"They ought to put Walter Pidgeon in more pictures," said Polly. "I hardly ever see him any more.
“真应该让沃尔特·皮金多拍些电影，”波莉说，“我几乎再也看不到他了。”
One more chance, I decided. But just one more. There is a limit to what flesh and blood can bear. "The next fallacy is called Poisoning the Well."
再试一次，我下定决心，但仅此一次。我的身心忍耐程度毕竟有限。“下一个谬误叫作井里投毒。”
"How cute！" she gurgled.
“太有趣了！”她咯咯笑着。
"Two men are having a debate. The first one gets up and says, 'my opponent is a notorious liar. You can't believe a word that he is going to say.… Now, Polly, think. Think hard. What's wrong?"
“两个人在辩论。第一个人站起来说：‘我的对手是个声名狼藉的骗子，不要相信他所说的话。’……现在，波莉，你想想，仔细想想，这句话错在哪里？”
I watched her closely as she knit her creamy brow in concentration. Suddenly, a glimmer of intelligence—first I had seen—came into her eyes. "It's not fair," she said with indignation. "It's not a bit fair. What chance has the second man got if the first man calls him a liar before he even begins talking?"
她眉头紧锁，聚精会神。我盯着她看。突然，一丝智慧的闪光，这是我第一次见到的，在她的眼中闪现。“这不公平，”她愤慨地说，“一点都不公平。如果第一个人在第二个人开口之前就说他是骗子，那么第二个人还有什么机会呢？”
"Right！" I cried exultantly. "One hundred percent right. It's not fair. The first man has poisoned the well before anybody could drink from it. He has hamstrung his opponent before he could even start.…Polly, I'm proud of you."
“正确！”我高兴地叫了起来，“百分之百正确。不公平。没等他人喝到井水之前，第一个人就在井里投毒。他甚至不等他的对手开口就已经伤害他了。……波莉。我为你感到骄傲。”
"Pshaw" she murmured, blushing with pleasure.
她低声地“哦”了一声，高兴得脸色粉红。
"You see, my dear, these things aren't so hard. All you have to do is concentrate. Think-examine—evaluate. Come now, let's review everything we have learned."
“你看，亲爱的，这些并不难解，精力集中就行。思考、分析、判断。来吧，让我们从头再复习一遍。”
"Fire away," she said with an airy wave of her hand.
“开始吧。”她把手往上一挥。
Heartened by the knowledge that Polly was not altogether a cretin , I began a long, patient review of all I had told her. Over and over and over again I cited instances, pointed out flaws, kept hammering away without let-up. It was like digging a tunnel. At first everything was work, sweat, and darkness. I had no idea when I would reach the light, or even if I would. But I persisted. I pounded and clawed and scraped, and finally I was rewarded. I saw a chink of light. And then the chink got bigger and the sun came pouring in and all was bright.
看到波莉并不是很傻，我便把所讲过的一切，长时间、耐心地重复了一遍。我不断地举例子，并指出其中的错误所在，不停地讲下去。我好像在挖掘一条隧道，开始只有疲惫、汗水和黑喑，不知道什么时候能见到光明，甚至不知道能否见到光明。然而，我没放弃。我凿，我挖，我刮，我终于得到回报。我见到了一缕光明。后来，光明不断增强，终于，阳光普照，一切都豁然明了。