Sherlock Holmes and the Sport of Kings by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
单词提示
1.inspector 巡官，探长
2.racegoers 赛马观众
3.stable 马厩
原文
Chapter 1: A horse called Silver Blaze.
"I must go down there, Watson, I must." said Sherlock Holmes at the breakfast table on Thursday morning.
"Go, go where?" I asked.
"To Dartmoor, to King's Pyland."
"Ah, so that's it," I said, "Well,everybody in the country is talking about the case at King's Pyland."
I always know when Holmes is interested in a case, he reads all the newspapers.
He walks up and down, up and down the room and does not speak for hours.
He did all those things yesterday.
He did not answer any of my questions, but I knew that it was the mystery at King's Pyland.
The morning, newspapers were on the breakfast table.
"What is happening at King's Pyland? Where is Silver Blaze," they asked, "Who killed John Straker? What are the police doing? Can they find the horse before the big race next week?"
Silver Blaze was a famous racehorse, and John Straker was his trainer.
One of the biggest horse races of the year-the Wessex Cup was next week, and Silver Blaze was the favorite to win.
But on Monday night at King's Pyland, two things happened.
Someone killed John Straker and Silver Blaze disappeared.
I was interested in this case, too.
"Do you need my help, Holmes?" I asked.
"I would very much like to come with you, my dear Watson," said Holmes, "Of course you must come with me.We can catch the twelve o'clock from Paddington and talk about the case on the train."
Two hours later, we were on the train to Tavistock.
We read all the midday newspapers, but there was nothing new in them.
"So, Watson, what do you think about this case?"
"Well, the newspapers say…"
"Yes, the newspapers understand nothing. One day they say one thing, the next day they say another. But we must look at the case more carefully. What did happen on Monday night at King's Pyland and what did not happen, that's an important question, too."
"Do the police have any answers?"I asked.
"No," said Holmes. "On Wednesday morning, I had two letters. One was from Mr. Ross, the owner of the horse, and the other was from the Dartmoor police, an Inspector Gregory. They ask for my help."
"Wednesday morning?"I cried, "But this is Thursday morning, why didn't you go down yesterday?"
"Because it was an easy case, you can't hide a famous horse for long, I thought. where can you hide a horse on Dartmoor?There are no buildings, no trees. But I was wrong, Watson. The case is now two days old and nobody can find the horse or Straker's killer."
"So here we are on the train to Tavistock, and what do you think about it all? " I said.
"Well, Watson, let's look at the case first. We have a racehorse-Silver Blaze, only five years old, but already a winner in many big races. His owner Mr.Ross is a happy man and rich, the racegoers are happy too. Silver Blaze nearly always wins his races and so people put big bets on him to win. And when the favorite wins the race, a lot of people make money on their bets. But what happens when the favorite doesn't win? Watson, what then?"
"A lot of people lose their money, of course," I said, "And people with big bets on a different horse can make much more money when that other horse wins.
"Right, Watson! So perhaps some people are very interested in Silver Blaze not running in the Wessex Cup. Of course, Mr. Ross and his trainer John Straker know that, and they watch the horse very carefully.
Now let's look at the people and the place. The trainer, John Straker, a good man and wonderful with horses, worked for Mr.Ross for twelve years. There are four horses in the training stables and three boys working for Straker. One of them sits up all night with the horses and the other two sleep in a room over the stables. We know nothing bad about any of the boys.
Straker has a wife, no children, and lives-I mean lived in a house about 200 meters from the stables. The town of Tavistock is two kilometers to the west, and about two kilometers to the east. There is Capleton-another training stables. The owner there is Lord Backwater, and the trainer is Silas Brown. There are no other houses, just the hills of Dartmoor."
I listened carefully, I wanted to remember it all, because Holmes does not like to say anything twice.
"Now," he said, "What happened on Monday night? These papers came with Inspector Gregory's letter. The best thing is for you to read them, Watson, then tell me what you think."
I took the papers from him and began to read.
