阿加莎·克里斯蒂的谜样人生

是一次腹部手术
it was a stomach operation,
而且…
and it…
目睹手术很让人难受
made you feel very ill to look at it.
我开始全身发抖
And I began to shake all over.
但人总能适应生命中的一切”
But everything, in life, one gets used to.”
在这段时间里
It was during this time that
阿加莎接触到比利时的难民
Agatha came into contact with Belgian refugees,
正是这段经历给她带来了灵感
and it was an encounter that sparked her imagination,
使她创造了著名角色 赫尔克里·波洛
leading to the creation of her character Hercule Poirot.
1916年阿加莎开始撰写第一部侦探小说
It was in 1916 that Poirot made his debut on the page,
正是此时 波洛首次在书中登场
when Agatha began writing her first detective story.
她把它取名为《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》
She called it The Mysterious Affair At Styles.
我与传记作者
I’ve come to Dartmoor
罗拉·汤普森一起来到达特穆尔
with Agatha’s biographer Laura Thompson,
探寻更多故事
to find out more.
阿加莎年轻的时候
So, Dartmoor, I mean, Agatha used to come an awful lot,
经常来达特穆尔
as a young woman, young girl.
这个地方非常重要
And also, this is hugely important,
她在这里写就了首部小说的大部分内容
because this is where she worked out an awful lot of her first book.
-真的吗 -《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》 没错
– Really? – The Mysterious Affair At Styles. Yes.
她妈妈把她送过来的 她说
Her mother sent her to stay here. She said,
“除非你离开 不然你写不完这本书”
“Unless you go away, you won’t finish the book.”
她会一次花上六个钟头在荒野中漫步
She just walked across these moors for like six hours at a time,
嘴里大声说着书里的对白
speaking the dialogue out loud.
-包括你念过的一些台词 -真的吗
– So, some of the words you would have said. – Really?
她也会说出来 真的
She would have been speaking. Yes.
当我记台词的时候
Do you know when I learn my lines,
我也得把它们都大声念出来
I always have to speak them out loud, as well.
-没错 -真有意思
– Well, there you go. – That’s interesting.
她能到这样的地方来真的很勇敢
It was rather brave of her to come out to an area like this,
这里的天气瞬息万变 不是吗
cos the climate can change in a second, can’t it?
是的 你能感觉到
It really can. You can feel
-黑云低沉 随时可能下雨 -没错
– the sort of sinister lowering waiting to happen. – Yes.
不过她很喜欢
But she liked that. She, she liked…
这种天气让她充满想象
That fed her imagination,
-德文郡的美景也是 阴暗的那面 -是的
– as well as the beauty of Devon. The sinister side. – Yes.
几经出版社退稿
After several rejections,
波洛系列《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》
《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》
The Mysterious Affair At Styles
最终在1920年得以出版
was eventually published in 1920,
随即好评如潮
to enthusiastic reviews.
书中的一些元素
In the book are many of the
也成为日后阿加莎小说著名的模式
traits for which Agatha would later become famous.
背景设定为乡村别♥墅♥
There’s a country-house setting,
封闭的嫌疑人范围
a closed circle of suspects,
以及投毒致死
and a death by poisoning,
在她的多数小说中
the method of murder she
谋杀的手段都是投毒
would employ in around half of her novels.
她死了
She’s dead.
我了解到 正是由于
I’ve read that it was while
战时在医院药房♥的工作
working in a hospital dispensary during the war
阿加莎对毒药产生了浓厚的兴趣
that Agatha developed her passion for poison.
阿莉·玛莎尔为了向阿加莎及其作品致敬
In Torquay, Ali Marshall has created a poison garden,
在托基建造了一座有毒植物园
dedicated to Agatha and her work.
跟我讲讲这些毒物
So, tell me all about these poisons.
托里庄园首席园艺师
-这个嘛… -一切看起来都如此无害
– Well… – I mean, everything looks harmless,
就像个可爱的花♥园♥ 但并非如此吧
it looks like it’s a lovely garden, but it’s not, is it?
确实是个可爱的花♥园♥
But it is a lovely garden,
其中很多植物也都是普通园艺植物
and a lot of these plants are common garden plants, really,
但很快你就会知道它们有多危险了
which just got to shows you how dangerous it all is.
我把最具毒性的植物种在这一区
But this section here, this is where I’ve put the majority of
这些植物潜在的毒性十分剧烈
my really really potentially very dangerous plants.
-这些吗 -对
– Here? – Yes.
但看起来都如此无害
But it all looks so innocent.
它们当中的许多确实无害
But then a lot of them are innocent.
比如 你知道氰化物怎么来的吗
For example, do you know where cyanide comes from?
-洗耳恭听 -一些果仁里有氰化物
– Show me. – Cyanide is found in the kernels
比如樱桃 苹果籽 桃子
of cherries, apple pips, peaches.
