作者：（英）柯南道尔（Conan Doyle, A.）,（英）巴西特（Bassett, J.）
出版社：外语教学与研究出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
福尔摩斯与赛马试读：
内容简介
身为侦探，必须眼观六路、耳听八方，还得记住所有细节。他们要留心天气、别人穿的鞋、女人帽子上的花、男人衣服口袋里的一盒火柴。他们必须通晓人情世故，对狗、羊和马都得有所知。甚至，他们还必须了解赛马，这项帝王的娱乐运动……
一匹著名赛马——“银光”——失踪了，歇洛克·福尔摩斯和华生医生来到了位于达特穆尔的马厩。“银光”是一周后的一场大赛的夺冠热门，它的主人罗斯先生满怀信心能赢得这场比赛。但他首先得找到自己的马。这个案子还死了一个人——约翰·斯特雷克，“银光”的驯马师。他妻子在离马厩不远的泥地里发现了他的尸体。格雷戈里巡官要找出凶手，但他与罗斯先生却得出了错误的结论。
那么，歇洛克·福尔摩斯问道，星期一晚上马厩里究竟发生了什么事？还有，同样重要的是，没有发生什么？
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SPORT OF KINGS
Detectives must see, hear, and remember everything. They must be interested in the weather, people's shoes, flowers in a woman's hat, a box of matches in a man's pocket. They must understand people; they must know about dogs, and sheep, and horses. They must even know about horseracing, the sport of kings...
When Silver Blaze, a famous racehorse, disappears, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson go down to his Dartmoor stables. Silver Blaze is the favourite for a big race in a week's time, and his owner, Mr Ross, is hoping to win this race. But first, he needs to find his horse. There is also a dead man in the case — John Straker, Silver Blaze's trainer. His wife found his body in the mud not far from the stables. And Inspector Gregory needs to find the killer. But he and Mr Ross are getting the wrong answers to their questions.
So, says Sherlock Holmes, whatdid happen at the stables on Monday night? And, just as important, what didnot happen?
1. A horse called Silver Blaze
must go down there, Watson. I must,' said Sherlock Holmes at the 'Ibreakfast table on Thursday morning.'Go? Go where?' I asked.
'To Dartmoor — to King's Pyland.'
'Ah! So that's it,' I said. 'Well, everybody in the country is talking about the case at King's Pyland.'
I always know when Holmes is interested in a case. He reads all the newspapers, he walks up and down, up and down the room, and does not speak for hours.
He did all those things yesterday. He did not answer any of my questions, but I knew that it was the mystery at King's Pyland.
The morning newspapers were on the breakfast table. 'What is happening at King's Pyland? Where is Silver Blaze?' they asked. 'Who killed John Straker? What are the police doing? Can they find the horse before the big race next week?'
Silver Blaze was a famous racehorse, and John Straker was his trainer. One of the biggest horse races of the year — the Wessex Cup —was next week, and Silver Blaze was the favourite to win. But on Monday night at King's Pyland two things happened. Someone killed John Straker, and Silver Blaze disappeared.
I was interested in this case too. 'Do you need my help, Holmes?' I asked. 'I would very much like to come with you.'
'My dear Watson,' said Holmes, 'of course you must come with me. We can catch the twelve o'clock from Paddington, and talk about the case on the train.'
Two hours later we were on the train to Tavistock. We read all the midday newspapers, but there was nothing new in them.
'So, Watson, what do you think about this case?'
'Well, the newspapers say —'
'Ah, yes. The newspapers understand nothing. One day they say one thing, the next day they say another. But we must look at the case more carefully. Whatdid happen on Monday night at King's Pyland? And what didnot happen? That's an important question too.'
'Do the police have any answers?' I asked.
'No,' said Holmes. 'On Wednesday morning I had two letters. One was from Mr Ross, the owner of the horse, and the other was from the Dartmoor police — an Inspector Gregory. They ask for my help.'
'Wednesday morning!' I cried. 'But this is Thursday morning. Why didn't you go down yesterday?'
