よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 37: Where the Rope Hangs
You've finished this scene
Notes on this scene
After inspecting the floor and walls, Holmes picks up the bell-rope beside the bed and gives it a strong pull. He studies the point where it is fastened and peers closely at the small fitting above it. Helen and Watson watch without speaking as his examination of the room continues.
Japanese in this scene
- おわかりでしょう
- でしょう here checks that the listener can see the point Holmes is indicating: ‘You can see, I suppose.’
- 気づきませんでした
- 気づきませんでした means Helen had not noticed the feature until Holmes pointed it out. The past negative marks her previous lack of awareness.
- たとえば、同じ手間をかければ
- たとえば introduces Holmes's concrete example of the builder's apparent foolishness: the vent could have opened outdoors for the same effort.
- つながっていない
- つながっていない states that the bell-pull is not connected even to a wire, revealing that it cannot operate a bell at all.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"Why, it's a dummy," said he.
「おや、これは偽物だ」とホームズは言った。
"Won't it ring?"
「鳴らないのですか？」
"No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the little opening for the ventilator is."
「ああ、針金にさえつながっていない。これは実に面白い。ほら、通風口の小さな開口部のすぐ上にある鉤に結んであるのがおわかりでしょう」
"How very absurd! I never noticed that before."
「なんてばかげたことでしょう！今まで気づきませんでした」
"Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are one or two very singular points about this room. For example, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated with the outside air!"
「実に妙だ！」とホームズは紐を引っぱりながらつぶやいた。「この部屋には、ごく奇妙な点がいくつかある。たとえば、同じ手間をかければ外の空気に通じさせられるのに、通風口を隣の部屋に開けるとは、その建築屋はなんと愚かなのだろう！」