红发会 32逮捕罪犯(1)

Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of a light.

我忽然看见隐约地闪现着的亮光。

At first it was but a lurid¹ spark upon the stone pavement. Then it lengthened² out until it became a yellow line,

起先，那只是闪现在石板地上的灰黄色的星星之火；接着火星联成了一条黄色的光束。

and then, without any warning or sound, a gash³ seemed to open and a hand appeared;

忽然间地面悄悄地似乎出现了一条裂缝，一只手从那里伸了出来，

a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the centre of the little area of light.

一只几乎象妇女那样又白又嫩的手在有亮光的一小块地方的中央摸索着。

For a minute or more the hand, with its writhing⁴ fingers, protruded⁵ out of the floor.

大概一分钟左右，这只指头蠕动的手伸出了地面。

Then it was withdrawn⁶ as suddenly as it appeared,

然后同它的突然伸出一样，顷刻之间又缩了回去，

and all was dark again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between the stones.

周围又是一片漆黑，只有一点灰黄色的火星照亮着石板缝。

Its disappearance⁷, however, was but momentary⁸.

不过，那只手只是隐没了一会儿。

With a rending⁹, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon its side

忽然间发出一种刺耳的撕裂声响，在地板中间的一块宽大的白石板翻了过来，

and left a square, gaping¹⁰ hole, through which streamed the light of a lantern.

那里立时出现了一个四方形缺口，随即从缺口里射出一线提灯的亮光。

Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, boyish face, which looked keenly about it,

在边缘上露出一张清秀的孩子般的脸，这个人敏捷地向四周围察看了一下，

and then, with a hand on either side of the aperture¹¹, drew itself shoulder-high and waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge.

然后用两只手扒着那缺口的两边向上攀升，直至肩膀和腰部都到了缺口上面，然后一个膝盖跪在洞口边缘。

In another instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after him a companion, lithe¹² and small like himself,

一刹那，他已站在洞口一边，并把一个同伙拉了上来。同伙和他一样是个动作轻巧灵活的小个子，

with a pale face and a shock of very red hair.

面色苍白，有一头蓬乱的很红的头发。

1 lurid   

adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的

参考例句：

• The paper gave all the lurid details of the murder.这份报纸对这起凶杀案耸人听闻的细节描写得淋漓尽致。
• The lurid sunset puts a red light on their faces.血红一般的夕阳映红了他们的脸。

2 lengthened   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The afternoon shadows lengthened. 下午影子渐渐变长了。
• He wanted to have his coat lengthened a bit. 他要把上衣放长一些。

3 gash   

v.深切，划开；n.(深长的)切(伤)口；裂缝

参考例句：

• The deep gash in his arm would take weeks to heal over.他胳膊上的割伤很深，需要几个星期的时间才能痊愈。
• After the collision,the body of the ship had a big gash.船被撞后，船身裂开了一个大口子。

4 writhing   

（因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was writhing around on the floor in agony. 她痛得在地板上直打滚。
• He was writhing on the ground in agony. 他痛苦地在地上打滚。

5 protruded   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The child protruded his tongue. 那小孩伸出舌头。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The creature's face seemed to be protruded, because of its bent carriage. 那人的脑袋似乎向前突出，那是因为身子佝偻的缘故。 来自英汉文学

6 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

7 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

8 momentary   

adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的

参考例句：

• We are in momentary expectation of the arrival of you.我们无时无刻不在盼望你的到来。
• I caught a momentary glimpse of them.我瞥了他们一眼。

9 rending   

v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破

参考例句：

• The cries of those imprisoned in the fallen buildings were heart-rending. 被困于倒塌大楼里的人们的哭喊声令人心碎。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She was rending her hair out in anger. 她气愤得直扯自己的头发。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 gaping   

adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大

参考例句：

• Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他们前面是一个巨大的深渊。
• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 aperture   

n.孔，隙，窄的缺口

参考例句：

• The only light came through a narrow aperture.仅有的光亮来自一个小孔。
• We saw light through a small aperture in the wall.我们透过墙上的小孔看到了亮光。

12 lithe   

adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的

参考例句：

• His lithe athlete's body had been his pride through most of the fifty - six years.他那轻巧自如的运动员体格，五十六年来几乎一直使他感到自豪。
• His walk was lithe and graceful.他走路轻盈而优雅。