1 The Battered Hat

The Blue Carbuncle

蓝宝石

Chapter 1 The Battered Hat It was the morning of December 27, 1887, and I decided to call on my old friend, the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, to wish him a Merry Christmas. I knocked on the door of his lodgings at 221B Baker Street and was greeted with a cheerful smile by his landlady, Mrs. Hudson. I found Holmes lounging on a sofa in a purple dressing gown, studying a hat. The hat, which he had hung on the back of a chair, was badly worn and cracked in several places. "If you're busy, I'll come back later," I said. "Not at all," said Holmes. "I'm very glad you're here, Watson. It will help to have a friend to talk this matter over with."

那是1887年12月27日的早晨，我决定去拜访我的老朋友，著名的侦探夏洛克·福尔摩斯，祝他圣诞快乐。 我敲了敲他在贝克街221B号的寓所的门，他的女房东哈德森太太带着愉快的微笑迎接了我。 我发现福尔摩斯穿着紫色晨衣懒洋洋地躺在沙发上，打量着一顶帽子。 他挂在椅背上的那顶帽子已经磨损得很厉害，有几处裂开了。 “如果你忙的话，我一会儿再来。”我说。 “一点也不，”福尔摩斯说。 “我很高兴你能来，华生。 找个朋友谈谈这件事会有帮助的。”

So I seated myself in an armchair and warmed my hands before the fire. "Let me guess," I said. "This plain and rather battered hat is a clue that will help you solve some ghastly crime." "Oh no," laughed Holmes. "No crime has been committed. It's quite a trivial matter, actually—just a little problem that needs solving. I do enjoy an intellectual challenge, as you well know." "Indeed!" I said. "Perhaps you could explain the nature of the problem?" So Holmes told me the story of the battered hat. "It all began," he said, "on the night of Christmas Eve. A man called Peterson, a hotel doorman, was making his way back home along Tottenham Court Road when he came upon an unpleasant scene. A tall fellow, who was carrying a white

于是我坐在扶手椅上，在炉火前暖手。 “让我猜猜，”我说。“这顶普通而破旧的帽子是一条线索，可以帮助你破案。” “哦，不，”福尔摩斯笑道。“没有犯罪行为。 实际上，这是一件微不足道的事情——只是一个需要解决的小问题。 你很清楚，我喜欢智力上的挑战。” “的确!”我说。“也许你能解释一下问题的本质？”于是福尔摩斯给我讲了那顶破帽子的故事。 “一切都开始了，”他说，“在平安夜的晚上。 有一个叫彼得森的人，是旅馆的门童，在沿着托特纳姆法院路回家的路上，遇到了一件不愉快的事。 一个高个子，拿着一个白色的

Christmas goose over his shoulder, was being jostled by a group of rough boys. One of the boys knocked the tall man's hat off. He then raised his stick to defend himself, but as he swung the stick over his head, it smashed the shop window behind him. "At this point, Peterson rushed forward, hoping to protect the tall man from the boys. But the man, seeing Peterson approach, panicked. For you see, Peterson was dressed in his hotel doorman's uniform, and in the dim light the man mistook him for a policeman. He thought he was coming to arrest him for smashing the window. Dropping his goose, the man fled, vanishing into the maze of narrow streets that lie behind Tottenham Court Road.

他肩上的一只圣诞鹅被一群粗野的男孩推搡着。 其中一个男孩把高个子的帽子敲掉了。 随后，他举起棍棒自卫，但当他将棍棒甩过头顶时，棍棒打碎了他身后的商店窗户。 这时，彼得森冲上前去，希望能保护这个高个子男人不受男孩们的伤害。 但那个人看到彼得森走近，惊慌失措。 你看，彼得森穿着旅馆看门人的制服，在昏暗的灯光下，那人误以为他是警察。 他以为警察是来逮捕他的，因为他打碎了窗户。 那人扔下鹅逃跑了，消失在托特纳姆法院路后面迷宫般的狭窄街道上。

"The rough boys also took off when they saw Peterson, leaving the doorman alone on the scene. There on the pavement he found this battered hat and the Christmas goose. "Naturally, Peterson wished to restore these items to their owner, so he searched for clues to the tall man's identity. On a small card he found tied to the bird's left leg were the words For Henry Baker. He also found the initials H. B. written on the lining of the hat. From this, he gathered that the man's name was Henry Baker. "The trouble is," sighed Holmes, "there must be hundreds of Henry Bakers in this city, and Peterson had no

那些粗野的男孩看到彼得森后也跑掉了，把看门人一个人留在了现场。 他在人行道上发现了这顶破旧的帽子和那只圣诞鹅。 彼得森自然希望把这些东西物归原主，所以他寻找线索来确定这个高个子的身份。 他发现鸟儿左腿上绑着一张小卡片，上面写着“给亨利·贝克”。 他还发现了首字母H。 B.写在帽子的衬里。 由此，他得知这个人的名字叫亨利·贝克。 “问题是，”福尔摩斯叹了口气，"这个城市里一定有好几百个叫亨利·贝克的人，而彼得森一个也没有

idea how to go about finding the right one." "So what did he do?" I asked. "He brought the hat and goose to me, hoping I might be able to help. I assumed the man would put a notice in the lost property section of the newspaper with details of how to reach him. After two days, when no such notice appeared, I told Peterson he might as well take the goose home and eat it himself, for it would not stay fresh much longer. So off he went, leaving me with the hat." "And how do you propose to find this Henry Baker?" "Well, the hat has already told me a great deal," smiled Holmes. "This hat?" I exclaimed. "But how?" "Take a look at it yourself and tell me what you see." Holmes suggested. I picked up the hat and examined it closely. It was an ordinary black felt hat, and a poorly treated one. The outside was extremely dusty, as well as cracked and spotted in places. The initials H. B. had been scrawled on the red silk lining, but there was no maker's name. "I can see nothing," I said, handing it back to my friend. "Not true, Watson, you can see everything. But you are too timid to draw conclusions from what you see." "Then tell me what conclusions you can draw from it," I challenged.

知道如何去寻找合适的人。” “那么他做了什么？”我问。 他把帽子和鹅拿给我，希望我能帮上忙。 我猜想那个人会在报纸的失物招领栏登一个通知，详细说明如何找到他。 两天后，没有出现这样的通知，我告诉彼得森，他还是把鹅带回家自己吃吧，因为它不会保持新鲜太久了。 于是他走了，把帽子留给了我。” “那你打算怎么找到这个亨利·贝克呢？”福尔摩斯微笑着说："嗯，这顶帽子已经告诉了我很多事情。 “这顶帽子吗?”我叫道。“可是什么?”“你自己看看，然后告诉我你看到了什么。” 福尔摩斯。我拿起帽子仔细检查。 那是一顶普通的黑色毡帽，而且是一顶粗糙的毡帽。 外面尘土飞扬，到处都是裂缝和斑点。 红色的丝绸衬里上潦草地写着h.b.的首字母，但没有制造商的名字。 “我什么也看不见，”我说着，把它还给了我的朋友。 “不对，华生，你什么都看得见。 但是你太胆小了，不能从你所看到的得出结论。” “那就告诉我你能从中得出什么结论。”我质疑道。