福尔摩斯-狮鬃毛 The Adventure of the Lion's Mane

The Adventure of the Lion's Mane,Arthur Conan Doyle,It is a most singular thing that a problem which was certainly as abstruse ¹ and unusual as any which I have faced in my long professional career should have come to me after my retirement ², and be brought, as it were, to my very door. It occurred after my withdrawal ³ to my little Sussex home, when I had given myself up entirely ⁴ to that soothing ⁵ life of Nature for which I had so often yearned ⁶ during the long years spent amid the gloom of London. At this period of my life the good Watson had passed almost beyond my ken ⁷. An occasional week-end visit was the most that I ever saw of him. Thus I must act as my own chronicler. Ah! had he but been with me, how much he might have made of so wonderful a happening and of my eventual ⁸ triumph against every difficulty! As it is, however, I must needs tell my tale in my own plain way, showing by my words each step upon the difficult road which lay before me as I searched for the mystery of the Lion's Mane.,My villa ⁹ is situated ¹⁰ upon the southern slope of the downs, commanding a great view of the Channel. At this point the coast-line is entirely of chalk cliffs, which can only be descended ¹¹ by a single, long, tortuous ¹² path, which is steep and slippery. At the bottom of the path lie a hundred yards of pebbles ¹³ and shingle ¹⁴, even when the tide is at full. Here and there, however, there are curves and hollows which make splendid swimming-pools filled afresh with each flow. This admirable beach extends for some miles in each direction, save only at one point where the little cove ¹⁵ and village of Fulworth break the line.,My house is lonely. I, my old housekeeper ¹⁶, and my bees have the estate all to ourselves. Half a mile off, however, is Harold Stackhurst's well-known coaching establishment, The Gables, quite a large place, which contains some score of young fellows preparing for various professions, with a staff of several masters. Stackhurst himself was a well-known rowing Blue in his day, and an excellent all-round scholar. He and I were always friendly from the day I came to the coast, and he was the one man who was on such terms with me that we could drop in on each other in the evenings without an invitation.,Towards the end of July, 1907, there was a severe gale ¹⁷, the wind blowing up-channel, heaping the seas to the base of the cliffs and leaving a lagoon ¹⁸ at the turn of the tide. On the morning of which I speak the wind had abated ¹⁹, and all Nature was newly washed and fresh. It was impossible to work upon so delightful ²⁰ a day, and I strolled out before breakfast to enjoy the exquisite ²¹ air. I walked along the cliff path which led to the steep descent to the beach. As I walked I heard a shout behind me, and there was Harold Stackhurst waving his hand in cheery greeting.,“Going for a swim, I see.”,“At your old tricks again, ” he laughed, patting his bulging ²² pocket. “Yes. McPherson started early, and I expect I may find him there.
”,Fitzroy McPherson was the science master, a fine upstanding young fellow whose life had been crippled by heart trouble following rheumatic fever. He was a natural athlete, however, and excelled in every game which did not throw too great a strain upon him. Summer and winter he went for his swim, and, as I am a swimmer myself, I have often joined him.,At this moment we saw the man himself. His head showed above the edge of the cliff where the path ends. Then his whole figure appeared at the top, staggering like a drunken man. The next instant he threw up his hands and, with a terrible cry, fell upon his face. Stackhurst and I rushed forward—it may have been fifty yards—and turned him on his back. He was obviously dying. Those glazed ²⁴ sunken eyes and dreadful livid cheeks could mean nothing else. One glimmer ²⁵ of life came into his face for an instant, and he uttered two or three words with an eager air of warning. They were slurred ²⁶ and indistinct, but to my ear the last of them, which burst in a shriek ²⁷ from his lips, were “the Lion's Mane.” It was utterly ²⁸ irrelevant ²⁹ and unintelligible ³⁰, and yet I could twist the sound into no other sense. Then he half raised himself from the ground, threw his arms into the air, and fell forward on his side. He was dead.,My companion was paralyzed by the sudden horror of it, but I, as may well be imagined, had every sense on the alert. And I had need, for it was speedily evident that we were in the presence of an extraordinary case. The man was dressed only in his Burberry overcoat, his trousers, and an unlaced pair of canvas shoes. As he fell over, his Burberry, which had been simply thrown round his shoulders, slipped off, exposing his trunk. We stared at it in amazement ³¹. His back was covered with dark red lines as though he had been terribly flogged by a thin wire scourge ³². The instrument with which this punishment had been inflicted ³³ was clearly flexible, for the long, angry weals curved round his shoulders and ribs ³⁴. There was blood dripping down his chin, for he had bitten through his lower lip in the paroxysm of his agony. His drawn ³⁵ and distorted face told how terrible that agony had been.,The professor's lectures were so abstruse that students tended to avoid them.该教授的课程太深奥了 ，学生们纷纷躲避他的课 。,She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧
。