'Because it was an easy case. You can't hide a famous horse for long, I thought. Where can you hide a horse on Dartmoor? There are no buildings, no trees... But I was wrong, Watson. The case is now two days old, and nobody can find the horse — or Straker's killer. So here we are, on the train to Tavistock.'
'And what do you think about it all?' I said.
'Well, Watson, let's look at the case. First, we have a racehorse, Silver Blaze — only five years old, but already a winner in many big races. His owner, Mr Ross, is a happy man — and rich. The racegoers are happy too. Silver Blaze nearly always wins his races, and so people put big bets on him to win. And when the favourite wins the race, a lot of people make money on their bets. But what happens when the favouritedoesn't win, Watson? What then?'
'A lot of people lose their money, of course,' I said. 'And people with big bets on adifferent horse can make muchmore money, when that other horse wins.'
'Right, Watson! So perhaps some people are very interested in Silver Blazenot running in the Wessex Cup. Of course, Mr Ross and his trainer, John Straker, know that, and they watch the horse very carefully.
'Now, let's look at the people and the place. The trainer, John Straker — a good man and wonderful with horses — worked for Mr Ross for twelve years. There are four horses in the training stables, and three boys working for Straker. One of them sits up all night with the horses, and the other two sleep in a room over the stables. We know nothing bad about any of the boys.
'Straker has a wife, no children, and lives — I mean, lived — in a house about two hundred metres from the stables. The town of Tavistock is two kilometres to the west, and about two kilometres to the east there is Capleton, another training stables. The owner there is Lord Backwater, and the trainer is Silas Brown. There are no other houses — just the hills of Dartmoor.'
I listened carefully. I wanted to remember it all because Holmes does not like to say anything twice.
'Now,' he said, 'what happened on Monday night? These papers came with Inspector Gregory's letter. The best thing is for you to read them, Watson. Then tell me what you think.'
I took the papers from him, and began to read.
casen. an event or set of events that need to be dealt with by the police （犯罪）案件
mysteryn. a secret, hidden, or inexplicable matter 神秘的事物；谜
racehorsen. a horse bred or kept for racing 赛马
trainern. a person who trains horses as a profession 驯马师
horse racen. a race between horses with riders on 赛马
favouriten. a competitor thought most likely to win （比赛中）最有希望的获胜者
