两列火车并列行驶的一刹那，埃尔斯佩思目睹了一场谋杀。一个男子残忍地掐死了一个女人。火车开远了，惊魂未定的埃尔斯佩思马上报警。可是除了简•马普尔小姐，没有人相信她的话。因为没有其他目击证人，而且连尸体也没发现……

Chapter One

Mrs Elspcth McGillicuddy hurried along Platform 3 at Paddington Station after the porter who was carrying her suitcase. Mrs McGillicuddy was short and the porter was tall. Mrs McGillicuddy was also carrying a lot of packages after a day of Christmas shopping. So the porter had already turned the corner at the end of the platform while she searched her bag for the ticket at the entrance gate.

At that moment, a voice sounded above her head, “The train standing at Platform 3, is the 4.50 for Brackhampton, Milchester, Waverton, Roxeter and stations to Chadmouth. Passengers for Brackhampton and Milchester travel at the back of the train.”

Mrs McGillicuddy found her ticket and showed it to the man at the gate who said, “On the right, at the back.”

Mrs McGillicuddy continued up the platform and found her porter waiting outside the door of a third-class carriage①.

“I’m travelling first-class,” said Mrs McGillicuddy.

“You didn't say so,” said the porter. Mrs McGillicuddy, had said so, but was too tired to argue.

The porter carried her suitcase to the next coach②, where Mrs McGillicuddy sat down alone and opened her magazine. Five minutes later, whistles③ blew, and the train started. The magazine slipped from Mrs McGillicuddy’s hand, her head dropped sideways and three minutes later she was asleep. She slept for thirty-five minutes and awoke feeling much better as she sat looking out of the window at the countryside flying past. It was almost dark now and the train passed through a station, then began to slow down, and then it stopped for a short while before it began to move forward again.

① carriage n. 车厢 

② coach n. 火车车厢

③ whistle n. 汽笛声

A train passed them, going in the opposite direction. Then another train, going in the same direction, passed frighteningly close to them. For a time the two trains ran parallel① and Mrs McGillicuddy looked from her window into the windows of the other carriages. Most of the blinds② were down，but occasionally she could see people in the carriages, although many of them were empty.

Suddenly, when the two trains seemed to have stopped because they were both moving at the same slow speed, a blind flew up and Mrs McGillicuddy looked into the lighted first- class carriage that was only a short distance away.

Then she gasped③ and stood up.

Standing with his back to the window was a man. His hands were round the throat④ of a woman, and he was slowly strangling⑤ her. Her eyes were wide open and her face was purple. As Mrs McGillicuddy watched, the woman's body collapsed⑥. At the same time, the other train began to go forward faster and a moment later it had passed Mrs McGillicuddy’s train and disappeared.

Then the door of her carriage opened and a man said, “Ticket, please.”

Mrs McGillicuddy turned to him, “A woman has been strangled in a train that has just passed ours. I saw it — through there.” She pointed to the window. “You must do something at once!”

① parallel adj. 平行的  

② blind n. 窗帘 

③ gasp v. 倒吸气

④ throat n. 喉咙 

⑤ strangle v. 把……勒死

⑥ collapse v. 倒下

Paddington Station

This station is situated to the west of the centre of London. It is the main London railway station for trains going to Wales and the West of England, to important cities like Bath, Bristol and Cardiff, and also further south to places like Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance. Agatha Christie lived in the south of Devon, a county in the south west of the UK, so would have been a very frequent traveller to and from Paddington Station whenever she needed to visit London.

All the place names in the story arc fictional: Agatha Christie invented them, so they cannot be found on any map.

帕丁顿火车站

该火车站坐落于伦敦中心区西部。这里是伦敦前往威尔士和英格兰西部重要城市的列车枢纽，其目的地包括巴斯、布里斯托尔和加迪夫，还有更南面一些的艾克赛特、普利茅斯和彭赞斯。阿加莎•克里斯蒂居住在德文郡南部，那是英国西南部的一个郡，当她需要来伦敦时，肯定时常经过帕丁顿火车站。

本书中的所有地名都是虚构的：阿加莎•克里斯蒂之所以这样安排，就是为了避免被读者在地图上找到。

阿加莎•克里斯蒂是世界著名的推理小说女王，她的小说多次被搬上银幕，她在中国粉丝众多，被亲切地称为“阿婆”。

“阿加莎•克里斯蒂经典侦探作品集”丛书经英语专家改写，适当简化，既保留扣人心弦的故事，又使读者能轻松阅读，学习英语。

中文脚注，提示生词含义；文化注释，讲解背景知识。

扫描书中的二维码可跳转到音频链接，收听录音，还可搭配点读笔使用。

朗读录音由英国本土人士录制，发音地道，声情并茂。

《怪屋》（Crooked House）

《密码》（N or M？）

《魔手》（The Moving Finger）

《地狱之旅》（Destination Unknown）

《古屋疑云》（Peril at End House）

《借镜杀人》（They Do It with Mirrors）

《罗杰疑案》（The Murder of Roger Ackroyd）

《寓所谜案》（The Murder at the Vicarage）

《云中奇案》（Death in the Cloud）

《死亡约会》（Appointment with Death）

《葬礼之后》（After the Funeral）

《鸽群中的猫》（Cat among the Pigeons）

《命案目睹记》（4.50 from Paddington）

《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》（The Mysterious Affair at Styles）

《闪光的氰化物》（Sparkling Cyanide）

《穿棕色套装的人》（The Man in the Brown Suit）

《国际学舍谋杀案》（Hickory Dickory Dock）

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