よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 24: A Visit to Her Father
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Notes on this scene
Alice says her father is too ill to receive Holmes and that the tragedy has greatly worsened his longstanding poor health. McCarthy was the only living person who knew Turner in his Australian days. Holmes asks about Victoria and the gold mines, where Turner made his fortune, and thanks Alice for the useful information.
Japanese in this scene
- 伺えば
- 伺う is a humble verb for visiting or asking. Here it means visiting, and its conditional form makes Holmes's proposed call polite: if he were to come tomorrow, could he meet her father?
- お許しにならない
- お + verb stem + になる respectfully describes another person's action. The negative means the doctor would not allow the visit. The respect is directed toward the doctor, not toward Holmes.
- 参ってしまいました
- 参る can mean to be overwhelmed or worn out as well as to come humbly. Here 〜てしまう stresses the distressing result: the event has completely overcome Alice's father.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father if I call to-morrow?"
「お話をありがとうございます」と彼は言った。「明日伺えば、お父様にお会いできるでしょうか」
"I am afraid the doctor won't allow it."
「お医者様がお許しにならないと思います」
"The doctor?"
「お医者様ですか」
"Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive who had known dad in the old days in Victoria."
「ええ、お聞きになっていませんか。かわいそうに、父は何年も丈夫ではありませんでしたが、このことで、すっかり参ってしまいました。寝込んでしまい、ウィロウズ先生は、ひどく衰弱して、神経の働きもすっかり損なわれているとおっしゃいます。父が昔ヴィクトリアにいた頃を知っていたのは、生きている人の中では、マッカーシーさんだけだったのです」
"Ha! In Victoria! That is important."
「ほう。ヴィクトリアでですか。それは重要です」
"Yes, at the mines."
「ええ、鉱山でです」
"Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner made his money."
「なるほど、金鉱ですね。ターナーさんはそこで財産を築かれたと伺っています」
"Yes, certainly."
「ええ、そのとおりです」
"Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to me."
「ありがとうございます、ターナーさん。たいへん役に立つお話をいただきました」