inspectorn. a police officer of middle rank 巡官；督察
racegoern. a person who goes regularly to horse races 赛马会的常客
betn. the money etc. staked 赌金，赌注
stablen. a building set apart and adapted for keeping horses 马厩
1．赛马“银光”
“我必须得去一趟，华生。不能不去。”星期四早上，歇洛克·福尔摩斯坐在桌旁吃早餐时说道。“去？去哪儿？”我问道。“去达特穆尔——去金斯皮兰。”“啊！就是这事儿。”我说，“全英国的人都在谈论金斯皮兰的这个案子。”当福尔摩斯对某个案子感兴趣的时候，我总能感觉到。他会浏览所有的报纸，在房间里不停地走来走去，几小时都不说话。
昨天他就是这样。我问什么他都不理，不过我知道他肯定是在想着金斯皮兰的神秘事件。
早上的报纸就放在餐桌上。“金斯皮兰发生了什么事？‘银光’在哪儿？”报上写道，“谁杀死了约翰·斯特雷克？警方在干什么？他们能不能在下星期大赛前找回‘银光’？”“银光”是一匹著名的赛马，约翰·斯特雷克是它的驯马师。每年最大的赛马会之一——韦塞克斯杯——就在下星期举行，“银光”是夺冠的大热门。但星期一晚上，在金斯皮兰发生了两件事。约翰·斯特雷克被杀了，而“银光”失踪了。
我对这案子也很感兴趣。“你要我帮忙吗，福尔摩斯？”我问道，“我非常愿意跟你一起去。”“亲爱的华生，”福尔摩斯说，“你当然得跟我一起去。我们可以赶12点从帕丁顿区开出的火车，在车上讨论案情。”
两个小时以后，我们坐上了去塔维斯托克的火车。我们看了中午所有的报纸，但报上没有什么新消息。“华生，你对这案子有什么看法？”“呃，报纸上说——”“啊，报纸什么也不知道。他们今天说一套，明天又是一套。但我们得更用心地看待这个案子。星期一晚上在金斯皮兰发生了什么？没发生的又是什么？这也是个关键的问题。”“警方找到答案了吗？”我问道。“没有，”福尔摩斯说，“星期三早上我收到两封信，一封是马的主人罗斯先生写来的，另一封来自达特穆尔警方——格雷戈里巡官。他们请求我帮忙。”“星期三早上！”我叫道，“但现在已经是星期四上午了。你为什么不昨天动身呢？”“因为这个案子并不复杂。我原来以为没人能长时间地藏住一匹知名的马。你能把马藏在达特穆尔的什么地方呢？那儿没有建筑物，也没有树林……但我的判断并不准确，华生。现在这案子已经发生两天了，还没人找到那匹马——或者找到杀死约翰·斯特雷克的凶手。所以我们才坐上了这列开往塔维斯托克的火车。”“那你对这一切有什么看法？”我问道。“嗯，华生，我们来看看这个案子。首先，有一匹赛马‘银光’——才5岁，但已经是许多大赛的冠军。它的主人罗斯先生很开心——因为他有钱了。在这匹马上下注的赛马迷们也很开心，因为银光在比赛中几乎从未输过，因此人们在它身上下了重注。如果最被看好的赛马赢得了比赛，很多人都会凭他们下的赌注赢钱。但如果这匹马输了呢，华生？那会怎样？”“当然是许多人输钱啦，”我说，“而且在别的马身上下了重注的人会赢得更多的钱，如果被下注的那匹马赢了的话。”“说得对，华生！所以，可能有人很希望‘银光’不能参加韦塞克斯杯的比赛。当然，罗斯先生和他的驯马师约翰·斯特雷克知道这一点，他们非常小心地照顾着这匹马。”“现在让我们来看看这案子涉及到的人和地点。驯马师约翰·斯特雷克——他是个好人，对马很有一套——已经为罗斯先生工作了12年了。训练用的马厩里有四匹马。斯特雷克手下有三个小马倌，其中一个会整夜守着马，另外两个睡在马厩顶上的一个房间里。就我们所知，这几个男孩儿的品行都很好。”“斯特雷克已经结婚，没有孩子，住在——我是说，他曾经住在离马厩200米左右的一所房子里。向西两公里就是塔维斯托克镇，东边大约两公里的地方是卡普莱顿，另一处训马马厩。那儿的主人是巴克沃特勋爵，驯马师是赛拉斯·布朗。附近没有其他的房子了——只有达特穆尔的山。”
我仔细听着，想记住这一切，因为福尔摩斯不喜欢重复说过的话。“那么，”他说道，“星期一晚上发生了什么事？这些卷宗是格雷戈里巡官随信一起寄来的。你最好看看，华生，然后告诉我你的想法。”
我从他手里拿过卷宗，看了起来。
2. Monday night at King's Pyland
otes by Inspector Gregory, after talking to Edith Baxter, Ned NHunter, Mrs John Straker, and Mr Fitzroy SimpsonOn Monday evening Straker locked the stables at nine o'clock, the usual time. Two of the boys then walked up to the trainer's house for their dinner, but the third boy, Ned Hunter, stayed in the stables to watch the horses. At five past nine, the Strakers' servant, a girl called Edith Baxter, carried Ned Hunter's dinner down to the stables. The dinner that night was a hot meat curry.
Edith was nearly at the stables when a man called out to her. He came up to her, and she saw a tall man in a grey suit and a hat, and a red and black scarf. He carried a big walking stick, and Edith felt afraid of him.
'Where am I?' the man asked. 'What is this place?'
'This is King's Pyland training stables,' she said.
