常 見 誤 解

譯/劉莉 鄧陽秀靈

常 見 誤 解

Common Misbeliefs About Sherlock Holmes

譯/劉莉 鄧陽秀靈

Sherlock Holmes was a handsome man.

I t is a misconception that the detective was handsome. Though for movies, films and theatre plays producers cast good-looking actors to play the sleuth, Conan Doyle did not want him to be a nice man. According to the author’s description Holmes is rather hideous1hideous十分丑陋的。: he is balding and has a big nose. Many years later J. K. Rowling hid Harry Potter under a scar and glasses, and this way people saw his features and deeds and formed their opinions accordingly. Doyle wanted to show the spirit, courage and humanity of Holmes. The detective became handsome because of a brilliant artist called Sidney Paget. He was commissioned byThe Strand Magazineto make illustrations to the Holmes novels. While reading the stories Sidney came to like the eccentric Sherlock and that is why the character was handsome for him. But Conan Doyle thought it was Frank Wiles who depicted Holmes the closest to his original idea.

歇洛克·福爾摩斯英俊瀟灑。

“神探歇洛克英俊瀟灑”是個(gè)誤解。盡管在銀幕上和舞臺劇中，制片人總讓好看的演員扮演這位偵探，但柯南·道爾本不想如此。根據(jù)作者的描述，福爾摩斯相當(dāng)丑陋：他不但謝頂，還長了只大鼻子！多年以后，J. K.羅琳把哈利·波特藏在了傷疤和眼鏡之后，人們由此注意到他的特質(zhì)和行為，從而形成對他的看法。道爾希望展示的，是福爾摩斯的精神、勇氣和人道關(guān)懷。神探之所以變得英俊瀟灑，要?dú)w功于一個(gè)名叫西德尼·佩吉特的優(yōu)秀畫家。他受《斯特蘭雜志》委托，為福爾摩斯系列小說繪制插畫。在閱讀故事的過程中，西德尼喜歡上了這個(gè)古怪的主人公，所以將他畫得格外英俊。但是，柯南·道爾認(rèn)為，弗蘭克·懷爾斯所畫的福爾摩斯最符合他的原意。

Holmes and Watson are old.

[2] Many people imagine the duo is middle-aged at the beginning of their friendship. Before their first encounter Watson served as an army doctor in Afghanistan and Holmes already had a reputation in solving crimes. In fact they both are young, around thirty years during most of their adventures. The two are almost coveal—Holmes was born in 1854 and he met Watson in 1881. It is easy to explain how could they achieve so many things at such a young age: they both were extraordinary young men. Though Watson is lightly overshadowed by Holmes, the good doctor was an intelligent man and a well-trained surgeon, who pulled through2on the battle fi eld.

福爾摩斯和華生都是老頭。

[2]很多人想象這對搭檔相識時(shí)都已人到中年。他們初次相遇之前，華生在阿富汗當(dāng)軍醫(yī)，而福爾摩斯已經(jīng)在破案方面頗有名氣。事實(shí)上，他們倆都挺年輕，大部分冒險(xiǎn)都發(fā)生在他們?nèi)畾q左右。福爾摩斯出生于1854年，與華生相識于1881年。他們?nèi)绱四贻p有為也很好解釋——因?yàn)樗麄兌际亲繝柌蝗旱那嗄辍ｋm然華生有點(diǎn)兒被福爾摩斯的光芒掩蓋了，但他的確是個(gè)聰慧機(jī)敏的好醫(yī)生，一個(gè)久經(jīng)沙場、訓(xùn)練有素的外科醫(yī)生。

歇洛克一直信任華生。

[3]約翰·華生醫(yī)生是歇洛克·福爾摩斯最好的（也是唯一的）朋友，作為他的傳記作者和伙伴支持著他。兩人終生都非常親密。福爾摩斯甚至宣稱：“少了我的博斯韋爾，我就該找不著方向啦。”——他指的是英國作家塞繆爾·約翰遜的傳記作者及密友詹姆斯·博斯韋爾。盡管華生醫(yī)生能讓他恢復(fù)健康，醫(yī)術(shù)也得到了很高評價(jià)，但福爾摩斯并不完全信任華生。在《巴斯克維爾的獵犬》中，福爾摩斯派華生去達(dá)特莫爾荒原調(diào)查這個(gè)案子，但他自己也趕到了犯罪現(xiàn)場，因?yàn)樗⒉幌嘈湃A生的觀察能力。更糟糕的是，他沒有告訴華生自己也到了。在《垂死的偵探》中，福爾摩斯讓華生相信他已病入膏肓，因?yàn)樗J(rèn)為華生無法保守秘密。在萊辛巴赫墜崖多年后，福爾摩斯才重新出現(xiàn)，而此前他一直讓華生以為他死了。

Sherlock always trusts Watson.

