红发会 08奇怪的广告(3)（在线收听）

'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he asked with his eyes open.

斯波尔丁两只眼睛瞪得大大地反问我说，'你从来没有听过红发会的事吗？'

'Never.' 'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one of the vacancies.'

'从来没有听说过。''你这么说倒使我感到莫名其妙了，因为你自己就有资格去申请那个空着的职位。'

'And what are they worth?' I asked.

'给多少钱呢？'我问道。

'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight,

'一年只给二百英镑，但这个工作很轻松，

and it need not interfere very much with one's other occupations.'

如果你已有别的职务也并不碍事。'

Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears,

好，你们不难想见，这真使我侧耳恭听啊，

for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an extra couple of hundred would have been very handy.

因为好些年来，我的生意并不怎么好，这笔额外的二百英镑如能到手，那简直是来得太容易了。

'Tell me all about it,' said I.

于是我对他说，'你把事情告诉我吧。'

'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for yourself that the League has a vacancy,

"他边把广告指给我看边说，'好，你自己看吧，红发会有个空缺，

and there is the address where you should apply for particulars.

这广告上有地址，到那里可以办理申请手续。

As far as I can make out, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways.

据我了解，红发会的发起人是一个名叫伊齐基亚·霍普金斯的美国百万富翁。这个人作风很古怪。

He was himself red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men;

他自己的头发就是红的，并且对所有红头发的人怀有深厚的感情。

so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees,

他死后大家才知道，原来他把他的巨大的财产留交给财产受托管理人处理，

with instructions to apply the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of that colour.

他留下遗嘱要用他的遗产的利息让红头发的男子有个舒适的差事。

From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to do.'

从我所听到的来说，待遇很高，要干的活倒很少。'