'Good!' said the man. 'Now, a stable boy sleeps here every night — is that right? And I think you're taking his dinner to him now.' He took an envelope out of his pocket. 'Please give the boy this, and you can have some money for a beautiful new dress.'
Edith did not take the envelope. She ran past the man to the stables and up to a small open window. She always put the boy's dinner through this window, and Ned Hunter was there, ready to take it.
'Oh Ned!' Edith cried, but before she could say any more, the stranger came up behind her.
'Good evening,' he said through the window to the boy. 'I want to talk to you.'
'Who are you? What do you want?' Ned Hunter said.
'I want to make you rich, boy,' the stranger said. 'You help me, and I help you. You have two horses in for the Wessex Cup — Silver Blaze and Bayard. I hear that Bayard is the better horse, and that you stable boys are putting your bets on him to win. Am I right?'
'I'm not saying anything!' cried Ned Hunter. 'We don't talk about our horses at King's Pyiand, so get out! I'm getting the dog now!'
Ned ran across the stables to get the dog, and Edith began to run back to the house. But she looked back after about thirty metres, and saw the man at the little window, with his head and one arm inside the room.
Edith ran on, and a minute later, Ned came out of the building and locked the door behind him. He ran all round the stables with the dog, but the man was gone.
Ned Hunter told the trainer and the other boys about the stranger, but no one saw him again.
The next thing happened at one o'clock in the morning when John Straker got out of bed.
'What's the matter?' said his wife. 'Where are you going?'
'To the stables,' Straker said. 'I can't stop thinking about that stranger. I just want to have a look around.'
'But it's raining. Wait until the rain stops,' she said.
'No, no,' Straker said. 'I want to go now.'
He left the house and Mrs Straker went back to sleep. At seven in the morning she woke up, but her husband was not there. She quickly got up, called the servant, Edith, and they ran down to the stables.
They found the stables unlocked. Straker was not there, and inside, on a chair, Ned Hunter slept like a dead man. Silver Blaze was gone, and his stable door was open. They called the other two boys from the room over the stables. They were good sleepers and heard nothing in the night.
Nobody could wake Ned Hunter, so the two women and the boys ran out to look for the trainer and the horse. Five hundred metres from the stables, they saw Straker's coat on a small tree. Down the hill, just past the tree, they found the trainer. He was dead.
There was a long cut in his leg, and his head was broken in three places. In his right hand he had a small knife, with blood all over it, and in his left hand he had a red and black scarf.
Edith Baxter knew the scarf at once, and later, so did Ned Hunter.
'It's the stranger's scarf,' he told us. 'When I went to get the dog, that stranger was still at the stable window. He put something in my meat curry, to make me sleep — I know he did. Edith saw him, with his arm through the window.'
Ned Hunter was right about his meat curry. There was some of his dinner left, and we found a lot of opium in it. That's why Ned slept like a dead man.
What about the horse? We found his tracks in the mud, next to Straker's dead body. But what happened then? Someone hit Straker on the head, and killed him. Did that person take the horse away? Did the horse run away? Everybody on Dartmoor is looking for Silver Blaze, but there is no news of him.
When I began work on the case on Tuesday, we looked for the stranger. He was in Tavistock, and we found him easily. His name is Fitzroy Simpson. He lives mostly in London, and makes his money at the races, taking bets. We looked in his betting-book, and found a number of big bets — five thousand pounds —against the favourite for the Wessex Cup.
These were his answers to my questions.
'Why did you come down to Dartmoor?'
'I'm a betting man, Inspector. I need to know about the horses for the Wessex Gup — Silver Blaze, Bayard, and Desborough, the horse at Silas Brown's stables. He's the second favourite for the race, you see.'
'Did you go to the King's Pyland stables late on Monday evening?'
'Yes, I did. I just wanted to ask the stable boys some questions. They know the horses better than anyone.'
'And is this your scarf?'
'Yes... yes, it is.'
'And how did it get into the dead man's hand, Mr Simpson? Can you tell us that?'
'I don't know, Inspector, I don't know! I never saw the man. I lost my scarf in the dark. It wasn't me, Inspector, it wasn't me!'
