五个桔核 17神秘来信(11)

Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent¹ over the sheet of paper,

福尔摩斯把灯移动了一下，我们两人弯下身来观看那张纸。

which showed by its ragged² edge that it had indeed been torn from a book.

纸边参差不齐，的确是从一个本子上撕下来的。

It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the following enigmatical notices:

上端写有“一八六九年三月”字样，下面是一些莫明其妙的记载，内容如下：

4th. Hudson came. Same old platform.

四日：赫德森来。抱着同样的旧政见。

7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and John Swain, of St. Augustine.

七日：把桔核交给圣奥古斯丁的麦考利、帕拉米诺和约翰·斯温。

9th. McCauley cleared. 10th. John Swain cleared. 12th. Visited Paramore. All well.

九日：麦考利已清除。十日：约翰·斯温已清除。十二日：访问帕拉米诺。一切顺利。

"Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it to our visitor.

"谢谢您！"福尔摩斯说，同时把那张纸折叠起来还给了客人。

"And now you must on no account lose another instant.

"现在您连一分钟都不能再耽搁了。

We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told me.

我们甚至没有时间来讨论您告诉我的情况。

You must get home instantly and act." "What shall I do?"

您必须马上回家，开始行动。""我应该怎么做呢？"

"There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once.

"只有一件事要做。而且一定要刻不容缓立即就办。

You must put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass³ box which you have described.

您必须把给我们看过的这张纸放进您说过的那个黄铜匣子里去。

You must also put in a note to say that all the other papers were burned by your uncle,

还要放进一张便条，说明所有其它文件都已被您的伯父烧掉了，

and that this is the only one which remains⁴.

这是仅剩的一张。

You must assert that in such words as will carry conviction with them.

您一定要用使他们能够确信无疑的措词。

Having done this, you must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do you understand?" "Entirely⁵."

做完这一切以后，您必须马上就把黄铜匣子按信封上所说的放在日晷仪上。您明白了吗？""完全明白了。"

1 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

2 ragged   

adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的

参考例句：

• A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
• Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。

3 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 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。