录音：http://bbs.ebigear.com/thread-233688-1-1.html

     The other two slowly raised their eyes.

    “I was hoping,”Ogilvie said, “that you folks could suggest something.”

    The Duke said uncertainly, “I don’t understand.”

    “I understand,”The Duchess of Croydon said, You want money, don’t you? You came here to blackmail us.”

     If she expected her words to shock, they did not succeed. The house detective shrugged.  20. （“Whatever names you call things, ma’am, don’t matter to me）. All I come for was to help you people out of trouble. But I got to live too.

    “You’d accept money to keep silent about what you know?”

    “I reckon I might.”

    “But from what you say,”The Duchess pointed out, her poise for the moment recovered, “it would do no good. The car would be discovered in any case.”

    “I guess you’d have to take that chance. But there’s some reasons it might not be. Something I ain’t told you yet.”

    “Tell us now, please.”

◆◆◆

*folk：n. 人们 Most of the people on the island are fisher folk. 那个岛上的居民大部分是渔民； 大伙儿, 各位 Well, folks, shall we go out this afternoon? 唔, 伙计们, 今天下午我们出去吗?  亲属, 父母 ；adj. 民间的, 普通平民的 She is a folk singer. 她是一个民谣歌手。 I am not very fond of folk dance. 我不太喜欢民间舞蹈。

*shrug：（为了表达冷漠，无奈的耸肩）

*call:  say，explain。不管你说得再怎么难听，我都不会在乎的。

*poise：n. 泰然自若; 自信 She received me with incredible poise for one so yong.

她年纪轻轻居然能如此沉着老练的接待我真令人难以置信；  N. 体态, 姿态 She is a beautiful girl with the grace and poise. 她是一位仪态优雅的佳丽；vt. 使平衡, 使平稳 He walked along with a jug poised on his head. 他头上顶着一个水罐, 保持着平衡往前走。

*take that chance：①抓住机会②碰碰运气

     Ogilive said, "I ain't figured this out myself completely. But when you hit that kid you was going away from town, not to it."

　　"We'd made a mistake in the route," the Duchess said. "Somehow we'd become turned around. It's easily done in New Orleans, with the street winding as they do. Afterward, using side streets, we went back. ”

　　"I thought it might be that," Ogilvie nodded understandingly. "But the police ain't figured it that way. They’re looking for somebody who was headed out. That's why, right now, they're workin' on the suburbs and the outside towns. They may get around to searchin' downtown, but it won't be yet. "

"How long before they do?”

◆◆◆

*Somehow：adv.不知怎么的，莫名其妙的

*street：东西走向的街道；avenue：南北走向的街道；winding：（道路蜿蜒曲折的）e.g. A zigzag road loses itself in the shadowy of the woods.

"Maybe three, four days. They got a lot of other places to look first."

"How could that help us --- the delay‘?"

"It might," Ogilvie said. "Providin' nobody twigs the car – an' seein' where it is, you might be lucky there. An' if you can get it away."

      "You mean out of the state?"”

      "I mean out o’ the South."

      "That wouldn't be easy?"

      "No, ma'am. Every state around – Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, all the rest'll be watching for a car damaged the way yours is."

◆◆◆

*twig: is a thieves’slang, meaning observe or notice.明白，了解。vt.1. 懂得，明白，了解： I can't twig what is wrong with her.我不明白她怎么了。2. 观察；注意：

The soldier twigged him.士兵注意到他了。vi.懂得，明白，了解，领悟： The teacher had explained the sentence, but I didn't quite twig.老师解释了这个句子，但我不太明白。

*all the rest：keep me in your memory，and leave out all the rest. 世间万物仿若泡影，只求把我铭刻于心。

 参考译文：

公爵舔了舔嘴唇。“我想现在那已经没什么要紧了。”

　　“不过，你也有可能会在那儿留下一点什么蛛丝马迹，”欧吉维欲擒故纵地说。“不管怎么说，我的发现促使我去侦察了一番——去警察局打听了一下，那儿的人也都和我相熟。”他停下来吸了口雪茄，他的听众则静静地等候着。雪茄烟头发出红光时，他对它细看了一眼，又接着说下去。“他们那儿掌握了三件可供追查的东西。他们找到了一个车前灯框圈，那一定是撞倒那孩子和女人时从车上掉下来的；他们找到了一些车前灯玻璃的碎片；查验那小孩的衣服时，他们判断一定有一种摩擦印痕。”

　　“一种什么?”

　　“ 公爵夫人，假如你把衣服擦在硬物上，尤其是像汽车防护板这种光滑的硬物上时，那上面会留下类似指纹的印痕。警察局的化验室有办法像提取指纹一样处理这种印痕——涂上药粉、印痕便显现出来了。”

　　“这倒挺新鲜的，”公爵说起话来就好像是在谈论什么与己无关的事情似的。“我以前可从来没有听说过。”

　　“听说过的人本就不多。不过，在这件案子上，我想那也没多大差别。你们车上有一只前灯破了，框圈也掉了。毫无疑问，他们会核查无误的，即使没有发现擦痕和血迹也能查出来的。哦，我还忘了告诉你们，车上有许多血迹，不过在黑漆面上不大显眼。”

　　“哦，天哪!”公爵夫人一手捂着脸，转过面去。 她的丈夫问道，“依你看该怎么办?”

　　大胖子搓着双手，低下头看着自己那粗大多肉的手指。“我方才已经说过，我是来先听你们的说法的。”

　　公爵绝望地说，“我还能说什么呢?发生的一切你都知道了。”他作势想挺起胸来，可就是挺不起来。“你还是通知警方来处理此事吧。”

　　“依我说呢，这事也不用着急。”他那刺耳的尖嗓音此时带着一种沉思的声调。“事已至此，急也无益，再急也不能让那小孩和她的母亲复生。况且，到了警察局．他们用来处置你的办法，公爵，你是不会喜欢的。真的，阁下，你绝不会喜欢的。”