We asked many more questions, but Fitzroy Simpson did not change his story. He was out at King's Pyland that night, his suit was still wet from the rain, and his big walking stick could break a man's head open. But there were no cuts on his body, so where did the blood on Straker's knife come from?
And where is the horse?
curryn．a dish of meat, vegetables, etc., cooked in a sauce of hot-tasting spices, usu. served with rice 咖哩菜肴
lockv. to fasten with a lock 锁；锁上
cutn．a division or wound made by cutting 伤口
opiumn. a powerful illegal drug made from poppy seeds, that used to be used legally as a painkiller 鸦片；麻醉剂
trackn. mark or marks left by a person, animal, or thing in passing 足迹；踪迹
2．周一晚上的金斯皮兰
格雷戈里巡官与伊道丝·巴克斯特、内德·亨特、约翰·斯特雷克夫人以及菲茨罗伊·辛普森先生谈话以后的记录。星期一晚上，斯特雷克跟平常一样9点就锁了马厩。然后有两个小马倌走到驯马师家里吃晚餐，而第三个小马倌内德·亨特留在马厩照看马匹。9点5分，斯特雷克的佣人，一个名叫伊迪丝·巴克斯特的女孩子把内德·亨特的晚餐送到马厩。那天晚上的晚餐是热的咖哩烧肉。伊迪丝快到马厩的时候，一个人向她打招呼。他走近她，伊迪丝看见一个高个子男人，穿着一件灰色外套，戴着帽子，围着一条黑红相间的围巾，手里拿着一根粗大的手杖。伊迪丝觉得有点儿害怕。“我这是在哪儿？”那个人问道，“这是什么地方？”“这是金斯皮兰的训练马厩。”伊迪丝回答道。“太好了！”那个人说。“那么，一个小马倌每天晚上睡在这儿——对吗？我猜你这是要去给他送晚餐吧。”他从口袋里掏出一个信封。“请把这个交给那个男孩儿，你就可以得到一笔钱买身漂亮衣服了。”伊迪丝没拿那个信封。她从那个人身旁跑过去，跑到马厩那儿的一扇开着的小窗前。她一般都从这扇窗户将小马倌的晚餐递进去，内德·亨特已经在那儿准备取饭了。“噢，内德！”伊迪丝叫道，但她还没来得及说别的，那个陌生人已经来到了她身后。“晚上好，”他隔着窗户对那个男孩说，“我想跟你谈谈。”“你是谁？你想干什么？”内德·亨特说。“我想让你发财，孩子，”那个陌生人说，“你要是帮我，我就会帮你。你们有两匹马要参加韦塞克斯杯——‘银光’和贝亚德。我听说贝亚德更好，你们这帮小马倌都在它身上下了注。对吗？”“我不会透露任何事！”内德·亨特叫道，“我们不会在金斯皮兰谈论自己的马，快走开！我要放狗了！”内德穿过马厩去牵狗，伊迪丝开始回头往房子里跑。但她跑了大约30米后，回头看见那个人站在那扇小窗子边，头和一只胳膊伸进了房间里。伊迪丝继续往回跑，很快内德就出来了，顺手锁了门。他带着狗绕马厩跑了一圈，但那个人已经不见了。内德·亨特跟驯马师和其他的马倌说了那个陌生人的事，但再没人看到那个人。第二件事发生在凌晨1点。约翰·斯特雷克从床上爬了起来。“怎么了？”他妻子说，“你要去哪儿？”“去马厩看看，”斯特雷克说，“我老想着那个陌生人。我想去看看。”“可天在下雨呢。等雨停了再去吧。”她说。“不，不，”斯特雷克说，“我就想现在去。”他离开了房子，斯特雷克夫人接着睡觉。早上7点，她醒了过来，但她丈夫不在。她马上起床，叫来了佣人伊迪丝，一起往马厩跑去。她们发现马厩没锁。斯特雷克不在，内德·亨特在里边一张椅子上睡得跟死人一样。“银光”也不见了，它所在的马厩开着门。她们叫醒了睡在马厩顶上房间里的另外两个小马倌。他俩都睡得很死，没听见夜里有任何动静。没人能叫醒内德·亨特，于是那两个女人和两个小马倌跑出去找驯马师和那匹马。在离马厩500米的地方，他们看见斯特雷克的外套挂在一棵小树上。就在树边的山脚下，他们找到了驯马师。他死了。他腿上有一道长长的伤口，脑袋有三处破了。他右手拿着一把小刀，上面满是血，左手拽着一条黑红相间的围巾。伊迪丝·巴克斯特马上就认出了那条围巾，后来，内德·亨德也认出来了。