翻译
第一章：一匹名叫银光的马。
"我必须得去一趟，华生。不能不去。"星期四早上，歇洛克·福尔摩斯坐在桌旁吃早餐时说道。
"去?去哪儿?"我问道。
"去达特穆尔--去金斯皮兰。"
"啊!就是这事儿。"我说，"全英国的人都在谈论金斯皮兰的这个案子。"
当福尔摩斯对某个案子感兴趣的时候，我总能感觉到。
他会浏览所有的报纸，在房间里不停地走来走去，几小时都不说话。
昨天他就是这样。
我问什么他都不理，不过我知道他肯定是在想着金斯皮兰的神秘事件。
早上的报纸就放在餐桌上。
"金斯皮兰发生了什么事?'银光'在哪儿?"报上写道，"谁杀死了约翰·斯特雷克?警方在干什么?他们能不能在下星期大赛前找回'银光'?"
"银光"是一匹著名的赛马，约翰·斯特雷克是它的驯马师。
每年最大的赛马会之一--韦塞克斯杯--就在下星期举行，"银光"是夺冠的大热门。
但星期一晚上，在金斯皮兰发生了两件事。
约翰·斯特雷克被杀了，而"银光"失踪了。
我对这案子也很感兴趣。
"你要我帮忙吗，福尔摩斯?"我问道，"我非常愿意跟你一起去。"
"亲爱的华生，"福尔摩斯说，"你当然得跟我一起去。我们可以赶12点从帕丁顿区开出的火车，在车上讨论案情。"
两个小时以后，我们坐上了去塔维斯托克的火车。
我们看了中午所有的报纸，但报上没有什么新消息。
"华生，你对这案子有什么看法?"
"呃，报纸上说..."
"啊，报纸什么也不知道。他们今天说一套，明天又是一套。但我们得更用心地看待这个案子。星期一晚上在金斯皮兰发生了什么?没发生的又是什么?这也是个关键的问题。"
"警方找到答案了吗?"我问道。
"没有，"福尔摩斯说，"星期三早上我收到两封信，一封是马的主人罗斯先生写来的，另一封来自达特穆尔警方--格雷戈里巡官。他们请求我帮忙。"
"星期三早上!"我叫道，"但现在已经是星期四上午了。你为什么不昨天动身呢?"
"因为这个案子并不复杂。我原来以为没人能长时间地藏住一匹知名的马。你能把马藏在达特穆尔的什么地方呢?那儿没有建筑物，也没有树林......但我的判断并不准确，华生。现在这案子已经发生两天了，还没人找到那匹马--或者找到杀死约翰·斯特雷克的凶手。所以我们才坐上了这列开往塔维斯托克的火车。"
"那你对这一切有什么看法?"我问道。
"嗯，华生，我们来看看这个案子。首先，有一匹赛马'银光'--才5岁，但已经是许多大赛的冠军。它的主人罗斯先生很开心--因为他有钱了。在这匹马上下注的赛马迷们也很开心，因为银光在比赛中几乎从未输过，因此人们在它身上下了重注。如果最被看好的赛马赢得了比赛，很多人都会凭他们下的赌注赢钱。但如果这匹马输了呢，华生?那会怎样?"
"当然是许多人输钱啦，"我说，"而且在别的马身上下了重注的人会赢得更多的钱，如果被下注的那匹马赢了的话。"
"说得对，华生!所以，可能有人很希望'银光'不能参加韦塞克斯杯的比赛。当然，罗斯先生和他的驯马师约翰·斯特雷克知道这一点，他们非常小心地照顾着这匹马。
现在让我们来看看这案子涉及到的人和地点。驯马师约翰·斯特雷克--他是个好人，对马很有一套--已经为罗斯先生工作了12年了。训练用的马厩里有四匹马。斯特雷克手下有三个小马倌，其中一个会整夜守着马，另外两个睡在马厩顶上的一个房间里。就我们所知，这几个男孩儿的品行都很好。
斯特雷克已经结婚，没有孩子，住在--我是说，他曾经住在离马厩200米左右的一所房子里。向西两公里就是塔维斯托克镇，东边大约两公里的地方是卡普莱顿，另一处训马马厩。那儿的主人是巴克沃特勋爵，驯马师是赛拉斯·布朗。附近没有其他的房子了--只有达特穆尔的山。"
我仔细听着，想记住这一切，因为福尔摩斯不喜欢重复说过的话。
"那么，"他说道，"星期一晚上发生了什么事?这些卷宗是格雷戈里巡官随信一起寄来的。你最好看看，华生，然后告诉我你的想法。"
我从他手里拿过卷宗，看了起来。
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