation was on the occasion of the change?”
? ? ? “It certainly seems probable.”
? ? ? “Now, you will observe that he could not have been on the staff of the hospital, since only a man well-established in a London practice could hold such a position, and such a one would not drift into the country. What was he, then? If he was in the hospital and yet not on the staff he could only have been a house-surgeon or a house-physician—little more than a senior student. And he left five years ago—the date is on the stick. So your grave, middle-aged family practitioner vanishes into thin air, my dear Watson, and there emerges a young fellow under thirty, amiable, unambitious, absentminded, and the possessor of a favourite dog, which I should describe roughly as being larger than a terrier and smaller than a mastiff.”
? ? ? I laughed incredulously as Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his settee and blew little wavering rings of smoke up to the ceiling.
? ? ? “As to the latter part, I have no means of checking you,” said I, “but at least it is not difficult to find out a few particulars about the man’s age and professional career.” From my small medical shelf I took down the Medical Directory and turned up the name. There were several Mortimers, but only one who could be our visitor. I read his record aloud.


中文翻譯
? ? ? ?歇洛克?福爾摩斯先生還在桌子跟前用早餐，因?yàn)樗ǔ６计鸬孟喈?dāng)晚，除非是趕上了一種不在少數(shù)的例外情況，那就是徹夜不眠。我站在壁爐跟前的小毯子上，拿起了昨晚的訪客落下的手杖。這是一根做工精細(xì)的沉重木杖，帶有圓頭，正是人們常說的“檳榔訟棍”。緊靠圓頭下方的位置有一圈將近一英寸寬的銀箍，上面刻著“皇家外科醫(yī)師學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)員詹姆斯?莫蒂默惠存，C. C. H. 友人敬贈(zèng)”，日期則是“1884”。老派的家庭診所醫(yī)生往往喜歡使用這種手杖，因?yàn)樗f重威嚴(yán)、分量十足、令人心安。
? ? ? ?“喂，華生，這東西你怎么看呢？”
? ? ? 福爾摩斯是背對(duì)我坐著的，而我擺弄手杖的時(shí)候并沒有弄出任何動(dòng)靜。
? ? ? “你怎么知道我在做什么？我看你是腦后長(zhǎng)了眼睛吧?！?br> ? ? ? “我腦后雖然沒長(zhǎng)眼睛，面前卻有一只精光锃亮的鍍銀咖啡壺，”他說道，“好了，華生，說說看，咱們這位客人的手杖給了你一些什么提示呢？不巧的是咱們沒跟他見上面，沒能了解到他的來意，既然如此，這個(gè)意外落下的紀(jì)念品就顯得格外重要。你好好看看這根手杖，把手杖主人的情況說給我聽聽吧?！?br> ? ? ? “按我看，”我一邊說，一邊盡量模仿我室友的方法，“既然莫蒂默醫(yī)生的友人用這么一根手杖向他致敬，他應(yīng)該是醫(yī)學(xué)界的一位成功人士，年紀(jì)不小、名望很高?！?br> ? ? ? “很好！”福爾摩斯說道，“好極了！”
? ? ? “我還覺得，他很可能是一名鄉(xiāng)村醫(yī)生，出診的時(shí)候經(jīng)常都是步行?！?br> ? ? ? “為什么呢？”
? ? ? “原因在于，這根手杖雖然十分精致，上面卻留下了許多磕碰的痕跡，城里的醫(yī)生肯定不愿意拿著它到處走。手杖末端的加厚鐵箍也磨損得非常厲害，主人顯然是經(jīng)常帶著它走路?！?br> ? ? ? “很有道理！”福爾摩斯說道。
? ? ?“還有啊，手杖上刻著‘C. C. H. 友人’字樣，這個(gè)‘C. C. H.’的意思多半是‘某某狩獵俱樂部’ 。他興許是給當(dāng)?shù)啬硞€(gè)狩獵俱樂部的會(huì)員治過傷，俱樂部就用這根手杖作為小小的謝禮。”
