东方快车谋杀案 1

PART ONE,THE FACTS,One,AN IMPORTANT PASSENGER ON THE TAURUS EXPRESS,It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria. Alongside the platform at Aleppo stood thetrain grandly designated in railway guides as the Taurus Express. It consisted of a kitchen anddining car, a sleeping car and two local coaches.,By the step leading up into the sleeping car stood a young French lieutenant ¹, resplendent inuniform, conversing ² with a small lean man, muffled ³ up to the ears, of whom nothing was visiblebut a pink-tipped nose and the two points of an upward curled moustache.,There had been a week—a week of curious tensity. And then certain things had happened. A verydistinguished officer had committed suicide, another had resigned—anxious faces had suddenlylost their anxiety, certain military precautions were relaxed. And the General — LieutenantDubosc’s own particular General—had suddenly looked ten years younger.,Dubosc had overheard part of a conversation between him and the stranger. “You have savedus, mon cher, ” said the General emotionally, his great white moustache trembling as he spoke ⁷.,“You have saved the honour of the French Army—you have averted ⁸ much bloodshed! How can Ithank you for acceding ⁹ to my request? To have come so far—
”,To which the stranger (by name M. Hercule Poirot) had made a fitting reply including thephrase, “But indeed do I not remember that once you saved my life?” And then the General hadmade another fitting reply to that disclaiming ¹⁰ any merit for that past service, and with moremention of France, of Belgium, of glory, of honour and of such kindred things they had embracedeach other heartily ¹¹ and the conversation had ended.,As to what it had all been about, Lieutenant Dubosc was still in the dark, but to him had beendelegated the duty of seeing off M. Poirot by the Taurus Express, and he was carrying it out withall the zeal ¹² and ardour befitting a young officer with a promising ¹³ career ahead of him.,He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。,I find that conversing with her is quite difficult. 和她交谈实在很困难 。 来自《简明英汉词典》