皮漏斗之谜（16）

 

“‘She gazed without wincing¹ upon the wooden horse and rings which had twisted so many limbs and caused so many shrieks² of agony. When her eyes fell upon the three pails of water, which were all ready for her, she said with a smile, “All that water must have been brought here for the purpose of drowning me, Monsieur. You have no idea, I trust, of making a person of my small stature³ swallow it all.”’ Shall I read the details of the torture?”

“No, for Heaven’s sake, don’t.”

“Here is a sentence which must surely show you that what is here recorded is the very scene which you have gazed upon tonight: ‘The good Abbe Pirot, unable to contemplate⁴ the agonies which were suffered by his penitent⁵, had hurried from the room.’ Does that convince you?”

“It does entirely⁶. There can be no question that it is indeed the same event. But who, then, is this lady whose appearance was so attractive and whose end was so horrible?”

For answer Dacre came across to me, and placed the small lamp upon the table which stood by my bed. Lifting up the ill-omened filler, he turned the brass⁷ rim⁸ so that the light fell full upon it. Seen in this way the engraving⁹ seemed clearer than on the night before.

“We have already agreed that this is the badge of a marquis or of a marquise,” said he. “We have also settled that the last letter is B.”

“It is undoubtedly¹⁰ so.”

“她毫不畏缩地望着木马和铁环，这里不知扭断过多少肢体，不知多少人被折磨得发出痛苦的尖叫。她的目光落在三只水桶上，那全是为她准备的，她面带微笑地说：“先生，这么多水，一定是为淹死我用的。我相信，你并不知道像我这样小的身体是否能装下这么多水。”还要我接着读行刑的细节吗？"“不，看在上帝的面上，别念了。"

“有句话一定要读给你听，那可以证明你今晚看见的一幕就是这本书所记载的事情！善良的皮罗神父无法看着他的忏悔者遭受酷刑，已经走出房间。这回你相信了吧？”

“我完全相信了。毫无疑问，这确实是同一件事情。可是，这个女子，容貌如此美丽，而结局如此悲惨，她究竟是谁”

达克走到我身边，把小小的油灯放在床前的桌上，拿起那个不吉利的皮漏斗，把铜镶边对着灯光，上面的雕刻显得比原先清晰了些。

“我们已经知道，这是侯爵的标志，”他说道，“我们也已经认出最后的字母是B。"“毫无疑问。”

1 wincing   

赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She switched on the light, wincing at the sudden brightness. 她打开了灯，突如其来的强烈光线刺得她不敢睜眼。
• "I will take anything," he said, relieved, and wincing under reproof. “我什么事都愿意做，"他说，松了一口气，缩着头等着挨骂。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

2 shrieks   

n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• shrieks of fiendish laughter 恶魔般的尖笑声
• For years, from newspapers, broadcasts, the stages and at meetings, we had heard nothing but grandiloquent rhetoric delivered with shouts and shrieks that deafened the ears. 多少年来， 报纸上， 广播里， 舞台上， 会场上的声嘶力竭，装腔做态的高调搞得我们震耳欲聋。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 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。

4 contemplate   

vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视

参考例句：

• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate.战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。
• The consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.后果不堪设想。

5 penitent   

adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者

参考例句：

• They all appeared very penitent,and begged hard for their lives.他们一个个表示悔罪，苦苦地哀求饶命。
• She is deeply penitent.她深感愧疚。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

8 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

9 engraving   

n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• He collected an old engraving of London Bridge. 他收藏了一张古老的伦敦桥版画。 来自辞典例句
• Some writing has the precision of a steel engraving. 有的字体严谨如同钢刻。 来自辞典例句

10 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。