Common Misbeliefs About Sherlock Holmes

福尔摩斯的常见误解

Sherlock Holmes was a handsome man. 

歇洛克·福尔摩斯英俊潇洒。

It 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 hideous[1]: 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 by The Strand Magazine to 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.

“神探歇洛克英俊潇洒”是个误解。尽管在银幕上和舞台剧中，制片人总让好看的演员扮演这位侦探，但柯南·道尔本不想如此。根据作者的描述，福尔摩斯相当丑陋：他不但谢顶，还长了只大鼻子！多年以后，J. K. 罗琳把哈利·波特藏在了伤疤和眼镜之后，人们由此注意到他的特质和行为，从而形成对他的看法。道尔希望展示的，是福尔摩斯的精神、勇气和人道关怀。神探之所以变得英俊潇洒，要归功于一个名叫西德尼·佩吉特的优秀画家。他受《斯特兰杂志》委托，为福尔摩斯系列小说绘制插画。在阅读故事的过程中，西德尼喜欢上了这个古怪的主人公，所以将他画得格外英俊。但是，柯南·道尔认为，弗兰克·怀尔斯所画的福尔摩斯最符合他的原意。

[1]hideous十分丑陋的。

Holmes and Watson are old.

福尔摩斯和华生都是老头。

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 through[2] on the battlefield.

很多人想象这对搭档相识时都已人到中年。他们初次相遇之前，华生在阿富汗当军医，而福尔摩斯已经在破案方面颇有名气。事实上，他们俩都挺年轻，大部分冒险都发生在他们三十岁左右。福尔摩斯出生于1854年，与华生相识于1881年。他们如此年轻有为也很好解释——因为他们都是卓尔不群的青年。虽然华生有点儿被福尔摩斯的光芒掩盖了，但他的确是个聪慧机敏的好医生，一个久经沙场、训练有素的外科医生。

[2]pull through扛住，熬过。

Sherlock Holmes was homosexual.

歇洛克·福尔摩斯是个同性恋。

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 heterosexual[3]. 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.

现在有人认为，福尔摩斯和华生之间关系暧昧。但事实上，华生在道尔的小说里结过不止一次婚，所以他是个异性恋。福尔摩斯则将全身心投入在事业中——他是个工作狂。有些人不以性为人生目标。他们可以完全或部分舍弃性欲。霍金、牛顿等著名的科学家也是工作狂。

[3]heterosexual异性恋的。

Sherlock’s job is dangerous, it requires fast thinking, the ability of combining things and a perfect build-up[4]. 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 Dupin[5] and Hercule Poirot[6] had no companions.  

歇洛克的工作险象环生，不但需要快速思考，还要能将事物综合，完美推演。这个职业会彻底把人掏空，所以歇洛克工作之余根本没有时间、精力去参与其他活动或处理私人生活。与之相似，C. 奥古斯特·杜邦和大侦探波洛也都孑然一身。

[4]build-up对事件做演绎推理。

 

[5]爱伦·坡推理小说中的侦探，也被视为小说世界里的第一位侦探。

 

[6]英国作家阿加莎·克里斯蒂塑造的知名大侦探，是文学史上非常杰出且深受欢迎的侦探之一。

Roger Johnson (The Sherlock Holmes Society of London Press and Publicity Officer and Hon Editor. He is the editor of the Sherlock Holmes Journal.), observed that in Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories, “Watson is something of a ladies’ man[7], but a faithful husband to his wife. And Holmes is essentially asexual, with no erotic interest in women or men.”

罗杰·约翰逊是伦敦歇洛克·福尔摩斯协会出版宣传负责人和名誉编辑，也是《歇洛克·福尔摩斯期刊》的主编。他表示，在阿瑟·柯南·道尔的原著故事里，“华生挺有女人缘，但对妻子很忠诚。福尔摩斯则基本上是个性冷淡，对男人女人都不感兴趣”。

[7]ladies’ man富有女人缘的男性。

“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 bias[8]my judgment.” –  Sherlock Holmes quote from The Sign of Four. The detective needs true cold reason for his profession.  

“然而，爱情是一种情绪化的东西，与此同时，任何情绪化的东西都与真真正正的冷静理性格格不入，后者才是我最为推崇的东西。我永远也不会结婚，免得影响自己的判断力。”这是歇洛克·福尔摩斯在《四签名》中所说的。侦探职业要求他拥有“真真正正的冷静理性”。

[8]bias使产生偏见。

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 refrained[9] 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.

维多利亚时代的社会对于性有着特殊的看法。如今这是一个日常话题，但在那个时代，人们普遍认为频繁的性生活会缩短预期寿命，使人思维迟钝。福尔摩斯很可能是认为性欲对思考有害才禁欲的。他曾说过消化会夺走脑力劳动的能量，也许他对性抱持同样的看法。

[9]refrain忍住，节制。