云中命案 24

II,Two days after their arrival in Paris, M. Hercule Poirot and his secretary dined in a smallrestaurant, and the two Duponts, father and son, were Poirot’s guests.,Old M. Dupont, Jane found as charming as his son, but she got little chance of talking to him.,Poirot monopolized ¹ him severely ² from the start. Jane found Jean no less easy to get on with thanshe had done in London. His attractive, boyish personality pleased her now as it had then. He wassuch a simple friendly soul.,All the same, even while she laughed and talked with him, her ear was alert to catch snatches ofthe two older men’s conversation. She wondered precisely ³ what information it was that Poirotwanted. So far as she could hear, the conversation had never touched once on the murder. Poirotwas skilfully ⁴ drawing out his companion on the subject of the past. His interest in archaeologicalresearch in Persia seemed both deep and sincere. M. Dupont was enjoying his eveningenormously. Seldom did he get such an intelligent and sympathetic listener.,Whose suggestion it was that the two young people should go to a cinema was not quite clear,but when they had gone Poirot drew his chair a little closer to the table and seemed prepared totake a still more practical interest in archaeological research.,M. Dupont laughed.,‘My dear friend, we sue for them practically on bended knees! But our particular type of digdoes not attract the great mass of humanity. They demand spectacular results! Above all, they likegold—large quantities of gold! It is amazing how little the average person cares for pottery ⁵.,Pottery—the whole romance of humanity can be expressed in terms of pottery. Design—texture—’,M. Dupont was well away. He besought ⁶ Poirot not to be led astray by the specious ⁷ publicationsof B—, the really criminal misdating of L—, and the hopelessly unscientific stratification of G—.,Poirot promised solemnly not to be led astray by any of the publications of these learnedpersonages.,The oil combine monopolized the fuel sales of the country. 这家石油联合企业垄断了这个国家的原油销售 。 来自互联网,He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职
。