雙語對照 | 書蟲二級《莫爾格街兇殺案》：7.奧古斯特·杜邦的訪客

7.A visitor for Auguste Dupin

7.奧古斯特·杜邦的訪客

'Be ready with your guns,' said Dupin. 'But don't use them or show them until I say.'

“準備好手槍，”杜邦說，“如果我不說話就不要開槍，也不要把槍拿出來。”

The front door of the house was open, and the visitor was already half way up the stairs. The feet stopped for a moment, then began again, and a few seconds later there was a knock on the door of our room.

房子的前門是開著的，來訪者已經(jīng)上了一半樓梯。腳步聲停了一會兒，然后又繼續(xù)響起來，幾秒鐘以后我們聽到了敲門聲。

'Come in,' called Dupin, in a friendly way.

“請進。”杜邦友好地喊道。

The door opened and a man came in. He was a sailor, clearly—a tall, strong man, with a sunburnt face. He was carrying a heavy stick, but no gun. He looked first at me, then at Dupin, and did not smile.

門開了，一個男人走了進來。一看便知他是個水手——身材高大、體格健碩，臉被曬得黝黑。他帶著一根粗重的棍子，但沒有手槍。他先是看了看我，然后又看了看杜邦，臉上沒有一絲笑容。

'Good evening,' he said.

“晚上好。”他說。

'Sit down, my friend,' said Dupin. 'You've come about the orang-outang, yes? My word, what a fine animal that is! You're lucky to own him. Do you know how old he is?'

“請坐，我的朋友，”杜邦說，“您是為那只猩猩而來，對嗎?呀，多棒的動物啊!能做他的主人您真幸運。您知道他幾歲了嗎?”

The sailor sat down and the worried look left his face. 'No, I don't know,' he said. 'But he's probably not more than four or five years old. Have you got him here?'

那個水手坐下，臉上的顧慮消失了。“不，我不知道，”他說，“他可能不超過四五歲。您把他帶到這兒來了嗎?”

'Oh, no. We couldn't keep him in this house,' Dupin said. 'He's at a place in the Rue Dubourg, just round the corner. You can get him in the morning. Of course, you must show me that you are the real owner.'

“哦，沒有。我們可不能把他養(yǎng)在這個房子里，”杜邦說，“他在迪布爾街的某個地方，不遠。您上午就可以領(lǐng)走他。當然，您必須向我證明您是真正的主人。”

'Yes, sir, of course,' the sailor said.

“好的，先生，那是自然。”水手說道。

'I shall be sorry to lose the animal,' said Dupin.

“沒有了這只動物我會很傷心的。”杜邦說。

'I'm very happy to pay something,' the man said. 'I know it's expensive, keeping an animal like that.'

“我很樂意補償您，”那人說，“我知道養(yǎng)活那樣一只動物是很昂貴的。”

'Well,' said my friend, 'that's good of you. What shall I ask? Let me think ... Ah yes! This is what I want. You must tell me everything—everything—about these murders in the Rue Morgue.'

“啊，”我的朋友說，“您真是通情達理。我該要些什么呢?讓我想想……啊，對了!這就是我想知道的。您必須告訴我關(guān)于莫爾格街兇殺案的一切——一切。”

Dupin said these last words very quietly. Just as quietly, he walked to the door, locked it, and put the key in his pocket. He then took a gun from his coat pocket and put it, slowly and quietly, on the table in front of him.

杜邦說最后幾個字時聲音非常小。他同樣輕輕地走到門口，鎖住門，把鑰匙放進口袋。然后他從外衣口袋里掏出了一把槍，慢慢地，悄無聲息地放在面前的桌子上。

The sailor's face turned a deep red. He jumped to his feet and took up his heavy stick. But a minute later he fell back into his chair, and sat there, shaking, with a face now as white as death itself. He said not a word. I felt deeply sorry for him.

水手的臉漲得通紅。他一下子站了起來，手里攥住那根粗重的棍子。但很快他又跌坐在了椅子上，渾身戰(zhàn)栗，臉色變得死一樣的蒼白。他沉默不語。我很為他難過。

'My friend,' said Dupin, in a kind voice, 'there's no need to be afraid—really no need. You are not in any danger from us. I know very well that you yourself are innocent of these terrible murders in the Rue Morgue. But you do know something about them. You are not a murderer, or a thief, and you have nothing to hide. But you must tell me the true story. The police have arrested an innocent man for these murders. And if you don't speak, this man will go to prison, perhaps lose his life.'

