ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE 5

V
Hercule Poirot descended¹ from his taxi, paid the man and rang the bell of 58, Queen Charlotte
Street.
After a little delay it was opened by a boy in page boy’s uniform with a freckled² face, red hair,
and an earnest manner.
Hercule Poirot said:
“Mr. Morley?”
There was in his heart a ridiculous hope that Mr. Morley might have been called away, might be
indisposed, might not be seeing patients today … All in vain. The page boy drew back, Hercule
Poirot stepped inside, and the door closed behind him with the quiet remorselessness of
unalterable doom³.
The boy said: “Name, please?”
Poirot gave it to him, a door on the right of the hall was thrown open and he stepped into the
waiting room.
It was a room furnished in quiet good taste and, to Hercule Poirot, indescribably gloomy. On the
polished (reproduction) Sheraton table were carefully arranged papers and periodicals. The
(reproduction) Hepplewhite sideboard held two Sheffield plated candlesticks and an épergne. The
mantelpiece held a bronze clock and two bronze vases. The windows were shrouded⁴ by curtains of
blue velvet⁵. The chairs were upholstered in a Jacobean design of red birds and flowers.
In one of them sat a military- looking gentleman with a fierce moustache and a yellow
complexion⁶. He looked at Poirot with an air of one considering some noxious⁷ insect. It was not so
much his gun he looked as though he wished he had with him, as his Flit spray. Poirot, eyeing him
with distaste, said to himself, “In verity⁸, there are some Englishmen who are altogether so
unpleasing and ridiculous that they should have been put out of their misery⁹ at birth.”
The military gentleman, after a prolonged glare, snatched up The Times, turned his chair so as to
avoid seeing Poirot, and settled down to read it.
Poirot picked up Punch.
He went through it meticulously¹⁰, but failed to find any of the jokes funny.
The page boy came in and said, “Colonel Arrow-Bumby?”—and the military gentleman was led
away.
Poirot was speculating on the probabilities of there really being such a name, when the door
opened to admit a young man of about thirty.
As the young man stood by the table, restlessly flicking¹¹ over the covers of magazines, Poirot
looked at him sideways. An unpleasant and dangerous looking young man, he thought, and not
impossibly a murderer. At any rate he looked far more like a murderer than any of the murderers
Hercule Poirot had arrested in the course of his career.
The page boy opened the door and said to midair:
“Mr. Peerer.”
Rightly construing¹² this as a summons to himself, Poirot rose. The boy led him to the back of the
hall and round the corner to a small lift in which he took him up to the second floor. Here he led
him along a passage, opened a door which led into a little anteroom, tapped at a second door; and
without waiting for a reply opened it and stood back for Poirot to enter.
Poirot entered to a sound of running water and came round the back of the door to discover Mr.
Morley washing his hands with professional gusto at a basin on the wall.

1 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

2 freckled   

adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her face was freckled all over. 她的脸长满雀斑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Her freckled skin glowed with health again. 她长有雀斑的皮肤又泛出了健康的红光。 来自辞典例句

3 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

4 shrouded   

v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密

参考例句：

• The hills were shrouded in mist . 这些小山被笼罩在薄雾之中。
• The towers were shrouded in mist. 城楼被蒙上薄雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

6 complexion   

n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格

参考例句：

• Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
• Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。

7 noxious   

adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• Heavy industry pollutes our rivers with noxious chemicals.重工业产生的有毒化学品会污染我们的河流。
• Many household products give off noxious fumes.很多家用产品散发有害气体。

8 verity   

n.真实性

参考例句：

• Human's mission lies in exploring verity bravely.人的天职在勇于探索真理。
• How to guarantee the verity of the financial information disclosed by listed companies? 如何保证上市公司财务信息披露真实性?

9 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

10 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句

11 flicking   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的现在分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• He helped her up before flicking the reins. 他帮她上马，之后挥动了缰绳。
• There's something flicking around my toes. 有什么东西老在叮我的脚指头。

12 construing   

v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的现在分词 )；翻译，作句法分析

参考例句：

• I seldom railway bridge construing site so late. today, i worked overtime till 7:30 pm. 很少这么晚从铁路桥工地旁经过。今天是因为加班，加到了七点半。 来自互联网