铜山毛榉案 08当事人到访(5)

'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?'

'或者在你到我们那里之前，让你把头发剪短呢？'

I could hardly believe my ears.

我简直不敢相信自己的耳朵。

As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar¹ tint² of chestnut³.

我的头发，福尔摩斯先生，正如你能见到的，长得相当密，并且有着栗子般的特殊色泽。

It has been considered artistic⁴. I could not dream of sacrificing it in this offhand⁵ fashion.

它颇为艺术，我做梦也想不到要这样随随便便地把它牺牲掉。

'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I.

'我恐怕这是很不可能的，'我说。

He had been watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a shadow pass over his face as I spoke⁶.

他的小眼睛一直热切地注视着我，当我说这话的时候，我注意到一道阴影掠过了他的脸。

'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he.

'我恐怕这一点是相当必要的，'他说。

'It is a little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your hair?'

'这是我妻子的小小癖好，夫人们的癖好，你明白，小姐，夫人们的爱好是必须考虑的，那么，你是不打算剪掉你的头发了？

'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.

'是的，先生，我实在不能够。'我坚决地回答说。

'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a pity, because in other respects you would really have done very nicely.

'啊，很好，那么这件事就算了。很可惜，因为其它方面你实在都很合适。

In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more of your young ladies.'

既然那样，斯托珀小姐，我最好再多看几位你这里其他的年轻姑娘。'

The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers without a word to either of us,

那位女经理正坐在那里忙着阅读文件，一句话也不曾和我们两人说过，

but she glanced at me now with so much annoyance⁷ upon her face

可是现在她显得十分不耐烦地瞧着我，

that I could not help suspecting that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal.

使我不禁怀疑她是否因为我的拒绝而失掉一笔可观的佣金。

'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked.

'你愿意不愿意将你的名字仍然留在登记簿上？'她问我。

'If you please, Miss Stoper.'

'如果你乐意的话，斯托珀小姐。'

'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply.

'唉！其实，登记似乎也没有什么用处了，既然你用这种方式拒绝了人家提供的最优越的机会，'她尖刻地说。

'You can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.'

'你很难指望我们尽力再为你另外找一个这样的机会，再会，亨特小姐。'

She struck a gong upon the table, and I was shown out by the page.

她打了一下台上的叫人铃，一个仆人进来把我带了出去。

1 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

2 tint   

n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色

参考例句：

• You can't get up that naturalness and artless rosy tint in after days.你今后不再会有这种自然和朴实无华的红润脸色。
• She gave me instructions on how to apply the tint.她告诉我如何使用染发剂。

3 chestnut   

n.栗树，栗子

参考例句：

• We have a chestnut tree in the bottom of our garden.我们的花园尽头有一棵栗树。
• In summer we had tea outdoors,under the chestnut tree.夏天我们在室外栗树下喝茶。

4 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

5 offhand   

adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的

参考例句：

• I can't answer your request offhand.我不能随便答复你的要求。
• I wouldn't want to say what I thought about it offhand.我不愿意随便说我关于这事的想法。

6 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。

7 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。