よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 52: Down to the Cellar
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Notes on this scene
Guided by Merryweather, the four men enter the building through a side door and descend through locked gates and stone stairs. They reach a broad cellar crowded with boxes. Holmes examines the surroundings and observes that the chamber appears secure against anyone trying to enter from above.
Japanese in this scene
- ていた
- The 〜ていた form is the past of 〜ている. It describes an action that was in progress or a state that continued at the time being discussed.
- そうだ
- そうだ can report something heard from another source, or after a word stem it can mean “looks as if.” The form immediately before it distinguishes the two uses.
- ながら
- Verb stem + ながら means doing two actions at the same time: “while doing….” The action after ながら is normally the main one.
- は
- は marks the topic of a sentence and can also set up a contrast with another item.
Background
- Vault and cellar
- A vault originally meant a room with an arched roof and often referred to a secure underground chamber. Cellars were common beneath London buildings and stored coal, wine, or valuables.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all round with crates and massive boxes.
私たちが着いたのは、その日に歩いたのと同じ、人通りの多い大通りだった。辻馬車を帰すと、私たちはメリーウェザー氏の案内で細い路地を進み、彼が開けてくれた通用口から中に入った。中には短い廊下があり、突き当たりはひどく頑丈な鉄の門になっていた。その門も開けられると、曲がりくねった石段が下へ続いていて、下りきった所にまたいかめしい門があった。メリーウェザー氏は立ち止まってランタンに火をともすと、土のにおいのする暗い通路を先に立って進み、三つ目の扉を開けて、私たちをだだっ広い穴蔵、つまり地下室へと導いたが、そこには周りじゅうに木箱やどっしりした箱が積み上げられていた。
"You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he held up the lantern and gazed about him.
「上からなら、さほど破られる心配はなさそうだ」とホームズはランタンを掲げ、あたりを見回しながら言った。