complete [kǝmˈpli:t], damage [ˈdæmɪʤ], accomplish [ǝˈkɔmplɪʃ]
"Then, your preliminary plans completed, you set to work! You sent the Andover list to Cust, directing him to go there on a certain date and you sent off the first A.B.C. letter to me."
"On the appointed day, you went to Andover — and killed Mrs. Ascher — without anything occurring to damage your plans."
"Murder No. 1 was successfully accomplished."
"For the second murder, you took the precaution of committing it, in reality, the day before. I am fairly certain that Betty Barnard was killed well before midnight on the 24th July."
"We now come to murder No. 3 (теперь мы подходим к убийству номер три) — the important (важное) — in fact (фактически), the real murder from your point of view (настоящее убийство с вашей точки зрения)."
"And here a full measure of praise is due to Hastings (и здесь вся хвала Гастингсу: «и здесь полная мера похвалы это благодаря Гастингсу»), who made a simple and obvious remark (который сделал простое и очевидное замечание) to which no attention was paid (на которое не обратили внимание)."
"He suggested (он предположил) that the third letter went astray intentionally (что третье письмо потерялось преднамеренно). And he was right (и он был прав)!"
"In that one simple fact lies the answer to the question (в этом простом факте лежит ответ на вопрос) that has puzzled me so all along (который ставил меня в тупик столь долго). Why were the letters addressed in the first place to Hercule Poirot (почему письма были сначала адресованы Эркюлю Пуаро), a private detective (частному детективу), and not to the police (а не в полицию)?"
"Erroneously (ошибочно) I imagined some personal reason (я вообразил некую личную причину)."
praise [preɪz], intentionally [ɪnˈtenʃ(ǝ)n(ǝ)l], erroneously [ɪˈrǝʋnɪǝslɪ]
"We now come to murder No. 3 — the important — in fact, the real murder from your point of view."
"And here a full measure of praise is due to Hastings, who made a simple and obvious remark to which no attention was paid."
"He suggested that the third letter went astray intentionally. And he was right! ."
"In that one simple fact lies the answer to the question that has puzzled me so all along. Why were the letters addressed in the first place to Hercule Poirot, a private detective, and not to the police?"
"Erroneously I imagined some personal reason."
"Not at all (вовсе нет)! The letters were sent to me (письма были отправлены мне) because the essence of your plan was (потому, что суть вашего плана была /такова/) that one of them should be wrongly addressed (что одно из них должно быть неверно адресовано) and go astray (и потеряться) — but you cannot arrange for a letter (но вы не можете организовать, чтобы письмо) addressed to the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard (адресованное Отделению криминальных расследований Скотланд-Ярда) to go astray (потерялось)! It is necessary to have a private address (было необходимо иметь частный адрес). You chose me (вы выбрали меня) as a fairly well-known person (как достаточно хорошо известную личность), and a person (и человека) who was sure to take the letters to the police (который наверняка отнесет эти письма в полицию) — and also (а так же), in your rather insular mind (в вашем достаточно недалеком: «островном /намек на островное расположение Великобритании/» уме; insular — островной; недалекий, ограниченный), you enjoyed scoring off a foreigner (вы наслаждались /тем, что/ выигрывали у иностранца)."
"You addressed your envelope very cleverly (вы очень умно написали адрес на вашем конверте) — Whitehaven (Уайтхэйвен) — Whitehorse (Уайтхорс) — quite a natural slip (достаточно естественная описка; to slip — скользить; поскользнуться). Only Hastings was sufficiently perspicacious (только Гастингс был в достаточной мере проницательным) to disregard subtleties (чтобы не обратить внимания на тонкости; subtlety — тонкость; утонченность) and go straight for the obvious (и идти прямо к очевидному)!"
insular [ˈɪnsjǝlǝ], perspicacious [ˌpǝ:spɪˈkeɪʃ(ǝ)s], subtlety [ˈsʌtltɪ]
"Not at all! The letters were sent to me because the essence of your plan was that one of them should be wrongly addressed and go astray — but you cannot arrange for a letter addressed to the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard to go astray! It is necessary to have a private address. You chose me as a fairly well-known person, and a person who was sure to take the letters to the police — and also, in your rather insular mind, you enjoyed scoring off a foreigner."
"You addressed your envelope very cleverly — Whitehaven — Whitehorse — quite a natural slip. Only Hastings was sufficiently perspicacious to disregard subtleties and go straight for the obvious!"
"Of course (конечно) the letter was meant to go astray (предполагалось, что письмо потеряется)! The police were to be set on the trail (полицию нужно было навести на след) only when the murder was safely over (только /тогда/, когда убийство было безопасно завершено). Your brother's nightly walk provided you with the opportunity (ночные прогулки вашего брата предоставили вам возможность). And so successfully had the A.B.C. terror taken hold on the public mind (и столь успешно ужас Эй-би-си охватил мысли общественности) that the possibility of your guilt never occurred to anyone (что даже возможность вашей вины никогда ни у кого не возникала)."
