He thought maybe an unhappy student had sent it to him as a joke or to scare him.
他想也许是哪个不开心的学生把这寄给他当作一个玩笑或者吓唬他。
He didn't take it seriously. In fact, he threw the letter away.
他没有把这当回事。事实上,他把信扔掉了。
He told me about it only later, when he received his third letter."
后来他收到了第三封信,才把这件事告诉了我。”
"What did the other two letters say?" I asked.
“另外两封信是怎么说的?”我问。
"The exact same thing," she said.
“完全一样,”她说。
"'You will die soon.' The dean is still not too worried, but I am.
“‘你很快就会死的。’院长不太担心,但我很担心。
That's why I'm here. I want your help."
这就是我来这儿的原因,我需要你的帮助。”
"My help? Why me?" asked Uncle Jeff. "Why not go to the police?"
“我的帮助?为什么是我?”杰夫叔叔问。“为什么不去报警呢?”
"The dean doesn't want to call the police.
“院长不想叫警察,
He doesn't want the university to have bad publicity," Professor Dunn said.
他不希望破坏学校的名声。”邓恩教授说。
"If the newspapers find out,
“如果报纸报道了,
students may get scared and their parents might not want them to continue studying at California University.
学生可能会感到害怕,他们的父母可能不希望自己的孩子继续在加利福尼亚大学学习。
He doesn't want that. To be honest, he still doesn't want to do anything about the letters,
校长不希望这样的事情发生。老实说,他仍然不想就这些信采取任何行动,
but I convinced him to let me come to you."
但我说服了他,让我到你这里来。”
"Again, why me?" Uncle Jeff asked. "Why not get a professional investigator,
“再问一下,为什么是我?”杰夫叔叔问道。“为什么不找个专业的调查员,
someone who has a lot of experience with these kinds of things?"
他们处理这类事情经验丰富,不是吗?”