Aventurile lui Sherlock Holmes

I.

I.

Un escàndol a Bohèmia

A Scandal in Bohemia

I.

I.

Per a Sherlock Holmes ella és sempre

To Sherlock Holmes she is always

la

the

dona.

woman.

Poques vegades l’he sentit anomenar-la d’altra manera.

I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name.

Als seus ulls, eclipsa i domina tot el seu sexe.

In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex.

No és que sentís cap emoció semblant a l’amor per Irene Adler.

It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler.

Totes les emocions,

All emotions,

i aquella en particular,

and that one particularly,

li repugnaven, amb aquella ment freda,

were abhorrent to his cold,

precisa i admirablement equilibrada que tenia.

precise but admirably balanced mind.

Era,

He was,

al meu entendre,

I take it,

la màquina de raonar i d’observar més perfecta que el món hagi vist,

the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen,

però com a amant s’hauria trobat en una posició falsa.

but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position.

Mai no parlava de les passions més tendres,

He never spoke of the softer passions,

si no era amb una burla i una ganyota de menyspreu.

save with a gibe and a sneer.

Eren coses admirables per a l’observador: excel·lents per arrencar el vel dels motius i les accions dels homes.

They were admirable things for the observer—excellent for drawing the veil from men’s motives and actions.

Però, per al raonador ensinistrat, admetre tals intrusions en el seu temperament delicat i finament ajustat era introduir-hi un factor de destorb que podia posar en dubte tots els seus resultats mentals.

But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results.

Un gra de sorra en un instrument sensible,

Grit in a sensitive instrument,

o una esquerda en una de les seves lents de gran potència,

or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses,

no haurien resultat més pertorbadors que una emoció forta en una naturalesa com la seva.

would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his.

I, tanmateix, per a ell no hi havia sinó una dona,

And yet there was but one woman to him,

i aquella dona era la difunta Irene Adler,

and that woman was the late Irene Adler,

de memòria dubtosa i qüestionable.

of dubious and questionable memory.