評論
打印
"On entering the house this last inference was confirmed.
"走進屋子以后，這個推斷立刻就得到了證實。
My well- booted man lay before me.
那位穿著漂亮靴子的先生就躺在我的面前。
The tall one, then, had done the murder, if murder there was.
如果這是一件謀殺案子的話，那么那個大高個子就是兇手。
There was no wound upon the dead man's person,
死者身上沒有傷痕，
but the agitated expression upon his face assured me that he had foreseen his fate before it came upon him.
但是從他臉上顯露出來緊張、激動的表情，卻使我深信在他臨死之前，他已料到他的命運如何了。
Men who die from heart disease, or any sudden natural cause,
假如是由于心臟病，或者其他突然發生的自然死亡的人，
never by any chance exhibit agitation upon their features.
在任何情況下，他們的面容上也決不會現出那種緊張激動的表情的。
Having sniffed the dead man's lips, I detected a slightly sour smell,
我嗅了一下死者的嘴唇，嗅出有點酸味，
and I came to the conclusion that he had had poison forced upon him.
因此我就得出這樣的結論：他是被迫服毒而死的。
Again, I argued that it had been forced upon him from the hatred and fear expressed upon his face.
此外，從他臉上那種忿恨和害怕的神情看來，我才說他是被迫的。
By the method of exclusion, I had arrived at this result, for no other hypothesis would meet the facts.
我就是利用這種淘汰一切不合理的假設的辦法，終于得到了這個結論，因為其他任何假設都不能和這些事實吻合。
Do not imagine that it was a very unheard-of idea.
你不要以為這是聞所未聞的妙論。
The forcible administration of poison is by no means a new thing in criminal annals.
強迫服毒在犯罪年鑒中的記載，絕不是一件新聞，
The cases of Dolsky in Odessa, and of Leturier in Montpellier, will occur at once to any toxicologist.
任何毒物學家都會立刻想到敖德薩的多爾斯基一案和茂姆培利耶的雷吐里耶一案的。
"And now came the great question as to the reason why.
"現在要談談' 為什么' 這個大問題了。
Robbery had not been the object of the murder, for nothing was taken.
謀殺的目的并不是為了搶劫，因為死者身上一點東西也沒有短少。
Was it politics, then, or was it a woman?
那么，這是一件政治性案件呢，還是一件情殺案呢？
That was the question which confronted me.
這就是我當時面臨著的問題了。
I was inclined from the first to the latter supposition.
我的想法比較是側重后一個。
Political assassins are only too glad to do their work and to fly.
因為在政治暗殺中，兇手一經得手，勢必立即逃走。
This murder had, on the contrary, been done most deliberately,
可是這件謀殺案恰恰相反，干得非常從容不迫，
and the perpetrator had left his tracks all over the room, showing that he had been there all the time.
而且兇手還在屋子里到處留下了他的足跡。這就說明，他自始至終一直是在現場的。
It must have been a private wrong, and not a political one,
因此，這就一定是一件仇殺案，而不是什么政治性的，
which called for such a methodical revenge.
只有仇殺案才需要采取這樣處心積慮的報復手段的。
When the inscription was discovered upon the wall, I was more inclined than ever to my opinion.
當墻上的血字被發現后，我對我自己的這個見解也就更加深信不疑了。
The thing was too evidently a blind.
這是故布疑陣，一望便知。
