Chapter 2, Episode 3 Kapitel 2, Folge 3 Capitolo 2, Episodio 3 Глава 2, Эпизод 3 Bölüm 2, Kısım 3

During the first week or so we had no callers, and I had begun to think that my companion was as friendless a man as I was myself. Durante la primera semana más o menos no tuvimos llamadas, y había comenzado a pensar que mi compañero era un hombre tan desamparado como yo.

Presently, however, I found that he had many acquaintances, and those in the most different classes of society. There was one little sallow rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow who was introduced to me as Mr. Lestrade, and who came three or four times in a single week. Был один маленький темноглазый человечек с болезненным крысиным лицом, которого представили мне как мистера Лестрейда, и который приходил три или четыре раза за одну неделю. One morning a young girl called, fashionably dressed, and stayed for half an hour or more. The same afternoon brought a grey-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew peddler, who appeared to me to be much excited, and who was closely followed by a slip-shod elderly woman. В тот же день пришел седовласый, потрепанный посетитель, похожий на еврея-торговца, который показался мне очень взволнованным, и за которым следовала пожилая женщина, небрежно обутая. On another occasion an old white-haired gentleman had an interview with my companion; and on another a railway porter in his velveteen uniform. В другой раз пожилой седовласый джентльмен беседовал с моим спутником; а на другом — железнодорожный носильщик в вельветовом мундире. When any of these nondescript individuals put in an appearance, Sherlock Holmes used to beg for the use of the sitting-room, and I would retire to my bed-room. Когда кто-нибудь из этих невзрачных личностей появлялся, Шерлок Холмс просил разрешения использовать гостиную, а я удалялся в свою спальню. He always apologized to me for putting me to this inconvenience. "I have to use this room as a place of business," he said, "and these people are my clients." Again I had an opportunity of asking him a point blank question, and again my delicacy prevented me from forcing another man to confide in me. Я снова имел возможность задать ему вопрос в упор, и снова моя деликатность помешала мне заставить другого человека довериться мне. I imagined at the time that he had some strong reason for not alluding to it, but he soon dispelled the idea by coming round to the subject of his own accord. Я вообразил тогда, что у него была какая-то веская причина не упоминать об этом, но вскоре он развеял эту мысль, перейдя к этой теме по собственному желанию.

It was upon the 4th of March, as I have good reason to remember, that I rose somewhat earlier than usual, and found that Sherlock Holmes had not yet finished his breakfast. The landlady had become so accustomed to my late habits that my place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared. With the unreasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt intimation that I was ready. Then I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. Тогда я взял со стола журнал и попытался скоротать с ним время, пока мой спутник молча жевал свой тост. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.

Its somewhat ambitious title was "The Book of Life," and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. Это показалось мне замечательной смесью проницательности и абсурда. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. Рассуждение было точным и интенсивным, но выводы показались мне надуманными и преувеличенными. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thoughts. Писатель утверждал, что по мгновенному выражению лица, подергиванию мускула или по взгляду можно понять сокровенные мысли человека. Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. Обман, по его словам, был невозможен для человека, обученного наблюдению и анализу.

His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. Его выводы были столь же непогрешимы, как и многие утверждения Евклида. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer. Его результаты покажутся непосвященным настолько поразительными, что, пока они не изучат процессы, с помощью которых он к ним пришел, они вполне могут считать его некромантом.

"From a drop of water," said the writer, "a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. «По капле воды, — сказал писатель, — логик мог бы сделать вывод о возможности существования Атлантики или Ниагары, не видя и не слыша ни того, ни другого. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it.

Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the enquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems.

Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Пусть он при встрече со смертным научится с первого взгляда различать историю этого человека и ремесло или профессию, к которой он принадлежит. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties of observation, and teaches one where to look and what to look for. Каким бы ребяческим ни казалось такое упражнение, оно обостряет способность к наблюдению и учит, где искать и что искать. By a man’s finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs -- by each of these things a man’s calling is plainly revealed. По ногтям человека, по рукаву пиджака, по его сапогу, по коленям брюк, по мозолям указательного и большого пальцев, по выражению лица, по манжетам рубашки — по всем этим вещам ясно видно призвание человека. раскрытый. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable. " Почти немыслимо, чтобы все вместе не смогли просветить компетентного исследователя. " 在任何情况下，所有联合起来的人都无法启发有能力的询问者，这几乎是不可想象的。 “ "What ineffable twaddle!" "Was für ein unsägliches Geschwätz!" "Какая невыразимая болтовня!" I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table, "I never read such rubbish in my life. " "What is it?" asked Sherlock Holmes.

"Why, this article," I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat down to my breakfast. "I see that you have read it since you have marked it. I don’t deny that it is smartly written. It irritates me though. Хотя меня это раздражает. It is evidently the theory of some arm-chair lounger who evolves all these neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. Очевидно, это теория какого-нибудь сидящего в кресле бездельника, который развивает все эти аккуратные маленькие парадоксы в уединении собственного кабинета. It is not practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third class carriage on the Underground, and asked to give the trades of all his fellow-travellers. Я хотел бы увидеть, как его усадили в вагоне третьего класса метрополитена и попросили торговать всеми его попутчиками. 我很想看到他在地铁的三等车厢里被拍下，并要求提供他所有同行的交易。 I would lay a thousand to one against him. " "You would lose your money," Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. "As for the article I wrote it myself. " "You! " "Yes, I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical are really extremely practical -- so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese. " "And how?" I asked involuntarily. — невольно спросил я.

"Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I’m a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can’t unravel the thousand and first. В проступках есть сильное семейное сходство, и если у вас на кончиках пальцев есть все детали тысячи, странно, если вы не можете разгадать тысячу первую.