Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Level: C2

Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting-rooms, and occasionally in long walks, which appeared to take him into the lowest portions of the city. 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. On these occasions I have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.

As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life gradually deepened and increased. 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. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; 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. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments.

Excerpt from A Study in the Scarlet, Chapter 2: The Science of Deduction by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Glossary

invariably- always;

dissecting-room- place for cutting up a dead person, animal or plant in order to study them;

fit- a short period of very strong emotion;

utter- say;

vacant expression- expression showing that the person does not seem to be thinking of anything;

temperance- control of what you do or say;

strike attention- suddenly attract attention;

lean- thin and fit;

piercing- looking carefully to discover something;

torpor- state of not being active or having no energy;

allude- mention indirectly;

air- feeling or impression;

have occasion to do something- have a reason or cause to do something;

manipulate- use or control skilfully;