双语对照 | 书虫二级《莫尔格街凶杀案》：7.奥古斯特·杜邦的访客

7.A visitor for Auguste Dupin

7.奥古斯特·杜邦的访客

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

“准备好手枪，”杜邦说，“如果我不说话就不要开枪，也不要把枪拿出来。”

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.

房子的前门是开着的，来访者已经上了一半楼梯。脚步声停了一会儿，然后又继续响起来，几秒钟以后我们听到了敲门声。

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

“请进。”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.

门开了，一个男人走了进来。一看便知他是个水手——身材高大、体格健硕，脸被晒得黝黑。他带着一根粗重的棍子，但没有手枪。他先是看了看我，然后又看了看杜邦，脸上没有一丝笑容。

'Good evening,' he said.

“晚上好。”他说。

'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?'

“请坐，我的朋友，”杜邦说，“您是为那只猩猩而来，对吗?呀，多棒的动物啊!能做他的主人您真幸运。您知道他几岁了吗?”

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?'

那个水手坐下，脸上的顾虑消失了。“不，我不知道，”他说，“他可能不超过四五岁。您把他带到这儿来了吗?”

'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，没有。我们可不能把他养在这个房子里，”杜邦说，“他在迪布尔街的某个地方，不远。您上午就可以领走他。当然，您必须向我证明您是真正的主人。”

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

“好的，先生，那是自然。”水手说道。

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

“没有了这只动物我会很伤心的。”杜邦说。

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

“我很乐意补偿您，”那人说，“我知道养活那样一只动物是很昂贵的。”

'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，”我的朋友说，“您真是通情达理。我该要些什么呢?让我想想……啊，对了!这就是我想知道的。您必须告诉我关于莫尔格街凶杀案的一切——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.

杜邦说最后几个字时声音非常小。他同样轻轻地走到门口，锁住门，把钥匙放进口袋。然后他从外衣口袋里掏出了一把枪，慢慢地，悄无声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.

水手的脸涨得通红。他一下子站了起来，手里攥住那根粗重的棍子。但很快他又跌坐在了椅子上，浑身战栗，脸色变得死一样的苍白。他沉默不语。我很为他难过。

'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，”杜邦说，声音很是亲切，“没必要害怕——真的没必要。我们不会对你构成一丝危险。我很清楚莫尔格街那桩凶杀案不是你干的。可你是知情的。你既不是凶手也不是窃贼，没什么好隐瞒的。但是你必须把实情告诉我。警方已经误抓了一个无辜的人。如果你不把实情说出来，这个人就会坐牢，可能还会丢掉性命。”

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.'

水手沉默了一会儿。然后他说：“老天爷作证。我会把我知道的都告诉你。你会觉得这个故事很离奇，可这是真的。我是无辜的，我必须尽可能地帮助另一个无辜的人。”

This was the sailor's story.

水手的故事是这样的。

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.

我刚从东印度群岛回来。在那里逗留期间我去了婆罗洲岛。在岛上我发现并抓住了这只猩猩。它非常的粗野危险，所以回国的途中我费尽周折。不过总算回到了法国，我把它带到我在巴黎的房子里。因为怕邻居知道，我只好把它藏起来，打算尽快把它卖掉赚上一大笔钱。

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号晚上我外出和朋友聚会，很晚才回家。到家后，发现那只猩猩竟然站在我的卧室里，手里还拿着我的剃刀。通往它房间的门被砸成了碎片。我一下子手足无措起来。这种动物在赤手空拳的时候都很危险，何况它现在还拿着剃刀……!在乘船返回的路上我总是用一根鞭子让它保持安静，于是我就去找那根鞭子。但是这只猩猩一看到鞭子，就跑出房间，跑下楼梯，从一扇开着的窗户跳到了街上。

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.

我害怕极了。怎么才能抓到它呢?它在前面跑，我就在后面追。有时候它停住脚，看看我，手里依然拿着那把剃刀。可我一靠近，它就又跑起来。我们就这样你追我赶地跑着。幸好当时街上寂静无人，因为那时已经是将近凌晨3点了。

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.

后来，我们跑到了莫尔格街后面的一条狭窄的小巷，那家伙看到了五楼一扇窗户透出来的灯光。我还没来得及阻止，它就看见了那根避雷针，飞快地爬了上去，抓住格状的窗板，从开着的窗户荡进了房间。干完这一切它只用了不到一分钟。窗板随后又被弹了回来，紧贴着墙壁。

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.

我想我终于可以抓到它了。可当时我也非常担心。这家伙在上面的房间里干什么呢?我决定立刻跟着它顺避雷针爬上去。爬到五楼后，我发现自己不可能从窗户进去。我只能从这儿往屋里瞧了——就在这个时候，传来一声非常凄厉的尖叫。老天爷作证，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头发，另一只手里依旧拿着那把剃刀。老夫人的女儿立刻就昏倒了，一动不动地躺在地板上，脸色苍白。老太太努力想挣脱，却被那猩猩拽掉了几撮头发。她边挣扎边尖叫，或许这激怒了猩猩。于是猩猩就用那把剃刀把她的头几乎割了下来了。鲜血四溅!血让那家伙更加愤怒了。它跑到那女孩儿的身边，用它那双可怕的手紧紧地卡住了她的脖子。把她掐死后，那家伙抬起头——透过窗户看到了我的脸。我冲它嚷，它也大叫着回敬我。后来它可能记起了我的鞭子，或许这就是它为什么想把尸体藏起来的原因。见则有，不见则无吧。我不知道。它先是在房间里跑来跑去，弄坏了全部桌椅，把床垫也拽了下来。然后它抓起女孩的尸体竖着塞进了烟囱。最后，它又抓起老太太的尸体拖到窗口，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.

这真是惨不忍睹。我几乎是从避雷针上掉下来的，赶紧跑回家了。我只想摆脱那份恐惧。

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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.

这就是发生在莫尔格街凶杀案背后的故事。就在邻居们撞开房门之前，那只猩猩从窗户逃了出去，窗户随之关上了。

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.

后来水手抓住了那只猩猩，卖了一大笔钱。我们把这一切告诉了那个巡官，当天下午阿道夫·勒邦走出了监狱，是个自由人了。巡官对这一切并不是很满意。他滔滔不绝地讲了很多，什么有些人总想当警察，却从不了解这份工作啦什么的。

'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.'

“我们不和他争论，”一起回家的路上杜邦对我说，“让他说去吧。他就是那样，不过人还是不错的。我发现了谜底，他却没有。其实就是这些。”