"Two days later this same performance was gone through under exactly similar circumstances.
"兩天以后在完全相同的情況下又照樣表演一番。
Again I changed my dress, again I sat in the window,
我又一次換上衣服,又坐在那窗戶旁邊,
and again I laughed very heartily at the funny stories of which my employer had an immense repertoire, and which he told inimitably.
聽我的東家講他那說不完的可笑的故事,我又一次不禁盡情大笑。
Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and moving my chair a little sideways,
后來,他遞給我一本黃色封面的小說,又將我的座椅向旁邊移動了一下,
that my own shadow might not fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him.
以免我自己的影子遮擋了書,他央求我大聲念給他聽。
I read for about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter,
我從某一章的當中開始念了差不多十分鐘,
and then suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and to change my dress.
忽然間正當我念到一個句子的半中腰時,他就叫我停止,并去更換衣服。
You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly be.
你不難想象,福爾摩斯先生,我是多么難以理解這種異乎尋常的表演究竟是什么意思。
They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face away from the window,
我察覺到他們總是小心翼翼地讓我的臉背著那扇窗戶,
so that I became consumed with the desire to see what was going on behind my back.
因為我心中充滿了想看看我背后到底發(fā)生了什么事情的愿望。
At first it seemed to be impossible, but I soon devised a means.
起初,這好象是不可能的。但我很快想出了一個辦法。
My hand-mirror had been broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the glass in my handkerchief.
我有一面手鏡打破了,我靈機一動,偷偷地把一片碎鏡子藏在手帕里。
On the next occasion, in the midst of my laughter,
在下一次的表演中,當我正在發(fā)笑的時候,
I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able with a little management to see all that there was behind me."
我將手帕舉到眼睛前面,稍為擺弄一下,就能夠看到我背后的一切了。"