よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 13: The Worth of a Stone
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Notes on this scene
Holmes identifies the stone as the Countess of Morcar's stolen blue carbuncle, whose reward astonishes Peterson. 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
- タイムズ紙でこれについての広告を読んでいるのだから
- In タイムズ紙でこれについての広告を読んでいるのだから, について marks the preceding noun as the topic being discussed.
- その値打ちは推し量るしかないが
- In その値打ちは推し量るしかないが, しか works with the negative predicate to limit the statement to the preceding item.
- ないだろう
- Here ないだろう combines a negative form with conjectural だろう, giving the sense ‘probably is not’ or ‘surely cannot be.’
- ダイヤモンドですかね
- In ダイヤモンドですかね, です is the polite copula closing this statement.
Background
- pound
- The pound was Britain's principal currency; one pound equalled twenty shillings. A reward of one thousand pounds was an immense fortune for a working man such as Peterson.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though it were putty."
「ダイヤモンドですかね、旦那？宝石でさあ。ガラスにまるでパテみたいに切り込むんですから」
"It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone."
「ただの宝石どころではないよ。まさに、あの宝石なのだ」
"Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated.
「まさか、モーカー伯爵夫人の青いガーネットじゃないだろうね！」と私は叫んだ。
"Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be conjectured, but the reward offered of £ 1000 is certainly not within a twentieth part of the market price."
「まさにそのとおり。近ごろは毎日、タイムズ紙でこれについての広告を読んでいるのだから、大きさも形も分かって当然だ。まったく比べるもののない品で、その値打ちは推し量るしかないが、懸賞金の 1000 ポンドは、市場での値段の二十分の一にもとうてい届かない」
"A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.
「1000 ポンドですって！ああ、神様！」守衛は椅子にどさりと座り込み、私たち二人の顔をかわるがわる見つめた。