雙語對照 | 書蟲二級《莫爾格街兇殺案》：6.這是瘋子所為

6.A madman has done this

6.這是瘋子所為

'You will see,' my friend went on, 'that I have tried to answer another question. Not just "How did the murderer get out of the room?", but also "How did he get into it?" He used the same window both ways, I think.'

“你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，”我的朋友繼續(xù)說，“我還一直想回答另外一個問題。”不光是‘兇手如何逃出房間?’，還有‘他是如何進來的?’我認為他出入都是靠著這扇窗戶和同樣的方法。

'But now, let's look again at the room. You remember that on the floor there were two bags of gold, which Adolphe Le Bon carried to the house three days before.' The police are so excited by this! Nearly four thousand francs in gold! Here, they say, is the motive for the murder. Well, four thousand francs in gold is a lot of money, and is certainly a possible motive for murder. But remember, my friend, the gold was not taken—it was still there, on the floor. So what kind of thief is that? A very, very stupid one, a thief who murders two women and then when he leaves, forgets to take the gold with him! No, no, we must forget the gold. It was not the motive for these murders.

“但是現(xiàn)在，讓我們再回到房間里。你記得吧，地上有阿道夫·勒邦三天前帶到那兒的兩袋子黃金。警方看到這些很是激動!將近4,000法郎的黃金啊!他們說這就是兇手的作案動機所在。的確，4,000法郎的黃金是很大一筆錢，當然可能是兇手的一個作案動機。但記住，我的朋友，金子并沒被拿走——它仍舊在那兒，放在地板上。這到底是怎樣一種竊賊啊?他愚蠢至極，殺害了兩個女人，走時卻忘了帶上金子!不，不，我們必須忘掉黃金。這不是這樁兇殺案的動機。”

'So far, then, the picture is like this. We have a murderer with a peculiar voice, and who is unusually agile. We have a murder without motive, a murder that is brutal and horrible even for the worst kind of criminal. How many murderers kill with their own hands, and then push the body, head downwards, up a chimney? And how strong our murderer is! He pushed the body up alone, but it took three or four people to pull it down. And think of those handfuls of long grey hair on the floor. Have you ever tried to pull hair out of someone's head? You need to be very strong to do that. You also need to be strong to cut right through someone's neck—with just a razor. And why did the old lady have so many broken bones? Because the murderer pushed her body through the open window, and it fell down onto the stones of the yard below.

“那么到目前為止，這幅畫面是這樣的。這個兇手聲音古怪、動作異常敏捷。這個兇手沒有作案動機，這個兇手的恐怖兇殘甚至令最兇惡的罪犯也望塵莫及。有多少兇手會用手掐死被害人，然后把尸體頭朝下地塞進煙囪呢?而且這個兇手會是多么強壯啊!他一個人就把尸體塞了進去，可是要三四個人一起才能把尸體拽出來。想想地板上那幾撮灰色的長發(fā)。你有沒有試過拔掉別人的頭發(fā)?你必須非常強壯才行。你也必須非常強壯，才能夠扎穿人的脖子——只用一把剃刀扎穿人的脖子。老太太為什么有如此多處的骨折呢?因為兇手把她的尸體從開著的窗戶推了出去，尸體摔在了后院的石地上。”

'One more thing to finish the picture. Remember what the room looked like-broken chairs and tables everywhere, the mattress on the floor, nothing in its place. Now, surely, our picture is finished. What kind of murderer is so unusually strong, so unusually agile, has so peculiar a voice, kills in so brutal and horrible a way, without motive? Tell me, what is the answer?'

“給這幅畫面加上最后一筆。還記得那個房間什么樣子吧——殘桌破椅到處都是，床墊甩在地板上，一切都面目全非。好，現(xiàn)在我們的這幅圖畫完成了。是什么樣的兇手，如此異常的強壯而又異常的敏捷，聲音如此古怪，作案如此粗暴兇殘，而又沒有作案動機?告訴我，答案是什么?”

I felt a little ill when Dupin asked me this question. I shook my head. 'A madman,' I said, 'has done this—a wild and horrible madman, who has escaped from some hospital somewhere.'

杜邦的問題讓我有點難受。我搖了搖頭。“是一個瘋子，”我說，“是一個瘋子干的——一個從某個醫(yī)院逃出來的粗野恐怖的瘋子。”

'That is a possible answer, certainly,' Dupin replied. 'But even madmen do not have as peculiar a voice as the one heard on the stairs. Madmen speak a language of some kind. Perhaps they say strange things, but at least they speak in words. Now, there is one more thing ...'

