Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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后，就把這兩件事忘了個干凈，因為她突然發現她家的大門開著。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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，

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

Looking into the drawing room, she saw a scene of confusion over by her writing desk.

她往起居室里看去，寫字臺邊一片狼籍。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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，

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

so she went to fetch the porter from his basement.

于是她到地下室去找看門的人。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

By this time her legs were beginning to tremble,

這時她兩腿累得開始發抖，

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

so she sat down and accepted a cup of very strong tea, while he telephoned the police.

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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里的竅賊。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

The chaos was inconceivable.

房間里的紊亂狀況是無法想像的。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

She had lived in the flat for thirty years and was a veritable magpie at hoarding;

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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，并且被里里外外看了遍。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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并無撬過的跡象。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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，或者是翻越陽臺進來的。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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、骯臟的紅包袱。老婦人說那不是她的。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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并不是首次作案，而且他一定受了驚嚇。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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么，并勸她幾夜之內不要獨自一人在公寓過夜。

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

The old lady though the was a fussy creature,

老婦人覺得巡官大驚小怪，

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

but since the porter agreed with him,

但既然看門人也同意他的意見，

Lesson 58 A spot of bother

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。

Lesson 59 Collecting

People tend to amass possessions, sometimes without being aware of doing so.

人們喜歡收藏東西，有時并沒有意識到自己在這樣做。

Lesson 59 Collecting

Indeed they can have a delightful surprise when they find something useful which they did not know they owned.

確實，一旦無意之中從自己的收藏品中找到某件有用的東西時，可以給人一種驚喜的感覺。

Lesson 59 Collecting

Those who never have to move house become indiscriminate collectors of what can only be described as clutter.

那些從來不必搬家的人們成了一種無所不容的收藏家。他們專門收藏那些只能被稱作雜貨的東西。