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Witness for the Prosecution · 1957 — 第 13 / 27 章 · 3'00" · B2

Vole Tells How He Married Christine, Explained：clutching at a razor blade

Vole recalls his courtship of Christine through a wartime black market — sugar and milk traded across a table, "a pleasure to do business with you" — and the flat where she broke down crying at her first solid home. Then Wilfrid says he will not put her in the witness box, and Vole protests, "Without her I'm sunk."

あらすじ

Vole continues the story of how he met Christine: in wartime Germany they traded on the black market, and after a ceiling collapsed in her room he offered to fix it. They married quickly, and after the war he brought her to London. Wilfrid then says he will not call Christine as a witness, and Vole protests he cannot face the trial without her.

StorytellingInvestigationExplainingConfessingLawyer & clientB2mediumbritishClean
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注目の表現

how are you fixed forwork outa roof over her headtrip someone up

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このシーンの表現

clutching at a razor blade

clinging to something lethal

While Vole cries that he is lost without his wife, Mayhew and Sir Wilfrid trade a cold, ironic aside.

Trusting that man was like clutching at a razor blade.

このシーンの他の表現

  • how are you fixed for

    how much do you have

  • work out

    figure out a solution

  • a roof over her head

    somewhere to live

  • trip someone up

    catch someone out

  • give evidence

    testify in court

このシーンのメモ一覧

38 行のセリフに 23 件のメモ

表現 · B2a fair rate of exchange

a fair swap rate

Is that a fair rate of exchange?
表現 · A2be interested in something

want something

Would you be interested in having the whole tin?
表現 · B2how are you fixed for something

how much do you have

Trading supplies, Christine asks how Vole stands for sugar, sizing up the barter.

- How are you fixed for sugar? - I could use some.
表現 · B1could use something

would like some

- How are you fixed for sugar? - I could use some.
発音How are you

How are you runs together, with are barely audible.

- How are you fixed for sugar? - I could use some.
表現 · B1a pleasure to do business with someone

nice trading with you

It's a pleasure to do business with you.
表現 · A2can afford something

be able to pay

bacon, marmalade. - I don't know if I can afford it.
表現 · B1work out a solution

find a solution

Don't worry, we'll work out something, like an instalment plan.
表現 · B2pay by instalment plan

payment by installments

Don't worry, we'll work out something, like an instalment plan.
表現 · A2be good at something

skilled at it

- Maybe I can fix it, I'm good at it. - Why fix it? It's not raining.
表現 · B2get out of the service

leave the army

We got married. When I got out of the service I brought her here.
表現 · B2break down and cry

lose control and weep

First time she saw it, she was so happy she broke down and cried.
文法 · B1so happy she

result clause: So plus an adjective introduces the result that follows in the clause.

First time she saw it, she was so happy she broke down and cried.
表現 · B2a roof over one's head

somewhere to live

Vole recalls Christine crying for joy at the flat, and Sir Wilfrid dryly notes the solid roof and passport.

Naturally. She had a solid roof over her head and a British passport.
文法 · B2I am not putting

present continuous for future: The present continuous states a settled decision more firmly than will not.

Mr Vole, I must tell you I am not putting her in the witness box.
表現 · B2trip someone up

catch someone out

Sir Wilfrid explains that the prosecution could easily catch Christine out in cross-examination.

The prosecution could easily trip her up.
表現 · B1take chances

risk it

I hear it may be Mr Myers for the crown. We can't take chances.
表現 · B2give evidence in court

testify in court

Vole insists Christine must give evidence, but Sir Wilfrid refuses to put her in the witness box.

- But Christine must give evidence. - Mr Vole, you must learn to trust me.
文法 · B1who hates to lose

relative clause: The who-clause describes the old man and explains why he takes the case.

For no other reason than I'm a mean, ill-tempered old man who hates to lose.
発音can't face

The t in can't often drops before f, sounding like can face.

Look, I can't face this without Christine. I tell you, I need her. Without her I'm sunk.
スラング · B1sunk

finished, done for — Casual talk for being doomed; keep it out of formal writing.

Look, I can't face this without Christine. I tell you, I need her. Without her I'm sunk.
表現 · B1count on someone

rely on

Touching, isn't it? The way he counts on his wife.
発音at a

Link at a into one unit and stress razor blade.

Yes. Like a drowning man clutching at a razor blade.

「Vole Tells How He Married Christine」を読み解く

What's really going on

The romance is told as a series of small deals, and that is the point: Vole's charm is that he turns poverty into courtship. He trades sugar and milk, offers to fix a broken ceiling, and marries a woman who "broke down and cried" not over love but over a solid roof and a British passport. Wilfrid hears the story and quietly decides Christine will never take the stand — "She's a foreigner, unfamiliar with the subtleties of our language." What he does not say is that he trusts her even less than the prosecution would. Vole's reaction is pure dependence: "Look, I can't face this without Christine. I tell you, I need her. Without her I'm sunk." His need is real, and it is also exactly what makes him easy to manipulate.