“當然那也是一種可能，”杜邦答道，“但是就算是瘋子也不會發(fā)出在樓梯上聽到的那種古怪的聲音。瘋子總歸要說某一種語言的。他們可能會說一些奇奇怪怪的東西，但至少他們說的是字詞。哦，還有一件東西……”

Dupin put his hand in his pocket and took something out. He put it on his hand and held it out to me. It was some short, orangey-brown hair.

杜邦把手伸進口袋掏出了點什么。他把它放在手里伸給我看。是一撮棕黃色的短發(fā)。

'I took this from between the fingers of Madame L'Espanaye's hand,' he said. 'What do you make of it?'

“這是我從埃斯巴耐夫人的手指縫里找到的。”他說，“你怎么看?”

'Dupin!' I said, astonished and afraid. 'This hair is most unusual. It is not human hair!'

“杜邦!”我既驚訝又害怕，“這毛發(fā)很不一般。它不是人的毛發(fā)!”

'Did I say it was?' Dupin said. He put the hair back into his pocket, and then showed me a piece of paper. 'You remember the marks on the neck of Mademoiselle L'Espanaye—marks made by the fingers that killed her? Here is a drawing of those marks, just as they were on the neck. Now, please put your hand on the paper, with all your fingers in the same places as the marks.'

“我說過它是人的毛發(fā)嗎?”杜邦說道。他把那些毛發(fā)放回口袋，然后拿給我一張紙。“還記得埃斯巴耐小姐脖子上的指痕嗎——殺害她的兇手留下的指痕?這是按照脖子上的指痕描下來的指痕圖?，F(xiàn)在，請把你的手放在紙上，每根手指都要放在和指痕一模一樣的位置上。”

I tried to do this, but could not. I don't have small hands, but my fingers were much shorter and my hand much narrower than the marks on the drawing.

我試了一下，卻做不到。我的手并不算小，可是和圖上的指痕比起來，我的手指短很多，手掌也窄很多。

'These marks,' I said, 'were not made by a human hand.'

“這些指痕，”我說，“不是人的手留下的。”

Dupin stood up and went to get a book from the table behind him. He brought the book to me.

杜邦站起來從他后面的桌子上拿了一本書。他把書遞給我。

'I want you to read this page,' he said.

“我想讓你看看這頁。”他說。

The page described an animal that is found in the East Indian Islands—the orang-outang. It is a very large animal, bigger than a man, and is strong, agile, clever, and very, very dangerous. At once I understood just how horrible these murders were.

這頁書講的是在東印度群島發(fā)現(xiàn)的一種動物——猩猩。它非常高大，比人的塊頭要大得多，強壯、敏捷、聰明，并且極其危險。我一下子明白這樁兇殺案有多么恐怖了。

'Your drawing of the marks made by the fingers,' I said, 'is just as the book describes the orang-outang's hand. Also, the book describes its orangey-brown hair, which sounds just like the hair you showed me. But I still can't understand this terrible mystery. People heard two voices arguing—and the other voice was the voice of a Frenchman. Everybody agreed about that.'

“你畫的指痕，”我說，“和這本書上描述的猩猩的手掌一模一樣。還有，書上有關于它棕黃色皮毛的描述，聽起來就和你給我看的那撮一樣?？墒俏胰匀幌氩煌ㄟ@樁可怕的迷案。人們聽到了兩個爭吵的聲音——其中一個是一個法國男人的。這一點人們達成了共識。”

'True,' said Dupin. 'And you will remember two of the words they heard—Mon Dieu. When do we say this? When we are angry, afraid, surprised, unhappy ... I have thought about these words and made a little picture of this Frenchman, which will answer all the questions in this mystery. This is my picture. A Frenchman brings home an orang-outang from the East Indian Islands, but one night the animal escapes from him. Our Frenchman follows it through the city, trying to catch it. When the orang-outang gets into the house in the Rue Morgue, the Frenchman sees what happens, but cannot catch the animal or stop it killing the two women.

