I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his crackling fire,

我坐在他那张扶手椅上，就着木柴劈啪作响的炉火暖暖自己的双手，

for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows were thick with the ice crystals.

因为严寒已经降临，窗户上的玻璃都结了晶莹的冰凌。

"I suppose," I remarked, "that, homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to it

"我猜想，"我说道，"尽管这顶帽子很不雅观，但它却和某桩性命攸关的事故有所牵连，

that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of some mystery and the punishment of some crime."

就是这条线索能引导你解开某个疑团，并且指导你去惩罚某种犯罪行为。"

"No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing.

"不，不，并非犯罪行为，"歇洛克·福尔摩斯笑着说。

"Only one of those whimsical little incidents

"这只不过是许多离奇的小事中的一件罢了。

which will happen when you have four million human beings all jostling each other within the space of a few square miles.

在一块仅有几平方英里的弹丸之地，拥挤不堪地住着四百万人口，这类小事是少不了的。

Amid the action and reaction of so dense a swarm of humanity,

在如此稠密的人群尔虞我诈的争逐中，

every possible combination of events may be expected to take place,

各种错综复杂的事件都是可能发生的；

and many a little problem will be presented which may be striking and bizarre without being criminal.

有些疑难问题看起来很惊人和稀奇古怪，但并非就是犯罪行为。

We have already had experience of such."

我们对于诸如此类的事件是早有经验的了。"