歪唇男人 03瘾君子(3)

It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and school companion.

对我来说作为一个医生，对我妻子来说作为一个老朋友和老同学，听她向我们诉说她丈夫给她带来的苦恼，这已经不是第一次了。

We soothed¹ and comforted her by such words as we could find. Did she know where her husband was?

我们尽量找些类似这样的话来安慰她，例如，她知道她的丈夫在哪里吗？

Was it possible that we could bring him back to her?

我们有可能替她把他找回来吗？

It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late he had,

看来好象有可能。她得到确切的消息说，

when the fit was on him, made use of an opium² den³ in the farthest east of the City.

近来他的烟瘾一发作，就到老城区最东边的一个鸦片馆去过瘾。

Hitherto his orgies had always been confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching⁴ and shattered, in the evening.

到目前为止，他在外放荡从来不超出一天，每到晚上他就抽搐着身体，垮掉了似的回到家里。

But now the spell had been upon him eight-and-forty hours,

可是这次鬼迷心窍已经四十八小时了，

and he lay there, doubtless among the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the effects.

现在准是躺在那儿，和在码头上的社会渣滓偃卧在一起吞云吐雾地吸毒。或者竟在酣睡，好从鸦片所起的作用中缓过劲来。

There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane.

到那儿一定会找得到他，这一点她确信无疑。地点是天鹅闸巷的黄金酒店。

But what was she to do?

可是，她可怎么办呢？

How could she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him?

她，一个年轻娇怯的女人家，又怎能闯进那样一个地方，把厮混在一群歹徒中间的丈夫拽走呢？

There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it.

情况就是如此，而且当然也只有这样一个办法。

Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second thought, why should she come at all?

我想是否就由我陪同她去那地方呢？随着，又一转念，她又何必去呢？

I was Isa Whitney's medical adviser⁵, and as such I had influence over him.

我是艾萨·惠特尼的医药顾问，以这层关系讲，我对他有些影响力。

I could manage it better if I were alone.

我倘若独自前往，也许能解决得更好些。

I promised her on my word that I would send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the address which she had given me.

我答应她，如果他真是在她告诉我们的那个地方的话，我会在两小时内雇辆出租马车把他送回家去。

And so in ten minutes I had left my armchair and cheery sitting-room⁶ behind me,

于是，在十分钟内，我就已经离开了我的那张扶手椅和那舒适愉快的起居室，

and was speeding eastward⁷ in a hansom on a strange errand,

乘了一辆双轮小马车，在向东疾驶的途中了。

as it seemed to me at the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to be.

这趟差事，当时我已觉得有点离奇，不过只有到了后来才显出它是离奇到了何等程度。

But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my adventure.

但是，在我这探奇之始，倒没有多大的困难。

1 soothed   

v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦

参考例句：

• The music soothed her for a while. 音乐让她稍微安静了一会儿。
• The soft modulation of her voice soothed the infant. 她柔和的声调使婴儿安静了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 opium   

n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的

参考例句：

• That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。

3 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

4 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

7 eastward   

adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部

参考例句：

• The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
• The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。