皮漏斗之谜（15）

 

“Just listen to this,” said he; “it is in the French of the seventeenth century, but I will give a rough translation as I go. You will judge for yourself whether I have solved the riddle¹ or not.

“‘The prisoner was brought before the Grand Chambers² and Tournelles of Parliament, sitting as a court of justice, charged with the murder of Master Dreux d’Aubray, her father, and of her two brothers, MM. d’Aubray, one being civil lieutenant³, and the other a counsellor of Parliament. In person it seemed hard to believe that she had really done such wicked deeds, for she was of a mild appearance, and of short stature⁴, with a fair skin and blue eyes. Yet the Court, having found her guilty, condemned⁵ her to the ordinary and to the extraordinary question in order that she might be forced to name her accomplices⁶, after which she should be carried in a cart to the Place de Greve, there to have her head cut off, her body being afterwards burned and her ashes scattered⁷ to the winds.’

“The date of this entry is July 16, 1676.”

“It is interesting,” said I, “but not convincing. How do you prove the two women to be the same?”

“I am coming to that. The narrative⁸ goes on to tell of the woman’s behaviour when questioned. ‘When the executioner approached her she recognized him by the cords which he held in his hands, and she at once held out her own hands to him, looking at him from head to foot without uttering a word.’ How’s that?”

“Yes, it was so.”

“听听这个，"他说，“文字是十七世纪的法语，我把大意翻译出来。你自己判断我是否解开了这个谜团吧。

罪犯被带上大法庭，她被控谋杀其父德里约道伯雷

和她的两个兄弟，一个是文官中尉，另一个是议院参事。从外表看，人们很难相信她这样一个人竟会干出如此邪恶的勾当。她看上去十分温顺，身材矮小，皮肤白皙，生着一双湛蓝的眼睛。法庭在认定她有罪之后，仍然向她提出各种询问，以防她迫于压力做出虚假的招供。此后，她应该由一辆马车送到沙滩广场，在那里，她将被斩首，尸体将被焚烧，骨灰将被撒向天空，随风飘散。

这件事发生在1676年7月16日”

“有意思，”我说，“但并不令人信服。你怎么证明这两个女人是同一个人？”

“我就要讲到了。这段文字下面讲述了这名女子的举止，*当行刑官走过来的时候，她从他手里的绳子认出了他，她立即向他伸出双手，默默地上下打量着他。怎么样？”

“对，是这样，"

1 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

2 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

3 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

4 stature   

n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材

参考例句：

• He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
• The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。

5 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

6 accomplices   

从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was given away by one of his accomplices. 他被一个同伙出卖了。
• The chief criminals shall be punished without fail, those who are accomplices under duress shall go unpunished and those who perform deeds of merIt'shall be rewarded. 首恶必办， 胁从不问，立功受奖。

7 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

8 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。