"I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shows,
他说，"我曾经得出了一个错误的结论，
my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data.
亲爱的华生，这说明依据不充分的材料进行推论总是多么的危险。
The presence of the gypsies, and the use of the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl,
那些吉卜赛人的存在，那可怜的小姐使用了'band'这个词，
no doubt to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of by the light of her match,
这无疑是表示她在火柴光下仓惶一气所见到的东西，
were sufficient to put me upon an entirely wrong scent.
这些情况足够引导我跟踪一个完全错误的线索。
I can only claim the merit that I instantly reconsidered my position when,
只有一点我觉得可以说是我的成绩，那就是我立即重新考虑我的想法，
however, it became clear to me that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not come either from the window or the door.
当我认清那威胁到室内居住的人的任何危险既不可能来自窗子，也不可能来自房门的时候。

My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this ventilator,
正像我已经对你说过的那样，我的注意力迅速地被那个通气孔，
and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed.
那个悬挂在床头的铃绳所吸引。
The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the floor,
当我发现那根绳子只不过是个幌子，那张床又是被螺钉固定在地板上的时候，
instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and coming to the bed.
这两件事立刻引起了我的怀疑，我怀疑那根绳子只不过是起个桥梁作用，是为了方便什么东西钻过洞孔到床上来。
The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me,
我立即就想到了蛇，
and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was furnished with a supply of creatures from India,
我知道医生豢养了一群从印度运来的动物，当我把这两件事联系起来时，
I felt that I was probably on the right track.
我感到很可能我的思路是对头的。