よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 12: Peterson Bursts In
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Notes on this scene
Peterson bursts into Baker Street carrying a brilliant blue stone that his wife found inside the goose. The scene establishes this development clearly and closes before the next step begins, preserving the original passage's order and the limits of what the characters know at this point.
Japanese in this scene
- それは豆粒より少し小さいほどなのに
- In それは豆粒より少し小さいほどなのに, のに contrasts what follows with the result normally expected from the preceding clause.
- それは豆粒より少し小さいほどなのに
- In それは豆粒より少し小さいほどなのに, ほど sets the degree or extent expressed by the surrounding description.
- と彼はあえぎながら言った
- In と彼はあえぎながら言った, ながら links the action before it with the action or state that follows.
- 分かっているのだろうね
- In 分かっているのだろうね, だろう marks the clause as the speaker's conjecture or expectation rather than a fact.
Background
- treasure trove
- Treasure trove was originally a legal term for ownerless gold or silver found hidden. Holmes uses it jokingly for the extraordinary treasure that has unexpectedly appeared.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with astonishment.
シャーロック・ホームズが答えようと口を開いたそのとき、ドアが勢いよく開き、守衛のピーターソンが、頬を紅潮させ、驚きのあまりぼうぜんとした顔で部屋に駆け込んできた。
"The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped.
「ガチョウが、ホームズさん！ガチョウがですよ、旦那！」と彼はあえぎながら言った。
"Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.
「え？それがどうしたのかね？生き返って、台所の窓から羽ばたいて逃げていったのかね？」ホームズは男の興奮した顔をよく見ようと、ソファの上で体をひねった。
"See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric point in the dark hollow of his hand.
「これを見てください、旦那！女房がこいつの餌袋の中から見つけたものを、見てくださいよ！」彼は手を差し出し、手のひらの真ん中にのせた、まばゆくきらめく青い石を見せた。それは豆粒より少し小さいほどなのに、実に澄みきった輝きで、くぼめた手の暗がりの中で電気の光の点のようにまたたいていた。
Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have got?"
シャーロック・ホームズは口笛を鳴らして身を起こした。「これは驚いた、ピーターソン！」と彼は言った。「まさに掘り出し物の宝だ。自分が何を手に入れたのか、分かっているのだろうね？」