血字的研究 09演绎法(4)（在线收听）

During the first week or so we had no callers,

在头一两个星期中，没有人来拜访我们。

and I had begun to think that my companion was as friendless a man as I was myself.

我曾以为我的伙伴也象我一样，孤零零的没有朋友。

Presently, however, I found that he had many acquaintances, and those in the most different classes of society.

可是，不久我就发现他有许多相识，而且是来自社会上各个迥然不同的阶层的。

There was one little sallow, rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow,

其中有一个人面色发黄，獐头鼠目，生着一双黑色的眼睛。

who was introduced to me as Mr. Lestrade, and who came three or four times in a single week.

经福尔摩斯介绍，我知道他叫雷斯垂德先生。这个人每星期要来三四次。

One morning a young girl called, fashionably dressed, and stayed for half an hour or more.

一天早上，有一个时髦的年轻姑娘来了，坐了半个多钟头才走。

The same afternoon brought a gray-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew peddler,

当天下午，又来了一个头发灰白、衣衫褴褛的客人，模样儿很象个犹太小贩，

who appeared to me to be much excited, and who was closely followed by a slipshod elderly woman.

他的神情似乎非常紧张，身后还紧跟着一个邋邋遢遢的老妇人。

On another occasion an old white- haired gentleman had an interview with my companion;

还有一次，一个白发绅士拜访了我的伙伴；

and on another, a railway porter in his velveteen uniform.

另外一回，一个穿着棉绒制服的火车上的茶房来找他。

When any of these nondescript individuals put in an appearance,

每当这些奇特的客人出现的时候，

Sherlock Holmes used to beg for the use of the sitting-room, and I would retire to my bedroom.

歇洛克·福尔摩斯总是请求让他使用品居室，我也只好回到我的卧室里去。

He always apologized to me for putting me to this inconvenience.

他因为给我带来这样的不便，常常向我道歉。

“I have to use this room as a place of business,” he said, “and these people are my clients.”

他说："我不得不利用这间起居室作为办公的地方，这些人都是我的顾客。"

Again I had an opportunity of asking him a point-blank question,

这一次，我又找到了一个单刀直入向他提出问题的好机会，

and again my delicacy prevented me from forcing another man to confide in me.

但是，为了谨慎起见，我又没有勉强他对我吐露真情。

I imagined at the time that he had some strong reason for not alluding to it,

我当时想，他不谈出他的职业，一定有某种重大理由。

but he soon dispelled the idea by coming round to the subject of his own accord.

但是，他不久就主动地谈到了这个问题，打破了我原来的想法。

It was upon the 4th of March, as I have good reason to remember, that I rose somewhat earlier than usual,

我记得很清楚，那是三月四日，我比平时期得早了一些；

and found that Sherlock Holmes had not yet finished his breakfast.

我发现福尔摩斯还没有吃完早餐。

The landlady had become so accustomed to my late habits that my place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared.

房东太太一向知道我有晚起的习惯，因此餐桌上没有安排我的座位，我的一份咖啡也没有预备好。

With the unreasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt intimation that I was ready.

我一时没有道理地发起火来，立刻按铃，简捷地告诉房东太太，我已准备吃早餐。

Then I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it,

于是我从桌上拿起一本杂志翻翻，借此消磨等待的时间，

while my companion munched silently at his toast.

而我的同伴却一声不响地只管嚼着他的面包。

One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.

杂志上有一篇文章，标题下面有人画了铅笔道，我自然而然地就先看了这一篇。

Its somewhat ambitious title was “The Book of Life,”

文章的标题似乎有些夸大，叫做什么"生活宝鉴"。

and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way.

这篇文章企图说明：一个善于观察的人，如果对他所接触的事物加以精确而系统地观察，他将有多么大的收获。

It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity.

我觉得这篇文章很突出，虽有其精明独到之处，但也未免荒唐可笑；

The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far fetched and exaggerated.

在论理上，它严密而紧凑；但是在论断上，据我看来，却未免牵强附会，夸大其辞。

The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thoughts.

作者声称，从一个人瞬息之间的表情，肌肉的每一牵动以及眼睛的每一转动，都可以推测出他内心深处的想法来。

Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis.

根据作者的说法，对于一个在观察和分析上素有锻炼的人来说，"欺骗"是不可能的事。

His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid.

他所作出的结论真和欧几里得的定理一样的准确。

So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes

而这些结论，在一些门外汉看来，确实惊人，在他们弄明白他所以得到这样结论的各个步骤以前，

by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.

他们真会把他当作一个未卜先知的神人。