Адаптированный текст повести А. К. Дойла «Знак четырех» на английском языке с транскрипцией и видеопрезентацией. Учебное пособие - страница 2

01_038

Here, too, is a curious little work upon the influence of a trade upon the form of the hand, with lithotypes of the hands of slaters, sailors, corkcutters, compositors, weavers, and diamond-polishers.

01_039

That is a matter of great practical interest to the scientific detective, – especially in cases of unclaimed bodies, or in discovering the antecedents of criminals. But I weary you with my hobby.»

01_040

«Not at all,» I answered, earnestly. «It is of the greatest interest to me, especially since I have had the opportunity of observing your practical application of it. But you spoke just now of observation and deduction. Surely the one to some extent implies the other.»

01_041

«Why, hardly,» he answered, leaning back luxuriously in his arm-chair, and sending up thick blue wreaths from his pipe. «For example, observation shows me that you have been to the Wigmore Street Post-Office this morning, but deduction lets me know that when there you dispatched a telegram.»

01_042

«Right!» said I. «Right on both points! But I confess that I don’t see how you arrived at it. It was a sudden impulse upon my part, and I have mentioned it to no one.»

01_043

«It is simplicity itself,» he remarked, chuckling at my surprise, – «so absurdly simple that an explanation is superfluous; and yet it may serve to define the limits of observation and of deduction.

01_044

Observation tells me that you have a little reddish mould adhering to your instep. Just opposite the Seymour Street Office they have taken up the pavement and thrown up some earth which lies in such a way that it is difficult to avoid treading in it in entering.

01_045

The earth is of this peculiar reddish tint which is found, as far as I know, nowhere else in the neighborhood. So much is observation. The rest is deduction.»

01_046

«How, then, did you deduce the telegram?»

«Why, of course I knew that you had not written a letter, since I sat opposite to you all morning. I see also in your open desk there that you have a sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of post-cards.

01_047

What could you go into the post-office for, then, but to send a wire? Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.»

01_048

«In this case it certainly is so,» I replied, after a little thought. «The thing, however, is, as you say, of the simplest. Would you think me impertinent if I were to put your theories to a more severe test?»

01_049

«On the contrary,» he answered, «it would prevent me from taking a second dose of cocaine. I should be delighted to look into any problem which you might submit to me.»

01_050

«I have heard you say that it is difficult for a man to have any object in daily use without leaving the impress of his individuality upon it in such a way that a trained observer might read it. Now, I have here a watch which has recently come into my possession.

01_051

Would you have the kindness to let me have an opinion upon the character or habits of the late owner?»

01_052

I handed him over the watch with some slight feeling of amusement in my heart, for the test was, as I thought, an impossible one, and I intended it as a lesson against the somewhat dogmatic tone which he occasionally assumed.

01_053

He balanced the watch in his hand, gazed hard at the dial, opened the back, and examined the works, first with his naked eyes and then with a powerful convex lens. I could hardly keep from smiling at his crestfallen face when he finally snapped the case to and handed it back.