第58课

旁白 neutral

The old lady was glad to be back at the block of flats where she lived.

老太太很高兴回到她住的公寓楼。

旁白 neutral

Her shopping had tired her and her basket had grown heavier with every step of the way home.

购物让她感到疲惫，回家的每一步都让她手里的篮子变得更沉。

旁白 neutral

In the lift her thoughts were on lunch and a good rest;

在电梯里，她想着午餐和好好休息；

旁白 neutral

but when she got out at her own floor, both were forgotten in her sudden discovery that her front door was open.

但当她走出电梯到达自己的楼层时，她突然发现前门开着，午餐和休息都被抛到了脑后。

旁白 neutral

She was thinking that she must reprimand her home help the next morning for such a monstrous piece of negligence,

她心想，明天早上一定要训斥她的家政人员，因为她如此严重的疏忽，

旁白 neutral

when she remembered that she had gone shopping after the home help had left and she knew that she had turned both keys in their locks.

但她随即想起，家政人员离开后她才去购物，而且她确定自己把两把钥匙都锁好了。

旁白 neutral

She walked slowly into the hall and at once noticed that all the room doors were open,

她慢慢地走进门厅，立刻注意到所有的房门都开着，

旁白 neutral

yet following her regular practice she had shut them before going out.

然而按照她的习惯，出门前她都会关好门。

旁白 neutral

Looking into the drawing room, she saw a scene of confusion over by her writing desk.

往客厅里一看，她看到写字台附近一片混乱。

旁白 neutral

It was as clear as daylight then that burglars had forced an entry during her absence.

这时，她才明白，在她外出期间，窃贼破门而入了，这简直是明摆着的事。

旁白 neutral

Her first impulse was to go round all the rooms looking for the thieves,

她最初的冲动是把所有房间都找一遍，看看有没有小偷，

旁白 neutral

but then she decided that at her age it might be more prudent to have someone with her,

但后来她觉得，以她的年纪，找个人陪着会更稳妥，

旁白 neutral

so she went to fetch the porter from his basement.

于是她下楼去地下室找看门人。

旁白 neutral

By this time her legs were beginning to tremble, so she sat down and accepted a cup of very strong tea, while he telephoned the police.

这时她的双腿开始颤抖，于是她坐下来，喝了一杯很浓的茶，看门人则打电话报了警。

旁白 neutral

Then, her composure regained, she was ready to set off with the porter's assistance to search for any intruders who might still be lurking in her flat.

恢复镇定后，她在看门人的协助下准备出发，搜寻可能仍藏在她公寓里的不速之客。

旁白 neutral

They went through the rooms, being careful to touch nothing,

他们检查了各个房间，小心翼翼地不碰任何东西，

旁白 neutral

as they did not want to hinder the police in their search for fingerprints.

因为他们不想妨碍警方寻找指纹。

旁白 neutral

The chaos was inconceivable.

现场一片狼藉，简直难以置信。

旁白 neutral

She had lived in the flat for thirty years and was a veritable magpie at hoarding:

她在这间公寓住了三十年，是个名副其实的“喜鹊”，喜欢囤积物品：

旁白 neutral

and it seemed as though everything she possessed had been tossed out and turned over and over.

似乎她所有的东西都被翻了出来，翻了个底朝天。

旁白 neutral

At least sorting out the things she should have discarded years ago was now being made easier for her.

至少，现在整理那些她几年前就该扔掉的东西变得容易多了。

旁白 neutral

Then a police inspector arrived with a constable and she told them of her discovery of the ransacked flat.

随后，一名警督带着一名警员赶到，她向他们讲述了她发现公寓被洗劫一空的情况。

旁白 neutral

The inspector began to look for fingerprints, while the constable checked that the front door locks had not been forced,

警督开始寻找指纹，而警员则检查前门锁是否没有被撬，

旁白 neutral

thereby proving that the burglars had either used skeleton keys or entered over the balcony.

这证明窃贼要么使用了万能钥匙，要么是从阳台进入的。

旁白 neutral

There was no trace of fingerprints, but the inspector found a dirty red bundle that contained jewellery which the old lady said was not hers.

没有指纹痕迹，但警督发现了一个脏兮兮的红色包裹，里面装着珠宝，老太太说那不是她的。

旁白 neutral

So their entry into this flat was apparently not the burglars' first job that day and they must have been disturbed.

所以他们闯入这间公寓显然不是窃贼当天做的第一起案子，而且他们一定是在作案时受到了惊扰。

旁白 neutral

The inspector then asked the old lady to try to check what was missing by the next day,

警督随后要求老太太在第二天之前尽量清点一下丢失的物品，

旁白 neutral

and advised her not to stay alone in the flat for a few nights.

并建议她几晚不要独自待在公寓里。

旁白 neutral

The old lady thought he was a fussy creature,

老太太觉得他是个爱挑剔的人，

旁白 neutral

but since the porter agreed with him, she rang up her daughter and asked for her help in what she described as a little spot of bother.

但看门人也同意他的看法，于是她打电话给女儿，请她帮忙解决她所说的“一点小麻烦”。