英文名著分集阅读 柯南·道尔《福尔摩斯与赛马》part6
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Sherlock Holmes and the Sport of Kings by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
单词提示
1.tendon 肌腱
原文
Chapter 6: Holmes has the answers
On the train back to London, Holmes told us the story behind the mystery, and the time went very quickly.
"Before we went down to King's Pyland," my friend began, "I thought it was Fitzroy Simpson. But when we arrived at the stables, I suddenly remembered the hot meat curry. Why didn't I think of it before? That, you see, was the beginning."
"The meat curry?" said Mr. Ross, thinking about it, "How did the meat curry help you?"
"Do you know the taste of opium?" Holmes said.
"No."
"Well, it's not a very strong taste, but it's there. You can taste it in most food, but not in curry. Curry has a very strong taste,stronger than opium. So the killer says 'I need a night, when the dinner is a meat curry, then Ned Hunter can eat his dinner happily without the taste of opium and go to sleep.'
But did Fitzroy Simpson know that curry was the dinner on Monday night? Of course not. How could he? He didn't make the dinner, he was a stranger at King's Pyland. He knew nobody in the trainer's house. So, we forget Simpson and think again.Who knew about the curry before dinner on that Monday night?"
"John Straker and his wife," I said, "And the servant."
"Right,Watson, and so on to the next question about the dog. We know there was a dog in the stables that night, because Ned Hunter took the dog out when Simpson was there. Then in the middle of the night, someone went into the stables and took out a horse. The two boys sleeping upstairs in the stables heard nothing,because there was nothing to hear. The dog did not bark, why not?"
"Aha!"said Mr. Ross, "It didn't bark because it knew the visitor. Dogs only bark at strangers."
"Right again, so the midnight visitor was John Straker. But why did he take the horse out? What did he want? It was something dishonest? or why did he put opium in his stable boy's dinner? We all know about dishonest trainers, they can make a lot of money, they put big bets against their own horse and then stop their horse winning, but how? What was Straker's plan here? Perhaps the answer was in his pockets, I thought.
And so it was. you remember the strange knife? Doctor Watson here told us about it-an eye knife, used by doctors in hospitals. With a knife like this, you can make a cut, a very, very small cut in the tendon of a horse's back leg. Nobody can seethe cut, and the horse only feels it a little. He's not lame, but he doesn't run his best, so he cannot win the race."
"And Straker wanted to do this to my horse," cried Mr. Ross, "How could he? I thought he was a good man."
"No,"said Holmes, "He wasn't a good man or a careful one, No horse stands quietly when a knife goes into its back leg, Straker didn't want anyone to heart he noise, so he took the horse out onto the moor.
"The candle and the match!" I said, "Of course."
"That's right," Holmes said, "And I learnt more from Straker's pockets, too. You are a man of the world, Mr. Ross, do men carry other men's bills around in their pockets? No, they do not. So, who was Mr. Derbyshire?Another name for John Straight, and there was a lady in the case, too. A very expensive lady. I talk to Mrs. Straker about the dress and the hat on the bill,but she knew nothing about them."
"Andon Monday night, out on the moor," said Mr. Ross, "What happened, do you think?"
"How about this?" said Holmes, "Straker takes the horse down the hill. He sees Simpson's scarf on the ground and takes it with him. Why? I don't know, he puts his coat on a tree, gets out the candle and the matches and the knife, and begins his work, but Silver Blaze doesn't like it. Perhaps he's afraid, perhaps he feels something is wrong. He's a big strong horse, and he gets angry. He kicks out with his back legs, and the horse shoes hit Straker on the head. Straker goes down into the mud and the knife in his hand goes into his own leg. The horse disappears into the night."
"Wonderful!"Mr. Ross said, "You tell it very well, Mr. Holmes, I see it all now."
"And the sheep," I asked, "What about the sheep? You told Inspector Gregory that they were important."
"Yes,Watson, the sheep," Holmes smiled "And they were important. It's not easy to make a very small cut in an animal's tendon, and Straker did not want to get it wrong. He needed to practice first, but what onthere were his own sheep right in front of him.
"And where did you go in London, the day after we got back?" I asked, "Was it to that dressmaker on the bill for Mr. Derbyshire?"
"Very good, Watson," Holmes laughed, "Yes, I had a photograph of Straker,and the dressmaker knew him at once. 'Oh, yes,' she said, 'That's Mr. Derbyshire do a lot of work for him. Mrs. Derbyshire is a very beautiful lady, and she likes expensive dresses. '"
Holmes laughed again, "It's an old, old story, Straker is not the first man with two women in his life. He needed more money for the expensive Mrs. Derbyshire,so he thought of this plan with Silver Blaze, and there you have it, Mr. Ross."
"Yes,I understand it all now," said Mr. Ross, "And thank you very much, Mr.Holmes. There's just one thing-where was the horse?"
"Yes,the horse was safe and well and with a friend," said Sherlock Holmes, "I can't tell you who or where, because I made a promise. But here we are, nearly in London, you have the answer to the mystery, Mr. Ross. You are the winner of the Wessex Cup and the owner of the fastest racehorse in the South of England.What more do you need?"
翻译
第六章：福尔摩斯的答案
在回伦敦的火车上，福尔摩斯给我们讲了这个谜后面的事情真相，不知不觉时间过得飞快。
"我们去金斯皮兰之前，"我的朋友开口说道，"我以为是菲茨罗伊·辛普森干的。但当我们走到马厩那儿的时候，我突然想起那些热的咖哩烧肉。在这之前我怎么没想到这个呢?瞧，这就是事件的开端......"
