赫尔克里·波洛的丰功伟绩29

时间：2024-12-31 11:18:21

（单词翻译:单击）

II
On his way downstairs, Hercule Poirot was intercepted1 by a tall, fair-haired woman. She said:
“Please come into my sitting room, M. Poirot.”
He bowed and followed her.
She shut the door, motioned him to a chair, and offered him a cigarette. She sat down
opposite him. She said quietly:
“You have just seen my husband—and he has told you—about my father.”
Poirot looked at her with attention. He saw a tall woman, still handsome, with character and
intelligence in her face. Mrs. Ferrier was a popular figure. As the wife of the Prime Minister she
naturally came in for a good share of the limelight. As the daughter of her father, her popularity
was even greater. Dagmar Ferrier represented the popular ideal of English womanhood.
She was a devoted2 wife, a fond mother, she shared her husband’s love of country life. She
interested herself in just those aspects of public life which were generally felt to be proper spheres
of womanly activity. She dressed well, but never in an ostenta- tiously fashionable manner. She
devoted much of her time and activity to large-scale charities, she had inaugurated special
schemes for the relief of the wives of unemployed3 men. She was looked up to by the whole nation
and was a most valuable asset to the
Party.
Hercule Poirot said:
“You must be terribly worried, Madame.”
“Oh I am—you don’t know how much. For years I have been dreading—something.”
Poirot said:
“You had no idea of what was going on actually?”
She shook her head.
“No—not in the least. I only knew that my father was not—was not what everyone thought
him. I realized, from the time that I was a child, that he was a—a humbug4.”
Her voice was deep and bitter. She said:
“It is through marrying me that Edward—that Edward will lose everything.”
Poirot said in a quiet voice:
“Have you any enemies, Madame?”
She looked up at him, surprised.
“Enemies? I don’t think so.”
Poirot said thoughtfully:
“I think you have. . . .”
He went on:
“Have you courage, Madame? There is a great campaign afoot—against your husband—and
against yourself. You must prepare to defend yourself.”
She cried:
“But it doesn’t matter about me. Only about Edward!”
Poirot said: “The one includes the other. Remember, Madame, you are Cæsar’s wife.”
He saw her colour ebb5. She leaned forward. She said:
“What is it you are trying to tell me?”
III
Percy Perry, editor of the X-ray News, sat behind his desk smoking.
He was a small man with a face like a weasel.
He was saying in a soft, oily voice:
“We’ll give ’em the dirt, all right. Lovely—lovely! Oh boy!”
His second-in-command, a thin, spectacled youth, said uneasily:
“You’re not nervous?”
“Expecting strong-arm stuff? Not them. Haven’t got the nerve. Wouldn’t do them any good,
either. Not the way we’ve got it farmed out—in this country and on the Continent and America.”
The other said:
“They must be in a pretty good stew6. Won’t they do anything?”
“They’ll send someone to talk pretty—”
A buzzer7 sounded. Percy Perry picked up a receiver. He said: “Who do you say? Right, send
him up.”
He put the receiver down—grinned.
“They’ve got that high-toned Belgian dick on to it. He’s coming up now to do his stuff.
Wants to know if we’ll play ball.”
Hercule Poirot came in. He was immaculately dressed—a white camelia in his buttonhole.
Percy Perry said:
“Pleased to meet you, M. Poirot. On your way to the Royal Enclosure at Ascot? No? My
mistake.”
Hercule Poirot said:
“I am flattered. One hopes to present a good appearance. It is even more important,” his eyes
roamed innocently over the editor’s face and somewhat slovenly8 attire9, “when one has few natural
advantages.”
Perry said shortly:
“What do you want to see me about?”
Poirot leaned forward, tapped him on the knee, and said with a beaming smile:
“Blackmail10.”
“What the devil do you mean, blackmail?”
“I have heard—the little bird has told me—that on occasions you have been on the point of
publishing certain very damaging statements in your so spirituel paper—then, there has been a
pleasant little increase in your bank balance—and after all, those statements have not been
published.”
Poirot leaned back and nodded his head in a satisfied sort of way.
“Do you realize that what you’re suggesting amounts to slander11?”
Poirot smiled confidently.
“I am sure you will not take offence.”
“I do take offence! As to blackmail there is no evidence of my ever having blackmailed12
anybody.”
“No, no, I am quite sure of that. You misunderstand me. I was not threatening you. I was
leading up to a simple question. How much?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Percy Perry.
“A matter of National importance, M. Perry.”
They exchanged a significant glance.
Percy Perry said:
“I’m a reformer, M. Poirot. I want to see politics cleaned up. I’m opposed to corruption13. Do
you know what the state of politics is in this country? The Augean Stables, no more, no less.”
“Tiens!” said Hercule Poirot. “You, too, use that phrase.”
“And what is needed,” went on the editor, “to cleanse14 those stables is the great purifying
flood of Public Opinion.”
Hercule Poirot got up. He said:
“I applaud your sentiments.”
He added:
“It is a pity that you do not feel in need of money.”
Percy Perry said hurriedly:
“Here, wait a sec—I didn’t say that exactly. . . .”
But Hercule Poirot had gone through the door.
His excuse for later events is that he does not like blackmailers.