[3] Dr. John Watson is the best (and only) friend of Sherlock Holmes, he stands by the sleuth as his biographer and companion. They are very close to each other till the end of their lives. Holmes even declares: “I am lost without my Boswell”3—it is a reference to the biographer of Samuel Johnson. Though the doctor could set him on his legs4again and had a high opinion of his medical skills, he did not really trust Watson. In The Hound of

2 pull through扛住，熬過。 3出自福爾摩斯探案故事《波希米亞丑聞》。 4源自set one on one’s feet again幫助某人重新振作，恢復(fù)活力。the Baskervilles he sends his friend to Dartmoor to follow the events, while he travels to the crime scene too, as he could not trust his companion’s observations. To worsen the situation, he keeps dark his arrival. In The Dying Detective he makes the doctor believe he is deadly ill, because he does not think Watson can keep a secret. He reappears years after Reichenbach, but lets his friend think he is dead.

[4] Holmes respects the medical skills of Watson, but he does not think he can follow his thinking.

[4]福爾摩斯欣賞華生的醫(yī)術(shù)，但認(rèn)為華生跟不上他的思維。

Moriarty is the only enemy of Holmes.

[5] Even though lots of adaptations suggest it, Professor Moriarty is not the only enemy of Holmes. The character appears in one single story (The Final Problem), and in The Valley of Fear it is mentioned that he consultates other criminals if they pay for him. There is no evidence that he and Holmes met more than twice (at Baker Street and at the Reichenbach Falls). Actually Doyle got tired of his detective and wanted to focus on other themes—so he created the Professor and killed him and Sherlock in Switzerland. But there was such a vast public outcry that he had to bring the latter back.

莫里亞蒂是福爾摩斯唯一的敵人。

[5]雖然許多改編作品都暗示這一點(diǎn)，但莫里亞蒂教授并非福爾摩斯唯一的敵人。這個(gè)角色是在一個(gè)單獨(dú)的故事（《最后一案》）中出現(xiàn)的，《恐怖谷》中提到他會為其他罪犯提供有償建議。沒有證據(jù)表明他和福爾摩斯的見面超過兩次（一次在貝克街，一次在萊辛巴赫瀑布）。事實(shí)上，道爾厭倦了自己塑造的偵探形象，想要專注于其他主題，所以創(chuàng)造了教授這個(gè)角色，并讓他和福爾摩斯在瑞士喪命。不過此舉激起了公眾廣泛的抗議，令他不得不將后者復(fù)活。

[6] The detective had many otheropponents both before and after meeting Moriarty.

Sherlock had romantic feelings towards Irene Adler.

[7] The sleuth did not hate women. Because of his work he regarded them as causes of crimes, or sometimes as criminals.

[8] There was a woman, who played a special part in his life: the beautiful and clever Irene Adler5福爾摩斯與阿德勒的遭遇見《波希米亞丑聞》。. Holmes had never been in love with her—he immensely respected her for outwitting him. Before he met Miss Adler, he often passed sarcastic remarks on the fair sex, but after that he had a more fortunate opinion on6have a more fortunate opinion on不認(rèn)為……那么不吉利。them.

[6]在遇到莫里亞蒂之前和之后，神探都有很多對手。

歇洛克對艾琳·阿德勒動了情。

[7]神探并不討厭女性。由于工作的緣故，他才將她們視作罪惡之因，有時(shí)還把她們當(dāng)作罪犯。

[8]有一個(gè)女人卻在他生命中扮演了特殊的角色：她就是美麗聰慧的艾琳·阿德勒。福爾摩斯從未愛過她——他只是折服于她的智慧而對她滿懷敬意。在遇到阿德勒小姐之前，福爾摩斯總是尖酸刻薄地諷刺女性，而在這之后，他不再將女性視作不祥之人。

福爾摩斯一直在吸毒。

[9]這位推理大師只有在做藥物試驗(yàn)，或者沒有接到新案、百無聊賴的時(shí)候，才會吸毒。科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，毒品能給工作狂帶來那種沉浸在任務(wù)當(dāng)中的感覺。也就是說，歇洛克之所以染指這些危險(xiǎn)品，是為了輔助調(diào)查或擺脫無聊。所以，并不能把他當(dāng)成癮君子。只要手頭有事，他可以很長一段時(shí)間不碰可卡因。對福爾摩斯這個(gè)特質(zhì)的刻畫說明了道爾對工作狂的觀察是多么精準(zhǔn)。

Holmes used drugs all the time.

[9] The master of deduction turned to drugs only when he experimented with them, or when he had no new case and was bored. Scientists revealed that drugs have the same effects on workaholics like immersion into tasks. That is to say that Sherlock used the dangerous materials for the sake of the investigation or to repress boredom. So he cannot be considered a drug user or addict. When he had something to work on, this could break him away from cocaine for longer periods of time. Thischaracteristic of Holmes shows how accurate observations Doyle had about being workaholic.

