Seventeen
M R . R AFIEL T AKES C HARGE
“I don’t know,” said Miss Marple.
“What do you mean? What have we been talking about for the last twenty minutes?”
“It has occurred to me that I may have been wrong.”
Mr. Rafiel stared at her.
“Scatty after all!” he said disgustedly. “And you sounded so sure of yourself.”
“Oh, I am sure—about the murder. It’s the murderer I’m not sure about. You see I’ve found out that MajorPalgrave had more than one murder story—you told me yourself he’d told you one about a kind of Lucrezia Borgia—”
“So he did—at that. But that was quite a different kind of story.”
“I know. And Mrs. Walters said he had one about someone being gassed in a gas oven—”
“But the story he told you—”
Miss Marple allowed herself to interrupt—a thing that did not often happen to Mr. Rafiel.
She spoke¹ with desperate earnestness and only moderate incoherence.
“Don’t you see—it’s so difficult to be sure. The whole point is that—so often—one doesn’t listen. Ask Mrs.
Walters—she said the same thing—you listen to begin with—and then your attention flags—your mind wanders—andsuddenly you find you’ve missed a bit. I just wonder if possibly there may have been a gap—a very small one—between the story he was telling me—about a man—and the moment when he was getting out his wallet and saying—‘Like to see a picture of a murderer.’”
“But you thought it was a picture of the man he had been talking about?”
“I thought so—yes. It never occurred to me that it mightn’t have been. But now—how can I be sure?”
Mr. Rafiel looked at her very thoughtfully….
“The trouble with you is,” he said, “that you’re too conscientious³. Great mistake—Make up your mind and don’tshilly shally. You didn’t shilly shally to begin with. If you ask me, in all this chit-chat you’ve been having with theparson’s sister and the rest of them, you’ve got hold of something that’s unsettled you.”
“Perhaps you’re right.”
“Well, cut it out for the moment. Let’s go ahead with what you had to begin with. Because, nine times out of ten,one’s original judgments

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1 spoke
n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说
参考例句：
They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。 The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 fully
adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地
参考例句：
The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。 They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 conscientious
adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的
参考例句：
He is a conscientious man and knows his job.他很认真负责，也很懂行。 He is very conscientious in the performance of his duties.他非常认真地履行职责。

4 judgment
n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见
参考例句：
The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。 He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

5 judgments
判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判
参考例句：
A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。 He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。

6 motive
n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的
参考例句：
The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。 He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

7 gallant
adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的
参考例句：
Huang Jiguang's gallant deed is known by all men. 黄继光的英勇事迹尽人皆知。 These gallant soldiers will protect our country.这些勇敢的士兵会保卫我们的国家的。

8 perfectly
adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地
参考例句：
The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。 Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

9 contemplating
深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想
参考例句：
You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。 She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。

10 dummy
n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头
参考例句：
The police suspect that the device is not a real bomb but a dummy.警方怀疑那个装置不是真炸弹，只是一个假货。 The boys played soldier with dummy swords made of wood.男孩们用木头做的假木剑玩打仗游戏。

11 shuffled
v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼
参考例句：
He shuffled across the room to the window. 他拖着脚走到房间那头的窗户跟前。 Simon shuffled awkwardly towards them. 西蒙笨拙地拖着脚朝他们走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 fluffy
adj.有绒毛的，空洞的
参考例句：
Newly hatched chicks are like fluffy balls.刚孵出的小鸡像绒毛球。 The steamed bread is very fluffy.馒头很暄。

13 entirely
ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地
参考例句：
The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。 His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

14 obituary
n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的
参考例句：
The obituary records the whole life of the deceased.讣文记述了这位死者的生平。 Five days after the letter came,he found Andersen s obituary in the morning paper.收到那封信五天后，他在早报上发现了安德森的讣告。

15 demise
n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让
参考例句：
He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。 The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

16 outrageous
adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的
参考例句：
Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。 Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

17 obstreperous
adj.喧闹的，不守秩序的
参考例句：
He becomes obstreperous when he's had a few drinks.他喝了些酒就爱撒酒疯。 You know I have no intention of being awkward and obstreperous.你知道我无意存心作对。

18 standing
n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的
参考例句：
After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。 They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

19 Augmented
adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句：
'scientists won't be replaced," he claims, "but they will be augmented." 他宣称：“科学家不会被取代；相反，他们会被拓展。” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史 The impact of the report was augmented by its timing. 由于发表的时间选得好，这篇报导的影响更大了。

20 glamour
n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住
参考例句：
Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。 The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

21 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。

22 undertaking
n.保证，许诺，事业
参考例句：
He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。 He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

23 coconut
n.椰子
参考例句：
The husk of this coconut is particularly strong.椰子的外壳很明显非常坚固。 The falling coconut gave him a terrific bang on the head.那只掉下的椰子砰地击中他的脑袋。

24 bungalow
n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房
参考例句：
A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。 The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子，搬进了小平房。

25 mince
n.切碎物；v.切碎，矫揉做作地说
参考例句：
Would you like me to mince the meat for you?你要我替你把肉切碎吗？ Don't mince matters,but speak plainly.不要含糊其词，有话就直说吧。

26 obstinately
ad.固执地，顽固地
参考例句：
He obstinately asserted that he had done the right thing. 他硬说他做得对。 Unemployment figures are remaining obstinately high. 失业数字仍然顽固地居高不下。

27 cosily
adv.舒适地，惬意地
参考例句：
Its snow-white houses nestle cosily in a sea of fresh green vegetation. 雪白的房屋舒适地筑在一片翠绿的草木中。 来自辞典例句

28 liar
n.说谎的人
参考例句：
I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！ She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

29 yarn
n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事
参考例句：
I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。 The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

30 exasperation
n.愤慨
参考例句：
He snorted with exasperation.他愤怒地哼了一声。 She rolled her eyes in sheer exasperation.她气急败坏地转动着眼珠。

31 irritably
ad.易生气地
参考例句：
He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。 On this account the silence was irritably broken by a reproof. 为了这件事，他妻子大声斥责，令人恼火地打破了宁静。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

32 massage
n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据
参考例句：
He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。 Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

33 immediate
adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的
参考例句：
His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。 We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

34 sneaking
a.秘密的，不公开的
参考例句：
She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。 She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

35 deftly
adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地
参考例句：
He deftly folded the typed sheets and replaced them in the envelope. 他灵巧地将打有字的纸折好重新放回信封。 来自《简明英汉词典》 At last he had a clew to her interest, and followed it deftly. 这一下终于让他发现了她的兴趣所在，于是他熟练地继续谈这个话题。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