双语对照 | 书虫二级《莫尔格街凶杀案》：4.奥古斯特·杜邦造访莫尔格街
4.奥古斯特·杜邦造访莫尔格街
Dupin read all this with great interest, and was the first to open the evening newspaper when it arrived.
杜邦对这些新闻很感兴趣，晚报一到他就抢先打开看起来。
He read silently, and then said, 'There is nothing new about the murders, but the police have arrested Adolphe Le Bon. Why, I don't know.' He looked at me. 'Well, my friend, what do you think about these murders?'
他静静地看了一会儿。然后说道：“这桩凶杀案没什么新进展，可是警方已经逮捕了阿道夫·勒邦。不知道是什么原因。”他看了看我，“哎，我的朋友，你怎么看待这桩凶杀案?”
'It's a great mystery,' I said. 'It will be impossible, surely, ever to find this murderer.'
“一个难解之谜，”我说，“凶手肯定永远不可能找到了。”
'We must not say "impossible" just because the police have done nothing,' said Dupin. 'The Parisian police do find the answers sometimes, but that is usually because of hard work, not because they are clever. Very often, you see, they don't think clearly. They look very hard at one or two things, but they don't see everything. You remember the saying, "They can't see the wood for the trees"? Well, sometimes it's important to stand back and look at the whole wood, and forget about the trees. Now, why don't we do a little detective work ourselves, and go round to the Rue Morgue? Adolphe Le Bon was once very helpful to me, and I would like to help him if I can. I know the police inspector, and I'm sure he will say that we can look round the house. So, shall we go?'
“我们不能因为警方无所作为就说‘不可能’，”杜邦说，“巴黎警方有时确实能够揭开谜底，可那通常是靠他们的努力而并非智慧。你知道很多时候他们并没有清晰的思路。他们只盯着一两件东西，而看不到全部。‘见树不见林’，你记得这句谚语吧?嗯，有时候站得远一点，看到整个树林而忽略单个的树是很重要的。现在我们何不亲自干点侦探的活儿，去莫尔格街转转呢?阿道夫·勒邦曾经给过我很多帮助，我也要尽可能地帮助他。我认识那里的巡官，他肯定会让我们看看那所房子的。那么，我们出发吧?”
We went that same afternoon. We found the house easily because there were still people in the street looking up at the closed shutters. It was the usual kind of Parisian house, with nothing surprising about it. Before we went in, we walked up the street, turned down a narrow side street, and turned again to walk past the back of the building. Dupin looked at everything—the ground, the walls, the windows, the shutters—but I did not know what he was looking for.
当天下午我们就去了。我们很容易便找到了那所房子，因为街上仍有人在仰着头看那些紧闭的窗板。这房子是在巴黎街头最常见的一种，并无新奇之处。我们没进房子之前，先是沿着街道向前走去，拐进一条狭窄的小巷，而后又转弯走到了房子的后面。杜邦仔细地查看了每件东西——地面、墙壁、窗户、窗板——可我不明白他在找什么。
Then we went inside, and a policeman took us up to the fourth floor. The two dead bodies still lay there, with the broken chairs and tables all around them. Again, Dupin looked at everything—the room and the bodies—very carefully. Then we went down into the yard at the back. It was dark when we left the Rue Morgue, and on our way home Dupin went in for a moment to the office of one of the daily newspapers.
后来我们进入了房子里，一个警察把我们带到五楼。两具尸体仍然放在那里，周围全是残桌破椅。杜邦还是查看了这里的一切——房间、尸体——看得很仔细。然后我们又去了后院。离开莫尔格街时天已经黑了，回去的路上杜邦去一家日报社待了一会儿。
That evening my friend would not answer any of my questions. But the next day he suddenly asked me, 'Did you see anything peculiar in that house in the Rue Morgue?'
那晚我的朋友不愿意回答我的任何问题。可第二天他突然问我，“你注意到莫尔格街那所房子有什么异常了吗?”
I don't know why, but his question made me afraid. 'No, nothing peculiar,' I said. 'Well, nothing more peculiar than what we both knew from the Gazette.'
他的问题使我莫名地害怕起来。“没有，没有什么异常啊，”我说，“唉，什么都比不上我们从《新闻传播》上看到的异常。”
'Neither the Gazette nor the police,' said Dupin, 'understand much about these murders. The police are puzzled by all the questions which they cannot answer. What was the motive for the murders? Why were the murders so brutal? Whose were the voices? How could these people get out of the house when the neighbours were running up the stairs? Why was everything broken in the room? Why was the girl's body up the chimney? Why did the old lady have so many broken bones?
“《新闻传播》和警方，”杜邦说，“都不十分清楚这桩凶杀案是怎么回事。警方被那些谜团搞得晕头转向。凶杀案的动机是什么?为什么作案手段如此凶残?是谁在说话?这些人又如何在邻居们飞奔上楼时逃出房子?房间里为什么会一片狼藉?女孩的尸体为什么被竖着塞进烟囱里?老太太又为何有如此多处的骨折呢?”
'I'm afraid the police are making the mistake that many people make. They think that because the crime is so unusual, they can never explain it. But they are wrong. It is more helpful to have an unusual crime, because that will make us think harder, and ask the right questions, and in the end find the answer. We must not ask the question, "What has happened?"; we must ask, "What has happened that has never happened before?" The answer to this mystery is not really difficult at all—I think I know it already.'
“恐怕警方犯了和许多人一样的错误。在他们看来，这桩案子如此离奇，他们永远都侦破不了。可他们错了。一桩奇案对我们是大有帮助的，它会让我们多动脑子，问最恰当的问题，并最终揭开谜底。我们不该问这样的问题：‘发生什么事了?’;我们必须问：‘有什么前所未有的事发生了?’这个迷案的谜底其实一点儿也不复杂——我想我已经知道了。”
I looked at him, astonished, and could not say a word.
我吃惊地看着他，一句话也说不出来。
'I am now waiting,' he went on, 'for a person who is probably not the murderer himself, but who certainly knows something about the murders. He will arrive here—in this room—at any moment. I hope, and think, he will. And if he does come, it will be necessary to stop him leaving. Here are four guns, two for you and two for me. We both know how to use them if we have to.'
“我在等，”他继续说道，“等一个人，他很可能不是凶手，却肯定知道些凶杀案的情况。他会到这来——到这间屋子里——随时都可能来。我希望他能来，也觉得他会来。如果他真的来了，就必须留住他不让他走。这里有四把手枪，你我各拿两把。我们都清楚万不得已的时候该怎么用它。”
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