評論
打印
"But his wife -- you said that she had ceased to love him."
"可是他的妻子--你剛才說過她已經不再愛他了。"
"This hat has not been brushed for weeks.
"這頂帽子已經有好幾個星期沒有撣撣刷刷了。
When I see you, my dear Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat,
我親愛的華生，如果我看到你的帽子堆積了個把星期的灰塵，
and when your wife allows you to go out in such a state,
而且你的妻子聽之任之，就讓你這個樣子去出訪，
I shall fear that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's affection."
我恐怕你也已經很不幸地失去你的妻子的愛情了。"
"But he might be a bachelor."
"可是他可能是個單身漢哪！"
"Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg."
"不可能，因為那天晚上他正要把那只鵝帶回家去作為一件表示親善的禮物獻給他的妻子的。你可別忘了系在鵝腿上的那張卡片。"
"You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce that the gas is not laid on in his house?"
"你對每個問題都做出了解答，可是你究竟是怎樣推斷出他家里沒有安煤氣燈的呢？"
"One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I see no less than five,
"一滴燭油、或者甚至是兩滴燭油，那可能是偶然滴上的；可是當我看到至少有五滴燭油時，
I think that there can be little doubt that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with burning tallow
我認為毫無疑問每一滴燭油都一定是由于常和點燃著的蠟燭接觸而滴上的。
walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in one hand and a guttering candle in the other.
比方說，夜里上樓時很可能是一手拿著帽子，而另一只手拿著淌著燭油的蠟燭。
Anyhow, he never got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?"
不管怎么說，他決不可能從煤氣燈上沾上燭油。你現在相信了吧？"
"Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing;
"太好了，你的腦子真靈，"我笑著說，"
"but since, as you said just now, there has been no crime committed,
但是既然象你剛才所說的，這中間沒有犯罪行為，
and no harm done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a waste of energy."
除了失去一只鵝以外，并未造成任何危害，所有的一切看來都是浪費精力了。"
