《福尔摩斯探案集·红发会》第3节
The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey shepherd’s check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features. Sherlock Holmes’ quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. “Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.”
注释摘要
华生在这里做了一件很有意思的事——他试图扮演福尔摩斯。他趁着威尔逊低头看报纸的当口，仔细打量这位委托人，想要从衣着与外表上读出些什么。但他随即坦诚地承认：我没看出什么名堂。在他的眼里，这个人就是街头随处可见的那种英国店主，肥胖、自负、迟钝。于是华生给我们列了一份相当细致的服装清单：灰扑扑的牧羊人格子裤，不太干净的黑礼服外套，前襟敞着，一件暗褐色背心上挂着沉…