新概念英語第三冊
Lesson 58 A spot of bother
1 . So their entry into this flat was apparently not the burglars' first job that day and they must have been disturbed.很明顯，闖進這套公寓的竊賊那天並不是首次作案，而且他一定受了驚嚇。
2 . She walked slowly into the hall and at once noticed that all the room doors were open,她慢慢地走進前廳，立即發現所有的房門都敞開著，
3 . she rang up her daughter and asked for her help in what she described as a little spot of bother.她只得打電話向女兒求援，說她碰到了一點兒小麻煩。
4 . but when she got out at her own floor, both were forgotten in her sudden discovery that her front door was open.但她到自己的樓層走出電梯後，就把這兩件事忘了個乾淨，因為她突然發現她家的大門開著。
5 . but since the porter agreed with him,但既然看門人也同意他的意見，
6 . She had lived in the flat for thirty years and was a veritable magpie at hoarding;老婦人在這套公寓裡住了30年，她又是個名副其實的收藏家。
7 . In the life her thoughts were on lunch and a good rest;她乘上電梯後，只想著午餐和好好休息一下。
8 . Her first impulse was to go round all the rooms looking for the thieves,她第一個條件反射是各個房間搜尋一下竊賊，
9 . so she went to fetch the porter from his basement.於是她到地下室去找看門的人。
10 . Looking into the drawing room, she saw a scene of confusion over by her writing desk.她往起居室裡看去，寫字檯邊一片狼籍。
11 . By this time her legs were beginning to tremble,這時她兩腿累得開始發抖，
12 . yet following her regular practice she had shut them before going out.而她記得在出門買東西前，她按老規矩是把房門一一鎖上的。
13 . 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,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。
14 . At least sorting out the things she should have discarded years ago was now being made easier for her.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。
15 . The chaos was inconceivable.房間裡的紊亂狀況是無法想像的。
16 . It was as clear as daylight then that burglars had forced an entry during her absence.事情很清楚，在她外出時，竊賊曾闖進家門。
17 . Then, her composure regained, she was ready to set off with the porter's assistance to search for nay intruders who might still be lurking in her flat.此刻老婦人也鎮定了下來，準備在看門人的協助下搜尋可能仍躲藏在她房裡的竅賊。
18 . thereby proving that the burglars had either used skeleton keys or entered over the balcony.由此可以證明，竅賊或者是用萬能鑰匙，或者是翻越陽台進來的。
19 . Then a police inspector arrived with a constable and she told them of her discovery of the ransacked flat.過了一會兒，一位巡官帶著一名警察來了。她向他們講述了發現公寓遭劫的經過。
20 . The old lady though the was a fussy creature,老婦人覺得巡官大驚小怪，
21 . They went through the rooms, being careful to touch nothing, as they did not want to hinder the police in their search for fingerprints.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。
22 . The inspector began to look for fingerprints, while the constable checked that the front door locks had not been forced,巡官開始搜尋指紋，警察經檢查發現大門鎖頭並無撬過的跡象。
23 . Her shopping had tired her and her basket ad grown heavier with every step of the way home.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，就感到手裡的籃子又重了一點。
24 . so she sat down and accepted a cup of very strong tea, while he telephoned the police.於是坐了下來，喝了一杯濃茶。與此同時，看門的人給警察掛了電話。
25 . The old lady was glad to be back at the block of flats where she lived.老婦人回到了她居住的公寓樓，心裡很高興。
26 . 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.巡官沒有發現指紋，卻發現了一個裝有珠寶的、骯髒的紅包袱。老婦人說那不是她的。
27 . and it seemed as though everything she possessed had been tossed out and turned over and over.看來她的每一件東西都被翻了出來，並且被裡裡外外看了遍。
28 . 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.巡官請老婦人在次日之前設法查清丟了些什麼，並勸她幾夜之內不要獨自一人在公寓過夜。
29 . She was thinking that she must reprimand her home help the next morning for such a monstrous piece of negligence,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。
30 . but then she decided that at her age it might be more prudent to have someone with her,但轉念一想，像她這個年紀，最好找個人一起去。