His very person and appearance were such as to strike the attention of the most casual observer. In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller.

他的相貌和外表极为引人注目，即便是最不经意的人看见了也难忘。他有六英尺多高，身体异常瘦削，因此显得格外颀长。

His eyes were sharp and piercing; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination.

他目光锐利；细长的鹰钩鼻子使他的相貌显得格外机警、果断；下颚方正而突出，说明他是个非常有毅力的人。

Nothing could exceed his energy when the working fit was upon him; but now and again a reaction would seize him, and for days on end he would lie upon the sofa in the sitting-room, hardly uttering a word or moving a muscle from morning to night.

在他高兴工作的时候，绝没有人能比得上他那份旺盛的精力；可是常常也会上来一股相反的劲头，整天地躺在起居室的沙发上，从早到晚，几乎一言不发，一动不动。

My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.

一遇无事可做的时候，我就会心绪不宁起来。给我难题，给我工作，给我最深奥的密码，给我最复杂的分析工作，这样我才觉得最舒适，才不需要人为的刺激。我非常憎恶平淡的生活，我追求精神上的兴奋。

It was one of his peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I have known him to presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition.

他在比较紧张的时候不让自己吃东西，这是他的一个古怪特性。我见过他滥用自己的体力，直到由于营养不足而晕倒。

The faculties become refined when you starve them. Why, surely, as a doctor, my dear Watson, you must admit that what your digestion gains in the way of blood supply is so much lost to the brain. I am a brain, Watson. The rest of me is a mere appendix. Therefore, it is the brain I must consider.

饥饿可以使人体机能变得敏锐。那，我亲爱的华生，做为一个医生，你必须承认，消化过程得到的供血量等于脑力所损失的供血量。我就是一个大脑，华生。除此以外我的身体只是一个附件。所以，我只考虑大脑的需要。

That he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well, because at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn's Lieder, and other favourites.

我深知他能拉出一些曲子，而且还是一些很难拉的曲子。因为在我的请求之下，他曾经为我拉过几支门德尔松的短歌和一些他所喜爱的曲子。

When left to himself, however, he would seldom produce any music or attempt any recognized air.

可是当他独自一人的时候，他就难得会拉出什么象样的乐曲或是大家所熟悉的调子了。

Leaning back in his arm-chair of an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was thrown across his knee. Sometimes the chords were sonorous and melancholy. Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful.

黄昏时，他靠在扶手椅上，闭上眼睛，信手弹弄着平放在膝上的提琴。有时琴声高亢而忧郁，有时又古怪而欢畅。

Clearly they reflected the thoughts which possessed him, but whether the music aided those thoughts, or whether the playing was simply the result of a whim or fancy was more than I could determine.

显然，这些琴声反映了当时支配着他的某种思潮，不过这些曲调是否助长了他的这种思潮，或者仅仅是一时兴之所至，我就无法断言了。

I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it.

我认为人的脑子本来象一间空空的小阁楼，应该有选择地把一些家具装进去。只有傻瓜才会把他碰到的各种各样的破烂杂碎一古脑儿装进去。这样一来，那些对他有用的知识反而被挤了出来；或者，最多不过是和许多其他的东西掺杂在一起。因此，在取用的时候也就感到困难了。

It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.

如果认为这间小阁楼的墙壁富有弹性，可以任意伸缩，那就错了。请相信我的话，总有一天，当你增加新知识的时候，你就会把以前所熟习的东西忘了。所以最要紧的是，不要让一些无用的知识把有用的挤出去。

From a drop of water, a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it.

一个逻辑学家不需亲眼见到或者听说过大西洋或尼加拉瀑布，但他能从一滴水推测出它们有可能存在，所以整个生活就是一条巨大的链条，只要见到其中的一环，整个链条的情况就可推想出来了。

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

当你排除一切不可能的，剩下的无论是什么——无论多么荒谬——那一定是真相。

I never guess. It is a shocking habit – destructive to the logical faculty.

我从不猜测，那是破坏思维能力的坏习惯。

I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule.

我向来不作任何例外。定律没有例外。

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.

