評論
打印
David, thank you very much.
大衛，非常感謝你
You've chosen to attend a day school on crime fiction.
你們選擇來上犯罪小說課的日校
and you are in an entirely appropriate venue.
你們現在在的這個地方非常適合上這門課
For Oxford has been trailed,
因為牛津一直被傳
has an astonishingly high level of crime,
有著非常高的犯罪率
but especially of murder.
特別是謀殺
For about 40 years, these murders took place not exclusively,
在大約40年里，這些謀殺并不全都發生在牛津大學
but predominantly within the university and its colleges.
但主要還是發生在牛津大學及其學院里
Bodies were found in college cloisters, in student rooms,
在大學回廊，學生房間，圖書館
in libraries, in the vaults below the libraries, in the chapel,
圖書館下面的保管庫，小教堂，教員公用室
in the senior common room, and at high table.
以及高桌晚宴里都發現過尸體
These bodies have been variously stabbed, strangled, shot,
這些尸體的死法各有不同，刺死，勒死，槍殺
bludgeoned, or poisoned typically with great ingenuity.
棍棒打死，或者被別出心裁的手法毒死
Undergraduates were murdered, yes.
被謀殺的有本科生，是的
College staff and visitors were occasionally disposed of.
學院的工作人員和游客有時也會被殺
But most frequently the victims were academics.
但最常見的受害者是學者
College fellows, lecturers, and professors,
學院教員，講師，教授
and a quite dismayingly high number of Heads of House.
令人沮喪的是，被謀殺的還有非常多的院長
More recently, since about 1970s, these crimes
再近一點，自從20世紀70年代起，這些犯罪
have engulfed town as well as gown.
席卷了所有師生以及整個牛津市
Members of the university continue to be murdered,
大學里的人繼續被謀殺
but not they alone.
但不只是他們
Citizens of Oxford who live their lives
與牛津大學
quite independent of the university,
不相干的牛津市居民
they come to violent ends, too, beyond the ivory tower.
也在象牙塔外被殘忍地謀殺了
Their bodies crop up all over Oxford.
牛津到處都可以發現他們的尸體
There is perhaps this statistically unlikely concentration
在統計上，也許這些謀殺案
of murders in leafy North Oxford streets.
不大可能集中在樹葉繁茂的北牛津街道
But then both Colin Dexter and Inspector Morse live there.
但是科林·德克斯特和莫爾斯探長都住在那里
Other bodies have been found in Headington, Kidlington,
其他尸體則在海丁頓，基德靈頓，波特草原
Port Meadow, Osney Island and Jericho.
奧斯尼島和杰里科被人們發現
They've been discovered in the Pitt Rivers Museum,
人們在皮特利弗斯博物館，倫道夫酒店
in the Randolph Hotel, on Port Meadow and in Wytham Woods.
波特草原及威瑟姆樹林發現了它們
A good number of bodies surface in one or other of
很多尸體出現在一條或者多條
the city's waterways, in the Cherwell, in the Thames,
河流里，查威爾河，泰晤士河
in the canals, in the cut of Fisherrow, and under Donnington Bridge.
運河，菲舍爾入口及唐寧頓橋下
So my topic today is this quite extraordinary affinity
所以我今天的話題就是牛津市及牛津大學
between Oxford, city and university, and the detective story.
與偵探故事之間非常不平凡的密切聯系
Crime fiction can be
犯罪小說的場景可以
and is set anywhere, but Oxford has proved
并且已經設在任何一個地方
not only one of the most frequent and the most popular,
但是事實證明牛津不僅是最常用最受歡迎的
but one of the most enduring backdrops to murder,
還是謀殺案件里使用時間最長的場景地點
and of course, to the detective work,
當然也是偵探工作
and the solutions that follow.
及其破案方法的歷時最長的場景
