ABC谋杀案 1

Foreword,by Captain Arthur Hastings, O.B.E.,In this narrative ¹ of mine I have departed from my usual practice of relating only those incidentsand scenes at which I myself was present. Certain chapters, therefore, are written in the thirdperson.,I wish to assure my readers that I can vouch ² for the occurrences related in these chapters. If Ihave taken a certain poetic ³ licence in describing the thoughts and feelings of various persons, it isbecause I believe I have set them down with a reasonable amount of accuracy. I may add that theyhave been “vetted” by my friend Hercule Poirot himself.,In conclusion, I will say that if I have described at too great length some of the secondarypersonal relationships which arose as a consequence of this strange series of crimes, it is becausethe human and personal elements can never be ignored. Hercule Poirot once taught me in a verydramatic manner that romance can be a by-product ⁴ of crime.,As to the solving of the A.B.C. mystery, I can only say that in my opinion Poirot showed realgenius in the way he tackled a problem entirely ⁵ unlike any which had previously ⁶ come his way.,Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。,They asked whether I was prepared to vouch for him.他们问我是否愿意为他作担保 。