在没有得到事实之前妄下猜测是个很可怕的错误。你会不自觉地扭曲事实去套自己的猜测，而不是根据事实来推导结论。

Sherlock Holmes was a man who seldom took exercise for exercise's sake... One day in early spring he had so far relaxed as to go for a walk with me in the Park, where the first faint shoots of green were breaking out upon the elms, and the sticky spear-heads of the chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their five-fold leaves. For two hours we rambled about together, in silence for the most part, as befits two men who know each other intimately. It was nearly five before we were back in Baker Street once more.

歇洛克·福尔摩斯是一个很少为锻炼身体而进行体育活动的人……早春的一天，他清闲起来，居然有时间陪我到公园去散步。此时榆树已生出嫩绿的枝芽，栗树梢头开始冒出五瓣形新叶。我们在一起不言不语地漫步了两个小时，这对两个互知肺腑的人是很适合的。我们回到贝克街，已近五点了。

Holmes had been back for some months, and I, at his request, had sold my practice and returned to share the old quarters in Baker Street. A young doctor, named Verner, had purchased my small Kensington practice, and given with astonishingly little demur the highest price that I ventured to ask—an incident which only explained itself some years later when I found that Verner was a distant relation of Holmes's, and that it was my friend who had really found the money.

福尔摩斯回国几个月了。我依着他的请求，出让了我的诊所，搬回贝克街我们合住过的旧寓所。有个姓弗纳的年轻医生买了我在肯辛顿开的小诊所，他半点也没犹豫就照我冒昧提出的最高价付了钱，使我感到奇怪。几年后，我发现弗纳是福尔摩斯的远亲，钱实际上是他筹措的，才明白过来。

"You're not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!"

“没伤着吧，华生？看在上帝的份上，告诉我你没受伤！”

It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.

当我知道在这张冷冰的面具后面是有着多么深的忠实和友爱时，我觉得受一次伤，甚至受多次伤也是值得的。他那明亮坚强的眼睛有点湿润了，那坚定的嘴唇在颤抖。这仅有的一次，让我窥见了他不仅有伟大的头脑，而且有伟大的心灵。我这么多年的微末而忠心的效劳，有这一点感受也就知足了。

Knowledge of Literature – nil.

文学知识——无

Knowledge of Philosophy – nil.

哲学知识——无

Knowledge of Astronomy – nil.

天文学知识——无

Knowledge of Politics – Feeble.

政治学知识——浅薄

Knowledge of Botany – Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.

植物学知识——片面，但对莨蓿制剂和鸦片却非常了解；对毒剂具有一般知识，但对实用园艺一无所知。

Knowledge of Geology – Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks, has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them.

地质学知识——限于实用。他一眼就能分辨出不同的土质。散完步，会把裤子上的泥点指给我看，能根据颜色和坚实程度告诉我这是在伦敦什么地方溅上的。

Knowledge of Chemistry – Profound.

化学知识——精深。

Knowledge of Anatomy – Accurate, but unsystematic.

解剖学知识——准确，但无系统。

Knowledge of Sensational Literature – Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.

惊险文学——十分广博，他似乎对近一世纪中发生的一切恐怖事件都深知底细。

Plays the violin well.

小提琴拉得很好。

Is an expert singlestick player, boxer and swordsman.

善用棍棒，精于刀剑拳术。

Has a good practical knowledge of British law.

具有丰富实用的英国法律知识。

My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know.

我的名字是歇洛克·福尔摩斯。知道别人不知道的事是我份内的事。

You see, but you do not observe.

你是在看，不是在观察。

What one man can invent, another can discover.

有人能发明，就有人能看懂。

I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers.

我不同意有些人把谦虚列为美德。对逻辑学家来说，一切事物应当是什么样就是什么样，对自己估价过低和夸大自己的才能一样都是违背事实的。

Mediocrity know nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.

一个平庸的人看不到比自己高明的东西，但是一个有才能的人却能立即认出天才。

The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.

感情作用会影响清醒的逻辑。

Elementary, my dear Watson.

太基础了，我亲爱的华生。

Watson. Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same.

华生。如方便，速来。如不方便，亦来。