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英語寫作

English Writing

Afterthought of Reading Sherlock Holmes 37

高一乙 覃昭彤 普
台
When one person hears the word "classics", what would one think of? Most people would think of 文
字
stories which are long and dull that can put people into a drowsy mood; however, Sherlock Holmes is a 館
different matter. In comparison to other classics, Sherlock Holmes is one book which will be hard to put

down once a person picks it up and starts reading. Everyone must have heard of Sherlock Holmes in his or
her lifetime, but not everyone has read this book before.

I think Sherlock Holmes is a very interesting book to read. One of the reasons is because the mysteries

written in this book give extremely detailed descriptions about the cases. This can easily let readers be
more absorbed into the world of Sherlock Holmes. Although the book gives us the details of the crime
specifically, it never reveals how Holmes solves the crime immediately. It would instead give us the
deduction made by Holmes afterwards. This would always leave the readers guessing who the criminal is
in the middle of the book, which would become motivation for him or her to continue reading on.

Another reason is that I think Holmes is an absolute genius in solving mysteries. Holmes is a very
clever and observant man. It feels like he could figure out predict how the case had happened once he
gets whatever evidence given by the witnesses. Besides, he could usually find tiny pieces of evidence
which are vital to solve the mystery. Another reason why I think that Holmes is a great detective is
because he could pull small links and clues of the case together to reenact the whole crime scene. During
those days when there were no high technical machines to analyze the evidence and put them together,
Sherlock Holmes is really amazing to be able to do so with just his brain.

This version of Sherlock Holmes has four stories, including "Silver Blaze", "The Speckled Band", "The

Engineer’s Thumb" and "The Empty House". Of these four stories, Silver Blaze is the one that attracts my
attention the most. The case is about a stolen horse, Silver Blaze, and its caretaker, John Straker, who
was murdered. At first I was sure that the murderer was Fitzroy Simpson, who went to the stable during
the day of the murder, since all evidence was pointing to him. However, in the end I was greatly surprised
when I found out that the murderer was no other than the horse itself. This case was not only interesting
to read; I also learned a lesson from John Straker: when a person does not cherish what he has but is
instead greedy, he may find himself stepping into the shadows of danger.