《巴斯克维尔的猎犬》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a “Penang lawyer.” Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. “To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.,” was engraved upon it, with the date “1884.” It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry—dignified, solid, and reassuring.

歇洛克·福尔摩斯先生平时早晨总是起得很晚，除非他整夜不睡，而这种情况并不少见。这天早晨，他正坐在早餐桌旁。我站在壁炉前的地毯上，拿起昨晚那位客人留下的手杖。这是一根精致厚实的木棍，杖头呈球状，属于那种被称为「槟榔律师」的手杖。杖头正下方有一道将近一英寸宽的银箍。上面刻着：「赠给詹姆斯·莫蒂默，皇家外科学会会员，来自C.C.H.的朋友们」，日期是「1884年」。这正是老式家庭医生常带的那种手杖，庄重、结实，令人安心。

“Well, Watson, what do you make of it?”

「那么，华生，你对此有什么看法？」

Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.

福尔摩斯背对着我坐着，我并没有向他透露我在做什么。

“How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head.”

「你怎么知道我在做什么？我相信你后脑勺上长了眼睛。」

“I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me,” said he. “But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of our visitor’s stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it.”

「至少，我面前有一把擦得锃亮的镀银咖啡壶，」他说。「不过，告诉我，华生，你对这位客人的手杖有什么看法？既然我们不幸错过了他，又不知道他来意如何，这件偶然留下的纪念品就变得重要了。让我听听你通过检查这根手杖来推断这个人的情况。」

“I think,” said I, following as far as I could the methods of my companion, “that Dr. Mortimer is a successful, elderly medical man, well-esteemed since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation.”

「我认为，」我说，尽可能模仿我同伴的方法，「莫蒂默医生是一位事业有成、上了年纪的医务工作者，很受尊敬，因为认识他的人都以此表示对他的赏识。」

“Good!” said Holmes. “Excellent!”

「好！」福尔摩斯说。「太好了！」

“I think also that the probability is in favour of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on foot.”

「我还认为，他很可能是一位乡村医生，出诊时大多步行。」

“Why so?”

「为什么？」

“Because this stick, though originally a very handsome one has been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it. The thick-iron ferrule is worn down, so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it.”

「因为这根手杖虽然原本很漂亮，但已被磕碰得不成样子，我很难想象一位城里的医生会带着它。厚铁箍已经磨损，显然他带着它走了很多路。」

“Perfectly sound!” said Holmes.

「完全合理！」福尔摩斯说。

“And then again, there is the ‘friends of the C.C.H.’ I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance, and which has made him a small presentation in return.”

「还有，上面刻着『C.C.H.的朋友们』。我猜那是某某猎狐会，当地的猎狐会，他可能为会员们做过一些外科治疗，他们便送他这件小礼物作为回报。」

“Really, Watson, you excel yourself,” said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. “I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt.”

「说真的，华生，你真是超常发挥了，」福尔摩斯说着，推开椅子，点起一支烟。「我必须说，在你好心为我那些微不足道的成就所做的所有记述中，你总是习惯性地低估了自己的能力。也许你自己并不发光，但你是光的导体。有些人虽然没有天才，却有一种非凡的能力，能激发天才。我承认，亲爱的朋友，我非常感激你。」

He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I had so far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval. He now took the stick from my hands and examined it for a few minutes with his naked eyes. Then with an expression of interest he laid down his cigarette, and carrying the cane to the window, he looked over it again with a convex lens.

他以前从未说过这样的话，我必须承认，他的话让我非常高兴，因为我常常因他对我的钦佩以及我试图宣传他的方法所表现出的冷淡而感到不快。我也很自豪，觉得自己对他的方法掌握到如此程度，能够以这种方式运用并赢得他的赞许。这时他从我手中拿过手杖，用肉眼检查了几分钟。然后，他露出感兴趣的表情，放下香烟，把手杖拿到窗前，用凸透镜又看了一遍。

“Interesting, though elementary,” said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee. “There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis for several deductions.”

「有趣，虽然简单，」他回到沙发上他最喜欢的角落时说。「手杖上确实有一两处线索。它为我们提供了几个推断的基础。」