1. I am a Worcestershire man. …which sent me over to India. …the Indian Army rebelled against the British.

   • Worcestershire是英格蘭中西部的一個郡。Small說他的親戚們都是好人，只有他自己是a black sheep（害群之馬）。小夥子這輩子真是有點倒黴，因為和姑娘亂來，只能參軍去印度，在恒河遊泳又被鱷魚咬斷了腿，腿剛戴上假肢又遭遇印度叛軍暴亂。這一次暴亂在歷史上還挺有名的，維基百科上也能查到，就叫Indian Rebellion of 1857，持續時間是從1857年5月到1859年7月。

2. But we were not really safe there, either; we held just the ground that our guns commanded.

   • 盡管逃到了Agra，但他們並沒有真正安全，他們所在的地方需要用槍支來守護，他們也需要輪流站崗保護城堡裏的婦女和小孩。

3. Two Sikh soldiers were placed under my command, and I was told if anything went wrong to fire my rifle.

   • Sikh是錫克人，指信仰錫克教的信徒，大部分錫克人居於印度與巴基斯坦。因為按安排守城堡時需要一個白人加兩三個當地人，所以Small被分去西南邊的一個小門時，也給他配備了兩個當地的錫克人。

4. As the guard was a good two hundred yards away, however, and as the space between was cut up into a maze of passages and corridors, I had great doubts as to whether they could arrive in time to be of any use in case of an actual attack.

   • 由and連接的兩個as引導的句子表原因，意思是由於守衛有整整200碼遠，以及在這之間還有像迷宮一樣的通道和走廊，Small覺得如果真的有襲擊，也沒人能及時趕過來。a good two hundred yards

     裏的good意思是entire，類似的表達還有The hill will take a good hour and a half to climb.（爬這座山需要花整整一個半小時。）

5. Either you are heart and soul with us on your oath on the cross of the Christians,or your body this night shall be thrown into the ditch. There is no middle way. Which is it to be, death or life?

   • 淩晨兩點的巡邏剛過，Small就被那兩個錫克人挾持了，其中一個叫Abdullah Khan的給了他兩個選擇，要麽向神明發誓全心全意和他們合作，要麽就把他殺了扔進溝渠裏。either...or...的結構表示二者選其一，要麽……要麽……。

6. If you will be one of us this night, we will swear to you upon the naked knife, and by the threefold oath which no Sikh was ever known to break, that you shall have your fair share of the loot. A quarter of the treasure shall be yours.

   • 要我說這兩個錫克人還真是耿直，還跟Small廢這麽多話，甚至借著刀發了三倍的重誓，只要他願意和他們一起幹，就分他四分之一的財寶。據說這種三倍的重誓，還沒有哪個錫克人敢違背。threefold就是三倍，這也是一種常見的構詞。

7. ‘I will swear it,’I answered,‘provided that the fort is not endangered.’

   • Small還是有點良心的，在生命受到威脅的情況下，還要保證城堡的安全。provided that有“如果、只要”的意思，相當於if或者as long as。

8. ‘Then my comrade and I will swear that you shall have a quarter of the treasure which shall be equally divided among the four of us.’

   “ ‘There are only three of us,’ said I.

   “ ‘No, Dost Akbar must have his share.

   • 至此，四簽名的人物齊了。

9. I know that an oath is binding upon a Feringhee, and that we may trust you. Had you been a lying Hindu, though you had sworn by all the gods in their false temples, your blood would have been upon the knife, and your body in the water. But the Sikh knows the Englishman, and the Englishman knows the Sikh.

   • 這句話我們可以看出這兩個錫克人是比較願意相信英國人，而不太信任印度人的。Feringhee這個詞是印度和其它有些亞洲國家對外國人，尤其是白種人的稱呼；be binding upon是“對……有約束力”，意思是他們相信對歐洲人來說誓言是有約束力的，是言而有信的。Had you been a lying Hindu還原成常見句型，就是If you had been a lying Hindu（如果你是個滿口謊話的印度人的話），那他們早就把Small殺掉了。

- 今日短語 -

black sheep 害群之馬，（集體中的）敗類

strike a match 劃火柴

snatch（sth.）up 奪取……

ring of truth 聽起來像是真的

heart and soul 全心全意

middle way 中間辦法，折中辦法

provided that 只要

be binding upon sb. 某人必須遵守

- 今日思考題 -

1. It was a fight of millions against hundreds, and the cruelest part was that these men we fought against were our own troops whom we had taught and trained, fighting with weapons that we had given them.

大家來說說這是一場什麽樣的戰爭吧

答：這是幾百萬人對幾百人的戰爭。最殘酷的是：我們的敵人都是當初經我們訓練過的精銳戰士，他們使用的武器都是我們給的。（果然夠殘酷……）

2. But the modern part is nothing like the size of the old part, where nobody goes, and which is abandoned to the scorpions and the centipedes.

這個old part是什麽樣的？

答：但是這新的部分的大小遠比不上古老的那一部分，沒有人到（古老部分）那裏去，那裏留給了蠍子蜈蚣。

The Sign of Four 2017-6-28