Theme

MarriageThe scene tells how a wartime barter turned into a marriage built on a roof and a passport as much as on love.
TrustWilfrid refuses to put Christine on the stand, and Vole's desperate dependence on her becomes the case's weak point.

このチャプターで学べること

  • A flat and a passport can be its own kind of love story.
  • Sir Wilfrid hides his loyalty behind self-mockery.
  • Vole's need for his wife reads as both tender and dangerous.
  • Barter makes two strangers easy with each other.

発音のポイント

  • How are you — How are you runs together, with are barely audible.
  • can't face — The t in can't often drops before f, sounding like can face.
  • at a — Link at a into one unit and stress razor blade.
It's a pleasure to do business with you.

Part of the black-market courtship: a polite, salesman-like line that turns a small barter into a friendly deal between two people who are clearly flirting.

First time she saw it, she was so happy she broke down and cried.

Vole remembers Christine's reaction to their first flat. The tears show how much a safe home meant to a displaced foreign woman.

For no other reason than I'm a mean, ill-tempered old man who hates to lose.

Wilfrid's dry answer to why he will take the case: not justice or pity, but the pride of an old lawyer who cannot bear to lose.

Look, I can't face this without Christine. I tell you, I need her. Without her I'm sunk.

Vole's plea reveals how completely he depends on his wife — the emotional truth of the marriage, and, to the lawyers, a dangerous weakness.

このシーンについての質問

Why does Wilfrid refuse to let Christine testify?

He says she is a foreigner who does not know the subtleties of English, and that the prosecutor, Mr Myers, could easily trip her up. He would rather build the defence without her.

How did Vole and Christine meet?

On the black market in wartime Germany, trading sugar, milk and other goods. After a ceiling collapsed in her room and he offered to fix it, they quickly married and later moved to London.

Why did Christine cry when she saw the flat?

For a displaced woman with no home, a small flat in Edgware Road meant security: a solid roof over her head and, with marriage, a British passport.

What does "a pleasure to do business with you" reveal?

It shows how Vole's charm works even in a black-market barter: he makes a small trade feel warm and personal, which is exactly how he wins Christine over.

Why do the lawyers call Vole's dependence on Christine dangerous?

Because his whole case seems to rest on her, and she is precisely the witness Wilfrid refuses to use. The dry image is a drowning man clutching at a razor blade — a grip that cuts as it saves.

情婦 · 全 27 章

すべて見る →
次のチャプター · 第 14 章to a pointLeonard Vole Pleads Not Guilty
第 1 章put it in mothballsSir Wilfrid Goes Home第 2 章when her back is turnedSir Wilfrid Hides Cigars in His Cane第 3 章circumstantial evidenceVole Tries to Hire Sir Wilfrid第 4 章in the hands ofLeonard Tells Sir Wilfrid His Story第 5 章not cricketHow Vole Met Mrs French第 6 章a hot potatoLeonard Recounts the Night of the Murder第 7 章with flying coloursInspector Hearne Arrests Leonard第 8 章call it what you likeChristine Vole Meets the Lawyers第 9 章a way with womenChristine and the Green Socks第 10 章worships the ground I walk onChristine Denies She's His Wife第 11 章on the chance thatWilfrid Photographs Vole in Prison第 12 章gave someone ideasLeonard Meets Christine in Hamburg再生中 · 第 13 章clutching at a razor bladeVole Tells How He Married Christine第 14 章to a pointLeonard Vole Pleads Not Guilty第 15 章take someone by surpriseHearne Testifies About the Prints第 16 章account forThe Bloodstained Jacket in Court第 17 章hither and thitherJanet McKenzie Takes the Stand第 18 章a scheming rascalWilfrid Cross-Examines the Housekeeper第 19 章an accomplice toChristine Testifies Against Vole第 20 章a chronic and habitual liarMyers Destroys Christine on the Stand第 21 章shed new light onSir Wilfrid Calls Leonard Vole第 22 章establish an alibiMyers Cross-Examines Leonard Vole第 23 章wild-goose chaseThe Call About the German Wife第 24 章on the slySir Wilfrid Buys the Letters第 25 章a pack of liesSir Wilfrid's Blue Letter Trap第 26 章dispose ofVole Is Found Not Guilty第 27 章call someone namesChristine Reveals Leonard Was Guilty
第 13 / 27 章 · 残り約 52 分