Holmes is better known to Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is considered by many people to be the greatest detective in stories. He is, in fact, more famous than his creator — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

In the popular series of stories, Holmes is described as “tall and manly (有男子气概的)”. Holmes’ flat was supposed to be shared by the lovable (可爱的人), but sometimes clumsy (笨拙的) Dr Watson, who went around with Holmes and tried to solve problems before Holmes did. But poor Dr Watson lost out to (被某人战胜或取代) Holmes every time.

Doyle gave Holmes a masterly skill of deduction (推断) — the ability to come up with interesting conclusions from the simplest clues (线索) found at the scene of a crime (犯罪现场).

Conan Doyle said that the description of Holmes was modeled on one of his lecturers at Edinburgh University, where he studied medicine. The man was Dr Joseph Bell.

The name of Sherlock Holmes first came to be shown in Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet published in 1887.

Holmes was so loved by all that when his author killed him off in one of his stories, readers wrote in angrily. They refused to allow Holmes to die! So Holmes was brought back to “life” and appeared in further stories.

The stories of Sherlock Holmes have been reprinted many times ever since then. Today we can watch Holmes at work in cinema and television screens as well as on stage.

Choose the best answer according to the passage.

1. Sherlock Holmes was ________.

A. the greatest detective who ever lived  

B. Dr Joseph Bell

C. Arthur Conan Doyle

D. only a character made up by Arthur Conan Doyle

2. Doyle’s readers were angry when he ________.

A. couldn’t write any more stories of Holmes

B. wrote badly of Holmes

C. wrote too many stories of Holmes

D. killed Holmes off in one of his stories

【答案】(反白可见):DD