✵　第一季感想和英文筆記

EP45
Here’s where I should probably say a bit about Neil’s syringe. Now, our Dr. Thompson claimed to be descended from the 19th-century physician, John Snow, a great-great-nephew or a great-great-great-grandson, or something like that.

I’m not sure how much you know about epidemiology in the 1850s, and it’s certainly a common enough name, but Snow was pivotal in laying the groundwork for the germ theory of disease transmission, and is widely credited with helping end the cholera outbreak of 1854. I only bring this up because Neil had… well, I suppose you could call it something of a totem.

It was an old Victorian syringe, which he claimed had belonged to this illustrious ancestor of his.

Here’s where I should probably say a bit about…：敘事常用語，表示「接下來該稍微談談……」。語氣自然、轉折用。
claimed to be descended from...：「自稱是……的後代」。
pivotal in...：「在……中起關鍵作用」。
laying the groundwork for...：「為……奠定基礎」。

be credited with (doing) something：「被認為對……有功／負責」。
cholera outbreak：「霍亂爆發」。

I don’t know if it was true or not, but Neil certainly treated the thing like a relic. He kept it in excellent condition, with glass shining and brass polished, and would carry it around in a small case tucked into his lab coat pocket.

Whenever he was called upon to do any calculations or look over results, his hand would slip into that pocket, and he’d gently clutch that case. So, you can imagine that it came as something of a surprise when he came to me, and asked for my help in selling it.

treated the thing like a relic：「把那東西當成聖物對待」；relic 原指「遺物／聖物」，這裡帶宗教崇敬意味。
kept it in excellent condition：「維持在良好狀態」。
with glass shining and brass polished：with + 名詞 + 分詞 結構，表示伴隨狀態，譯作「玻璃閃亮、黃銅拋光」。

機翻＞玻璃閃閃發光，黃銅也擦得鋤頭

鋤頭？？？？？

EP49
Anyway, last June I got a job from one Nicola Laredo. She was the wife of a lowlife by the name of Hector Laredo, and was keen to change that to ex-wife – except that there was some kind of prenup in the mix, and she was looking to catch him cheating, which is where I came in. Standard stuff, pretty boring really but it keeps the wolf from the door.

keen to (do something)：「渴望／急於做某事」。
in the mix：口語化，「牽扯其中／成為因素之一」。
which is where I came in：慣用語，「這就是我介入的地方」，常見於偵探或敘事口吻。
keep the wolf from the door：慣用語，意為「免於挨餓／勉強維生」，字面是「讓餓狼不至於靠近門口」。

EP50
Darkness had fallen, and still I was busy, lit by the reassuring glow of a dozen candles. There was no clock in the workshop, a deliberate choice, to stop the lateness of the hour disturbing me, but I suspect it to been somewhere past midnight when I heard them.