よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 6: It Is Simplicity Itself
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Notes on this scene
Holmes points to parallel cuts on Watson’s shoe, made by rough cleaning after a muddy outing. He then explains how a smell, a stain on Watson’s finger, and the shape of his hat reveal his medical work. The apparently mysterious observations turn out to rest on ordinary details Watson had overlooked.
Japanese in this scene
- 落とそうとして
- The volitional form, here 落とそう, followed by とする means to try or intend to do something. Its て form links that attempted action to the next event. Someone damaged the shoe while trying to remove dried mud.
- こすったせいで
- A plain clause followed by せいで gives the cause of an unwelcome result, often with a sense of blame. Holmes attributes the cuts to rough scraping. Compare おかげで, which commonly introduces a helpful cause or fortunate result.
- にしても
- Attached to a topic, にしても can mean “as for … too” or “even in the case of ….” Holmes uses it to turn from the wet outing to Watson’s medical practice. It signals another point to explain, not a new physical location.
- 言い当てられないようでは
- 言い当てる means to identify something correctly. Here られる is potential: 言い当てられない means being unable to get it right. ようでは introduces a condition that would justify a negative judgement: if Holmes could not recognize this, he would be a poor observer.
Background
- Slavey
- “London slavey” was slang for a servant who did all kinds of menial work. Derived from “slave,” it carried a somewhat disparaging tone. Holmes uses an exaggerated description of a particularly bad, shoe-slashing example for ironic effect.
- A visiting doctor’s belongings
- Iodoform was an antiseptic of the period with a distinctive strong smell, while silver nitrate left black stains on skin. Doctors also sometimes kept a stethoscope inside a top hat. Holmes uses these details as clues to Watson’s profession.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of the medical profession."
「簡単そのものさ」と彼は言った。「きみの左の靴の内側、ちょうど暖炉の明かりが当たっているところに、ほぼ平行な六本の切り傷が革についているのが見える。こびりついた泥を落とそうとして、誰かが靴底の縁をひどく雑にこすったせいでできた傷なのは明らかだ。そこで、いいかね、きみがひどい天気の中を出歩いたこと、そしてロンドンの下働きの中でもとりわけたちの悪い、靴を切り裂く手合いを雇っていること、という二つの推理になるわけだ。開業の件にしても、ヨードホルムのにおいをさせ、右の人差し指に硝酸銀の黒い染みをつけ、聴診器を隠した跡でシルクハットの右側がふくらんでいる紳士が部屋に入ってきたら、その人を現役の医者だと言い当てられないようでは、私もよほどの鈍物だよ」