精彩对白

Police: I'm terribly sorry to inconvenience you, sir but I'm gonna have to put this on you.

Thomas Rotheram: Mr. Holmes, apologies for summoning you like this. I'm sure it's quite a mystery as to where you are and who I am.

Holmes: As to where I am...I was, admittedly, lost for a moment between Charing¹ Cross and Holborn. But I was saved by the bread shop on Saffron Hill...the only baker² to use a certain French glaze³ on their loaves ... a Brittany sage⁴. The carriage forked left, then right, a telltale bump over the Fleet Conduit. And as to who you are, that took every ounce of my not inconsiderable experience. The letters on your desk are addressed to Sir Thomas Rotheram. Lord Chief Justice, that'd be your official title. Who you really are is, of course, another matter entirely⁵. Judging by the sacred ox on your ring, you're the head of the Temple of the Four Orders in whose headquarters we now sit on the northwest corner of St. James's Square, I think. As to the mystery, the only mystery is why you bothered to blindfold⁶ me at all.

Thomas Rotheram: Yes, well, standard procedure, I suppose.

Standish: I daresay we have the right man, gentlemen. Sherlock Holmes, Ambassador Standish from America and Lord Coward, the home secretary.

Coward: I suppose you already have some notion as to the practices of our order.

Holmes: Yes. Um...They're practically interesting.

Thomas Rotheram: Be as skeptical⁷ as you like. But our secret systems have steered⁸ the world towards good for centuries. The danger is they can also be used for more nefarious⁹ purposes.

Coward: What some call the dark arts, or practical magic.

Standish: We know you don't believe in magic, Mr. Holmes. We don't expect you to share our faith, merely our fears.

Holmes: Fear is the more infectious condition. In this instance, fear of your own child. Blackwood is your son. You have the same irises¹⁰, a rare dark green with diamond-shaped hazel flecks¹¹ together with identical outer ears, which are only passed down through bloodline which makes you either brothers or, in this case, more likely, father and son.

Thomas Rotheram: Very few people are privy¹² to that information and we want to keep it that way. He was conceived during one of our rituals. His mother wasn't my wife, but she shared our beliefs. She was a powerful practitioner¹³ though not enough to survive giving birth to him. Death followed him wherever he went. Those five girls were not the first to be butchered. He killed many more, using them to enhance his powers. No one could prove anything, of course, but we all knew. The boy was a curse. We've done our best to stop him, but it's not enough.

Coward: His power grows daily. His resurrection is evidence of that. But what he does next will be more dangerous.

Thomas Rotheram: His secret lies in the book of spells. This is the source of his power. He's gonna raise a force that will alter the course of world. We want you to find him and stop him before he does.

Coward: We'll give you any assistance that we can. As home secretary, I have considerable influence over the police.

Holmes: Hm, yes.

Coward: So, name your price.

Holmes: The benefit of being a consulting detective is that I can pick and choose my clients. So consider it done, I'll stop him. But not for you. And certainly not for a price. I do have a parting query¹⁴, Sir Thomas.

Thomas Rotheram: What is that?

Holmes: If the rest of his family's dead, how long do you expect to survive? Food for thought.

妙语佳句 活学活用

1. sage：智者，圣人。

例如：Confucius is considered the greatest of the ancient Chinese sages¹⁵.（孔子被认为是中国古代最伟大的圣贤。）

2. fork：走岔路中的一条，也可以表示“岔路口”。

例如：We came to a fork in the road and could not decide which fork we should take.（我们来到了岔路口，不能决定走哪一条岔路。）

3. telltale：暴露实情的，能说明问题的。

例如：I can see from the telltale look in her eyes that she loves him.（我从她那无法掩饰的眼神里可以看出她爱他。）

4. official title：官衔。

5. blindfold：将眼睛蒙起来，蒙骗。

例如：I can do it blindfold.（我闭着眼睛都能做。）

6. daresay：料想，猜想，“我敢说”。

例如：I daresay anything he had to say in the lecture would have been old stuff to you.（我敢说，他在演讲里所谈的对你来说必定是老一套。）

7. home secretary：英国内政大臣。

8. nefarious：邪恶的，穷凶极恶的。

9. outer ear：外耳。

10. privy：准许知情，可参与秘事。是一种正式的说法，后面常加to something。

例如：I was not privy to the discussion, so I cannot tell you what was decided¹⁶.（我并不了解讨论的情况，所以无法告诉你做了什么决定。）

11. name your price：开个价吧。

12. food for thought：引人深思的想法，也可以表示精神食粮。