金钱的诱惑：《葬礼之后》（阿加莎经典作品英文选读+原音朗读）
富商Richard Abernethie去世，在律师召集众人宣读遗嘱期间，其妹Cora却语出惊人：“可他是被谋杀的，不是吗？”不久，Cora死于非命，陪伴她的Gilchrist小姐又中毒了。这一切的背后，究竟有着怎样的阴谋？
这是阿加莎·克里斯蒂发表于1953年的《葬礼之后》（After the Funeral），带着其早期作品风格，并与《尼罗河上的惨案》、《死亡约会》（点击蓝色字体回顾）有着结构上的相似性。侦探波洛在书中说道：“由于这件事情里证据不如人多，那么我就得专门同人打交道。”于是，伴随着梳理错综复杂的人物关系，波洛展开了探案之旅。
Chapter 7
I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you were able to see me so soon,’ Mr Entwhistle said as Hercule Poirot led him to a chair by the fire. On one side of the room a table was laid for two.
Poirot said, ‘You are welcome, mon ami. I returned from the country this morning. And you have something you wish to discuss with me?’
mon ami <法语>我的朋友
‘Yes. It’s a long story, I’m afraid.’
‘Then we will not have it until after we have eaten. Georges?’
Poirot’s manservant, Georges, came in immediately with some pâté de foie gras and hot toast.
pâté de foie gras n. 鹅肝酱
‘We will have our pâté by the fire,’ said Poirot. ‘Afterwards we will move to the table ...’
It was an hour and a half later that Mr Entwhistle sighed happily. ‘You certainly know how to eat well, Poirot.’
‘At my age, the main pleasure, almost the only pleasure that still remains, is the pleasure of the table,’ the Belgian detective said.
A very good port was now by Mr Entwhistle’s side. Poirot had a sweet liqueur.
port n. 波特葡萄酒
‘I don’t know,’ said Mr Entwhistle, ‘whether I’m making a fool of myself. But I’m going to put the facts before you, and then I’d like to know what you think.’
He paused for a moment or two, then he started speaking again. He told the story clearly, which was appreciated by the little man with the egg-shaped head who sat listening to him.
When Entwhistle had finished there was a pause. Then Hercule Poirot said at last, ‘It seems very clear. You have in your mind the suspicion that your friend, Richard Abernethie may have been murdered? A suspicion that you made on the basis of one thing only – the words spoken by Cora Lansquenet at Richard Abernethie’s funeral. The fact that she herself was murdered the day afterwards may be a coincidence. It is true that Richard Abernethie did suddenly, but he was being seen by a doctor who had no suspicions. Was Richard buried or cremated?’
concidence n. 巧合
buried v. 埋葬
cremate v. 火化
‘Cremated – at his own request.’
‘So we come back to the essential point: what Cora Lansquenet said. And the real point is – that you believe she was speaking the truth.’
‘Yes, I do.’ replied Mr Entwhistle.
‘Why? Is it because already you had an uneasiness about the way Richard’s death happened?’
The lawyer shook his head. ‘No, no, it isn’t that.’
‘Then it is because of her – of Cora herself. You knew her well?’
‘I had not seen her for – oh – over thirty years.’
‘Would you have known her if you had met her in the street?’
Mr Entwhistle thought hard. ‘I might have passed her by in the street without recognising her. But the moment I spoke to her face to face I would have recognised her. She wore her hair in the same way, and had a trick of looking up at you through her fringe, and she had a way of putting her head on one side and then suddenly saying something shocking. She had character, you see and character is always highly individual.’
fringe n. 刘海
‘She was, in fact, the same Cora you had known years ago. And she still said shocking things!’ said Poirot. ‘The shocking things she had said in the past – were they usually correct?’
‘That was always the awkward thing about Cora. She spoke the truth when it would have been better not to.’
‘And Cora was quite sure Richard had been murdered. So she must have had some reason for the belief. Now tell me – when she said what she did, everyone protested immediately – that is right? And she then became confused and said something like “But I thought – from what he told me ...” ’
protest v. 抗议
The lawyer nodded. ‘I wish I could remember more clearly. But I’m fairly sure she used the words “he told me” or “he said...”’
‘And then everyone spoke of something else. You can remember, looking back, no special expression on anyone’s face?’ Poirot continued his questioning.
‘No.’
‘And the very next day, Cora is killed – and you ask your self, “Was she killed because what she had said was true?” Me, I think, mon cher, exactly as you thought–that there is a case for investigation.You have spoken of these matters to the police?’
mon cher <法语> “我亲爱的”
‘No. I represent the family, Poirot. And if Richard Abernethie was murdered, there seems only one way it could have been done.’
‘By poison?’
文化注释
Monsieur Poirot
Poirot is from Belgium and his first language is French, not English. His language is quite formal, which makes it sound ‘foreign’ to a native speaker. Sometimes Poirot says things that are not completely correct. The word order he uses may be wrong or he may use a word wrongly, for example, he may say good when he should have said well or the other way round. He often uses little French expressions like mon ami (my friend) or Eh bien (Oh well).
Poirot 先生
Poirot来自比利时，他的第一语言是法语，而非英语。他的讲话风格较为正式，在本国人听来有些“异国腔调”。有时他说的话并不是完全正确的。他使用的词序可能存在偏差，或者说使用了错误的词汇，如在应该说 well的时候却说了good，或是相反的情况。他经常使用简短的法语表达，如 mon ami（我的朋友）或 Eh bien（哦，好的）。
《葬礼之后》是“阿加莎·克里斯蒂经典侦探作品集”丛书之一。
阿加莎·克里斯蒂：100年前的英伦传奇
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《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》（The Mysterious Affair at Styles）《鸽群中的猫》（Cat among the Pigeons）《云中奇案》（Death in the Cloud）《命案目睹记》（4.50 from Paddington）《死亡约会》（Appointment with Death）《国际学舍谋杀案》（Hickory Dickory Dock）《古屋疑云》（Peril at End House）《罗杰疑案》（The Murder of Roger Ackroyd）《东方快车谋杀案》（Murder on the Orient Express）《控方证人及其他》（The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories）《尼罗河上的惨案》（Death on the Nile）《穿棕色套装的人》（The Man in the Brown Suit）《黑麦奇案》（A Pocket Full of Rye）《悬崖上的谋杀》（Why Didn't They Ask Evans）《书房命案》（The Body in the Library）《魔手》（The Moving Finger）《寓所谜案》（The Murder at the Vicarage）《怪屋》（Crooked House）《闪光的氰化物》（Sparkling Cyanide）《弄假成真》（Dead Man's Folly）《密码》（N or M？）《地狱之旅》（Destination Unknown）《借镜杀人》（They Do It with Mirrors）《葬礼之后》（After the Funeral）
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