雙語對照 | 書蟲二級《莫爾格街兇殺案》：5.聲音和窗戶之謎

5.The mysteries of the voice and the window

5.聲音和窗戶之謎

I took the guns, but I didn't really understand why, or who we were waiting for. So I was pleased when Dupin began to explain his thoughts to me.

我拿了手槍，卻實在不明白為什么要這樣做，還有我們到底在等誰。所以我很高興聽到杜邦向我解釋他的想法。

'Now, let's think,' he said, 'about those angry voices heard by the neighbours running up the stairs. Think about the newspaper reports of what the witnesses said. Do you remember anything peculiar in what they said?'

“現(xiàn)在讓我們想想，”他說，“關(guān)于那些正往樓上跑的鄰居們聽見的憤怒聲音。想想報紙對證人證詞的報道。你記得他們提到有什么異常的事情嗎?”

'Well,' I replied, 'all the witnesses agreed that the deep voice was that of a Frenchman. But none of them agreed about the other voice, the shrill one—they all thought something different.'

“嗯，”我答道，“所有證人都認為那個低沉的聲音是一個法國男人的。但他們對另外一個聲音，就是那個尖利的聲音，說法不一——他們的想法各不相同。”

'Yes, that was what they said, but you haven't understood what's peculiar about it,' said Dupin. 'The peculiar thing is—not that they disagreed—but that they all thought it was the voice of a foreigner. Each witness thought the voice spoke a language that they didn't know. Look at this list.' He showed me a piece of paper.

“是的，報道中確實是這么說的，但你還沒看出這里面的異常，”杜邦說，“異常的事情——并非是他們意見相左——而是他們都認為那是一個外國人的聲音。每個證人都認為這個聲音說的是一種他們不懂的語言?？纯催@張單子。”他遞給我一張紙。

· One Frenchman thought the voice spoke in Spanish, but he didn't hear any words.

*　一個法國人認為那聲音說的是西班牙語，可他一個字也沒聽清。

· A second Frenchman thought the voice spoke in Italian, because of the sound of the words, but he didn't know Italian himself.

*　另外一個法國人因為字詞的發(fā)音而認為那聲音說的是意大利語，但他并不懂意大利語。

· A Dutchman thought the voice spoke in French, but he himself didn't speak French.

*　一個荷蘭人認為那聲音說的是法語，可他并不會講法語。

· An Englishman thought the voice spoke in German, but he didn't understand German.

*　一個英國人認為那聲音說的是德語，可他不懂德語。

· A Spaniard thought the voice spoke in English—he couldn't speak English but he knew what it sounded like.

*　一個西班牙人認為那聲音說的是英語——雖不懂英語，可他知道英語聽起來是什么樣子的。

· And last, an Italian thought the voice spoke in Russian, but this man has never spoken to a Russian person.

*　最后，一個意大利人認為那聲音說的是俄語，可這個人從未與俄國人說過話。

'So! What a strangely unusual voice this was!' said Dupin. 'Speakers of five European languages did not hear one word—not one word—that they knew. It was also a strangely shrill voice, and was it a man's voice or a woman's? No one could tell.'

“看!這聲音多么超乎尋常啊!”杜邦說，“這些人說五門歐洲語言，卻連一個字也沒聽懂——一個他們知道的字也沒聽出來。這個聲音異常尖利，是男人的還是女人的呢?沒人說得清。”

'But perhaps the voice was speaking an African language,' I said. 'Or an Asian one.'

“或許那聲音說的是一種非洲語言啊，”我說，“或是一種亞洲語言。”

'That is always possible,' Dupin agreed, 'but do you begin to see what question we must ask next?'

“不能排除這種可能，”杜邦表示贊同，“你知道我們下一步該問什么問題了吧?”

Puzzled, I shook my head.

我疑惑地搖了搖頭。

'Well, we will come back to the voice later,' said Dupin. 'But for me, my thoughts about the voice already told me what to ask next. So, let us close our eyes and remember that room on the fourth floor of the house in the Rue Morgue. What do we want to find out first? The way the murderer got out of the room. Let's think about all the possible ways. First, the door to the passage was locked, with the key on the inside. We cannot argue with a key in a locked door. There were no secret doors—the police have looked at every centimetre of the floor, the ceiling, and the walls. And I also looked very carefully. So, no secret doors. What about the chimney? It is wide enough for a body for three metres, but higher up it is much narrower. Not even a cat could climb through it to the top. So what is left?'

“好，我們待會兒再說那聲音，”杜邦說，“但是對于我來說，在我琢磨那個聲音時我已經(jīng)知道下一步要問的問題了。那么，讓我們閉上眼睛，想想莫爾格街那所房子五樓的房間吧。我們最想知道什么呢?兇手是如何逃出房間的。想想所有可能的路徑。首先，通往走廊的門是從里面鎖住的。這就沒什么好爭論的了。警方已經(jīng)把地板、天花板和墻壁都搜過了——沒發(fā)現(xiàn)暗門。我也仔細瞧過了。的確沒有暗門。那煙囪呢?三米之內(nèi)人還可以鉆過去，可再往高處去就越來越窄了。連只貓都鉆不到頭。還有什么呢?”

'The two windows,' I said. 'But they were fastened on the inside, weren't they?'

“那兩扇窗戶，”我說道，“但它們從里面鎖住了，不是嗎?”

'Yes, and no,' said Dupin. 'Let me explain. We can see all of the window on the left, you remember, but only the top half of the window on the right, because the head of the bed is pushed up next to the window. The police tried to open the window on the left, but found a very strong nail in the wood, which stopped the window opening. Another big nail was found in the other window. And the police stopped there. No one could get out of these windows, they thought, because of the nails and because both windows were fastened on the inside. So they did not try to take out the nails and open the windows.