[10] We have to note that though the harmful effects of drugs were already known in Doyle’s time (Watson warns his friend several times), the science of medicine only experienced their real dangers in modern days.

[10]必須指出的是，雖然毒品的危害在道爾那個(gè)時(shí)代就已為人所知（華生多次警告過福爾摩斯），但其真正的藥理危險(xiǎn)卻在當(dāng)代才得以揭示。

Sherlock Holmes was homosexual.

[11] It is a current opinion that Holmes and Watson had a romantic relationship. Actually Watson was married not only once in Doyle’s novels, so he was heterosexual7heterosexual異性戀的。. Holmes lived entirely for his profession—he was workaholic. There are people who do not consider sex their purpose. They can fully or partially do without sex urge. Famous scientists like Stephen Hawking or Sir Isaac Newton were workaholics too.歇洛克·福爾摩斯是個(gè)同性戀。

[11]現(xiàn)在有人認(rèn)為，福爾摩斯和華生之間關(guān)系曖昧。但事實(shí)上，華生在道爾的小說里結(jié)過不止一次婚，所以他是個(gè)異性戀。福爾摩斯則將全身心投入在事業(yè)中——他是個(gè)工作狂。有些人不以性為人生目標(biāo)。他們可以完全或部分舍棄性欲。霍金、牛頓等著名的科學(xué)家也是工作狂。

[12] Sherlock’s job is dangerous, it requires fast thinking, the ability of combining things and a perfect buildup8build-up對事件做演繹推理。. It is an extremely exhaustive profession, and after it he has no time or/and energy to other activities or private life. Similar to him C. Auguste Dupin9愛倫·坡推理小說中的偵探，也被視為小說世界里的第一位偵探。and Hercule Poirot10英國作家阿加莎·克里斯蒂塑造的知名大偵探，是文學(xué)史上非常杰出且深受歡迎的偵探之一。had no companions.

[12]歇洛克的工作險(xiǎn)象環(huán)生，不但需要快速思考，還要能將事物綜合，完美推演。這個(gè)職業(yè)會徹底把人掏空，所以歇洛克工作之余根本沒有時(shí)間、精力去參與其他活動或處理私人生活。與之相似，C.奧古斯特·杜邦和大偵探波洛也都孑然一身。

[13] Roger Johnson (The Sherlock Holmes Society of London Press and Publicity Officer and Hon Editor. He is the editor of theSherlock Holmes Journal.), observed that in Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories, “Watson is something of a ladies’ man11ladies’ man富有女人緣的男性。, but a faithful husband to his wife. And Holmes is essentially asexual, with no erotic interest in women or men.”

[14] “But love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias12bias使產(chǎn)生偏見。my judgment.”—Sherlock Holmes quote fromThe Sign of Four. The detective needs true cold reason for his profession.

[13]羅杰·約翰遜是倫敦歇洛克·福爾摩斯協(xié)會出版宣傳負(fù)責(zé)人和名譽(yù)編輯，也是《歇洛克·福爾摩斯期刊》的主編。他表示，在阿瑟·柯南·道爾的原著故事里，“華生挺有女人緣，但對妻子很忠誠。福爾摩斯則基本上是個(gè)性冷淡，對男人女人都不感興趣”。

[14]“然而，愛情是一種情緒化的東西，與此同時(shí)，任何情緒化的東西都與真真正正的冷靜理性格格不入，后者才是我最為推崇的東西。我永遠(yuǎn)也不會結(jié)婚，免得影響自己的判斷力。”這是歇洛克·福爾摩斯在《四簽名》中所說的。偵探職業(yè)要求他擁有“真真正正的冷靜理性”。

[15] The society of the Victorian era had a different attitude towards sexuality. Nowadays it is an everyday topic. At that time there had been a belief that living a sexually active life shortens life expectancy and dulls thinking. It is possible that Holmes refrained13refrain忍住，節(jié)制。from sexuality because of this reason—he thought it is harmful for thinking. He remarked digestion draws away energy from brainwork, and maybe his opinion was the same about sex.

[15]維多利亞時(shí)代的社會對于性有著特殊的看法。如今這是一個(gè)日常話題，但在那個(gè)時(shí)代，人們普遍認(rèn)為頻繁的性生活會縮短預(yù)期壽命，使人思維遲鈍。福爾摩斯很可能是認(rèn)為性欲對思考有害才禁欲的。他曾說過消化會奪走腦力勞動的能量，也許他對性抱持同樣的看法。

（譯者單位：復(fù)旦大學(xué)奇境譯坊）