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'If you look at the back, you'll see it's Something Hall in either Essex or Sussex. Half the name's missing, you see. I don't suppose you recognize the house, do you?'
“你看一下背面，上面写着是埃塞克斯或苏塞克斯的什么府。名字少了一半，我想你大概也不认识这座房子吧？”
'No, I don't, 'said Mr Binks. 'It's from Britnell, 'I suppose, isn't it?Is it for the museum?'
“不认识，”宾克斯先生说，“我想是布里耐尔寄来的吧？是不是要卖给博物馆？”
'Well, I would buy it if the price was two pounds, 'replied Mr Williams, 'but for some reason he wants twenty pounds for it. I can't think why. It's not a very good picture and there aren't even any figures in it to make it more interesting.'
“是呀，如果售价是两英镑，我会买的，”威廉斯先生说，“可不知什么原因他要20英镑。我真不知这是为什么。这张画画得并不好，而且画面上连个人影都没有，没有什么看头儿。”
'I agree it's not worth twenty pounds, 'said Binks, 'but I don't think it's too bad. The light seems rather good to me and I think there is a figure here, just at the edge, in the front.'
“我也觉得这画不值20英镑，”宾克斯说，“不过我并不觉得它有多糟糕。我认为画中明亮部分似乎还很不错，而且我看这儿有个人，就在前部边上。”
'Let me see, 'said Williams. 'Well, it's true the light is quite well done. Where's the figure?Oh, yes!Just the head, in the very front of the picture.'
“我看看，”威廉斯先生说，“哦，明亮部分确实处理得不错。人在哪儿？噢，看到了！只有头部，在画面的最前部。”
And indeed there was——right on the edge of the picture— just the head of a man or a woman, who was looking towards the house. Williams had not noticed it before.
确实如此——就在画面边缘——只有一个男人或女人的头部，在看这房子。威廉斯此前并没注意到这一点。
'Still, 'he said, 'though it's better than I thought at first, I can't spend twenty pounds of the museum's money on a picture of a house I don't even know.'
“不过，”他说，“虽然它比我刚开始认为的好一点儿，我还是不能把博物馆的20镑花在我居然都不知道的一所房子的画上。”
Mr Binks, who had some work to finish, soon left and Mr Williams spent the time before dinner trying to find the name of the house in his guidebooks.
由于手头还有事要做，宾克斯先生过了会儿就走了。吃饭前威廉斯先生试图在旅行指南中找到这幢房子的名字。
'If I knew the letter before the"—ngly", 'he said to himself, 'it would be easy enough. But there are many more names ending in"—ngly"than I thought.'
“如果我知道'——ngly'前面的字母，”他自言自语道，“就容易多了。不过以'——ngly'结尾的名字比我想像的多得多。”