? ? ? “說實(shí)在的，華生，你真是讓我刮目相看，”福爾摩斯說道，把椅子往后挪了挪，點(diǎn)上了一支香煙?！拔也坏貌恢赋觯谫M(fèi)心記述我那些小小成就的時(shí)候，你總是習(xí)慣性地低估你自個(gè)兒的本領(lǐng)。
? ? ? 你也許并不是發(fā)光體，可你是光的導(dǎo)體。有些人本身沒有天才，激發(fā)天才的本領(lǐng)卻十分可觀。坦白說，親愛的伙計(jì)，我確實(shí)欠了你很大的恩情。”
? ? ? 他從來沒有給過我如此稱譽(yù)，經(jīng)常都對(duì)我的衷心贊美無動(dòng)于衷，對(duì)我宣傳他那些方法的努力嗤之以鼻，致使我深感顏面?zhèn)麚p，所以我必須承認(rèn)，聽到他這些話的時(shí)候，我真是喜不自禁。與此同時(shí)，我還覺得非常自豪，因?yàn)槲腋械阶约阂呀?jīng)對(duì)他的方法頗有心得，不但能夠?qū)嶋H運(yùn)用，甚至能夠贏得他的贊賞。接下來，他從我手里拿過手杖，仔仔細(xì)細(xì)地看了幾分鐘，然后就露出一副很感興趣的神情，放下香煙，把手杖拿到窗邊，用放大鏡看了起來。
? ? ? “簡(jiǎn)單歸簡(jiǎn)單，多少也有點(diǎn)兒意思，”他坐回了長(zhǎng)椅上他最喜歡的那個(gè)角落，如是說道，“這根手杖確實(shí)給出了那么一兩點(diǎn)提示，咱們可以據(jù)此得出幾個(gè)推論。”
? ? ? “有什么我看漏了的地方嗎？”我問話的口氣多少有點(diǎn)兒自鳴得意，“依我看，我應(yīng)該沒有漏掉什么重要的細(xì)節(jié)吧？”
? ? ? “恐怕我不得不說，親愛的華生，你的大多數(shù)結(jié)論都是錯(cuò)的。
剛才我說你激發(fā)了我，意思說白了就是，我偶爾可以通過發(fā)現(xiàn)你的錯(cuò)誤來找到正確的方向。當(dāng)然嘍，這次你也不能說是全錯(cuò)。這個(gè)人確實(shí)是一名鄉(xiāng)村醫(yī)生，確實(shí)也經(jīng)常走路?！?br> ? ? ? “那我就說對(duì)了啊?！?br> ? ? ? “只有這兩點(diǎn)是對(duì)的?！?br> ? ? ? “全部的情況也只有這兩點(diǎn)啊?！?br> ? ? ? ?“不，不是，親愛的華生，不是全部——絕對(duì)不是全部。舉個(gè)例子吧，讓我來說的話，我倒是覺得，當(dāng)醫(yī)生的人不大可能從什么狩獵俱樂部收到禮物，禮物多半是來自一家醫(yī)院，‘ C. C.’這兩個(gè)字母既然擺在‘醫(yī)院’的前頭，顯然就是‘Charing Cross’的縮寫?！?br> ? ? ? “也許你是對(duì)的?！?br> ? ? ? “多半是對(duì)的。好了，這個(gè)推測(cè)沒錯(cuò)的話，咱們就有了一個(gè)全新的出發(fā)點(diǎn)，可以據(jù)此演繹這位神秘訪客的其他情況?！?br> ? ? ? “好吧，假設(shè)‘C. C. H.’確實(shí)代表‘查令十字醫(yī)院’的話，咱們又能演繹出什么情況呢？”
? ? ? “就沒有什么讓你覺得一目了然的情況嗎？我的方法你是知道的，用??！”“我能想出來的只有那個(gè)十分明顯的結(jié)論，也就是說，下鄉(xiāng)之前，這個(gè)人曾經(jīng)在城里行醫(yī)?！?br> ? ? ? “我倒是覺得，咱們可以大著膽子往前捋一捋。咱們不妨從這個(gè)方面來想，人家送他這么一件禮物，最應(yīng)景的場(chǎng)合是什么呢？碰上什么樣的情形，他那些朋友才會(huì)湊錢送他一件表示友情的紀(jì)念品呢？顯然是在莫蒂默醫(yī)生離開醫(yī)院自己創(chuàng)業(yè)的時(shí)候。咱們知道朋友們送了這么一件禮物，又推測(cè)到他經(jīng)歷過一次從城鎮(zhèn)醫(yī)院到鄉(xiāng)村診所的轉(zhuǎn)變，在此基礎(chǔ)之上，說禮物是在轉(zhuǎn)變來臨的時(shí)候送的，有什么特別牽強(qiáng)的地方嗎？”
? ? ? “聽起來確實(shí)很有可能。”
? ? ? “好了，你應(yīng)該看得出來，他不會(huì)是醫(yī)院的正式醫(yī)師，原因在于，能擁有這種身份的都是在倫敦很有名望的醫(yī)生，這樣的醫(yī)生也就不會(huì)往鄉(xiāng)下跑了。如此說來，他會(huì)是什么身份呢。既然他待在醫(yī)院里，又不是醫(yī)院正式聘任的醫(yī)生，那他就只能是一名見習(xí)外科醫(yī)生或者是見習(xí)內(nèi)科醫(yī)生，地位比高年級(jí)醫(yī)科學(xué)生高不了多少。
? ? ? 除此之外，他離開醫(yī)院不過是五年之前的事情，日期就刻在手杖上呢。這么一看，親愛的華生，你那個(gè)嚴(yán)肅穩(wěn)重、人到中年的家庭診所醫(yī)生立刻化為烏有，取而代之的是一個(gè)不到三十歲的小伙子，他隨和可親、淡泊名利、丟三落四，還養(yǎng)著一只心愛的狗兒，大致說來，他的狗兒應(yīng)該比犬大，同時(shí)又比獒犬小?！?br> ? ? ? 我不以為然地笑了笑，歇洛克?福爾摩斯則靠回椅背，噴出一個(gè)個(gè)小小的煙圈，裊裊地升向天花板。
“你剛才說的后面幾點(diǎn)，我沒有辦法檢驗(yàn)，”我說道，“不過，再怎么說，這個(gè)人的年齡和專業(yè)履歷之類的細(xì)節(jié)并不是什么特別難查的東西?！蔽夷莻€(gè)小書架上擺的都是些醫(yī)學(xué)書籍，于是我把那本醫(yī)生名錄拿了下來，翻到了“莫蒂默”這個(gè)姓氏。名錄里有好幾個(gè)姓莫蒂默的人，其中卻只有一個(gè)跟我們的訪客對(duì)得上。我把這個(gè)人的介紹念了出來。?