【熟词生义 】
1. [ spring ]
在文中作动词,表示“跳起,跳跃”,短语:spring to his feet的意思是“一跃而起”。sprang是spring的过去式。作名词就是大家熟悉的“春天,春季”。
原句:He glanced round and sprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure.
2. [ settled ]
settled在文中是“稳定的,固定的”意思。这里的settled不是settle的过去分词,而是作形容词。
原句:I think we may consider the thing as settled.
【今日讲义】
1.At the sound of our steps, he glanced round and sprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure.
听到我们的脚步声,他扫视了一圈,然后突然起身,伴随着欢乐的叫喊。「at the sound of……」是“一听到……(就)。而sprang是spring的过去式,spring to one’s feet指的是“匆匆站起”,在此处,结合上文(福尔摩斯弯腰做实验),可稍微变通,译为“突然直起身子”。「a cry of pleasure」让很多同学有困扰,觉得福尔摩斯怎么会哭呢?cry其实还有“叫喊”的意思哦~
2.“Let us have some fresh blood,” he said, sticking a long needle into his finger. “Now, I add this small quantity of blood to a litre of water. You can see that the resulting mixture looks like pure water. The proportion of blood cannot be more than one in a million. But look now!” As he spoke, he threw into the water a few white crystals, and then added some drops of a transparent liquid. In an instant the contents turned a reddish-brown color, and a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of the glass jar.
这一段中,Sherlock在激动地向Dr.Watson演示他的发现。其中有很多跟化学实验有关的词,有兴趣的同学可以学起来。比如mixture一般是指混合物,而compound一般指化合物;proportion指比例,类似的词还有percentage(百分比);crystal指晶体,而liquid指液体,气体一般用gas,固体是solid。precipitate指生成沉淀,名词为precipitation。
[drop]在这里是“滴;少量”的意思,但这其实是个不精确的计量,医学上的最小液量单位是minim(量滴),相当于0.06毫升。
[reddish,brownish]:-ish是一个常见的形容词词尾。有时指“像……的“,比如babyish, girlish;有时意思是“迷恋……的”,比如bookish;有时指“大约”,比如sevenish,fiftyish。
3. “Beautiful! Beautiful! The old guaiacum test was very clumsy and uncertain. So is the microscopic examination for blood cells. The latter is also useless if the stains are even a few hours old. Now, this appears to act as well whether the blood is old or new. If this test had been invented, there are hundreds of men now walking the earth who would long ago have paid the penalty of their crimes.”
「guaiacum test」: guaiacum,愈创木,是一种蒺藜科的开花植物,生长于美洲的热带和亚热带地区,长这样:
愈创木树脂中提取的酚类化合物经常用于人类粪便样本中的血液检测,其含有的过氧生物酶反应在1810年的时候被发现,因为血液中的亚铁血红素会在有这类酶参与的环境中生成有色物,从而达到检测血液的目的。这其实还是很伟大的发现啦,但在Sherlock眼里这个测试还是不够好。
5. A man is suspected of a crime months perhaps after it has been committed.
本句的句意是“一个人可能在案件发生几个月以后,才被认为是有嫌疑的。”
「commit a crime」是犯罪的意思。suspect是“怀疑”之意,被动suspected of a crime可理解为“于本案而言有嫌疑的。”
除此之外,perhaps的位置可能迷惑了大家,以至于觉得a crime months是一个短语。事实上,我们除开这个词,本句的断句应该是A man is suspected of a crime / months after it has been committed.就很好理解了。
6.That is a question which has puzzled many an expert, and why?
这句话很好理解,但是很多同学被这个many an expert给难住了,这是什么用法呢?咋没见过呢?
其实many an expert = many experts. many a/an+单数可数名词形式上为单数,强调每一个个体,但意义上为复数,就是“许多”的意思。如果用作主语,其谓语通常与形式一致而不与意义一致(即谓语用单数).
举个栗子:Many a young man has tried and failed.很多年轻人都试过,而且失败了.
另外, "many a+单数名词"是一个十分正式的结构,在口语或非正式文体中一般都用 "many+复数名词"。
7. “You might start a paper on those lines. Call it the‘Police News of the Past.’”
“你应该开办一份报纸,专写(犯罪故事)系列,就叫’往日警事’”。因为福尔摩斯就像一部“犯罪日历”,他对各种案件和细节了如指掌,所以Stamford建议他可以去start a paper on those lines(开办一家写系列犯罪故事的报纸),此处「on those lines」可以有“系列,一连串”的意思。
8.“I have to be careful,” he continued, turning to me with a smile, “for I experiment with poisons a good deal.” He held out his hand as he spoke, and I noticed that it was covered with similar bandages.
这里印证了Stamford的话,Sherlock经常拿自己做毒药实验的小白鼠,一激动就会拿针戳戳自己的手,真是比容嬷嬷还狠。
9.“I have another set of faults when I'm well, but those are the main ones at present”
set of是一套的意思,这是Watson说当自己是well的时候,自己有另外的一些缺点。因为前面一句话提到Watson讨厌噪音,神经衰弱,作息不规律,无精打采,这些是经历了战争所留下了的创伤。但是呢,如今的缺点还是those(代指前文提到的缺点),提醒福尔摩斯自己有两套缺点,正常状态是一套缺点,不正常又是另一套缺点。
很多战争老兵都遭受战争创伤,在精神疾病方面有一个概念概括了这种心理创伤:创伤后应激刺激(PTSD:post‐traumatic stress disorder)—— 是指个体经历、目睹或遭遇到一个或多个涉及自身或他人的实际死亡,或受到死亡的威胁,或严重的受伤,或躯体完整性受到威胁后,所导致的个体延迟出现和持续存在的精神障碍。
去年,李安导演的影片《比利·林恩的中场战事》中,男主角就是比较典型的有PTSD的军人。另外,“迷惘一代”的代表作家——海明威,他笔下很多的战争老兵都饱受PTSD的折磨。
10. “I think we may consider the thing as settled-that is, if the rooms are acceptable to you."
consider ...as.....把什么看成什么或者认为什么怎么样,这句话意思是,如果这个房子你觉得不错的话,我想这件事情(合租)就这么定下来了,【settled】稳定的;固定的
11.“I have to be careful,” he continued, turning to me with a smile, “for I experiment with poisons a good deal.”
a good deal 的意思就是大量的,在这里作状语,意思是他经常跟毒药打交道。
• 今日短语 •
1. At the sound of 一听到就……
2. Sprang(spring过去式) to one's feet 突然站起来
3. On earth 究竟
4. In an instant 刹那间
5. As delighted as a child 开心的像个孩子
6. So is the microscopic 是倒装句哦!(So is it. 为So+倒装句,表示“前面说的情况也适合于后面的人或物”)
7. Had better do 最好做某事
8. Have one's eyes on sth 看中……