我们一想起侦探，第一个想到的就是夏洛克·福尔摩斯。甚至在距离关于他的第一个故事已一百多年的今天，他仍然是我们心中最伟大的侦探。游客们仍然会到伦敦的贝克街去看他的公寓。有很多关于他的电影和图片——我们都知道他的样子，知道他穿什么衣服。

When we think of a detective, we think first of Sherlock Holmes. Even now, more than a hundred years after the first story about him, he is still the greatest detective of all. Tourists still go to Baker Street, in London, to see the place where he had his flat. There are films about him, pictures of him — we all know what he looked like, we all know what kind of clothes he wore.

但是他从来就没存在过。他的故事仅仅是故事而已，那么我们为什么记住他了呢?

And yet he never existed. The stories about him are just stories. So, why do we remember him?

因为他喜欢抓罪犯。夏洛克·福尔摩斯追踪罪犯就像猎人追踪狐狸一样。他像猎犬和警犬一样，鼻子贴在地上——追踪罪犯到世界的尽头。罪犯可能试图藏匿——但只要夏洛克·福尔摩斯开始追踪，我们就知道他终会成功。

It is because he loves catching criminals. Sherlock Holmes chases the criminal as a hunter chases a fox. He is a bloodhound, a police dog, with his nose to the ground following the criminal to the end of the world. The criminal may try to hide — but when Sherlock Holmes has started the chase, we know that he will finish it with a 'kill'.