山核桃大街谋杀案（23）

时间：2025-03-03 03:20:51

（单词翻译:单击）

Chapter Twenty-two
“You quite understand your position, Miss Hobhouse. I have already warned you—”
Valerie Hobhouse cut him short.
“I know what I’m doing. You’ve warned me what I say will be used in evidence. I’m prepared
for that. You’ve got me on the smuggling1 charge. I haven’t got a hope. That means a long term of
imprisonment2. This other means that I’ll be charged as an accessory to murder.”
“Your being willing to make a statement may help you, but I can’t make any promise or hold
out any inducement.”
“I don’t know that I care. Just as well end it all as languish3 in prison for years. I want to make a
statement. I may be what you call an accessory, but I’m not a killer4. I never intended murder or
wanted it. I’m not such a fool. What I do want is that there should be a clear case against Nigel. . .
.
“Celia knew far too much, but I could have dealt with that somehow. Nigel didn’t give me time.
He got her to come out and meet him, told her that he was going to own up to the rucksack and the
ink business and then slipped her the morphia in a cup of coffee. He’d got hold of her letter to Mrs.
Hubbard earlier on and had torn out a useful ‘suicide’ phrase. He put that and the empty morphia
phial (which he had retrieved5 after pretending to throw it away) by her bed. I see now that he’d
been contemplating6 murder for quite a little time. Then he came and told me what he’d done. For
my own sake I had to stand in with him.
“The same thing must have happened with Mrs. Nick. He’d found out that she drank, that she
was getting unreliable—he managed to meet her somewhere on her way home, and poisoned her
drink. He denied it to me—but I know that that’s what he did. Then came Pat. He came up to my
room and told me what had happened. He told me what I’d got to do—so that both he and I would
have an unbreakable alibi7. I was in the net by then, there was no way out . . . I suppose, if you
hadn’t caught me, I’d have got away abroad somewhere, and made a new life for myself. But you
did catch me . . . And now I only care about one thing—to make sure that that cruel smiling devil
gets hanged.”
Inspector8 Sharpe drew a deep breath. All this was eminently9 satisfactory, it was an unbelievable
piece of luck; but he was puzzled.
The constable10 licked his pencil.
“I’m not sure that I quite understand,” began Sharpe.
She cut him short.
“You don’t need to understand. I’ve got my reasons.”
Hercule Poirot spoke11 very gently.
“Mrs. Nicoletis?” he asked.
He heard the sharp intake12 of her breath.
“She was—your mother, was she not?”
“Yes,” said Valerie Hobhouse. “She was my mother. . . .”

分享到：


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 smuggling xx8wQ     
n.走私
参考例句：
  • Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
  • The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。
2 imprisonment I9Uxk     
n.关押，监禁，坐牢
参考例句：
  • His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
  • He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。
3 languish K9Mze     
vi.变得衰弱无力，失去活力，（植物等）凋萎
参考例句：
  • Without the founder's drive and direction,the company gradually languished.没有了创始人的斗志与指引，公司逐渐走向没落。
  • New products languish on the drawing board.新产品在计划阶段即告失败。
4 killer rpLziK     
n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者
参考例句：
  • Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
  • The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。
5 retrieved 1f81ff822b0877397035890c32e35843     
v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息）
参考例句：
  • Yesterday I retrieved the bag I left in the train. 昨天我取回了遗留在火车上的包。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He reached over and retrieved his jacket from the back seat. 他伸手从后座上取回了自己的夹克。 来自辞典例句
6 contemplating bde65bd99b6b8a706c0f139c0720db21     
深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想
参考例句：
  • You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。
  • She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。
7 alibi bVSzb     
n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口
参考例句：
  • Do you have any proof to substantiate your alibi? 你有证据表明你当时不在犯罪现场吗？
  • The police are suspicious of his alibi because he already has a record.警方对他不在场的辩解表示怀疑，因为他已有前科。
8 inspector q6kxH     
n.检查员，监察员，视察员
参考例句：
  • The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
  • The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。
9 eminently c442c1e3a4b0ad4160feece6feb0aabf     
adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地
参考例句：
  • She seems eminently suitable for the job. 她看来非常适合这个工作。
  • It was an eminently respectable boarding school. 这是所非常好的寄宿学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 constable wppzG     
n.(英国)警察，警官
参考例句：
  • The constable conducted the suspect to the police station.警官把嫌疑犯带到派出所。
  • The constable kept his temper,and would not be provoked.那警察压制着自己的怒气，不肯冒起火来。
11 spoke XryyC     
n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说
参考例句：
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
12 intake 44cyQ     
n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口
参考例句：
  • Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
  • There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

©2005-2010英文阅读网