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Chapter 7 THE CONCLUSION
第七章 尾聲
We had all been warned to appear before the magistrates upon the Thursday;
我們事先都接到了通知，要我們在本周星期四出庭。
but when the Thursday came there was no occasion for our testimony.
可是，到了星期四那天，再也用不著我們?nèi)プ髯C了。
A higher Judge had taken the matter in hand,
一位更高級的法官已經(jīng)受理了這個察件，
and Jefferson Hope had been summoned before a tribunal where strict justice would be meted out to him.
杰弗遜·侯波已被傳喚到另一個法庭上去，對他進行一次極為公正的審判了。
On the very night after his capture the aneurism burst,
原來，就在他被捕的當天晚上，他的動脈血瘤就迸裂了。
and he was found in the morning stretched upon the floor of the cell, with a placid smile upon his face,
第二天早晨，發(fā)現(xiàn)他躺在監(jiān)獄中的地板上死了。他的臉上流露著平靜的笑容，
as though he had been able in his dying moments to look back upon a useful life, and on work well done.
好象在他臨死的時候，他回顧過去的年華并未虛度，報仇大業(yè)已經(jīng)如愿以償了。
"Gregson and Lestrade will be wild about his death," Holmes remarked, as we chatted it over next evening.
第二天傍晚，當我們閑談著這件事情的時候，福爾摩斯說道："葛萊森和雷斯垂德知道這個人死了，他們一定要氣得發(fā)瘋。
"Where will their grand advertisement be now?"
這樣一來，他們自吹自擂的本錢不就完蛋了嗎？"
"I don't see that they had very much to do with his capture," I answered.
我回答說："我看不出，他們兩個人在捉拿兇手這件事上，究竟干了多少工作。"
"What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence," returned my companion, bitterly.
我的伙伴尖酸地說道："在這個世界上，你到底做了些什么，這倒不關緊要。
"The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done? Never mind," he continued, more brightly, after a pause.
要緊的是，你如何能夠使人相信你做了些什么。"停了一會，他又輕松地說："沒關系。
"I would not have missed the investigation for anything.
不管怎樣，我也不會放過這件案子的。
There has been no better case within my recollection.
在我的記憶中，再沒有比這件案子更為精采的了。
Simple as it was, there were several most instructive points about it."
它雖然簡單，但是其中有幾點卻是值得深以為訓的。"
"Simple!" I ejaculated.
"簡單！"我情不自禁地叫了起來。
"Well, really, it can hardly be described as otherwise," said Sherlock Holmes, smiling at my surprise.
"是的，的確是簡單。除此以外，很難用別的字眼來形容它。"歇洛克·福爾摩斯說。他看到我滿臉驚訝的神色，不覺微笑了起來。
"The proof of its intrinsic simplicity is,
"證明案子實質(zhì)上是非常簡單的是，
that without any help save a few very ordinary deductions I was able to lay my hand upon the criminal within three days."
你想，沒有任何人的幫助，只是經(jīng)過一番尋常的推理，我居然在三天之內(nèi)捉到了這個罪犯。"
"That is true," said I.
我說："這倒是實在的。"
"I have already explained to you that what is out of the common is usually a guide rather than a hindrance.
"我已經(jīng)對你說過，凡是異乎尋常的事物，一般都不是什么阻礙，反而是一種線索。
In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backward.
在解決這類問題時，最主要的事情就是能夠用推理的方法，一層層地回溯推理。
That is a very useful accomplishment, and a very easy one,
這是一種很有用的本領，而且也是很容易的，
but people do not practise it much.
不過，人們在實踐中卻不常應用它。
In the everyday affairs of life it is more useful to reason forward,
在日常生活中，向前推理的方法用處大些，
and so the other comes to be neglected.
因此人們也就往往容易忽略回溯推理這一層。
There are fifty who can reason synthetically for one who can reason analytically."
如果說有五十個人能夠從事務的各個方面加以綜合推理的話，那么，能夠用分析的方法推理的，不過是個把人而已。"