“對，”杜邦說，“你一定記得他們聽到的那個詞——‘天啊’。什么情況下我們才會說這個呢?生氣、害怕、驚訝、郁悶……我仔細地想了想這些話，對這個法國人有了一個大致的描繪，有了這個，迷案中的所有問題就可以迎刃而解。這就是我的描繪。一個法國男人從東印度群島帶回了一只猩猩，但一天晚上猩猩從他那里逃跑了。這個法國人為了抓住它就跟著它在城里跑來跑去。后來猩猩闖進了莫爾格街的房子，這個法國人目睹了發(fā)生的一切，卻無法抓住那動物或阻止它殺害那兩個女人。”

'Is this picture a true one? Of course, I don't know. But if I am right, the Frenchman himself is innocent of these murders. And if he is innocent, perhaps he will answer my advertisement. I left it at the office of Le Monde newspaper on our way home last night.'

“這個描繪的真實性如何呢?我當然不知道。但如果我是正確的，那這樁兇殺案就不是這個法國人本人干的。而如果他是清白的，他就有可能回應我的啟事。昨晚在我們回家的路上我把這個給了《世界報》報社。”

Dupin gave me a piece of paper, and I read this:

杜邦遞給我一張紙，上面寫著：

CAUGHT IN THE BOIS DE BOULOGNE, early in the morning of the 4th of June, a large orang-outang, probably from the East Indian Islands. The owner, who is a sailor on a Maltese ship, can have the animal back if he comes to the following address in the Faubourg St. Germain...

6月4日清晨，在布洛涅的樹林里抓到了一只可能來自東印度群島的大猩猩。它的主人，一個在馬耳他船上工作的水手，可以到圣日爾曼區(qū)領回這只動物，地址如下……

Once again, I was astonished by what Dupin knew. 'How could you possibly know,' I asked, 'that the man was a sailor, and that he belonged to a Maltese ship?'

我又一次被杜邦所知道的東西嚇了一跳。“你怎么會知道，”我問道，“那個人是一名水手，并且又在一條馬耳他船上工作呢?”

'I do not know it,' said Dupin. 'I am not sure of it. But I found this small piece of ribbon on the ground at the bottom of the lightning-rod. Look.'

“我不知道，”杜邦說。“我也不能肯定。但是我在避雷針底下的地面上發(fā)現(xiàn)了這條細絲帶。你看。”

He gave me the ribbon to look at. It was a dark-red colour, and old and dirty.

他把絲帶遞給我看。絲帶是深紅色的，又舊又臟。

'Sailors always use ribbons like these,' Dupin said, 'to tie back their long hair. And this colour is a favourite of Maltese sailors. You see, if I am right about this, it will make the man think carefully.'

“水手們經(jīng)常用這樣的絲帶，”杜邦說，“把長發(fā)扎在后面。這個顏色是馬耳他水手們很喜歡的一種。你看，如果我的這些推斷是正確的，這個人可得好好盤算一下了。”

'But will he answer the advertisement?' I said. 'He saw the terrible things that his orang-outang did. Won't he be afraid to say he is its owner?'

“但是他會回應那則啟事嗎?”我說道，“他目睹了他的猩猩的胡作非為，他難道不害怕承認自己是猩猩的主人嗎?”

'Yes, he will he a little afraid,' said Dupin. 'But I hope that he will think like this, and will say to himself: I am innocent. I am poor. I can sell my orang-outang for a lot of money, and I don't want to lose that money. What danger am I in? They found the animal in the Bois de Boulogne—a long way from that house in the Rue Morgue. Who will ever know that the orang-outang did those murders? Or that I saw what happened? The police know nothing. But this advertiser knows something about me. If he wants to, he can find me easily. If I don't answer the advertisement, perhaps he will think that I have something to hide. He will start asking questions, about the animal, or about me, perhaps. No, it's better for me to answer the advertisement, get the orang-outang back, and keep the animal hidden away for a time.'

“對，他一定會有些害怕，”杜邦說，“不過我希望他會這么想，這樣告訴他自己：我是清白的。我很窮。我的猩猩可以賣好大一筆錢，我可不想白白丟了這筆錢。我是不是正身處險境呢?他們是在布洛涅樹林里找到那只動物的——那里離莫爾格街那所房子可很遠呢。誰會想到那樁謀殺案是那只猩猩干的呢?誰會知道我目睹了那一切呢?警方一無所知。但是刊登啟事的人知道我的一些情況。如果他想找到我，是很容易的。如果我不回應那則啟事的話，他就可能認為我要隱瞞什么。他就會開始問很多問題，關于那只動物的，可能還有關于我的。不，我最好還是去回應那則啟事吧，把猩猩領回來，把它藏匿一段時間。”

At the very moment when Dupin stopped speaking, we heard the sound of feet on the stairs.

就在杜邦說完的那一剎那，我們聽到了樓梯上傳來的腳步聲。