借镜杀人3

时间：2025-10-10 07:00:31

（单词翻译:单击）

Two
Before catching1 her train back to St. Mary Mead2 (Wednesday special
cheap day return) Miss Marple, in a precise and businesslike fashion, col-
lected certain data.
“Carrie Louise and I have corresponded after a fashion, but it has
largely been a matter of Christmas cards or calendars. It’s just the facts I
should like, Ruth dear—and also some idea as to whom exactly I shall en-
counter in the household at Stonygates.”
“Well, you know about Carrie Louise’s marriage to Gulbrandsen. There
were no children and Carrie Louise took that very much to heart. Gul-
brandsen was a widower3, and had three grown-up sons. Eventually they
adopted a child. Pippa, they called her—a lovely little creature. She was
just two years old when they got her.”
“Where did she come from? What was her background?”
“Really, now, Jane, I can’t remember—if I ever heard, that is. An adop-
tion society, maybe? Or some unwanted child that Gulbrandsen had heard
about. Why? Do you think it’s important?”
“Well, one always likes to know the background, so to speak. But please
go on.”
“The next thing that happened was that Carrie Louise found that she
was going to have a baby after all. I understand from doctors that that
quite often happens.”
Miss Marple nodded.
“I believe so.”
“Anyway, it did happen, and in a funny kind of way, Carrie Louise was
almost disconcerted, if you can understand what I mean. Earlier, of
course, she’d have been wild with joy. As it was, she’d given such a de-
voted love to Pippa that she felt quite apologetic to Pippa for putting her
nose out of joint4, so to speak. And then Mildred, when she arrived, was
really a very unattractive child. Took after the Gulbrandsens—who were
solid and worthy5 — but definitely homely6. Carrie Louise was always so
anxious to make no difference between the adopted child and her own
child that I think she rather tended to overindulge Pippa and pass over
Mildred. Sometimes I think that Mildred resented it. However I didn’t see
them often. Pippa grew up a very beautiful girl and Mildred grew up a
plain one. Eric Gulbrandsen died when Mildred was fifteen and Pippa
eighteen. At twenty Pippa married an Italian, the Marchese di San Severi-
ano—oh quite a genuine Marchese—not an adventurer, or anything like
that. She was by way of being an heiress (naturally, or San Severiano
wouldn’t have married her—you know what Italians are!). Gulbrandsen
left an equal sum in trust for both his own and his adopted daughter. Mil-
dred married a Canon Strete—a nice man but given to colds in the head.
About ten or fifteen years older than she was. Quite a happy marriage, I
believe.
“He died a year ago and Mildred has come back to Stonygates to live
with her mother. But that’s getting on too fast; I’ve skipped a marriage or
two. I’ll go back to them. Pippa married her Italian. Carrie Louise was
quite pleased about the marriage. Guido had beautiful manners and was
very handsome, and he was a fine sportsman. A year later Pippa had a
daughter and died in childbirth. It was a terrible tragedy and Guido San
Severiano was very cut up. Carrie Louise went to and fro between Italy
and England a good deal and it was in Rome that she met Johnnie Re-
starick and married him. The Marchese married again and he was quite
willing for his little daughter to be brought up in England by her exceed-
ingly wealthy grandmother. So they all settled down at Stonygates, John-
nie Restarick and Carrie Louise, and Johnnie’s two boys, Alexis and
Stephen (Johnnie’s first wife was a Russian), and the baby Gina. Mildred
married her Canon soon afterwards. Then came all this business of John-
nie and the Yugoslavian woman and the divorce. The boys still came to
Stonygates for their holidays and were devoted7 to Carrie Louise and then
in 1938, I think it was, Carrie Louise married Lewis.”
Mrs. Van Rydock paused for breath.
“You’ve not met Lewis?”
Miss Marple shook her head.
“No, I think I last saw Carrie Louise in 1928. She very sweetly took me to
Covent Garden—to the Opera.”
“Oh yes. Well, Lewis was a very suitable person for her to marry. He
was the head of a very celebrated8 firm of chartered accountants. I think
he met her first over some question of the finances of the Gulbrandsen
Trust and the College. He was well off, just about her own age, and a man
of absolutely upright life. But he was a crank. He was absolutely rabid on
the subject of the redemption of young criminals.”
Ruth Van Rydock sighed.
“As I said just now, Jane, there are fashions in philanthropy. In Gul-
brandsen’s time it was education. Before that it was soup kitchens—”
Miss Marple nodded.
“Yes, indeed. Port wine jelly and calf’s head broth9 taken to the sick. My
mother used to do it.”
“That’s right. Feeding the body gave way to feeding the mind. Everyone
went mad on educating the lower classes. Well, that’s passed. Soon, I ex-
pect, the fashionable thing to do will be not to educate your children, pre-
serve their illiteracy10 carefully until they’re eighteen. Anyway the Gul-
brandsen Trust and Education Fund was in some difficulties because the
state was taking over its functions. Then Lewis came along with his pas-
sionate enthusiasm about constructive11 training for juvenile12 delinquents13.
His attention had been drawn14 to the subject first in the course of his pro-
fession—auditing accounts where ingenious young men had perpetrated
frauds. He was more and more convinced that juvenile delinquents were
not subnormal — that they had excellent brains and abilities and only
needed the right direction.”
“There is something in that,” said Miss Marple. “But it is not entirely15
true. I remember—”
She broke off and glanced at her watch.
“Oh dear—I mustn’t miss the 6:30.”
Ruth Van Rydock said urgently:
“And you will go to Stonygates?”
Gathering16 up her shopping bag and her umbrella Miss Marple said:
“If Carrie Louise asks me—”
“She will ask you. You’ll go? Promise, Jane?”
Jane Marple promised.

