博斯科姆比溪谷秘案 33阐述看法(4)

"But his left-handedness."

"那么，他是一个左撇子呢？"

"You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded by the surgeon at the inquest.

"你自己已注意到在审讯中法医对死者伤痕的记载。

The blow was struck from immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side.

那一击是紧挨着他背后打的，而且是打在左则。

Now, how can that be unless it were by a left-handed man?

你想想看，如果不是一个左撇子打的，怎么会打在左侧呢？

He had stood behind that tree during the interview between the father and son.

当父子两人在谈话的时候，这个人一直站在树后面。

He had even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar,

他在那里还抽烟呢。我发现有雪茄灰，

which my special knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian cigar.

我对烟灰的特殊研究，所以能够断定他抽的是印度雪茄。

I have, as you know, devoted¹ some attention to this,

我为此曾经花过相当大的精力，

and written a little monograph² on the ashes of 140 different varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco.

我还写过些专题文章论述一百四十种不同的烟斗丝、雪茄和香烟的灰，这你是知道的。

Having found the ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump³ among the moss⁴ where he had tossed it.

发现了烟灰以后，我接着在周围寻找，就在苔藓里发现了他扔在那里的烟头。

It was an Indian cigar, of the variety which are rolled in Rotterdam."

那是印度雪茄的烟头，这种雪茄和在鹿特丹卷制的雪茄差不多。"

"And the cigar-holder⁵?"

"那么，雪茄烟嘴呢？"

"I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he used a holder.

"我看出烟头没有在他嘴里叼过。可见他是用烟嘴的。

The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife."

雪茄烟末端是用刀切开而不是用嘴咬开的，但切口很不整齐，因此我推断是用一把很钝的削鹅毛笔的小刀切的。"

"Holmes," I said, "you have drawn⁶ a net round this man from which he cannot escape,

我说："福尔摩斯，你已在这个人周围布下了天罗地网，他逃脱不了啦，

and you have saved an innocent human life as truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him.

你还拯救了一个清白无辜的人的性命，确实就象你把套在他脖子上的绞索斩断了一样。

I see the direction in which all this points. The culprit is..."

我看到了这一切都是朝这方向发展。可是那罪犯是..."

1 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

2 monograph   

n.专题文章，专题著作

参考例句：

• This monograph belongs to the category of serious popular books.这本专著是一本较高深的普及读物。
• It's a monograph you wrote six years ago.这是你六年前写的的专论。

3 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

4 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

5 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。