“我的朋友，”杜邦說，聲音很是親切，“沒必要害怕——真的沒必要。我們不會對你構(gòu)成一絲危險。我很清楚莫爾格街那樁兇殺案不是你干的。可你是知情的。你既不是兇手也不是竊賊，沒什么好隱瞞的。但是你必須把實情告訴我。警方已經(jīng)誤抓了一個無辜的人。如果你不把實情說出來，這個人就會坐牢，可能還會丟掉性命。”

The sailor was silent for a while. Then he said, 'God help me. I will tell you what I know. You will think it's a very strange story, but it's true. I am innocent, and I must help this other man if I can.'

水手沉默了一會兒。然后他說：“老天爺作證。我會把我知道的都告訴你。你會覺得這個故事很離奇，可這是真的。我是無辜的，我必須盡可能地幫助另一個無辜的人。”

This was the sailor's story.

水手的故事是這樣的。

I have just come back from the East Indies. While I was there, I visited the island of Borneo. There I found and caught this orang-outang. It is a wild and dangerous animal, and I had a difficult journey home. But at last, we arrived back in France, and I took the animal to my house in Paris. I kept it hidden because of the neighbours, and I was planning to sell it as soon as possible for a lot of money.

我剛從東印度群島回來。在那里逗留期間我去了婆羅洲島。在島上我發(fā)現(xiàn)并抓住了這只猩猩。它非常的粗野危險，所以回國的途中我費盡周折。不過總算回到了法國，我把它帶到我在巴黎的房子里。因為怕鄰居知道，我只好把它藏起來，打算盡快把它賣掉賺上一大筆錢。

On the night of the 3rd of June I was out late with some friends. When I got back home, I found the orang-outang in my bedroom, with my razor in its hand. The door to its own room was broken to pieces. I just didn't know what to do. The animal is dangerous at the best of times, but with a razor in its hands...! On the ship home I always used a whip to keep the animal quiet, so I went to find my whip now. But the minute the orang-outang saw the whip, it ran out of the room, down the stairs, and jumped through an open window into the street.

6月3號晚上我外出和朋友聚會，很晚才回家。到家后，發(fā)現(xiàn)那只猩猩竟然站在我的臥室里，手里還拿著我的剃刀。通往它房間的門被砸成了碎片。我一下子手足無措起來。這種動物在赤手空拳的時候都很危險，何況它現(xiàn)在還拿著剃刀……!在乘船返回的路上我總是用一根鞭子讓它保持安靜，于是我就去找那根鞭子。但是這只猩猩一看到鞭子，就跑出房間，跑下樓梯，從一扇開著的窗戶跳到了街上。

I was really afraid now. How could I catch it? The animal ran, and I followed. Sometimes it stopped and looked at me, the razor still in its hand. But when I got near, it ran on again. And so we went on. Luckily, the streets were very quiet because it was nearly three o'clock in the morning.

我害怕極了。怎么才能抓到它呢?它在前面跑，我就在后面追。有時候它停住腳，看看我，手里依然拿著那把剃刀。可我一靠近，它就又跑起來。我們就這樣你追我趕地跑著。幸好當時街上寂靜無人，因為那時已經(jīng)是將近凌晨3點了。

Then, when we were going down a narrow street at the back of the Rue Morgue, the animal saw a light in a window on the fourth floor. Before I could do anything, the animal saw the lightning-rod, quickly climbed up it, took hold of the latticed shutter, and swung itself through the open window. All this took less than a minute. The shutter then swung open again, back against the wall.

后來，我們跑到了莫爾格街后面的一條狹窄的小巷，那家伙看到了五樓一扇窗戶透出來的燈光。我還沒來得及阻止，它就看見了那根避雷針，飛快地爬了上去，抓住格狀的窗板，從開著的窗戶蕩進了房間。干完這一切它只用了不到一分鐘。窗板隨后又被彈了回來，緊貼著墻壁。

At last, I thought, I can catch the animal now. But at the same time, I felt very worried. What was the animal doing in that room up there? I decided to follow it up the lightning-rod at once. When I got to the fourth floor, I found it was impossible for me to get across to the window. I could just look into the room—and at that moment a most terrible screaming began. God help me, I will never, ever forget the horrible things that I saw that night.