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 intercepted 970326ac9f606b6dc4c2550a417e081e     
拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻
参考例句：
  • Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave the hotel. 他正要离开旅馆，记者们把他拦截住了。
  • Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave by the rear entrance. 他想从后门溜走，记者把他截住了。
2 devoted xu9zka     
adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的
参考例句：
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
3 unemployed lfIz5Q     
adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的
参考例句：
  • There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
  • The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。
4 humbug ld8zV     
n.花招，谎话，欺骗
参考例句：
  • I know my words can seem to him nothing but utter humbug.我知道，我说的话在他看来不过是彻头彻尾的慌言。
  • All their fine words are nothing but humbug.他们的一切花言巧语都是骗人的。
5 ebb ebb     
vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态
参考例句：
  • The flood and ebb tides alternates with each other.涨潮和落潮交替更迭。
  • They swam till the tide began to ebb.他们一直游到开始退潮。
6 stew 0GTz5     
n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑
参考例句：
  • The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
  • There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。
7 buzzer 2x7zGi     
n.蜂鸣器；汽笛
参考例句：
  • The buzzer went off at eight o'clock.蜂鸣器在8点钟时响了。
  • Press the buzzer when you want to talk.你想讲话的时候就按蜂鸣器。
8 slovenly ZEqzQ     
adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的
参考例句：
  • People were scandalized at the slovenly management of the company.人们对该公司草率的经营感到愤慨。
  • Such slovenly work habits will never produce good products.这样马马虎虎的工作习惯决不能生产出优质产品来。
9 attire AN0zA     
v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装
参考例句：
  • He had no intention of changing his mode of attire.他无意改变着装方式。
  • Her attention was attracted by his peculiar attire.他那奇特的服装引起了她的注意。
10 blackmail rRXyl     
n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓
参考例句：
  • She demanded ＄1000 blackmail from him.她向他敲诈了1000美元。
  • The journalist used blackmail to make the lawyer give him the documents.记者讹诈那名律师交给他文件。
11 slander 7ESzF     
n./v.诽谤，污蔑
参考例句：
  • The article is a slander on ordinary working people.那篇文章是对普通劳动大众的诋毁。
  • He threatened to go public with the slander.他威胁要把丑闻宣扬出去。
12 blackmailed 15a0127e6f31070c30f593701bdb74bc     
胁迫，尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的过去式 )
参考例句：
  • He was blackmailed by an enemy agent (into passing on state secrets). 敌特威胁他（要他交出国家机密）。
  • The strikers refused to be blackmailed into returning to work. 罢工者拒绝了要挟复工的条件。
13 corruption TzCxn     
n.腐败，堕落，贪污
参考例句：
  • The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
  • The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。
14 cleanse 7VoyT     
vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗
参考例句：
  • Health experts are trying to cleanse the air in cities. 卫生专家们正设法净化城市里的空气。
  • Fresh fruit juices can also cleanse your body and reduce dark circles.新鲜果汁同样可以清洁你的身体,并对黑眼圈同样有抑制作用。

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