Jane Austen ’died from arsenic poisoning’

http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2011/new/nov/22/today-int6.htm


《中英對照讀新聞》Jane Austen ’died from arsenic poisoning’ 珍奧斯汀死於砒霜中毒

◎陳維真

Almost 200 years after she died, Jane Austen’s early death at the age of just 41 has been attributed to many things, from cancer to Addison’s disease. Now sleuthing from a crime novelist has uncovered a new possibility： arsenic poisoning.

珍奧斯汀過世200年後，她41歲就英年早逝的原因，從癌症到愛迪生氏病眾說紛紜。現在犯罪小說家調查後發現新的可能：砒霜中毒。

Author Lindsay Ashford moved to Austen’s village of Chawton three years ago. She soon became engrossed in old volumes of Austen’s letters, and one morning spotted a sentence Austen wrote just a few months before she died："I am considerably better now and am recovering my looks a little, which have been bad enough, black and white and every wrong colour."

作家琳賽艾希佛德3年前搬到奧斯汀住的小鎮喬頓。奧斯汀大量的舊信件馬上就讓她沉迷其中，有一天早上，她發現奧斯汀在生前幾個月寫的一句話：「我現在好多了，外貌也稍微恢復。之前狀況很糟，又黑又白的，什麼不該出現的顏色都出現了。」

Having researched modern forensic techniques and poisons for her crime novels, Ashford immediately realised the symptoms could be ascribed to arsenic poisoning, which can cause "raindrop" pigmentation, where patches of skin go brown or black, and other areas go white.

艾希佛德為了自己的犯罪小說研究過現代法醫技術與毒藥，立刻發現奧斯汀的症狀可歸因於砒霜中毒，導致「雨滴」般的色素狀病變，讓皮膚有的呈現塊狀的褐色或黑色，有的則是白色。

Professor Janet Todd, editor for the Cambridge edition of Jane Austen, said that murder was implausible. "I doubt very much she would have been poisoned intentionally. I think it’s very unlikely. But the possibility she had arsenic for rheumatism, say, is quite likely."

劍橋版奧斯汀小說集的編輯珍娜陶德表示，珍奧斯汀的死因若是謀殺不太合理。「我非常懷疑她是遭人蓄意毒殺，我覺得這不太可能。不過她如果因為風濕而服用砒霜，可能性就很大。」

新聞辭典

engross：動詞，使人全神貫注、吸引。例句：He’s engrossed in his work.（他專心工作。）

ascribe to：歸因於…、認為…是。例句：He ascribed his success to hard work.（他把自己的成就歸功於自己的努力。）

implausible：形容詞，不合情理，難以置信。例句：Though her alibi seemed implausible, it in fact turned out to be true.（儘管她的不在場證明看似不合情理，但結果卻是真的。）