“是那个陌生人的围巾，”他告诉我们，“我去牵狗的时候，那个人还在马厩的窗户边。他放了什么东西在我的咖哩烧肉里，让我昏昏入睡——我知道一定是他。伊迪丝看见他了，他的手伸进了窗户里。”内德·亨特关于他的咖哩烧肉的判断是对的。他的晚餐还剩下一点儿，我们在里边发现大量的麻醉剂。这就是内德睡得那么死的原因。那匹马呢？我们在泥地里发现了它的脚印，就在斯特雷克的尸体旁边。但是随后发生了什么事？有人打中了斯特雷克的头，杀死了他。那个人把马带走了吗？还是马自己跑了？达特穆尔的每个人都在找“银光”，但没有关于它的任何消息。星期二我开始调查这个案子，我们就着手寻找那个陌生人。他在塔维斯托克，我们轻而易举地找到了他。他名叫菲茨罗伊·辛普森。他大部分时间住在伦敦，靠在赛马中赌马赚钱。我们查看了他的赌金簿，发现他在韦塞克斯杯上下了重注——5000英镑——买“银光”输。以下是他回答我的问题的记录。“你为什么去达特穆尔？”“巡官，我是个赌徒。我得了解参加韦塞克斯杯的马——‘银光’、贝亚德，还有德斯伯勒，赛拉斯·布朗家的马。你知道，那是这次比赛的第二大热门。”“星期一晚上你是不是去了金斯皮兰的马厩？”“对。我只想向着马厩的马倌打听点儿事情。他们比任何人都了解马的状况。”“这是你的围巾吗？”“对……是我的。”“那它是怎么到被害人的手里的，辛普森先生？你能向我们解释一下吗？”“我不知道，巡官，我不知道！我从来没见过那个人，那天夜里我的围巾丢了。不是我干的，巡官，不是我！”我们还问了很多问题，但菲茨罗伊·辛普森坚持他的说法。他那天晚上确实在金斯皮兰，他的外套淋了雨，还是湿的，他那条粗大的手杖足以打破人的脑袋。但他身上没有伤口，那斯特雷克手里那把刀上的血迹又是从哪儿来的呢？还有，那匹马哪儿去了？3. John Straker's pockets
mm, very interesting,' I said. I gave the papers back to Holmes, 'Mand he put them away.'So, Watson, what can you tell me?' he asked.
I thought for a minute. 'This cut on Straker's leg. Perhaps he did it with his own knife. When something hits you very hard on the head, and you have a knife in your hand... It can happen, you know.'
'Very good, Watson. And that's bad news for Fitzroy Simpson.'
'So did Simpson do it, do you think?' I said.
'Perhaps,' said Holmes. 'Let's look at it. Simpson puts opium in the boy's dinner. He goes away and comes back later in the night. He gets into the stables, takes the horse out, and leaves. But the trainer arrives at that moment, sees him, and follows him. The two men fight, and Simpson breaks Straker's head open with his stick. Then Simpson takes the horse — but where? Or did the horse run away? Is it still out on the moor? And how did Simpson get into thelocked stables? I don't know, Watson, I don't know. We must wait and see.'
When we arrived at Tavistock station, two men came to meet us. Inspector Gregory was a tall, slow-moving man with blue eyes, and Mr Ross was small and quick. He was the first to speak.
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