"My name," said he, "is John Openshaw,
他说：“我名叫约翰·奥彭肖。
but my own affairs have, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful business.
据我的理解，我自己本身同这一可怕的事件没有多大关系。
It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the affair.
那是上一代遗留下来的问题，因此，为了使您对这事有一个大概的了解，我必须从这一事件的开端谈起。
You must know that my grandfather had two sons–my uncle Elias and my father Joseph.
您要晓得，我的祖父有两个儿子--我的伯父伊莱亚斯和我的父亲约瑟夫。
My father had a small factory at Coventry, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling.
我父亲在康文特里开设一座小工厂，在发明自行车期间，他扩展了这个工厂，
He was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire,
并享有奥彭肖防破车胎的专利权，
and his business met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire upon a handsome competence.
因而生意十分兴隆，这就使他后来能够将工厂出让，而依靠一笔巨款过着富裕的退休生活。

My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and became a planter in Florida,
我的伯父伊莱亚斯年轻时侨居美国，成了佛罗里达州的一个种植园主。
where he was reported to have done very well.
据说他经营得很不错。
At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel.
南北战争期间，他在杰克逊麾下作战，后来隶属胡德部下，升任上校。
When Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for three or four years.
南军统帅罗伯特·李投降后，他解甲归田，重返他的种植园，在那里又住了三、四年。
About 1869 or 1870 he came back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham.
大约在1869或1870年，他回到欧洲，在苏塞克斯郡霍尔舍姆附近购置了一小块地产。
He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes,
他在美国曾发过大财，他之所以离美返英，是因为他厌恶黑人，
and his dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to them.
也不喜欢共和党给予黑人选举权的政策。