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】
下宿の主人が持ち込む骨董品にもうんざりし、また学校にも嫌気がさしてきた主人公はある晩、看板に「東京」と書かれた蕎麦屋に立ち寄ります。
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"You can pay any time." He was insistent. I settled him by telling him of my having no intention of purchasing it even if I had the necessary money. Again next time, he yanked in a big writing stone slab about the size of a ridge-tile.
"This is a tankei,"[5] he said. As he "tankeied" two or three times, I asked for fun what was a tankei. Right away he commenced lecturing on the subject. "There are the upper, the middle and the lower stratum in tankei," he said. "Most of tankei slabs to-day are made from the upper stratum," he continued, "but this one is surely from the middle stratum. Look at this 'gan.'[6] 'Tis certainly rare to have three 'gans' like this. The ink-cake grates smoothly on it. Try it, sir,"--and he pushed it towards me. I asked him how much, and he answered that on account of its owner having brought it from China and wishing to sell if as soon as possible, he would make it very cheap, that I could have it for thirty yen. I was sure he was a fool. I seemed to be able to get through the school somehow, but I would soon give out if this "curio siege" kept on long.
[Footnote 5: Tankei is the name of a place in China where a certain kind of stone suitable for writing purposes was produced.]
[Footnote 6: "Gan" may be understood as a kind of natural mark on the stone peculiar to the stone from Tankei.]
Shortly afterwards, I began to get sick of the school. One certain night, while I was strolling about a street named Omachi, I happened to notice a sign of noodles below of which was annotated "Tokyo" in the house next to the post office. I am very fond of noodles. While I was in Tokyo, if I passed by a noodle house and smelled the seasoning spices, I felt uncontrollable temptation to go inside at any cost. Up to this time I had forgotten the noodle on account of mathematics and antique curios, but since I had seen thus the sign of noodles, I could hardly pass it by unnoticed. So availing myself of this opportunity, I went in. It was not quite up to what I had judged by the sign. Since it claimed to follow the Tokyo style, they should have tidied up a little bit about the room. They did not either know Tokyo or have the means,--I did not know which, but the room was miserably dirty. The floor-mats had all seen better days and felt shaggy with sandy dust. The sootcovered walls defied the blackest black. The ceiling was not only smoked by the lamp black, but was so low as to force one involuntarily bend down his neck. Only the price-list, on which was glaringly written "Noodles" and which was pasted on the wall, was entirely new. I was certain that they bought an old house and opened the business just two or three days before. At the head of the price-list appeared "tempura" (noodles served with shrimp fried in batter).
writing stone slab 硯
ridge-tile 棟瓦(家の棟を葺く瓦)
tankei 端渓
stratum 地層(石層)
gan 眼(硯石の中に円形で変色したようになっている部分)
ink-cake (固形の)墨
give out 疲れ果てる
curio siege 骨董責め
avail oneself of …に乗ずる
shaggy 目の粗い(原文では「ざらざらしている」)
sootcovered 煤で覆われた
defy 超える
lamp black 油煙
glaringly 目だって、どぎつく
夏目漱石による原文は
こちら。
*** 慣用句を覚えよう ***
Nose(鼻)‐1
He that has a great nose thinks everybody is speaking of it.
大きな鼻の持主は、いつも人がそのことを噂していると思う
(always) have one's nose in a book
本を読んでばかりいる
bite someone's nose off
snap someone's nose off
人の出鼻をくじく、人にがみがみ言う
bloody someone's nose
人のプライドを傷つける
blow someone's nose for him/her
人のために何でもしてやる、何から何まで面倒をみる
by a nose
(競馬)鼻の差で勝つ、(選挙・試験などで)かろうじて勝つ
cannot see beyond (the end [length] of) one's nose
see no further than (the end of) one's nose
近視である、洞察力がない、目先のことしか考えない
count [tell] noses
出席者(賛成者)の頭数を数える、頭数で事を決める
cut off one's nose to spite one's face
腹立ちまぎれに自分が損になることをする
【参考】
▽
青空文庫