故事梗概：

阿加莎·克里斯蒂寫的神秘謀殺案世界聞名。她一共寫過70多本書，銷售量達千萬冊。她的小說還被拍成了多部電視劇和電影。她筆下的偵探，赫爾克里·波洛和馬普爾小姐，也都大名鼎鼎——一個是身材矮胖，留著黑色鬍子的比利時人，_個是身材矮小卻非常可愛的老太太，她會看見、聽到並且記住一切。 這本書寫的就是阿加莎·克里斯蒂的生活。她是怎樣的一個人？我們對她的瞭解有多深？她富有，赫赫有名，有過兩次婚姻。而在她的生活中也有一個未解之謎……

故事原文：

1 ‘Why don’t you write a story？‘為什麼不寫個故事呢

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was

bored

．It was a winter morning in 1908，and she was in bed because she was ill．

阿加莎·瑪麗·克拉麗莎·米勒感覺甚是無聊。這是1908年冬天的一個上午，她生病躺在床上。

’I‘m feeling much better today，’ she said to her mother，Clara．‘I think I’ll get up．‘

“今天我感覺好多了，”她對母親克拉拉說，“我想起床。”

’You‘re still ill，’ said Clara．‘The doctor told you to stay in bed and keep warm．And that’s what you‘re going to do！’

“今天我感覺好多了，”她對母親克拉拉說，“我想起床。”

Agatha was eighteen years old at this time，but in those days daughters had to do what their mothers told them．

阿加莎那時候已經18歲了，可在當時女兒必須順從母親。

‘But I’m bored！‘

“可是我很無聊啊！”

’Well，do something，then，‘ said her mother．’Read a book．Or write a story．Yes，why don‘t you write a story？’

“嗯，那就找點事情做吧。”母親說，“讀讀書，或者寫寫故事。對了，為什麼不寫個故事呢？”

‘Write a story？’ said Agatha，surprised．

“寫故事？”阿加莎吃驚地說道。

‘Yes，’ her mother said．‘Like Madge．’

“對，”母親說，“就像瑪奇一樣。”

Madge was Agatha‘s sister．She was eleven years older than Agatha，and sometimes wrote short stories for

magazines

like Vanity Fair．

瑪奇是阿加莎的姐姐。她比阿加莎大11歲，偶爾給《名利場》這樣的雜誌寫些短篇故事。

’I don‘t think that I can write stories，’ said Agatha．

“我想我是寫不了故事的。”阿加莎說。

‘How do you know？’ said her mother．‘You’ve never tried．‘ And she went to find a pencil and paper．

“你怎麼知道呢？”母親說，“你從來沒試過。”她找來了紙筆。

Soon after，Agatha sat up in bed and began to write a story．It was called House of Beauty，a strange story about dreams．

不一會兒，阿加莎便在床上坐起來，開始寫故事了。故事取名《美麗之屋》，是一個關於夢的神奇故事。

It wasn’t a very good story．She typed it on Madge‘s old

typewriter

，and

sent

it

off

to a magazine．But they sent it back with a letter：Thank you for sending us your story．We are afraid we cannot publish it……

這個故事並不很吸引人。她在瑪奇那臺舊打字機上完成後，寄給了一家雜誌。可是稿子被退了回來，還附帶有一封信：感謝您能寄來您的故事，但恐怕我們不能將它出版……

’You must try again，‘ said her mother．Clara was always sure that her daughters could do anything．

“你一定要再努力一次。”母親說。克拉拉始終堅信她的女兒們無所不能。

So Agatha went on writing stories，and sending them out to magazines—but they all came back．She was a little

disappointed

．

於是阿加莎繼續寫著，並將這些故事寄給各個雜誌——但是它們全都被退了回來。她有一點點失望。

’I‘ll try writing a novel，’ she decided．

“我要試著寫一部小說。”她下定決心。

An idea came to her．She remembered seeing a beautiful young girl in a hotel in Cairo when she was visiting Egypt with Clara．The girl was always with two men，one on each side of her．One day，Agatha heard someone say，‘That girl will have to decide between them some time．’

她有了個構想。她記得和克拉拉在埃及旅行時曾在開羅一家旅館見到過一個年輕漂亮的女孩，身邊總是有兩個男人一左一右地陪著她。一天，阿加莎聽見有人說：“總有一天這個女孩要在他們兩個之間選擇一個。”

