五个桔核 26奥彭肖的死讯(1)

It had cleared in the morning,

清晨，天已放晴，

and the sun was shining with a subdued¹ brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the great city.

太阳透过笼罩在这伟大城市上空的朦胧云雾闪耀着柔和的光芒。

Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came down.

我下楼时，福尔摩斯已经在吃早餐了。

"You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he;

"你会原谅我没有等你吧，"他说，

"I have, I foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of young Openshaw's."

"我估计，我将要为小奥彭肖的案子忙碌一整天。"

"What steps will you take?" I asked.

"你准备采取什么措施？"我问道。

"It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries². I may have to go down to Horsham, after all."

"这在很大程度上取决于我初步调查的结果了。总之，我也许不得不去霍尔舍姆一趟。"

"You will not go there first?"

"你不先去那里吗？"

"No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the maid will bring up your coffee."

"不，我得从城里开始，只要拉拉铃，女佣人就会给你端杯咖啡来的。"

As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and glanced my eye over it.

我在等待咖啡的时候，拿起了桌上还没有打开的报纸浏览了一下。

It rested upon a heading which sent a chill to my heart.

我的目光停在一个标题上，心里打了一个冷战。

"Holmes," I cried, "you are too late."

"福尔摩斯，"我叫了起来，"你晚了！"

"Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it done?"

"啊！"他放下了杯子答道，"我担心的正是这样。这是怎么搞的？"

He spoke³ calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved.

显然他说的时候很平静，但我已看出他内心很激动。

1 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

2 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。