-能提取出氰化物 氢氰酸 -没错
– That’s where you get cyanide from hydrocyanic acid, – Right.
这也是阿加莎最爱的毒物
which of course was Agatha’s favourite poison.
-它们… -她真是学识博杂 是吧
– They… – But she had an amazing knowledge, didn’t she?
确实 而且当年药剂师助理的训练
She did, and… I mean that, you know, training as a pharmacy assistant
让她学习了很多背景知识
gave her so much more background knowledge.
她的第一部小说《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》
I think the first novel, The Mysterious Affair At Styles,
写于她任职药剂师助理的时期
which she wrote while she was working as a pharmacy assistant,
她最爱的评论来自《英国药理学期刊》
her favourite review was from the Journal Of Pharmacology.
-是吗 -他们赞许她的小说
– Oh what… Did they? – And they credited her with, you know,
因为其中有关的描写精准到位
being very accurate, because it was a very accurate description,
而这其中的背景知识
and the technical background of it,
比如盐类沉淀 还有其他知识
knowing that the salts sink and all the rest of it.
这方面知识得有所累积
You need a certain amount of knowledge
才能侃侃而谈 投诸笔端
to be able to talk about that and to write about that.
波洛系列《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》
她擅长利用自己的经历
This ability to draw on her own experience
打造故事 赋予其活力
to shape and inform her stories
也是阿加莎日后作品的另一特点
would become another enduring trait in Agatha’s work.
看到了吗
You see?
士的宁已经开始沉淀到杯底
Already the strychnine is beginning precipitate to fall to the bottom.
几小时内就会形成无色结晶
In a few hours, it’ll form colourless crystals…
结晶会留在液体底部吗
Which remain at the bottom of the liquid?
会留在液体底部
Which remain at the bottom of the liquid.
战争的结束开启了阿加莎的一段幸福时光
The end of the war ushered in a period of great happiness for Agatha.
阿尔奇回到家中 他们搬到了伦敦
Archie returned home, and they moved to London,
在那里 阿加莎生下了女儿罗莎琳德
where Agatha gave birth to her daughter Rosalind.
并签下了出版合约 那是她事业的开端
And signed the publishing deal that launched her career.
她还陪同丈夫
She also accompanied her husband
去海外领地度假十个月
on a ten-month tour of the dominions,
成为了夏威夷第一批
and in Hawaii became one of the first Europeans
学会站着冲浪的欧洲人
to learn to surf standing up.
1925年 他们离开伦敦搬到桑宁戴尔
Then, in 1925, they left London for Sunningdale,
阿加莎买♥♥了第一辆车 一辆莫里斯考利
where Agatha bought her first car, a Morris Cowley.
她后来写道
It was, she later wrote,
那种满足感好比觐见女王
an experience as fulfilling as meeting the Queen.
她人生中的这段冒险历程
This adventurous period in her life
以一个我熟知的故事告终
culminated in a story I know well.
在波洛系列小说的《罗杰疑案》中
In the Poirot novel The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd,
她决定以谋杀者的视角来讲述故事
her decision to cast the narrator of the story as the murderer
打破了罪案小说的陈规
broke all the rules of crime fiction,
巩固了她作为推理小说黄金时代的大家地位
cementing her at the heart of the golden age of the genre.
阿加莎在人生的这一时期
So it would seem that, at this point in Agatha Christie’s life,
似乎每件事都顺心遂意
everything was going absolutely wonderfully.
但从她的自传里
But in her autobiography,
我们得知 一切都将改变
we learn that everything was about to change.
“随之而来的一年是我不愿回忆的
“The next year of my life is one I hate recalling.
人生似乎就是如此
As so often in life,
一步错 步步错”
when one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong.”
我得知道她的生活究竟出了什么问题
I needed to know what had gone wrong in Agatha’s life,
于是我来到桑宁戴尔的高尔夫球场
so have come to the golf course at Sunningdale
与历史学家 阿加莎书迷贝蒂尼·休斯碰面
to meet historian and Agatha Christie fan Bettany Hughes.
我希望她能提供一些答案
I’m hoping she has some of the answers.
表面上看 一切进展顺利
On the face of it, things are going very well.
历史学家
她的书陆续出版 收入源源不断
Her books are published. She’s got money coming in.
还有了个可爱的小女儿罗莎琳德
She’s got this lovely young daughter, Rosalind.
阿尔奇也陪伴左右
She’s got Archie.
但就有一种感觉
But you just get the sense that,
平静的表面下 嫌隙渐生
beneath the surface, there are cracks beginning to develop.
我想阿尔奇可能在一战中备受创伤
I think Archie was probably very damaged by the Great War.
身体和精神的双重创伤
You know, physically and emotionally.
他的心开始游离不定
And then his eyes start to wander,
此时出现了这位婀娜多姿
and there’s this very attractive,