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1 catching cwVztY     
adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住
参考例句：
  • There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
  • Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。
2 mead BotzAK     
n.蜂蜜酒
参考例句：
  • He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
  • He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。
3 widower fe4z2a     
n.鳏夫
参考例句：
  • George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
  • Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后，他终于决定二婚了。
4 joint m3lx4     
adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合
参考例句：
  • I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
  • We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
5 worthy vftwB     
adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的
参考例句：
  • I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
  • There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。
6 homely Ecdxo     
adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的
参考例句：
  • We had a homely meal of bread and cheese.我们吃了一顿面包加乳酪的家常便餐。
  • Come and have a homely meal with us,will you?来和我们一起吃顿家常便饭，好吗？
7 devoted xu9zka     
adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的
参考例句：
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
8 celebrated iwLzpz     
adj.有名的，声誉卓著的
参考例句：
  • He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
  • The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。
9 broth acsyx     
n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等)
参考例句：
  • Every cook praises his own broth.厨子总是称赞自己做的汤。
  • Just a bit of a mouse's dropping will spoil a whole saucepan of broth.一粒老鼠屎败坏一锅汤。
10 illiteracy VbuxY     
n.文盲
参考例句：
  • It is encouraging to read that illiteracy is declining.从读报中了解文盲情况正在好转，这是令人鼓舞的。
  • We must do away with illiteracy.我们必须扫除文盲。
11 constructive AZDyr     
adj.建设的，建设性的
参考例句：
  • We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
  • He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。
12 juvenile OkEy2     
n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的
参考例句：
  • For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
  • Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。
13 delinquents 03c7fc31eb1c2f3334b049f2f2139264     
n.（尤指青少年）有过失的人，违法的人( delinquent的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • The robbery was committed by a group of delinquents. 那起抢劫案是一群青少年干的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • There is today general agreement that juvenile delinquents are less responsible than older offenders. 目前人们普遍认为青少年罪犯比成人罪犯的责任小些。 来自辞典例句
14 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的
参考例句：
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
15 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地
参考例句：
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
16 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会，聚会，聚集
参考例句：
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

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