身份案 27尾声(1)

"There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he threw himself down into his chair once more.

"真是个冷酷的恶棍！"福尔摩斯边说边笑，重新一屁股坐进他的扶手椅，

"That fellow will rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and ends on a gallows¹.

"那家伙屡次犯罪，总有一天罪大恶极被送上断头台。

The case has, in some respects, been not entirely² devoid³ of interest."

从几个方面来看，这个案件并不是索然无味的。"

"I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I remarked.

"我现在还不能全部明了你的推理步骤。"我说。

"Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious conduct,

"唔，显然第一步应该想到的是：这个霍斯默·安吉尔先生的奇怪行为必定是有所企图的，

and it was equally clear that the only man who really profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the stepfather.

同样清楚的是，我们看到唯一能够从这事件中真正得到好处的人只有这个继父。

Then the fact that the two men were never together, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was suggestive.

然后看这个事实：两个人从来没有在一起过，而总是当一个人不在时另一个人出现。这是很有启发性的。

So were the tinted⁴ spectacles and the curious voice, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers.

墨镜和奇异的话声，跟毛蓬蓬的络腮胡子一样都暗示着伪装。这些也是有启发性的。

My suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar⁵ action in typewriting his signature,

我的怀疑通过他用打字来签名这个奇怪的做法而加深了

which, of course, inferred that his handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognize even the smallest sample of it.

从此可以推想她是如此熟悉他的笔迹以至于哪怕看到一点最小的笔迹她也认得出是他写的字。

You see all these isolated⁶ facts, together with many minor⁷ ones, all pointed⁸ in the same direction."

你看到，所有这些孤立的事实和许多细节凑在一起，都指向同一个方向。"

1 gallows   

n.绞刑架，绞台

参考例句：

• The murderer was sent to the gallows for his crimes.谋杀犯由于罪大恶极被处以绞刑。
• Now I was to expiate all my offences at the gallows.现在我将在绞刑架上赎我一切的罪过。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 devoid   

adj.全无的，缺乏的

参考例句：

• He is completely devoid of humour.他十分缺乏幽默。
• The house is totally devoid of furniture.这所房子里什么家具都没有。

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 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

6 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。

7 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。