It was all that Agatha needed for an idea，and she began writing．It was not a

detective

novel．It was the story of a young girl who lived in Cairo，and it was called Snow Upon the Desert．It was really two long stories put together to make a book．When it was finished，Agatha sent it to three or four publishers，but they all sent it back．

這就是阿加莎所需要的全部靈感。她開始動手寫了起來。這不是一部偵探小說，而是關於住在開羅的一個年輕女孩的故事，故事的名字叫做《沙漠之雪》。它其實是由兩個很長的故事拼起來的一本書。寫完後，阿加莎把它寄給了三四家出版社，可稿子全部被退了回來。

‘Oh dear，’ said Agatha．‘What shall I do now？’

“啊，天哪！”阿加莎說，“我現在該怎麼辦呢？”

‘Why don’t you show it to Eden Phillpotts？‘ said Clara．

“為什麼不把它拿給伊登·菲爾波茨看看呢？”克拉拉說。

Eden Phillpotts was a writer who lived near the Millers．During his life，he wrote more than a hundred popular novels，and many plays for the theatre．Agatha was a little afraid of sending her novel to this famous man，but she agreed to do it and sent it off．

伊登·菲爾波茨是一個住在米勒家附近的作家。他一生中共寫過100多部很受歡迎的小說，還有多部劇本。阿加莎有點害怕把她的小說送到這麼一位名人手裡。但後來她還是同意了，把小說寄了出去。

Mr Phillpotts was a good writer，and also a kind man．He read Agatha’s novel carefully and wrote her a letter．

菲爾波茨先生是個優秀的作家，也是個很和善的人。他仔細讀了阿加莎的小說後給她去了一封信。

Some of your writing is very good，so I am sending you a letter to take to my

agent

，Hughes Massie……

有些地方你寫得還是很不錯的，你可以拿著我給你的信去找我的經紀人，休斯·馬西……

Agatha—still only eighteen years old—went to London on the train．It was a long journey—more than 200 miles from her home in Torquay in Devon，and the trains were not so fast in those days．

年僅18歲的阿加莎乘火車去了倫敦。路途很遙遠——離她在德文郡託基的家有200多英里，而且當時的火車車速還不是很快。

She was very shy，and Hughes Massie was a big，

frightening

man．Agatha gave him the letter from Eden Phillpotts．Massie read it，talked with Agatha for a while，then kept her book to read．

她非常害羞，而休斯·馬西則是個身材魁梧讓人心生恐懼的人。阿加莎把伊登·菲爾波茨的信拿給他。馬西看後和阿加莎談了一會兒，然後留下了她的書。

Agatha went home to wait．

於是阿加莎回家等訊息。

Some months later，Massie returned Snow Upon the Desert to her．I do not think that I can find a

publisher

for it，he wrote to her．The best thing is to stop thinking about it any more and to write another book．

幾個月後，馬西把《沙漠之雪》退還給了她。我找不到一家能夠出版這本書的出版社，他寫道，最好還是不要想它了，開始另寫一本吧。

Agatha was disappointed．She did write another book，but some other important things happened in her life first．

阿加莎失望至極。她後來的確又寫了一本書，但在此之前她的生活中發生了其他一些重要的事情。

核心語言點：

bore vt．make（sb．）feel tired and uninterested by being dull or tedious．（因單調或乏味）使（某人）感到厭煩。

magazine n．paper covered periodical，usu．weekly or monthly，with articles，stories，etc．by various writers．雜誌；期刊。

typewriter n．machine for producing characters similar to those of print by pressing keys which cause raised metal letters，etc．to strike the paper，usu．through inked ribbon．打字機。

send……off send sth．by post； dispatch．寄出或發出某物。

disappointed adj．sad or dissatisfied because sb．has failed，some desired event has not happened，etc．失望的；失意的；受挫的。

detective n．person，esp．a police officer，whose job is to investigate and solve crimes．偵探。

detective story story in which the main interest is a puzzling crime and the process of solving．偵探小說。

publisher n．person or firm that publishes books，newspapers，etc．出版者；出版商；出版社。

agent n．person who acts for，or manages the affairs of，other people in business，politics，etc．（商業、政治等方向的）代理人，經紀人。

frightening adj．causing fear．引起恐懼的；驚恐的；可怕的。