"咖哩烧肉......"罗斯先生说着，回想了一下。"呃，咖哩烧肉对你有什么启发?"
"你知道麻鸦片的味道吗?"福尔摩斯说，"不知道?呃，那种味道不怎么浓烈，但能感觉到。大多数食物里放了麻醉剂都能尝出来，但在咖哩里尝不出来。咖哩味道很浓，比麻醉剂味道还重。所以凶手说：'我需要找个吃咖哩烧肉的晚上，这样内德·亨特就会愉快地享受晚餐，不会尝出鸦片的味道--然后就睡着了。'
但菲茨罗伊·辛普森知道星期一晚上的晚餐是咖哩吗?当然不知道。他怎么能知道呢?晚餐又不是他做的。他不是金斯皮兰人，也不认识驯马师家里的任何人。所以，我们排除了辛普森，开始重新思考。星期一晚上，谁在晚饭前就知道有咖哩呢?"
"约翰·斯特雷克和他妻子，"我说，"还有那个佣人。"
"没错，华生。然后是下一个问题，关于狗的。我们知道那天晚上马厩里有一条狗，因为辛普森在的时候内德·亨特把狗牵出来了。然后深夜里有人进了马厩，牵走了一匹马。睡在马厩楼上的两个小马倌没听到动静，因为根本就没什么动静。狗没有叫。为什么没叫呢?"
"啊哈!"罗斯先生说，"狗没叫是因为它认识来的人。狗只对着生人叫。"
"又说对了。也就是说，深夜来的人就是约翰·斯特雷克。但他为什么要把马带出去呢?他想干什么?肯定是什么不光彩的事，不然他为什么要在自己的马倌的饭里下鸦片?我们都知道有些不老实的驯马师，他们能赚很多钱--他们下重注赌自己的马输，然后阻止自己的马赢得比赛。但怎么做呢?斯特雷克的计划是什么?我想，答案没准就在他的口袋里。
"确实如此。你还记得那把奇怪的小刀吗?这位华生医生告诉了我们那是什么--一把眼科手术刀，是医院里的医生用的。你可以用这样一把刀制造一个伤口--一个非常非常小的伤口--在马的后腿肌腱上。没人会看见这个伤口，马也只有一点点感觉。马不会瘸，但不能发挥最好的水平，这样就无法赢得比赛。"
"斯特雷克想用这种手段对付我的马?"罗斯先生叫道，"他怎么能这样?我原以为他是个好人!"
"不，"福尔摩斯说，"他不是好人--也不是个小心的人。当一把刀刺进后腿的时候，没有哪匹马会安安静静地站着。斯特雷克不想让人听见动静，于是他就把马牵到了高沼地里。"
"蜡烛，还有火柴，"我说，"当然是这样!"
"不错，"福尔摩斯说，"我从斯特雷克的口袋里还知道了更多情况。罗斯先生，你是个通晓世故的人。人们会把其他人的账单放在口袋里随身带着吗?不，他们不会。那么达比希雷先生是谁呢?那是约翰·斯特雷克的另一个名字。这个案子里还有一位女士。一位阔绰的女士。我向斯特雷克夫人试探了账单上列出的衣服和帽子，但她对这些东西一无所知。"
"那星期一晚上，在高沼地里，"罗斯先生说，"你认为发生了什么事?"
"这个怎么样?"福尔摩斯说，"斯特雷克把马带到山脚下。他看见辛普森的围巾在地上，就捡了起来--为什么，我也不知道。他把外套挂在一棵树上，取出蜡烛和火柴，还有那把刀，开始于他的活计。但'银光'不喜欢这样。或许它受了惊，或许它觉得有什么不对劲。它是匹高大强壮的马，而且不耐烦了。它扬起后腿踢了出去，马蹄正中斯特雷克的脑袋。斯特雷克倒了下去，跌在泥地里，他手里的刀划到了自己的腿。那匹马消失在夜色中。"
"太精彩了!"罗斯先生说，"你讲得太生动了，福尔摩斯先生，我现在全明白了。"
"还有那些羊呢?"我问道，"那些羊是怎么回事?你对格雷戈里巡官说它们很重要。"
"啊，对了，华生，那些羊。"福尔摩斯笑了起来。"它们的确很重要。在动物的肌腱上划一个小伤口不是那么容易，斯特雷克不想失手。他得先练习，但在哪儿练呢?他自己的羊，就在他面前。"
"我们回伦敦后第二天你去哪儿了?"我问道，"是去达比希雷先生账单上那个裁缝那儿吗?"
"太棒了，华生!"福尔摩斯大笑。"对，我拿了张斯特雷克的照片，那个裁缝一眼就认出他了。'哦，是的，'她说，'这是达比希雷先生。我替他做了很多衣服。达比希雷夫人是一位很美的女士，她喜欢昂贵的衣服。'"福尔摩斯又笑起来。"这是个老掉牙的故事。斯特雷克不是第一个享受齐人之福的男人。他需要更多的钱来满足那位奢侈的达比希雷夫人，于是他打起了'银光'的主意。现在你知道是怎么回事了，罗斯先生。"
"对，我现在全明白了，"罗斯先生说，"福尔摩斯先生，太谢谢你了。不过还有件事。马当时在哪里?"
"啊，对。那匹马当时很安全，状况良好，跟一位朋友在一起。"福尔摩斯说，"我不能告诉你它跟谁在一起，或者在什么地方，因为我作出了承诺。不过，我们现在已经快到伦敦了。罗斯先生，你已经知道了谜底，又赢得了韦塞克斯杯，还是英格兰南部速度最快的赛马的主人。你还有什么不满足的呢?"
