血字的研究

夏洛克·福尔摩斯先生

Mr Sherlock Holmes

我叫约翰·华生，是一名医生。1878年，我完成了在伦敦大学的学业。之后，我接受了军队医生的训练。军队医生负责照顾生病和受伤的士兵。

My name is John Watson, and I am a doctor. In 1878 I finished my studies at the University of London. After that I trained as a doctor for the army. An army doctor takes care of sick and wounded soldiers.

那时我的部队在印度。但我还没到那里，一场新战争就开始了。那是在阿富汗，一个在印度北边、有很多高山的地方。我的船到达孟买时，士兵们已经深入山里了。所以我跟着其他军官去找他们。最后，我在坎大哈城找到了他们。

My group of soldiers was in India at that time. But before I could get there, a new war started. It was in Afghanistan, a country of high mountains north of India. When my ship arrived in Bombay, my soldiers were already deep in the mountains. So I followed them with some other officers. At last I found them in the city of Candahar.

对很多人来说，那场战争带来了荣誉。对我来说，它只带来了坏运气。军队把我调到了另一支部队。我和他们一起参加了迈万德战役。一颗子弹打中了我的肩膀。它打断了骨头，我流了很多血。

For many men that war brought honour. For me it brought only bad luck. The army sent me to a different group of soldiers. With them I fought at the battle of Maiwand. A bullet hit me in the shoulder. It broke the bone, and I lost a lot of blood.

敌人就在附近，我动不了。但我的勇敢仆人默里没有丢下我。他把我扔到马背上，安全地把我带回了我们的士兵那里。

The enemy was very near, and I could not move. But Murray, my brave servant, did not leave me. He threw me over the back of a horse and brought me safely back to our soldiers.

那之后我很虚弱，非常痛苦。他们把我和其他许多伤员一起送到了白沙瓦的一家大军医院。我慢慢好起来了。很快我就能在医院里走动了。但后来我得了重病。几个月里，大家都觉得：“华生要死了。”

After that I was very weak and in a lot of pain. They took me, with many other wounded men, to a big army hospital in Peshawar. Slowly I got better. Soon I could walk round the hospital. But then I got a bad fever. For months everybody thought, “Watson is going to die.”

我没死。但我太瘦、太虚弱了，军队医生立刻把我送回了家。一个月后，我的船到达了英国的朴次茅斯。我的健康全毁了。政府给了我九个月时间养病，每天还给一点钱。

I did not die. But I was so thin and so weak that the army doctors sent me home at once. A month later my ship arrived in Portsmouth, in England. My health was ruined. The government gave me nine months to get better, and a little money for each day.

我在英国没有家人。我自由了，但没多少钱。所以我去了伦敦，像许多没有工作的孤独男人一样。我在河岸街的一家小旅馆租了个房间，那是市中心一条繁忙的街道。我在那里的生活空虚又无聊，钱也花得太快了。

I had no family in England. I was free, but I did not have much money. So I went to London, like so many lonely men without work. I took a room in a small hotel in the Strand, a busy street in the city centre. My life there was empty and boring, and I spent my money much too fast.

很快我就担心钱的问题了。“我必须做个选择，”我想，“我可以离开伦敦，去乡下过便宜的生活。或者我可以改变这里的生活。”我想留在伦敦。所以我决定离开旅馆，找些便宜的房间，找那种出租的房子。

Soon I was worried about money. “I must choose,” I thought. “I can leave London and live cheaply in the country. Or I can change my life here.” I wanted to stay in London. So I decided to leave the hotel and find some cheaper rooms, rooms in a house for rent.

就在那天，我正站在克里特里恩酒吧，有人拍了拍我的肩膀。我转过身，看到了年轻的斯坦福。多年前，他在伦敦的大医院巴兹医院做过我的助手。我们算不上好朋友，但我很孤独，看到一张友好的脸让我很高兴。我请他一起吃午饭。我们开车穿过伦敦繁忙的街道。

On that same day I was standing at the Criterion Bar when somebody touched my shoulder. I turned round and saw young Stamford. Years before, he worked under me as my assistant at Barts, the big hospital in London. We were never close friends, but I was lonely, and a friendly face made me very happy. I asked him to have lunch with me. We drove off together through the busy London streets.

“华生，你怎么把自己搞成这样了？”他问。他很惊讶，“你瘦得像根棍子，脸也晒得像个坚果。”

“What have you done to yourself, Watson?” he asked. He was very surprised. “You are as thin as a stick and as brown as a nut.”

我简单地告诉了他我的故事。

I told him my story in a few words.

“真可怜！”他说，“那你现在在做什么？”

“Poor man!” he said. “And what are you doing now?”

“我在找房间，”我回答，“价格公道的漂亮房间。在伦敦能找到吗？”

“I’m looking for rooms,” I answered. “Nice rooms at a fair price. Is that possible in London?”