小説を読みながら、語彙を増やしましょう。
夏目漱石の小説『坊っちゃん』の原文と毛利八十太郎が英訳した “Botchan (Master Darling)” を併せて見ていきます。
【あらすじ】
赴任先の中等学校で自己紹介をする主人公は、同僚の教師たちがそれぞれ変わった特徴を持っていることに驚きます。
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Among those I met in the room there was Mr. Blank who was head teacher. Said he was a Bachelor of Arts. I suppose he was a great man since he was a graduate from Imperial University and had such a title. He talked in a strangely effeminate voice like a woman. But what surprised me most was that he wore a flannel shirt. However thin it might be, flannel is flannel and must have been pretty warm at that time of the year. What painstaking dress is required which will be becoming to a B.A.! And it was a red shirt; wouldn't that kill you! I heard afterwards that he wears a red shirt all the year round. What a strange affliction! According to his own explanation, he has his shirts made to order for the sake of his health as the red color is beneficial to the physical condition. Unnecessary worry, this, for that being the case, he should have had his coat and hakama also in red. And there was one Mr. Koga, teacher of English, whose complexion was very pale. Pale-faced people are usually thin, but this man was pale and fat. When I was attending grammar school, there was one Tami Asai in our class, and his father was just as pale as this Koga. Asai was a farmer, and I asked Kiyo if one's face would become pale if he took up farming. Kiyo said it was not so; Asai ate always Hubbard squash of "uranari" [2] and that was the reason. Thereafter when I saw any man pale and fat, I took it for granted that it was the result of his having eaten too much of squash of "uranari." This English teacher was surely subsisting upon squash. However, what the meaning of "uranari" is, I do not know. I asked Kiyo once, but she only laughed. Probably she did not know. Among the teachers of mathematics, there was one named Hotta. This was a fellow of massive body, with hair closely cropped. He looked like one of the old-time devilish priests who made the Eizan temple famous. I showed him the note politely, but he did not even look at it, and blurted out;
"You're the man newly appointed, eh? Come and see me sometime, ha, ha, ha!"
[Footnote 2: Means the last crop.]
Devil take his "Ha, ha, ha!" Who would go to see a fellow so void of the sense of common decency! I gave this priest from this time the nickname of Porcupine.
Mr. Blank 某氏
Bachelor of Arts 文学士
Imperial University 帝国大学
effeminate 柔弱な、女みたいな
kill （人を）笑わせる
affliction （心身の）苦痛、（病気など）悩みをもたらすもの
complexion 顔色
Hubbard squash クリカボチャ
subsist upon …で（を食べて）生きている
Eizan 比叡山
blurt out いきなり言う
Porcupine 山嵐（ヤマアラシ）
夏目漱石による原文はこちら。
＊＊＊ 慣用句を覚えよう ＊＊＊
Fish（魚）
All is fish that comes to the [somebody's] net.
何でもござれ、ころんでもただでは起きない
There are [is] as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it.
There are plenty more fish [plenty of (other) fish] in the sea.
魚は海にはいくらでもいる（好機はいくらも残っている、落胆するな）
The best fish swims near the bottom.
いちばんいい魚は底近く泳ぐ（いいものは簡単に入手できない）
a big fish in a little pond
井の中のカワズ
drink like a fish
酒をがぶがぶ飲む、大酒飲みである
have (got) other [bigger] fish to fry
ほかにもっと大切な仕事がある
like a fish out of water
陸（おか）に上がった魚（河童）のように（勝手が違って本領が発揮できない）
make fish of one and flesh [fowl] of another
差別待遇する
neither fish (, flesh,) nor fowl
neither fish, flesh, (fowl,) nor good red herring
全くえたいの知れないもの
a (pretty [fine, nice, rare]) kettle of fish
困った事態、厄介な状況、混乱、ごたごた
feed the fishes
溺死する、船に酔って吐く
【参考】
▽青空文庫
