歪唇男人 11烟馆巧遇福尔摩斯(5)

We had driven several miles, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban¹ villas², when he shook himself,

我们驱车走出好几里，来到郊外别墅区的边缘，这时他才摇摇身子，

shrugged³ his shoulders, and lit up his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he is acting⁴ for the best.

耸耸肩膀，点燃了烟斗，显出自鸣得意的神气。

"You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he.

"你有保持缄默的天赋，华生，"他说，

"It makes you quite invaluable⁵ as a companion.

"它使你成为非常难得的伙伴。

'Pon my word, it is a great thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are not over-pleasant.

我向你保证确实是这样：和别人互相交谈，对我是件很重要的事情，因为我自己的想法不一定是能令人全都满意的。

I was wondering what I should say to this dear little woman to-night when she meets me at the door."

我想不出今晚那位可爱的年轻妇人到门口来迎接我时该对她说些什么。"

"You forget that I know nothing about it."

"你忘了我是一无所知的。"

"I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before we get to Lee.

"在我们到达李镇之前，我恰好有时间对你讲明本案的情节。

It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow, I can get nothing to go upon.

看来似乎简单得出奇，但是，我却有些摸不着头脑。

There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I can't get the end of it into my hand.

毫无疑问，线索很多，但我抓不到个头绪。

Now, I'll state the case clearly and concisely⁶ to you, Watson,

现在，我来简明扼要地把案情讲给你听，华生，

and maybe you can see a spark where all is dark to me." "Proceed, then."

也许你能在对我来说是一团漆黑之中看到一线光明。" "那么，你就说吧。"

1 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

2 villas   

别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅

参考例句：

• Magnificent villas are found throughout Italy. 在意大利到处可看到豪华的别墅。
• Rich men came down from wealthy Rome to build sea-side villas. 有钱人从富有的罗马来到这儿建造海滨别墅。

3 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

6 concisely   

adv.简明地

参考例句：

• These equations are written more concisely as a single columnmatrix equation. 这些方程以单列矩阵方程表示会更简单。 来自辞典例句
• The fiber morphology can be concisely summarized. 可以对棉纤维的形态结构进行扼要地归纳。 来自辞典例句