身份案 17进行初步推理(3)

"It surprised me." "But, surely, it was obvious.

"这使我也感到惊奇。""可是一点不错，这是很明显的。

I was then much surprised and interested on glancing down to observe that,

我接着往下看去，很惊奇、又很感兴趣地观察到，

though the boots which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were really odd ones;

尽管她所穿的两只靴子，并不是彼此不同的，而实际上却不是一对。

the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and the other a plain one.

一只靴尖上有带花纹的皮包头，另一只却没有。

One was buttoned only in the two lower buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and fifth.

一只靴子的五个扣子中只扣了下面两个，而另一只则扣上第一、第三和第五个扣子。

Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly¹ dressed,

喏，当你看见一位青年妇女，穿戴得很整洁，

has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, it is no great deduction² to say that she came away in a hurry."

但出门时却穿着不配对的靴子，靴上扣子只扣上一半，那说明她离家时非常匆忙，这不能算是一个什么了不起的推论吧。"

"And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by my friend's incisive³ reasoning.

"还有呢？"我问道，我的朋友透彻的推理，经常引起我强烈的兴趣。

"I noted⁴, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving home but after being fully⁵ dressed.

"顺便说一说，我注意到她在走出家门之前写了一张字条，但是这张纸条是在穿戴好了之后写的。

You observed that her right glove was torn at the forefinger⁶,

你观察到她右手套的食指那个地方破了，

but you did not apparently⁷ see that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink.

不过你显然没有看到手套和食指都沾了紫色墨水。

She had written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep.

她写得很匆忙，蘸墨水时笔插得太深了。

It must have been this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger.

事情一定发生在今晨，否则墨迹不会清晰地留在手指上。

All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back to business, Watson.

这一切虽然都很简单，但却很有趣。不过我得回到正题上来，华生。

Would you mind reading me the advertised description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?"

给我念一念寻找霍斯默·安吉尔先生的那个启事好吗？"

1 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

2 deduction   

n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎

参考例句：

• No deduction in pay is made for absence due to illness.因病请假不扣工资。
• His deduction led him to the correct conclusion.他的推断使他得出正确的结论。

3 incisive   

adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的

参考例句：

• His incisive remarks made us see the problems in our plans.他的话切中要害，使我们看到了计划中的一些问题。
• He combined curious qualities of naivety with incisive wit and worldly sophistication.他集天真质朴的好奇、锐利的机智和老练的世故于一体。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 forefinger   

n.食指

参考例句：

• He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.他将叶子捏在拇指和食指之间。
• He held it between the tips of his thumb and forefinger.他用他大拇指和食指尖拿着它。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。