四签名 99琼诺赞·斯茂的奇异故事（9）

First of all it is enormous in size.

首先，它庞大得很，

I should think that the enclosure must be acres and acres.

我估量着占有不少英亩的地方，

There is a modern part, which took all our garrison¹, women, children, stores, and everything else, with plenty of room over.

较新的一部分面积很大，容纳了我们的全部军队、妇孺和辎重还富富有余。

But the modern part is nothing like the size of the old quarter, where nobody goes,

可是这较新部分的大小还远比不上古老的那一部分，没有人到那里去，

and which is given over to the scorpions² and the centipedes.

蝎子蜈蚣盘踞在那里。

It is all full of great deserted³ halls, and winding⁴ passages, and long corridors twisting in and out,

旧堡里边全是空无人迹的大厅、曲曲折折的甬道和蜿蜒迂回的长廊，

so that it is easy enough for folk to get lost in it.

走进去的人很容易迷路。

For this reason it was seldom that anyone went into it,

因此很少有人到旧堡里去，

though now and again a party with torches might go exploring.

可是偶尔也有拿着火把的人们结伙进去探险。

"The river washes along the front of the old fort, and so protects it,

由旧堡前面流过的小河，形成了一条护城壕。

but on the sides and behind there are many doors, and these had to be guarded,

堡的两侧和后面有许多出入的门，

of course, in the old quarter as well as in that which was actually held by our troops.

自然，在这里和我们军队居住的地方都必须派人把守。

We were short-handed, with hardly men enough to man the angles of the building and to serve the guns.

我们的人数太少，不可能既照顾到全堡的每个角落又照顾到全部的炮位，

It was impossible for us, therefore, to station a strong guard at every one of the innumerable gates.

因此在无数的堡门处都派重兵守卫是绝不可能的。

What we did was to organize a central guard-house in the middle of the fort,

我们的办法是在堡垒中央设置了一个中心守卫室，

and to leave each gate under the charge of one white man and two or three natives.

每一个堡门由一个白种人率领两三个印度兵把守。

I was selected to take charge during certain hours of the night of a small isolated⁵ door upon the south-west side of the building.

我被派在每天夜里一段固定时间内负责守卫堡垒西南面的一个孤立小堡门。

Two Sikh troopers were placed under my command,

在我指挥之下的是两个锡克教徒士兵。

and I was instructed if anything went wrong to fire my musket⁶, when I might rely upon help coming at once from the central guard.

我所接受的指示是：遇有危急，只要放一枪，就会从中心守卫室来人接应。

1 garrison   

n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防

参考例句：

• The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
• The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。

2 scorpions   

n.蝎子( scorpion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You promise me that Black Scorpions will never come back to Lanzhou. 你保证黑蝎子永远不再踏上兰州的土地。 来自电影对白
• You Scorpions are rather secretive about your likes and dislikes. 天蝎：蝎子是如此的神秘，你的喜好很难被别人洞悉。 来自互联网

3 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

4 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

5 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

6 musket   

n.滑膛枪

参考例句：

• I hunted with a musket two years ago.两年前我用滑膛枪打猎。
• So some seconds passed,till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket and fired.又过了几秒钟，突然，乔伊斯端起枪来开了火。