我想我終于可以抓到它了。可當時我也非常擔心。這家伙在上面的房間里干什么呢?我決定立刻跟著它順避雷針爬上去。爬到五樓后，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己不可能從窗戶進去。我只能從這兒往屋里瞧了——就在這個時候，傳來一聲非常凄厲的尖叫。老天爺作證，我今生今世都忘不了那晚看到的可怕的一幕。

The orang-outang took hold of Madame L'Espanaye by the hair, with the razor still in its other hand. The daughter fainted at once, and lay still and white on the floor. The old lady tried to get away, but the animal pulled out handfuls of her hair. She fought and screamed, and this probably made it very angry. Then, with the razor, it nearly cut her head off her body. So much blood! And the blood made the animal even angrier. It ran to the girl's body and fastened its horrible hands around her neck. When she was dead, it looked up—and saw my face through the window. I was shouting at it, and it made noises back at me. Perhaps then it remembered my whip, and perhaps that's why it tried to hide the dead bodies. If you can't see anything, then nothing has happened. I don't know. First, it ran around the room, breaking all the chairs and tables, pulling the mattress off the bed. Then, it took the girl's body and pushed it up the chimney. And last, it took the old lady's body, carried it to the window, and pushed it through.

那只猩猩一只手抓住了埃斯巴耐夫人的頭發(fā)，另一只手里依舊拿著那把剃刀。老夫人的女兒立刻就昏倒了，一動不動地躺在地板上，臉色蒼白。老太太努力想掙脫，卻被那猩猩拽掉了幾撮頭發(fā)。她邊掙扎邊尖叫，或許這激怒了猩猩。于是猩猩就用那把剃刀把她的頭幾乎割了下來了。鮮血四濺!血讓那家伙更加憤怒了。它跑到那女孩兒的身邊，用它那雙可怕的手緊緊地卡住了她的脖子。把她掐死后，那家伙抬起頭——透過窗戶看到了我的臉。我沖它嚷，它也大叫著回敬我。后來它可能記起了我的鞭子，或許這就是它為什么想把尸體藏起來的原因。見則有，不見則無吧。我不知道。它先是在房間里跑來跑去，弄壞了全部桌椅，把床墊也拽了下來。然后它抓起女孩的尸體豎著塞進了煙囪。最后，它又抓起老太太的尸體拖到窗口，扔了下去。

I could not watch any more. I almost fell down the lightning-rod, and ran home. I just wanted to get away from the horror of it.

這真是慘不忍睹。我?guī)缀跏菑谋芾揍樕系粝聛淼?，趕緊跑回家了。我只想擺脫那份恐懼。

□　　□　　□

□　　□　　□

So that was the story behind the murders in the Rue Morgue. Just before the neighbours broke down the door of the room, the orang-outang went out through the window, which dropped down behind it.

這就是發(fā)生在莫爾格街兇殺案背后的故事。就在鄰居們撞開房門之前，那只猩猩從窗戶逃了出去，窗戶隨之關(guān)上了。

In the end the sailor caught the orang-outang and sold it for a lot of money. We went to talk to the police inspector, and the same afternoon Adolphe Le Bon walked out of prison, a free man. The inspector was not too happy about it all. He talked a lot about people who tried to do the job of the police but who didn't understand police work.

后來水手抓住了那只猩猩，賣了一大筆錢。我們把這一切告訴了那個巡官，當天下午阿道夫·勒邦走出了監(jiān)獄，是個自由人了。巡官對這一切并不是很滿意。他滔滔不絕地講了很多，什么有些人總想當警察，卻從不了解這份工作啦什么的。

'We won't argue with him,' Dupin said to me when we walked home together. 'Let him talk. He's a good man, in his way. I found the answer to this mystery, and he didn't. That's all there is to say, really.'

“我們不和他爭論，”一起回家的路上杜邦對我說，“讓他說去吧。他就是那樣，不過人還是不錯的。我發(fā)現(xiàn)了謎底，他卻沒有。其實就是這些。”