よみうち英語Read the classics by typingNotes Scene 48: About That Bed
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Notes on this scene
Holmes again asks Watson whether he noticed anything peculiar about the bed and directs his attention to one particular feature. Watson begins to see the outline of his friend's reasoning, though not the whole answer. Holmes suggests that they rest and smoke their pipes until it is time to act that night.
Japanese in this scene
- ぼんやり
- ぼんやり shows that Watson's understanding is still indistinct. He is beginning to grasp Holmes's implication but cannot yet see the full method.
- ぎりぎり
- ぎりぎり means just within the available limit. Holmes believes they have arrived barely in time to prevent a carefully planned murder.
- たっぷり
- たっぷり is ironic with 恐ろしい思い: Holmes says they will experience more than enough fear before the night is over.
- あんな
- あんな refers back to the bed fixed rigidly to the floor. Holmes asks whether Watson has ever seen one secured in that way.
Background
- Palmer and Pritchard
- Palmer and Pritchard were nineteenth-century British doctors executed for murder. Holmes cites them as examples of how medical knowledge can make a criminal especially dangerous.
Full text: original English and Japanese translation
"It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened like that before?"
「床に留め付けてあったのだ。あんなふうに固定されたベッドを、前に見たことがあるかね？」
"I cannot say that I have."
「ないと思うね」
"The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same relative position to the ventilator and to the rope—or so we may call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull."
「その女性はベッドを動かせなかった。ベッドは常に、通風口と紐、まあそう呼んでおくが、それに対して同じ位置になければならなかった。あれは明らかに呼び鈴の紐のつもりで作られたものではないからね」
"Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime."
「ホームズ」と私は叫んだ。「きみが何をほのめかしているのか、ぼんやり見えてきた気がする。何か巧妙で恐ろしい犯罪を防ぐのに、ぎりぎり間に合ったんだ」
"Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more cheerful."
「巧妙で恐ろしい、そのとおりだ。医者が道を踏み外したら、最も悪質な犯罪者になる。度胸があり、知識もあるのだから。パーマーとプリチャードは、医者仲間でも指折りの人物だった。この男はさらに深く打ち込んでくるが、ワトソン、我々はそれよりさらに深く打てると思う。だが夜が明けるまでに恐ろしい思いはたっぷり味わうだろう。後生だ、静かにパイプをくゆらせて、数時間だけでももっと楽しいことに気を向けようじゃないか」