よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 12: Opening the Report
You've finished this scene
Notes on this scene
Watson points out that people have been hanged on weaker evidence; Holmes replies that innocent people have also been hanged. Asked for James's explanation, he admits it offers little encouragement, though a few details deserve thought. He finds the statement in a local Herefordshire paper and gives it to Watson to read carefully.
Japanese in this scene
- 無実なのに
- のに means ‘although’ or ‘despite.’ With a noun such as 無実, insert な before のに. Holmes uses the contrast to challenge the assumption that punishment proves guilt.
- 考えさせる点
- 考えさせる is the causative form of 考える: ‘makes someone think.’ It modifies 点, meaning details that prompt reflection, without yet saying what conclusions should follow.
- 読んでみるといい
- 〜てみる means to try an action, and 〜といい offers advice: ‘you should try reading it.’ Holmes encourages Watson to examine the account personally rather than accept a summary.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter evidence," I remarked.
私は首を振った。「ずっと弱い証拠で絞首刑になった人間も多いよ」と私は言った。
"So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged."
「そのとおりだ。そして、無実なのに絞首刑になった人間も多い」
"What is the young man's own account of the matter?"
「その青年自身は、この件をどう説明しているんだい」
"It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself."
「残念だが、味方する人々をあまり勇気づける話ではない。ただ、一つ二つ、考えさせる点がある。ここに載っているから、自分で読んでみるといい」
He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this way:
彼は新聞の束から地元ヘリフォードシャーの新聞を一部抜き出した。そして紙を折り返し、不運な青年が出来事について自分の言い分を述べた記事を指し示した。私は客車の隅にゆったり座り、その記事をたいへん注意深く読んだ。次のように書かれていた。