我们一想起侦探,第一个想到的就是夏洛克·福尔摩斯。甚至在距离关于他的第一个故事已一百多年的今天,他仍然是我们心中伟大的侦探。游客们仍然会到伦敦的贝克街去看他的公寓。有很多关于他的电影和图片——我们都知道他的样子,知道他穿什么衣服。 When we think of a detective, we think first of Sherlock Holmes. Even now, more than a hundred years after the first story about him, he is still the greatest detective of all. Tourists still go to Baker Street, in London, to see the place where he had his flat. There are films about him, pictures of him — we all know what he looked like, we all know what kind of clothes he wore. 但是他从来就没存在过。他的故事仅仅是故事而已,那么我们为什么记住他了呢? And yet he never existed. The stories about him are just stories. So, why do we remember him? 因为他喜欢抓罪犯。夏洛克·福尔摩斯追踪罪犯就像猎人追踪狐狸一样。他像猎犬和警犬一样,鼻子贴在地上——追踪罪犯到世界的尽头。罪犯可能试图藏匿——但只要夏洛克·福尔摩斯开始追踪,我们就知道他终会成功。 It is because he loves catching criminals. Sherlock Holmes chases the criminal as a hunter chases a fox. He is a bloodhound, a police dog, with his nose to the ground following the criminal to the end of the world. The criminal may try to hide — but when Sherlock Holmes has started the chase, we know that he will finish it with a 'kill'.
In September 1887 my wife was visiting some of her family, so I was staying with my old friend SherlockHolmes in Baker Street. It was a windy, stormy evening, and the rain was falling heavily outside. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
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我吃惊地看了看我的朋友。“这会是谁呢?”我问。
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I looked at my friend in surprise. ’Who can this be?’ I asked.
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“如果他在这种天气出来办事,那肯定是有很重要的事儿,”福尔摩斯说,“请进!”他大声说。
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If he comes on business in this weather, it’s important,’ said SherlockHolmes. ’Come in!’ he called.
A young man came in. He looked wet, tired and worried. ’I’ve come to ask for help,’ he said. ’I’ve heard of you, Mr Holmes. People say you know everything. I don’t know what to do.’
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“好了,坐下吧,”福尔摩斯说,“跟我说说你的情况。”
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Well, sit down,’ said Holmes, ’and tell me about yourself.’
The young man sat down, and put his wet feet near the fire. ’My name is John Openshaw. My father, Joseph, had a brother, my uncle Elias, who went to live in America when he was young. He made a lot of money there. He didn’t like the black Americans, so during the Civil War he fought against the men from the North, and with those from the South. But when the South lost the war, and there was equality for black people, Uncle Elias left America. So in 1890 he came back to England and went to live in a large house in the country. He was a strange, unhappy man.
He did not want any friends,’ John Openshaw went on, ’and he often drank a lot. But he liked me, and when I was twelve, I moved to Uncle Elias’s house. He was very kind to me. I could go anywhere in the house. But there was one small room at the top of the house which was always locked. Nobody could go into this room.
One day Uncle Elias got a letter from Pondicherry in India. "I don’t know anyone in Pondicherry!" he said, but when he opened the envelope, five little orange pips fell on to his plate. I began to laugh but stopped when I saw my uncle’s white face.
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“‘K. K. K. !’他叫道,‘噢,我的上帝啊,我的上帝,他们找到我了!’
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"K. K. K. !" he cried. "Oh my God, my God, they’ve found me!"
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“‘你是什么意思,叔叔?’”我问。
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"What do you mean, uncle?" I asked.
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“‘死亡!’他大叫,然后跑上了楼。
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"Death!" he cried, and ran upstairs.
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“我看了看信封,信封背面有三个K,里面却没有信。谁寄来的呢?我叔叔为什么这么害怕呢?
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I looked at the envelope, which had three Ks on the back. There was no letter. Who sent it? And why was my uncle so afraid?
Uncle Elias went immediately to the secret room and took out a box which also had three Ks on it. He burnt all the papers in the box, and said to me, "John, I know that I’m going to die soon. My brother, your father, will have all my money and my house after my death, and you will have it all when he dies. I hope you can enjoy it, but if not, give it to your worst enemy. I’m afraid that my money brings death with it."
I didn’t understand what he meant, and nothing happened for a few weeks, so I did not feel so worried. But my uncle was very afraid. He stayed in his room most of the time, and drank more than before. He always locked all the doors carefully. Then one night he drank very heavily and ran wildly out of the house, and in the morning we found him dead in a river. The police said he killed himself, but I knew he was afraid to die, so I didn’t think that was true.’
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福尔摩斯打断了年轻人。“告诉我,”他说,“你叔叔什么时候收到印度的来信的?他又是什么时候死的?”
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Holmes stopped the young man for a minute. ’Tell me,’ he said. ’When did your uncle get the letter from India, and when did he die?’
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“信是1883年3月10日到的,他是七个星期之后死的。”约翰·奥彭肖回答。
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The letter arrived on 10th March 1883, and he died seven weeks later,’ answered John Openshaw.
After my uncle’s death, my father moved into the house. Of course I asked him to look carefully at the locked room, but we didn’t find anything important.’