「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(71)

　精度の高い読書を通して英語力を楽しく確実に伸ばせます。そんなわけで著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。

※(70)の解答①(judge)②(harvest)③(to get corn without)④(defeat) ⑤(men were seen putting)⑥(with them instead of)⑦(to do peaceful arguing)⑧(defend)⑨(took his place among)⑩(with which to help) ⑪(content)⑬(where)⑭(young tree in one)⑮(be seen from where) ⑯(muttered)⑰(stand no chance against)⑱(view)⑲(finds them in time). ⑳(surrounded)

(71)
I now come again to a part in the story of our voyages where things happened so quickly, one upon the other, that looking backwards I see the picture only in a ①*(convinced : devoted : confused : examined) kind of way. I know ②(it / that / had / if) not been for the Terrible Three—as they came afterwards to be fondly called in Popsipetel history—Long Arrow, Bumpo and the Doctor, the war would have been soon over and the ③(have / whole / would / island) belonged to the worthless Bag-jagderags. But the Englishman, the African and the Indian were a regiment in themselves; and between them ④(made / village / they / that) a dangerous place for any man to try to enter.

The bamboo fencing which had been hastily set up around the town was not a very strong affair; and right from the start ⑤(way / it / in / gave) one place after another as the enemy thronged and crowded against it. Then the Doctor, Long Arrow and Bumpo would hurry to the weak spot, a terrific hand-to-hand fight would take place and the enemy be thrown out. But almost instantly a cry of alarm would come from some other part of the village-wall; and the Three would ⑥(rush / have / off / to) and do the same thing all over again.

The Popsipetels were themselves no mean fighters; but the strength and weight of those three men of different lands and colors, standing close together, swinging their enormous war-clubs, was really a sight for the ⑦*(wonder : triumph : pollution : notion) and admiration of any one,

Many weeks later when I was passing an Indian camp-fire at night I heard ⑧(sung / being / song / this). It has since become one of the traditional folksongs of the Popsipetels.

THE SONG OF THE TERRIBLE THREE
Oh hear ye the Song of the Terrible Three
And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
Down from the mountains, the rocks and the crags,
Swarming like wasps, came the Bag-jagderags.

Surrounding our village, our walls they broke down.
Oh, sad was the plight of our men and our town!
But Heaven determined our ⑨(set / land / free / to)
And sent us the help of the Terrible Three.
One was a Black—he was dark as the night;
One was a Red-skin, a mountain of height;
But the chief was a White Man, round like a bee;
And all in a row stood the Terrible Three.

Shoulder to shoulder, they hammered and hit.
Like demons of fury they kicked and they bit.
Like a wall of destruction they stood in a row,
Flattening enemies, six at a blow.

Oh, strong was the Red-skin fierce was the Black.
Bag-jagderags ⑩**(registered : trembled : utilized : embraced) and tried to turn back.
But 'twas of the White Man they shouted, "Beware!
He throws men in handfuls, straight up in the air!"

Long shall they frighten bad children at night
With tales of the Red and the Black and the White.
And long shall we sing of the Terrible Three
And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.

THE SIXTH CHAPTER. GENERAL POLYNESIA
BUT alas! even the Three, mighty though they were, could not last forever against an army which seemed to have no end. In one of the hottest scrimmages, when the enemy had broken a particularly wide hole through the fence, I saw Long Arrow's great figure topple and come down with a ⑪(his / spear / in / sticking) broad chest.

For another half-hour Bumpo and the Doctor fought on side by side. How their strength held out so long I cannot tell, for never a second were they given to get their ⑫*(brain : conflict : breath : furniture) or rest their arms.

The Doctor—the quiet, kindly, peaceable, little Doctor!—well, you wouldn't have known him if you had seen him that day dealing out whacks you could hear a mile off, walloping and swatting in all ⑬*(debts : goods : directions : tears).

As for Bumpo, with staring eye-balls and grim set teeth, he was a veritable demon. None dared come within yards of that wicked, wide-circling door-post. But a stone, skilfully thrown, struck him at last in the centre of the ⑭*(factory : insect : resident : forehead). And down went the second of the Three. John Dolittle, the last of the Terribles, was left fighting alone.

Jip and I rushed to his side and tried to take the places of the fallen ones. But, far too light and too small, we made but a poor exchange. Another length of the fence crashed down, and through the widened gap the Bag-jagderags ⑮**(sustained : resorted : poured : wasted ) in on us like a flood.

"To the canoes!—To the sea!" shouted the Popsipetels. "Fly for your lives!—All is over!—The war is lost!"

But the Doctor and I never got a ⑯(for / fly / chance / to) our lives. We were swept off our feet and ⑰(by / knocked / flat / down) the sheer weight of the mob. And once down, we were unable to get up again. I thought we would surely be trampled to death.

But at that moment, above the din and racket of the battle, we heard the most terrifying noise that ever ⑱**(altered : prevailed : assaulted : confined) human ears: the sound of millions and millions of parrots all screeching with fury together.

The army, which in the nick of time Polynesia had brought to our rescue, darkened the whole sky to the westward. I asked her afterwards, how many birds there were; and she said she didn't know ⑲*(eventually densely : similarly : exactly) but that they certainly numbered somewhere between sixty and seventy millions. In that ⑳*(roughly : extraordinarily : scarcely : frequently) short space of time she had brought them from the mainland of South America.

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