领略原汁原味汉英对照经典名作
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      I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.
      “You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson,” he said cordially.
      “I was afraid that you were engaged.”
      “So I am. Very much so.”
      “Then I can wait in the next room.”
      “Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also.”
      The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small, fat-encircled eyes.
      “Try the settee,” said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and putting his fingertips together,
as was his custom when in judicial moods. “I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures.”
      “Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me,” I observed.
      “You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of the imagination.”
      “ A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting.”
      “You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique things are very often connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether any positive crime has been committed.
      As far as I have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is certainly among the most singular that I have ever l istened to. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique.”
      The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance.
      I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey shepherd’s check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.
      Sherlock Holmes’s quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. “Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.”
      Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
      “How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Holmes?” he asked. “How did you know, for example, that I did manual labour? It’s as true as gospel, for I began as a ship’s carpenter.”
      “Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more developed.”
      “Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?”
      “I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how I read
that, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you use an arc-and-compass breastpin.”
      “ Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?”
      “What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?”

中文翻译
      去年的一个秋日，我去探望我朋友歇洛克•福尔摩斯先生，发现他正在聚精会神地跟人聊天，对方是一个健硕异常、面色红润的老先生，头发如火焰一般鲜红耀眼。我为自己的冒昧打扰道了声歉，正打算就此离去，福尔摩斯却猛一把将我拽进房间，跟着就关上了门。
      “你来得再巧不过了，亲爱的华生，”他恳切地说道。“要我看，你现在有事情吧。”
      “我确实有事情，事情还非常多。”
      “那我到隔壁去等你好了。”
      “完全不用。威尔逊先生，您眼前的这位先生曾经跟我一起办过许多最为成功的案子，还给过我莫大的帮助，我完全肯定，在您的这件案子当中，他也能给我同样的帮助。”
      身形健硕的老先生从椅子上抬起半个身子，略微表示了一下问候，还用肿泡泡的小眼睛飞快地扫了我一眼，眼神里带着疑问。
      “你坐那把长椅吧，”福尔摩斯一边说，一边倒进自己的扶手椅，双手的手指拢在了一起。每当他进入慎思明辨的状态，总是会摆出这么一副架势。“我知道，亲爱的华生，你我都是同道中人，都喜欢那些离奇古怪、超越日常生活陈腔滥调的事物。你之好奇爱异，证据就是你身上的那股热情，正是那股热情驱使你从我本人的小小事迹当中搜罗了那么多东西，对它们进行记录，甚而至于，恕我直言，进行夸大和粉饰。”
      “我的确对你那些案子非常地感兴趣，”我说道。
      “你应该还记得吧，就在咱们着手调查玛丽•萨瑟兰小姐委托的那件极其简单的案子之前，我曾经对你说过，要想寻找离奇的现象和非凡的因果，咱们只能投入生活本身，原因在于，生活比人们的任何想象都要惊人得多。”
      “你这个看法，当时我还不揣冒昧地提出了质疑呢。”
      “当时的情形的确如此，医生，不过，现在你一定得转变立场，要不然，我就会把一堆又一堆的事实压到你的身上，直到压垮你的那些逻辑、迫使你承认我说得对为止。好了，今天早上，这位杰贝兹•威尔逊先生赏脸光临，开始给我讲一个故事，我敢肯定，他接下来的叙述将会成为我好些日子以来听到的最奇特的事情。我跟你说过，最离奇、最独特的那些东西通常与大案无关，往往都会在那些比较小的罪案当中出现，偶尔呢，说实在话，还会出现在一些连有没有罪案都成问题的场合。听到现在，我仍然无从判断，眼前的这件事情是不是一宗罪案，不过，事情的经过无疑是我这辈子最奇特的见闻之一。威尔逊先生，能不能麻烦您多多费心，把您的故事从头到尾再讲一遍。我这个不情之请，并不只是因为我朋友华生医生没有赶上故事的开头部分，也因为您的故事实在是非比寻常，以致我非常想从您嘴里听到尽可能多的细节。一般来说，如果能从事情的经过当中听出一丁点儿小小的提示，我就可以回想起成千上万的类似案例，由此找到方向。可是，就目前这个案子而言，我不得不承认，所有的事实，在我所知道的的范围之内，都称得上独一无二。”
      听了他的话，身形肥硕的主顾挺起胸膛，神态之中带上了一点儿小小的自豪，接着就从大衣内兜里掏出了一张又脏又皱的报纸。他把报纸摊在自己的膝盖上，脑袋前倾，眼睛在报纸的启事栏里搜寻。趁着这段工夫，我把他好好地打量了一番，努力地模仿我朋友的方法，想要从他的衣装或者长相当中看出一些名堂来。
      不过，我这番观察并没有带来多少收获。我们这位客人从头到脚都是个普普通通的英国商贩，肥胖、虚荣、反应迟钝。他穿着一条鼓鼓囊囊的棋盘格灰色长裤，以及一件算不上十分干净的黑色长礼服，礼服的前襟敞着，露出一件土黄色的马甲，马甲上吊着一根沉甸甸的阿尔伯特黄铜表链，链子上有一块穿了方孔的金属饰品，正在那里甩来甩去。他身边的椅子上放着一顶磨秃了的高顶礼帽，还有一件褪了色的棕褐大衣，大衣的丝绒领子已经起了皱。总体说来，不管我怎么看，除了火红的头发和极度懊丧不满的表情之外，眼前的这个人再没有什么能让人多看一眼的地方了。
      我的举动没有逃过歇洛克•福尔摩斯那双锐利的眼睛，看到我询问的眼神，他微笑着摇了摇头。“他以前干过一段时间体力活，有吸鼻烟的习惯，是共济会的会员，曾经去过中国，近来还做过不少写字的工作，除了这些显而易见的事实之外，我也看不出什么别的了。”
      杰贝兹•威尔逊先生在自己的椅子上打了个激灵，食指依然点着报纸，目光却落在了我同伴的身上。
      “老天在上，这些事情您都是怎么知道的，福尔摩斯先生？”他问道。“比方说，您怎么知道我以前干过体力活儿呢？这件事情跟上帝的福音一样真实，因为我的第一份工作就是船上的木匠。”
      “您的手告诉我的，亲爱的先生。您的右手比左手大得多，因为您老是用右手干活，右手的肌肉就比左手发达一些。”
      “好吧，那么，鼻烟和共济会又是怎么回事呢？”
      “我不想告诉您我是怎么看出来的，那样等于是侮辱您的智力，更何况，您还不顾您那个组织的严格规章，把一枚圆规加量角器图案的胸针别在了身上。”
      “噢，当然，我倒把这东西给忘了。可是，写字的工作又是怎么回事呢？”
      “您右边的袖口有一截已经磨得油光锃亮，宽度足足有五英寸，左边袖子的胳膊肘附近也有一块磨秃了的地方，说明您经常把左胳膊肘架在书桌上，您说说，这些迹象还能代表别的什么事情吗？”

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