工程师大拇指案 21被砍掉的大拇指(7)

The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark¹ and a short thick man with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases² of his double chin,

进来的是莱桑德·斯塔克上校和一个身材矮胖、双下巴的褶痕上长着栗鼠胡须的人。

who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson.

上校向我介绍他是弗格森先生。

'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel.

'这位是我的秘书兼经理，'上校说，

'By the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just now. I fear that you have felt the draught³.'

'顺便说一下，我记得我刚才是让这扇门关着的。我担心穿堂风吹着您。'

'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I felt the room to be a little close.'

'恰恰相反，'我说，'是我自己把门打开的，因为我感到这个房间有点闷人。'

He shot one of his suspicious looks at me.

他狐疑地看了我一眼。

'Perhaps we had better proceed to business, then,' said he.

'那么，我们最好还是着手进行我们的事吧，'他说，

'Mr. Ferguson and I will take you up to see the machine.'

'弗格森先生和我准备领您到上面去看看机器。'

'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.'

'我想，我最好还是戴上帽子吧。'

'Oh, no, it is in the house.'

'噢，没有必要，就在这所房子里面。'

'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'

'什么？你们在房子里挖漂白土？'

'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that.

'不，不。这只是我们压砖坯的地方。不过这无关紧要。

All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us know what is wrong with it.'

我们希望您做的只是检查一下机器，并让我们知道是什么毛病。'

We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the fat manager and I behind him.

我们一起上了楼，上校提着灯走在前面，胖经理和我跟在他后面。

It was a labyrinth⁴ of an old house, with corridors, passages, narrow winding⁵ staircases, and little low doors,

这是一座迷宫似的古老房子，有许许多多走廊、过道、狭窄的盘旋式楼梯、低矮的小门，

the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations who had crossed them.

所有的门槛，由于几代人的践踏已凹陷了下去。

There were no carpets and no signs of any furniture above the ground floor,

在底层的地板上没有地毯，也没有安放过家具的痕迹，

while the plaster was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in green, unhealthy blotches⁶.

墙上的灰泥已经剥落，绿色肮脏的污渍上还在冒出湿气。

1 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

2 creases   

（使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹

参考例句：

• She smoothed the creases out of her skirt. 她把裙子上的皱褶弄平。
• She ironed out all the creases in the shirt. 她熨平了衬衣上的所有皱褶。

3 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

4 labyrinth   

n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路

参考例句：

• He wandered through the labyrinth of the alleyways.他在迷宫似的小巷中闲逛。
• The human mind is a labyrinth.人的心灵是一座迷宫。

5 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

6 blotches   

n.（皮肤上的）红斑，疹块( blotch的名词复数 )；大滴 [大片]（墨水或颜色的）污渍

参考例句：

• His skin was covered with unsightly blotches. 他的皮肤上长满了难看的疹块。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His face was covered in red blotches, seemingly a nasty case of acne. 他满脸红斑，像是起了很严重的粉刺。 来自辞典例句