評論
打印
The murders in the Golden Age novels
黃金時代小說中的兇手
as ingenious as elaborated as they can get.
盡其所能發揮創意精心布置
People are stabbed with icicles, poisoned with postage stamps.
人們被冰錐刺傷，因郵票中毒
They are stabbed to death while being trapped in a tower
他們被困在塔上直到教堂的鐘聲一響
when church bells are ringing.
他們被刺致死
P.D. James once wrote about Dorothy L. Sayers P.D.
詹姆斯有次寫到多蘿西·L.塞耶斯
and said: the murderer in unnatural death is implausible.
他說:非自然死亡的兇手實在是難以置信
It is not really possible to kill someone
通過往血管里注入空氣
by injecting air into a vein,
來殺某個人是不可能的
at least not with a normal size syringe.
至少不可能通過常規大小的注射器
I am advised that the syringe would have had to be so large that
我咨詢得知，注射器必須要足夠大
the patient would be more likely to die of shock on beholding it.
大到病人更可能是看一眼就嚇得休克而死
Then for many effects of the injected air,
關于注射空氣的諸多效應
and I personally cold have advised Mr. Tallboy
我本人想建議一下，殺人廣告，中的
In Murder Must Advertise
高男先生
many simpler and surer ways of killing his blackmailer
有很多簡單可靠得多的方法來殺死勒索者
than by climbing onto the roof
而不用爬到屋頂
and using a catapult through the skylights.
通過天窗射彈弓
I have to say my absolute favorite
我得說我最喜歡的
of these preposterously complicated means of murders
這類矛盾而復雜的兇殺
is by Nagaio Marsh in one of her novel.
是奈歐·馬什的一部小說
Novel that opens with the concert in a village hall,
小說以一個村莊大廳里的音樂會為開頭
and a female performer sits sedately at the piano
一位女藝術家鎮定地坐在鋼琴前
to play a piece by Rachmaninoff.
彈奏拉赫瑪尼諾夫的作品
And everything goes well for a few minutes.
幾分鐘內一切都很正常
And then she presses her foot down on the soft pedal
然后她的腳踩下弱音踏板
and a booby trap shotgun inside hidden inside the piano ledge
鋼琴架里藏的一把設了陷阱的槍
shoots her between the eyes.
射中她的眉心
I think that's stretching things a bit.
我想這有點夸張了
And that's a weakness of the genre.
這是這一流派的弱點
The other weaknesses that go along with it
伴隨的另一樣弱點是
are snobbery and aristocratic tough detectives,
勢利的貴族的硬漢形象的偵探們
like Lord Peter Wimsey, Albert Campion,
比如彼得·溫姆西勛爵，阿爾伯特·坎比恩
Roderick Alleyn and so on.
羅德里克·艾霖等等
I saw a wonderful cartoon of a bartender moving forward
我看過一個有趣的卡通是一個酒保一邊前進
holding a covered dish, lifting it and saying
一邊舉著個有蓋的盤子，打開蓋子，說:
your red herring, my Lord.
閣下，這是您的紅鯡魚(另有誤導之意)
And I think that's very much the kind of world that you are in there.
我想這個場景非常貼切
Does socially reactionary novels...
它們是反社會小說...
but once they were enormously popular I mean,
不過它們曾經大為流行，我是說
and was seen very much as an English phenomenon.
很大程度上被視為英國的現象
William Trevor once said: all over England it seems to me...
威廉·崔弗曾經說過:全英國在我看來...
All over England and it seems to me
全英國在我看來
bodies were being discovered by housemaids and librarians.
尸體都是傭人和圖書管理員發現的
Village poison PANs were tirelessly at work.
鄉村里制作毒藥的人沒日沒夜的工作
There was murdering in Mayfair,
兇案發生在倫敦的上流住宅區
on trains, in airships, in Palm Court lounges,
在火車上，飛艇上，棕櫚閣休息室里
Golfs stumbled over corpses on fairways,
高爾夫球在球道上被尸體絆倒
chief constable awoke them in their garden
警察局長在他們的花園里被叫醒
We have nothing like it in West Cork.
我們在西科克從沒有這些
This was kind of fiction that maintained its fascination for decades.
這是幾十年魅力不減的小說
Then in the 1960s things started to change.
到20世紀60年代事情開始發生變化
The genre began to show availability to
這一流派開始展示出
evolve to adapt to new social circumstances
演變適應新社會環境的能力
without losing its distinctive characters.
而不喪失其自身特點
