A spot of bother 一點兒小麻煩
The old lady was glad to be back at the block of flats where she lived. Her shopping had tired her and her basket had grown heavier with every step of the way home. In the lift her thoughts were on lunch and a good rest; but when she got out at her own floor, both were forgotten in her sudden discovery that her front door was open. She was thinking that she must reprimand her home help the next morning for such a monstrous piece of negligence, when she remembered that she had gone shopping after the home help had left and she knew that she had turned both keys in their locks. She walked slowly into the hall and at once noticed that all the room doors were open, yet following her regular practice she had shut them before going out. Looking into the drawing room, she saw a scene of confusion over by her writing desk. It was as clear as daylight then that burglars had forced an entry during her absence. Her first impulse was to go round all the rooms looking for the thieves, but then she decided that at her age it might be more prudent to have someone with her, so she went to fetch the porter from his basement. By this time her legs were beginning to tremble, so she sat down and accepted a cup of very strong tea, while he telephoned the police. Then, her composure regained, she was ready to set off with the porter's assistance to search for any intruders who might still be lurking in her flat.
They went through the rooms, being careful to touch nothing, as they did not want to hinder the police in their search for fingerprints. The chaos was inconceivable. She had lived in the flat for 30 years and was a veritable magpie at hoarding; and it seemed as though everything she possessed had been tossed out and turned over and over. At least sorting out the things she should have discarded years ago was now being made easier for her. Then a police inspector arrived with a constable and she told them of her discovery of the ransacked flat. The inspector began to look for fingerprints, while the constable checked that the front door locks had not been forced, thereby proving that the burglars had either used skeleton keys or entered over the balcony. There was no trace of fingerprints, but the inspector found a dirty red bundle that contained jewellery which the old lady said was not hers. So their entry into this flat was apparently not the burglars' first job that day and they must have been disturbed. The inspector then asked the old lady to try to check what was missing by the next day and advised her not to stay alone in the flat for a few nights. The old lady thought he was a fussy creature, but since the porter agreed with him, she rang up her daughter and asked for her help in what she described as a little spot of bother.
New words and expressions 生詞與短語
life
n. 電梯
monstrous
adj. 極大的，可怕的
negligence
n. 粗心大意
lurk
v. 潛藏
hinder
v. 妨礙
fingerprint
n. 指紋
chaos
n. 混亂，無秩序
inconceivable
adj. 不可思議的
veritable
adj. 真正的，地地道道的
magpie
n. 喜歡收藏物品的人
prudent
adj. 謹慎的
composure
n. 鎮(zhèn)靜，沉著
intruder
n. 入侵者(尤指欲行竊者)
toss
v. 扔
discard
v. 丟
discard
v. 丟棄
constable
n. 警察
ransack
v. 洗劫
balcony
n. 陽臺
fussy
adj. 大驚小怪的，小題大作的
本文參考譯文
老婦人回到了她居住的公寓樓，心里很高興。去商店買東西把她搞得筋疲力盡;在回家的路上，她每走一步，就感到手里的籃子又重了一點。她乘上電梯后，只想著午餐和好好休息一下。但她到自己的樓層走出電梯后，就把這兩件事忘了個干凈，因為她突然發(fā)現(xiàn)她家的大門開著。她心想明天上午一定要好好訓斥那個干家務的幫手，她竟如此疏忽大意。但突然記起來了，幫手是在她出去買東西之前走的，她還記得曾用了兩把鑰匙把大門鎖上了。她慢慢地走進前廳，立即發(fā)現(xiàn)所有的房門都敞開著，而她記得在出門買東西前，她按老規(guī)矩是把房門一一鎖上的。她往起居室里看去，寫字臺邊一片狼籍。事情很清楚，在她外出時，竊賊曾闖進家門。她第一個條件反射是各個房間搜尋一下竊賊，但轉念一想，像她這個年紀，最好找個人一起去。于是她到地下室去找看門的人。這時她兩腿累得開始發(fā)抖，于是坐了下來，喝了一杯濃茶。與此同時，看門的人給警察掛了電話。此刻老婦人也鎮(zhèn)定了下來，準備在看門人的協(xié)助下搜尋可能仍躲藏在她房里的竅賊。
他倆搜遍這每一個房間，小心翼翼地不接觸任何東西，因為他們怕妨礙警察尋找指紋。房間里的紊亂狀況是無法想像的。老婦人在這套公寓里住了30年，她又是個名副其實的收藏家�？磥硭拿恳患䱷|西都被翻了出來，并且被里里外外看了遍。這樣一來，她倒是容易將那些幾年前就該扔掉的東西找出來了。過了一會兒，一位巡官帶著一名警察來了。她向他們講述了發(fā)現(xiàn)公寓遭劫的經過。巡官開始搜尋指紋，警察經檢查發(fā)現(xiàn)大門鎖頭并無撬過的跡象。由此可以證明，竅賊或者是用萬能鑰匙，或者是翻越陽臺進來的。巡官沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)指紋，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個裝有珠寶的、骯臟的紅包袱。老婦人說那不是她的。很明顯，闖進這套公寓的竊賊那天并不是首次作案，而且他一定受了驚嚇。巡官請老婦人在次日之前設法查清丟了些什么，并勸她幾夜之內不要獨自一人在公寓過夜。老婦人覺得巡官大驚小怪，但既然看門人也同意他的意見，她只得打電話向女兒求援，說她碰到了一點兒小麻煩。
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