《福尔摩斯探案集·蓝宝石案》第4节
“My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that ‘For Mrs. Henry Baker’ was printed upon a small card which was tied to the bird’s left leg, and it is also true that the initials ‘H. B.’ are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any one of them.” “What, then, did Peterson do?” “He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who lost his Christmas dinner.” “Did he not advertise?” “No.” “Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?” “Only as much as we can deduce.” “From his hat?” “Precisely.” “But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered felt?”
注释摘要
这一节信息量很大，但基本都是在屋子里讲的话，动作很少。我们先把它说清楚。 福尔摩斯接过华生那个天真的归还追问，承认了麻烦所在。的确，鹅的左腿上系着一张小卡片，上面印着「致亨利·贝克夫人」，帽子的衬里上也看得见「H. B.」这两个首字母。但问题是伦敦太大了，叫 Baker 的有几千人，叫 Henry Baker 的也有几百人，要从这里面把失主找出来，实在不算…