小镇疑云：《寓所谜案》选读（英音朗读）

商务印书馆英语编辑室 2022-06-09

一天，牧师Clement发现Protheroe上校被人枪杀于自己家中。案发后，画家Lawrence和上校夫人Anne相继自首却被证明无罪；考古学家Stone从火车站去了伦敦，而他的的女秘书Cram半夜提着手提箱进了森林；助理牧师Hawes自杀未遂，现场还留下了纸条。

不动声色地观察这一连串的事件以后，马普尔小姐推理出案发过程，并设下圈套让真凶自投罗网，还原事件真相。

本书就是《寓所谜案》，首次发表于1930年，是阿加莎以马普尔小姐为主角的第一部长篇小说。小说发表至今，更有戏剧、电影、电视剧、电视电影和漫画等多种形式改编。商务印书馆出版的这本《寓所谜案》，语言简明地道，情节精彩有趣，一起来看看吧。

Chapter 1

It is difficult to know where to begin this story, but I have chosen a particular Wednesday at the vicarage. This is because the conversation around the table contained details which affected later developments.

I had just finished cutting some meat, which was very tough, and said, waving the knife in a way that was not at all appropriate for a vicar, that anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world a favour.

vicarage n. 教区牧师住宅

tough adj.（肉）煮老的

vicar n. 教区牧师

My young nephew, Dennis, said, ‘We’ll all remember that when the old man is found covered in blood. And Mary will describe how you waved the knife in a violent manner, won’t you, Mary?’

But Mary, who is a servant at the vicarage, just put a dish of unpleasant-looking cabbage on the table and left the room.

‘I am sorry that I am so useless at taking care of the house,’ said my wife, whose name is Griselda. She is twenty years younger than I am, very pretty, and unable to take anything seriously.

‘My dear,’ I said, ‘if you would only try...’

‘But when I’m trying things just get worse. So it is better to leave things to Mary, who gives us awful things to eat. Now, tell me more about Colonel Protheroe.’

‘Unpleasant man,’ said Dennis. ‘It is not surprising that his first wife left him.’

‘Darling,’ said Griselda, ‘Why were you so angry with Colonel Protheroe? Was it anything to do with Mr Hawes?’

Hawes is our new curate, whom Colonel Protheroe dislikes.

‘No, it was because of Mrs Price Ridley’s pound note.’

Mrs Price Ridley, a member of my church, had put a pound note in the collection bag. Later, when she was reading the amount collected on the church notice-board, she saw that no pound note had been received. So she complained to Colonel Protheroe, who is a churchwarden.

‘He wants to look at all the Church accounts,’ I said. ‘He’s coming here tomorrow evening so we can do it together. Does he think I have stolen Church money? But now I must get on with preparing my sermon. What are you doing this afternoon, Griselda?’

curate n. 助理牧师

collction bag 募捐袋

churchwarden n. 教会委员

sermon n.（礼拜仪式上的）布道

‘My duty as the wife of a vicar. Tea and talk at four-thirty.’

‘Who is coming?’

‘Mrs Price Ridley, Miss Wetherby, Miss Hartnell, and that terrible Miss Marple.’

‘I rather like Miss Marple,’ I said. ‘She has a sense of humour.’

‘And she always knows every single thing that happens in the village,’ said Griselda. ‘And explains them in the worst possible way.’

‘Well, don’t expect me in for tea,’ said Dennis. ‘The Protheroes have invited me to play tennis today. What luck.’ He quickly left the room and Griselda and I went into my study.

‘I wonder what we will talk about at tea,’ said Griselda.

‘Mrs Lestrange, I suppose. It’s so mysterious, isn’t it, the way she suddenly rented a house here, and hardly ever goes outside it? It’s like a detective story. You know – “Who is she, the mysterious woman with the pale, beautiful face? Nobody knows.”’

‘You read too many detective stories,’ I said. ‘Now, I must start my sermon.’

‘Do you know,’ said Griselda, ‘I could have married a politician, a lord, a rich businessman, but instead I chose you? Didn’t that surprise you?’

‘Yes. I often wondered why.’

Griselda laughed. ‘It made me feel powerful. The other men all thought I was wonderful. But I am the sort of woman you most dislike, and yet you adore me, don’t you?’

pale adj. 苍白的

adore v.爱慕

‘I do care about you, my dear.’

‘Oh! Len, you adore me,’ Griselda said. ‘But you don’t deserve me. So I will have a love affair with the artist who is painting my picture. I will. Just think of the talk in the village.’ She kissed me, and stepped through the open glass door into the garden.

文化注释

·The Church of England

Many English villages have a church belonging to the Church of England.
The administrative area of the church and the surrounding villages is calld a parish. Each parish is looked after by a vicar – the name for a priest in the Church of England. The vicar is paid by the Church and lives in a house called a vicarage. This belongs to the Church. Vicars in the Church of England are allowed to marry.
The vicar leads church services, during which he gives a sermon – a talk about spiritual and religious matters. The vicar is responsible for taking care of the spiritual needs of the people of the village, so often visits those who are ill or have other worries. The vicar will carry out baptisms, marriage ceremonies and funerals and is generally a very respected person in the local area. People will often ask the vicar for advice regarding personal matters. In the story, the vicar, Leonard Clement, often has to visit local people to help solve their problems, or to support relatives when illness or death occurs. He would also be asked to advise on other personal or moral problems.
The vicar is sometimes assisted by a curate, who is a less experienced priest – in the story this is Mr Hawes. The vicar is also helped by people in the parish called churchwardens – Colonel Protheroe is one of them. Churchwardens are not paid but give their time to support the vicar with practical matters, such as handling the church’s money and maintaining the church buildings.
The people of the village help the Church to do its work by putting money in a collection bag, which is passed around those attending church services.The story begins with a dispute about a £1 note that has gone missing. One pound in those days was a considerable sum of money – approximately 50 pounds today.
·英格兰教会
英国许多村庄都有隶属于英格兰教会的教堂。
教堂的行政管理区域及其周边村庄称作教区。每个教区由一名教区牧师（即英格兰教会的牧师）照管。教区牧师由教会支付薪酬，他就住在教区教堂里，这是属于教会的财产。英格兰教会的教区牧师是可以结婚的。
教区牧师主持教堂的礼拜仪式，仪式期间，他要进行布道，宣讲精神和宗教方面的内容。牧师要负责处理好村里人的精神需求，所以要经常去拜访生病的人或有其他烦恼的人。牧师还要执行施洗，主持婚礼、葬礼，他通常是本地很受尊敬的人物。
人们在个人事务方面也经常向牧师征询意见。在本故事里，教区牧师Leonard Clement必须经常去拜访本地人，帮助他们解决问题，或者在亲属生病或死亡时提供帮助。他也会就其他个人问题或道德问题给人提供建议。
有时，教区牧师手下有一名不是那么富有经验的助理牧师协助——本故事里的Hawes先生便是这样的助理。教区牧师也会得到教区里一种叫做教会委员的人的帮助——Protheroe上校便是这样的人。教会委员不领取薪酬，但会抽出时间支持牧师做一些实际事务，比如处置教堂的收入、维修教堂的建筑物等。
村里的人在参加教堂的礼拜仪式时把钱放进一个传来传去的募捐袋里，他们以这种方式支持教会开展工作。本故事开始时，人们为丢失的一英镑钞票而发生争执。在当时，一英镑是相当大的一笔钱，差不多值今天的 50 英镑。

（以上内容节选自《寓所谜案》，图片来自网络）

《寓所谜案》是“阿加莎·克里斯蒂经典侦探作品集”丛书之一。
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