“是，也不是，”杜邦說，“聽我解釋。我們可以看到左邊的整扇窗戶，記得吧，可因為有床頭擋著，只能看見右邊窗戶的上半部分。警方試圖把左邊的窗戶打開，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)一枚很硬的釘子楔在窗戶里，使得窗戶無法打開。另一扇窗戶上也有一枚大釘子。警方就此停住了。在他們看來，有這些釘子，并且窗戶均由內(nèi)上鎖，沒有人可以從窗戶逃出去。因此他們也就沒有想著拔出釘子打開窗戶看看。

'But I went on thinking. The windows were the only possible way, so the murderer did escape from one of these windows. But they were fastened on the inside, and how did the murderer fasten the window again—from the outside? There was only one answer. The window could fasten itself. I took out the nail from the window on the left, but the window still would not open. So I was sure there was a hidden spring somewhere, and after a while I found it. I pressed it, arid then I could open the window.

“可是我想到了。窗戶是惟一可能的逃脫路徑，兇手一定是從其中的一扇窗戶逃走的。但是窗戶又是從里面上鎖的，兇手怎么可能把它重新鎖住——從外面把它鎖上呢?答案只有一個，窗戶可以自動關(guān)閉。我拔下了左邊窗戶上的釘子，但窗戶依舊打不開。所以我確信什么地方一定有一個隱秘的彈簧，不一會兒我就找到了它。我按了一下，窗戶就可以打開了。”

'I put the nail back into its hole, and thought some more. The murderer gets out through the window, then the window drops down again behind him, and fastens itself by its hidden spring. But the nail—how could anybody put back the nail from the outside? I went to the other window and stood on the bed, looking down behind the bed head at the bottom half of the window. The nail in this window looked the same, but ... There must be something wrong with this nail, I said to myself. I touched it—and the head of the nail came off in my fingers. The rest of the nail stayed in the wood. I carefully put back the broken nail head, pressed the hidden spring, and lifted the window a few centimetres. The nail head went up and came down with the window, but still looked like a real nail.'

“我把釘子重新放回去，又想了一下。兇手從這扇窗戶逃出去，之后窗戶又在他身后關(guān)上了，靠著隱秘的彈簧自動鎖住。但是這枚釘子——誰能夠從外面把釘子放回去呢?”我走到另一扇窗戶前，站在床上向下看被床頭擋住的下半部分窗戶。窗戶上的釘子似乎是一樣的，但是……我對自己說，這枚釘子一定有問題。我碰了碰它——釘子帽兒竟然掉到了手里。余下的那截釘子仍然嵌在木頭里。我小心翼翼地把掉下來的釘子帽兒重新安上去，按了一下隱秘的彈簧，窗戶就可以向上推幾厘米。釘子帽兒隨窗戶上下活動，但看起來和一個真正的釘子沒什么區(qū)別。”

'So,' I said, 'we know it was possible to escape throught the window behind the bed head. But the room was on the fourth floor ...'

“這樣，”我說，“我們就知道從床頭后的窗戶逃走是可能的?？墒悄莻€房間在五樓……”

'Ah,' said Dupin, 'that was the next question. You remember, don't you, how we walked around the building? And you saw, didn't you, the lightning-rod that went up the back wall of the building? And the unusual shutters on the windows on the fourth floor?'

“哦，”杜邦說，“這就是下一個該問的問題。你一定還記得我們怎樣繞著房子走吧?你一定也看到了豎立在房子后墻上的避雷針?還有五樓窗戶上與眾不同的窗板?”

'Yes,' I said, 'they were like doors, but the top half was latticed, which is unusual in Paris.'

“對，”我答道，“它們很像門，但是上半部分卻做成格狀，這在巴黎倒不常見。”

'Yes,' Dupin said, 'and very easy for a hand to get hold of. Now, let me describe a possible picture to you. The lightning-rod on the wall is less than two metres from the window by the head of the bed. The latticed shutter is more than a metre wide, and when it is open and against the wall, it is only about half a metre away from the lightning-rod. It is possible to climb up the lightning-rod to the fourth floor. Then, a strong and agile—very agile—person could take hold of the latticed shutter with both hands, push his feet against the wall, and swing himself and the shutter across the window. And if the window is open and this person is very agile indeed, he could swing himself into the room.'

“是的，”杜邦說，“并且很容易被手扒住?，F(xiàn)在，讓我給你描述一個可能的畫面。墻上的避雷針距離床頭邊的窗戶不到兩米遠。格狀的窗板有一米多寬，當窗板打開并緊貼墻壁時，它離避雷針就只有大約半米遠。順著避雷針爬到五樓是有可能的。這樣，一個身強力壯并且動作敏捷——極其敏捷——的人就可以用雙手抓住格狀的窗板，雙腳一蹬墻，身體就可以隨窗板蕩到窗戶跟前。如果窗戶恰巧是開著的而且這個人又確實身手敏捷，他就可以蕩進房間里。”

Dupin saw the surprise in my face. 'Remember,' he said, 'that I am talking about somebody who is very strong and agile—agile in a very unusual way, perhaps. Remember also the voice, that peculiar, shrill voice, which spoke in a language that nobody knew.'

杜邦注意到了我臉上驚訝的表情。“記住，”他說，“我說的是一個身體非常強壯、動作極為敏捷的人——他可能敏捷得超乎尋常。還要記住那個聲音，那個古怪尖利的聲音，說著一種無人知曉的語言。”

At these words I felt I almost understood what Dupin was saying. But I wasn't sure, so I said nothing and waited for him to go on explaining.

聽到這些我感覺差不多已經(jīng)明白了杜邦在說什么。但我還不敢肯定，于是默不作聲，等著他繼續(xù)解釋。