よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 50: Tonight's Stakes
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Notes on this scene
Holmes identifies the stakes as thirty thousand pounds and the capture of John Clay. Jones describes Clay as a young master criminal of royal descent who was educated at Eton and Oxford. Holmes has also crossed his path before. The four men divide between two cabs and set out.
Japanese in this scene
- ことができる
- Dictionary-form verb + ことができる means “can; be able to.” こと turns the action into a noun-like unit, and できる states that it is possible.
- 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.
- という
- という connects quoted words, a name, or an idea to the noun that follows. Depending on context, it can mean “called,” “that,” or “the idea that.”
- は
- は marks the topic of a sentence and can also set up a contrast with another item.
Background
- Thirty thousand pounds
- A skilled worker might earn around two pounds a week. Thirty thousand pounds therefore represented an immense fortune—roughly centuries of such wages.
- Eton and Oxford
- Eton is an elite boarding school, and Oxford is England’s oldest university. Attendance at both signaled the upbringing of a wealthy, well-connected gentleman.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the stake will be some £ 30,000; and for you, Jones, it will be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands."
「きっとお分かりになりますよ」とシャーロック・ホームズは言った。「今夜は、これまでで一番大きなものを賭けた勝負になり、しかもずっとはらはらする勝負になるとね。メリーウェザーさん、あなたにとっての賭け金はおよそ三万ポンド。そしてジョーンズ君、きみにとっては、きみがずっと捕まえたがっている男だ」
"John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him yet."
「ジョン・クレイですな。人殺しで、泥棒で、にせ金使いで、偽造犯という。まだ若い男ですがね、メリーウェザーさん、その道では第一人者で、ロンドンのどんな悪党よりも、あいつにこそ手錠をかけてやりたいんですよ。大したやつですよ、あの若造のジョン・クレイってのは。祖父は王族の公爵で、本人もイートン校とオックスフォードを出ているんです。頭のほうも手先に劣らず悪賢くて、行く先々でやつの形跡には出くわすのに、本人がどこにいるのかはさっぱりつかめません。ある週にスコットランドで押し込みを働いたかと思えば、次の週にはコーンウォールで孤児院を建てる金集めをしている、といった具合でしてな。私は何年もやつを追っていますが、まだ一度も顔を拝んだことがないんですよ」
"I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the second."
「今夜は、きみにその本人を引き合わせることができるといいがね。私もジョン・クレイ氏とは一、二度ちょっとした手合わせをしたことがあってね、あの男がその道の第一人者だというのは同感だ。だが、もう十時を回ったから、そろそろ出かけるとしよう。お二人には先の辻馬車に乗っていただこう、ワトソンと私は二台目で後から続く」