評論
打印
Not this trio of donnish detectives Fen, Usher, and Tamar
這三個學院派偵探，芬恩，亞瑟，塔瑪屬于學院派
are donnish to the point of character like the pre-war predecessors.
并不是說他們的個性像戰爭之前的學院派偵探
Fen, whimsical eccentric throws off quotations in half
芬恩是個反復無常的怪人，他會用6種語言甩出
a dozen languages and is an appalling driver
一些語錄，他還是一個可怕的駕駛員
with a rakish sports car named Lily Christine.
他有一輛叫做莉莉·克里斯汀的瀟灑跑車
Ambros Usher, but let me quote from a review,
安布羅斯·亞瑟，讓我引用一篇評論文章里的句子:
"While bodies are felled and dark deeds are done
"當尸體出現，針對他的壞事都做完時
all about him, the philosophy don lets Bach's Magnificat
這個哲學教員在腦海里唱著巴克的
sing through his mind, ruminates about Hegel,
圣母瑪利亞頌，思考著黑格爾哲學
and numbs his listeners with a flow of quotes from the Bible,
源源不斷地引用著，圣經，莎士比亞，大詩人
Shakespeare, major poets and minor limericists."
及二流的作品來麻木他的聽眾
A reviewer I think a baffle reviewer
一個評論家，我認為是個令人困惑的評論家
in Time magazine said:
在時代雜志上寫道:
"The book is less a who done it than a witty who said it."
"這本書是一本詼諧的誰說了什么而非做了什么的書"
Hilary Tamar is less given to shows of erudition
希拉里·塔瑪很少有顯出博學的一面
but in all other respects an entirely credible Oxford don.
但是在其它方面她是個很棒的牛津教員
Sarah Caudwell told an interviewer: "Hilary's voice was
莎拉·寇威爾曾告訴一個記者:"在構思情節前
in my head before any of the plots.
希拉里的聲音就存在于我的腦海中了
I knew from the outset Hilary must be an Oxford donnish type."
我一開始就知道希拉里一定是牛津教員這種類型的人
sorry, “an Oxford don of equivocal sex
不好意思，是"一個性別模棱兩可
and even equivocal age
甚至年齡也不清楚的牛津教員
resembling that precise donnish kind of individual
類似于是一個從22歲就開始變老的
who starts being elderly at the age of 22."
嚴格意義上的學院派的人"
Because I can't resist it, it has a brief echo of Tamar's voice.
因為我不能抗拒它，它是塔瑪聲音的簡短的回聲
I like it very much because it resonances so closely with
我非常喜歡它，因為它與真實的學術研究
the real life of academic research.
密切聯系，產生共鳴
"On my first day in London, I made an early start,
"我在倫敦的第一天，我很早就到了
reaching the public record office, not much after 10.
公共檔案辦公室，那時10點剛過
I soon secured the papers I needed for my research
我很快就找到了我研究需要的論文
and settled in my place. I became as it's the way of the scholar
并在位置上坐下，就像學者一樣，我變得
so deeply absorbed as to lose all consciousness of
非常專心投入，完全意識不到周遭環境
my surroundings or of the passage of time.
或時間的流逝
When at last I came to myself, it was almost 11.
當我最終恢復知覺時，已經快11點了
And I was quite exhausted. I knew I could not prudently
我非常疲憊，我知道謹慎起見，我不吃點點心
continue without refreshment."
是不可能繼續工作了"
But these donnish detectives are quite unlike
但是這些學院派偵探與戰前他們的
the pre-war predecessors in important ways.
先輩們在很多重要方面有好些區別
Yes, each of them belongs to a named Oxford college,
對，他們中的每一個都屬于牛津學院
but it is not the sealed world of the college
但并非是學院這個封閉的世界
that provides the setting for the detector.
為偵探提供設定場景
