よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 14: A Vacancy in the League
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Notes on this scene
Spaulding tells Wilson that the Red-Headed League has another vacancy and claims that the trustees have more positions and money than they can use. Because Wilson is a homebody who seldom crosses his own doorstep, he is unfamiliar with the organization and eager to hear even a small piece of outside news.
Japanese in this scene
- てくれる
- Verb + てくれる says that someone performs an action for the speaker or the speaker’s group. It presents the act as a welcome favor.
- ている
- The 〜ている form can show an action in progress, a continuing condition, or the present result of a completed action. The surrounding context selects the meaning.
- わけ
- わけ can mean a reason, circumstances, or the logical conclusion of a situation. Expressions such as わけだ and わけがない depend on this sense of an explainable outcome.
- のに
- のに means “although; even though.” It places an actual result against what the preceding fact would normally make the listener expect.
Background
- Trustees
- Trustees hold and manage money under the conditions of a will or legal trust. Victorian wills sometimes created charitable funds with highly unusual restrictions.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.'
「『いやね』とあいつは言うんです。『赤毛組合にまた空きが出たんですよ。受かった人にはちょっとした財産になる話でしてね、聞いたところじゃ、空きの数のほうが人より多いもんだから、管財人たちはお金の使い道に困り果てているそうです。この髪の色さえ変わってくれりゃ、おいしい勤め口がすぐにでも手に入るってのに』
"'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.
「『へえ、それはいったい何なんだい？』と私は聞きました。なにしろホームズさん、私はひどい出不精でして、商売のほうから店に来てくれるので自分から出かける必要もなく、何週間も続けて玄関マットの外へ一歩も出ないことがよくあったんです。そんなわけで世間のことはあまり知らず、ちょっとした噂話でも聞けると、いつもうれしかったんですよ。