One of these walks used to take them down a narrow sidestreet in a busy part of London. It was a clean, busy, friendlystreet with bright little shops and shiny doorknockers. Nearthe end of this street, however, stood a dark, mysterious,windowless building. The door had neither bell nor knockerand looked dusty and uncared for. Dirty children played fearlessly on the doorstep, and nobody ever opened the door todrive them away.
有一次，他们散步走到伦敦闹市区一条狭窄的背街上。这条街干净、热闹，人们也和善，一家家亮亮堂堂的小商店，门环锃明透亮。但是就在街道的尽头，有一幢阴暗、神秘、没有窗户的楼房，门上既没有铃也没门环，还到处是灰，显然已好久没人打扫了。脏兮兮的孩子们在门口疯玩疯闹，也没人开门轰他们走。
One day,as Mr Enfield and his friend passed the building,Mr Enfield pointed to it.
一天，他俩走过这幢房子，恩菲尔德指着问道：
'Have you ever noticed that place?'he asked. 'It remindsme of a very strange story. '
“你注意过那儿吗？它让我想起一个奇怪的故事。”
'Really?'said Mr Utterson. 'Tell me. '
“哦，是吗？”厄特森先生说，“给我讲讲。”
'Well,'began Enfield,'I was coming home about threeo'clock on a black winter morning,when suddenly I saw twopeople. The first was a short man who was walking along thestreet,and the second was a little girl who was running as fastas she could. Well,the two bumped into each other and thechild fell down. Then a terrible thing happened.
“好吧。”恩菲尔德先生开始讲了，“那是个冬天的早上，天黑漆漆的，大概3点钟吧，我正要回家，突然看见两个人。头一个是个矮个子，正沿着街边走，第二个是个小姑娘，跑得很急。两个人一下撞到了一起，小孩儿摔倒了。接着，可怕的事发生了。”