身份案 11一位女性委托者(7)

"He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes.

"福尔摩斯先生，他是一个非常腼腆的人。

He would rather walk with me in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to be conspicuous¹.

他宁可同我在晚上散步，也不愿在白天散步，因为他说他很不愿意受人注意。

Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his voice was gentle.

他举止文雅，态度悠闲，甚至说话的声音都是柔和的。

He'd had the quinsy and swollen² glands³ when he was young, he told me,

他告诉我，他幼年时患过扁桃腺炎和颈腺肿大，

and it had left him with a weak throat, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech.

以后嗓子一直不大好，说起话来含含糊糊、细声细气。

He was always well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as mine are, and he wore tinted⁴ glasses against the glare."

他对衣着总是很讲究，十分整洁素雅，但是他的视力不好，同我一样，所以戴上浅色眼镜，遮挡眩目的亮光。"

"Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, returned to France?"

"好，你继父温迪班克先生再去法国以后又怎样呢？"

"Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we should marry before father came back.

"霍斯默·安吉尔先生又来我家里，并且提议，我们在父亲回来前就结婚。

He was in dreadful earnest and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament⁵, that whatever happened I would always be true to him.

他非常认真，要我把手放在圣经上发誓，不管发生什么事情，我都要永远忠实于他。

Mother said he was quite right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion.

母亲说，他要我发誓是十分对的，这是他的热情的表示。

Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder of him than I was.

母亲从一开始就对他大有好感，甚至比我更喜欢他。

Then, when they talked of marrying within the week, I began to ask about father;

这样，当他们谈论要在一星期内举行婚礼时，我就提起父亲来。

but they both said never to mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards,

是他们两人都说，不用担心父亲，只要事后告诉他一声就可以了。

and mother said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like that, Mr. Holmes.

但母亲还说，她会把这件事同父亲谈妥的。福尔摩斯先生，我并不喜欢这样一种做法。

It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as he was only a few years older than me;

由于他不过比我大几岁，却一定要得到他的允许，说来未免可笑，

but I didn't want to do anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the company has its French offices,

但是我不想偷偷摸摸干任何事情，所以我写封信给父亲，寄往公司驻法国办事处所在地波尔多，

but the letter came back to me on the very morning of the wedding."

但是就在我结婚那天早晨，这封信退回来了。"

1 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。

2 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

3 glands   

n.腺( gland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a snake's poison glands 蛇的毒腺
• the sebaceous glands in the skin 皮脂腺

4 tinted   

adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• a pair of glasses with tinted lenses 一副有色镜片眼镜
• a rose-tinted vision of the world 对世界的理想化看法

5 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。