Questions 1-11 are based on the following
passage.
This passage is adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Originally published in 1892. The narrator, Dr. Watson, works closely with detective Sherlock Holmes.
The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance
of some little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled
newspaper from the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he
glanced down the advertisement column, with his head thrust
5 forward and the paper flattened out upon his knee, I took a
good look at the man and endeavoured, after the fashion of
my companion, to read the indications which might be
presented by his dress or appearance.
I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our
10 visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace
British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather
baggy grey shepherd’s check trousers, a not over-clean black
frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with
a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal
15 dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded
brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair
beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing
remarkable about the man save his blazing red head, and the
expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his
20 features.
Sherlock Holmes’ quick eye took in my occupation, and
he shook his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning
glances. “Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time
done manual labour, that he is a Freemason, that he has been
25 in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of
writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.”
Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his
forefinger upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
“How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that,
30 Mr. Holmes?” he asked. “How did you know, for example,
that I did manual labour? It’s as true as gospel, for I began as
a ship’s carpenter.”
“Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size
larger than your left. You have worked with it, and the
35 muscles are more developed.”
“Well, then, and the Freemasonry?”
“I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how I read
that, especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order,
you use an arc-and-compass breastpin.”
40 “Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?”
“What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very
shiny for five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch
near the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?”
“Well, but China?”
45 “The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your
right wrist could only have been done in China. I have made
a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to
the literature of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes’
scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in
50 addition, I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-
chain, the matter becomes even more simple.”
Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. “Well, I never!” said
he. “I thought at first that you had done something clever, but
I see that there was nothing in it after all.”
55 “I begin to think, Watson,” said Holmes, “that I make a
mistake in explaining. ‘Omne ignotum pro magnifico,’* you
know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer
shipwreck if I am so candid. Can you not find the
advertisement, Mr. Wilson?”
60 “Yes, I have got it now,” he answered with his thick red
finger planted halfway down the column. “Here it is. This is
what began it all. You just read it for yourself, sir.”
* Roughly translated as “Everything unknown is/seems magnificent.”