よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 20: Irene Adler
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Notes on this scene
The King names Irene Adler as the woman involved. Holmes consults his organized index, which records her American birth, singing career, retirement, and present residence in London. He then infers that the King became intimately involved with her, sent compromising letters, and now wants those letters returned to him.
Japanese in this scene
- 引いてみて
- 引く can mean looking something up in a reference work. てみる adds the sense of trying the action.
- 閉じたまま
- Past form + まま describes a state continuing unchanged. Holmes’s eyes remain closed while he speaks.
- 何通か
- 何 + counter + か means an unspecified number. 通 counts letters and similar written communications.
Background
- Holmes’s index
- Holmes collected newspaper articles and other material about people and cases, arranging them in an index. Organizing reference material rather than relying on memory alone is one feature of his modern approach to detection.
- Warsaw
- Now Poland’s capital, Warsaw was then under Russian imperial rule. Royalty and performers moving between European cities give the case an international scope.
- La Scala
- La Scala in Milan, Italy, is a celebrated opera house. Adler’s performances there and her position as prima donna, the leading female singer, at Warsaw’s Imperial Opera show that she was a first-rate singer.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you."
「手短に言えば、事実はこうだ。五年ほど前、ワルシャワに長く滞在していたとき、私はあの名高い妖婦、アイリーン・アドラーと知り合った。その名は、きっと君も聞いたことがあるだろう」
"Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea fishes.
「先生、すまないが私の索引で彼女を引いてみてくれたまえ」とホームズは目を閉じたままつぶやいた。彼は長年、人や物事に関する記事をすべて分類して綴じておく方式をとっていたので、彼がすぐに情報を出せないような話題や人物を挙げるのは難しかった。このときも、彼女の経歴は、ユダヤ教のラビの経歴と、深海魚についての論文を書いた海軍中佐の経歴とのあいだにはさまっていた。
"Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year 1858. Contralto—hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw—yes! Retired from operatic stage—ha! Living in London—quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and is now desirous of getting those letters back."
「どれどれ」とホームズは言った。「ふむ。1858年、ニュージャージー生まれ。コントラルト歌手、ふむ。スカラ座、ふむ。ワルシャワ帝室歌劇場のプリマドンナ、なるほど。オペラの舞台からは引退、ほう。現在はロンドン在住、そうか。陛下は、私の理解するところでは、この若い女性と深い仲になり、身を危うくしかねない手紙を何通か書き送って、いまその手紙を取り戻したいとお望みなのですね」