"After the death of your brother (после смерти вашего брата), of course (конечно), your object was accomplished (ваша цель была достигнута). You had no wish to commit any more murders (вы не имели желания совершать другие убийства). On the other hand (с другой строны), if the murders stopped without reason (если бы убийства прекратились без причины), a suspicion of truth might come to someone (кто-нибудь мог бы заподозрить правду: «подозрение правды могло прийти к кому-нибудь»)."
trail [treɪl], terror [ˈterǝ], wish [wɪʃ]
"Of course the letter was meant to go astray! The police were to be set on the trail only when the murder was safely over. Your brother's nightly walk provided you with the opportunity. And so successfully had the A.B.C. terror taken hold on the public mind that the possibility of your guilt never occurred to anyone."
"After the death of your brother, of course, your object was accomplished. You had no wish to commit any more murders. On the other hand, if the murders stopped without reason, a suspicion of truth might come to someone."
"Your stalking horse (ваше подставное лицо), Mr. Cust, had so successfully lived up to his role of the invisible (столь успешно вжился в его роль невидимого) — because insignificant (потому что незначительного) — man (человека), that so far no one had noticed (которого пока никто не заметил) that the same person had been seen in the vicinity of the three murders (что этого же человека видели поблизости от трех убийств)! To your annoyance (к вашему раздражению), even his visit to Combeside had not been mentioned (даже его визит в Кумсайд не был упомянут). The matter had passed completely out of Miss Grey's head (этот случай: «это дело» полностью вылетел из головы мисс Грей)."
"Always daring (всегда дерзкий), you decided (вы решили) that one more murder must take place (что еще одно убийство должно произойти) but that this time the trail must be well blazed (но в этот раз след должен был быть хорошо отмечен; blaze — белая звездочка /на лбу животного/; метка на дереве; тропинка в лесу, помеченная метками)."
"You selected Doncaster for the scene of operations (вы выбрали Донкастер для сцены действий)."
invisible [ɪnˈvɪzɪbl], annoyance [ǝˈnɔɪǝns], operation [ˌɔpǝˈreɪʃ(ǝ)n]
"Your stalking horse, Mr. Cust, had so successfully lived up to his role of the invisible — because insignificant — man, that so far no one had noticed that the same person had been seen in the vicinity of the three murders! To your annoyance, even his visit to Combeside had not been mentioned. The matter had passed completely out of Miss Grey's head."
"Always daring, you decided that one more murder must take place but that this time the trail must be well blazed."
"You selected Doncaster for the scene of operations."
"Your plan was very simple (ваш план был очень прост). You yourself would be on the scene in the nature of things (по сути вещей, вы сами были бы на месте /преступления/). Mr. Cust would be ordered to Doncaster by his firm (мистер Каст будет направлен в Донкастер его фирмой). Your plan was to follow him round (ваш план был проследить его) and trust to opportunity (и положиться на удобный случай; opportunity — благоприятный случай, стечение обстоятельств, возможность). Everything fell out well (все сложилось хорошо; to fall out — выпадать; случаться). Mr. Cust went to a cinema (мистер Каст пошел в кино). That was simplicity itself (это была сама простота). You sat a few seats away from him (вы сели на отдалении нескольких сидений от него). When he got up to go (когда он поднялся, чтобы уйти), you did the same (вы сделали тоже). You pretended to stumble (вы притворились, что споткнулись), leaned over (перегнулись) and stabbed a dozing man in the row in front (и закололи спящего человека в ряду впереди), slid the A.B.C. on to his knees (незаметно бросили /железнодорожный справочник/ «Эй-би-си» ему на колени; to slide — скользить; незаметно сунуть) and managed to collide heavily with Mr. Cust in the darkened doorway (и /вам/ удалось тяжело столкнуться с Кастом в затемненном проходе), wiping the knife on his sleeve (вытерев нож об его рукав) and slipping it into his pocket (и сунув его ему в карман; to slip — скользить; незаметно сунуть)."
simplicity [sɪmˈplɪsɪtɪ], collide [kǝˈlaɪd], sleeve [sli:v]
"Your plan was very simple. You yourself would be on the scene in the nature of things. Mr. Cust would be ordered to Doncaster by his firm. Your plan was to follow him round and trust to opportunity. Everything fell out well. Mr. Cust went to a cinema. That was simplicity itself. You sat a few seats away from him. When he got up to go, you did the same. You pretended to stumble, leaned over and stabbed a dozing man in the row in front, slid the A.B.C. on to his knees and managed to collide heavily with Mr. Cust in the darkened doorway, wiping the knife on his sleeve and slipping it into his pocket."
"You were not in the least at pains to choose a victim (вы не прилагали ни малейших усилий, чтобы выбрать жертву; to be at pains — очень стараться, прилагать усилия; pains — муки; усилия) whose name began with D (чье имя начиналось с /буквы/ «ди»). Anyone would do (любой подошел бы)! You assumed (вы допустили) — and quite rightly (и совершенно правильно) — that it would be considered to be a mistake (что это посчитают за ошибку). There was sure to be someone (там наверняка был кто-то) whose name began with D not far off in the audience (недалеко среди публики, чье имя начиналось с /буквы/ «ди»). It would be assumed (допустят) that he had been intended to be the victim (что он предназначался в жертвы)."
