四签名 30樱沼别墅的惨案（5）

Sherlock Holmes bent¹ down to it and instantly rose again with a sharp intaking of the breath.

歇洛克·福尔摩斯弯下腰从钥匙孔往里看了看，立刻又站起来，倒吸了一大口气。

"There is something devilish in this, Watson," said he, more moved than I had ever before seen him. "What do you make of it?"

我从来没有看见过他这样激动。他说："华生，这儿确实是有点可怕，你来看看这是怎么一回事。"

I stooped to the hole and recoiled² in horror.

我从钥匙孔往里一望，吓得我立刻缩了回来。

Moonlight was streaming into the room, and it was bright with a vague and shifty radiance.

淡淡的月光直照屋内，隐约中有一张好象挂在半空中的脸

Looking straight at me and suspended, as it were, in the air, for all beneath was in shadow,

在向我注视，脸以下都浸在黑影里。

there hung a face–the very face of our companion Thaddeus.

这个脸和我们的伙伴塞笛厄斯的脸完全一样，

There was the same high, shining head, the same circular bristle³ of red hair, the same bloodless countenance⁴.

同样的光亮的秃顶，同样的一撮红发，同样的无血色的脸，可是表情是死板板的。

The features were set, however, in a horrible smile, a fixed⁵ and unnatural⁶ grin,

一种可怕的狞笑，一种不自然露出牙齿的笑。

which in that still and moonlit room was more jarring to the nerves than any scowl⁷ or contortion⁸.

在这样沉寂和月光照耀之下的屋里，看到这样的笑脸，比看到愁眉苦脸的样子更使人毛骨悚然。

So like was the face to that of our little friend that I looked round at him to make sure that he was indeed with us.

屋里的脸这样同我们那矮小的朋友相像，我不免回过头来看看他是否还在身边。

Then I recalled to mind that he had mentioned to us that his brother and he were twins.

我忽然又想起来他曾经说过，他和他哥哥是孪生兄弟。

"This is terrible!" I said to Holmes. "What is to be done?"

我向福尔摩斯说道："这太可怕啦，怎么办呢？"

"The door must come down," he answered, and springing against it, he put all his weight upon the lock.

他答道："门一定要打开。"说着就对着门跳上去，把全身重量都加到锁上。

It creaked and groaned⁹ but did not yield.

门响了响，可是没有推开。

Together we flung ourselves upon it once more, and this time it gave way with a sudden snap,

我们就一起合力猛冲，这次砰的一声，门锁断了，

and we found ourselves within Bartholomew Sholto's chamber¹⁰.

我们已进入了巴索洛谬的屋里。

It appeared to have been fitted up as a chemical laboratory.

这间屋子收拾得好象是化学试验室。

A double line of glass-stoppered bottles was drawn¹¹ up upon the wall opposite the door,

对着门的墙上摆着两层带玻璃塞的玻璃瓶子。

and the table was littered over with Bunsen burners, test-tubes, and retorts.

桌子上摆满了本生灯、试验管和蒸馏气。

In the corners stood carboys of acid in wicker baskets.

墙的一角有许多盛着酸类的瓶子，外面笼着藤络。

One of these appeared to leak or to have been broken, for a stream of dark- coloured liquid had trickled¹² out from it,

其中一个似乎已经破漏，流出来一股黑色的液体。

and the air was heavy with a peculiarly pungent¹⁴, tarlike odour.

空气中充满了一种特别刺鼻的柏油气味。

A set of steps stood at one side of the room in the midst of a litter of lath and plaster,

屋的一边，在一堆散乱的板条和灰泥上，立着一副梯子，

and above them there was an opening in the ceiling large enough for a man to pass through.

梯子上面的天花板上有一个洞，大小可以容人出入。

At the foot of the steps a long coil of rope was thrown carelessly together.

梯子下面有一卷长绳，零乱地盘放在地上。

By the table in a wooden armchair the master of the house was seated all in a heap,

在桌子旁边的一张有扶手的木椅上，坐着房间的主人，

with his head sunk upon his left shoulder and that ghastly, inscrutable smile upon his face.

头歪在左肩上，面露惨笑。他已变得僵冷，显然是已经死去很久了。

He was stiff and cold and had clearly been dead many hours.

看来不只他的面孔表情特别，

It seemed to me that not only his features but all his limbs were twisted and turned in the most fantastic fashion.

就是他的四肢也蜷曲得和正常死人不同。

By his hand upon the table there lay a peculiar¹³ instrument–a brown, close-grained stick,

他那扶在桌子上的一只手旁边，放着一个奇怪的器具

with a stone head like a hammer, rudely lashed¹⁵ on with coarse twine¹⁶.

一个粗糙的棕色木棒，上面用粗麻线捆着一块石头，象是一把锤子。

Beside it was a torn sheet of note-paper with some words scrawled¹⁷ upon it.

旁边放着一张从记事簿上撕下来的破纸，上边潦草地写着几个字。

1 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

2 recoiled   

v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回

参考例句：

• She recoiled from his touch. 她躲开他的触摸。
• Howard recoiled a little at the sharpness in my voice. 听到我的尖声，霍华德往后缩了一下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 bristle   

v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发

参考例句：

• It has a short stumpy tail covered with bristles.它粗短的尾巴上鬃毛浓密。
• He bristled with indignation at the suggestion that he was racist.有人暗示他是个种族主义者，他对此十分恼火。

4 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

5 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

6 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

7 scowl   

vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容

参考例句：

• I wonder why he is wearing an angry scowl.我不知道他为何面带怒容。
• The boss manifested his disgust with a scowl.老板面带怒色，清楚表示出他的厌恶之感。

8 contortion   

n.扭弯，扭歪，曲解

参考例句：

• I had to admire the contortions of the gymnasts.我不得不为这些体操运动员们高难度的扭体动作而赞叹。
• This sentence was spoken with the bitterness of self-upbraiding,and a contortion of visage absolutely demoniacal.这话是用辛辣的自我谴责的口吻说出来的，说话时他的面孔也歪扭得象个地道的魔鬼。

9 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

11 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

12 trickled   

v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动

参考例句：

• Blood trickled down his face. 血从他脸上一滴滴流下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The tears trickled down her cheeks. 热泪一滴滴从她脸颊上滚下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 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。

14 pungent   

adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a pungent style.文章写得泼辣。
• Its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hideouts.它的刺激性气味会令恐怖分子窒息，迫使他们从藏身地点逃脱出来。

15 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 twine   

v.搓，织，编饰；（使）缠绕

参考例句：

• He tied the parcel with twine.他用细绳捆包裹。
• Their cardboard boxes were wrapped and tied neatly with waxed twine.他们的纸板盒用蜡线扎得整整齐齐。

17 scrawled   

乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I tried to read his directions, scrawled on a piece of paper. 我尽量弄明白他草草写在一片纸上的指示。
• Tom scrawled on his slate, "Please take it -- I got more." 汤姆在他的写字板上写了几个字：“请你收下吧，我多得是哩。”