次ぎの文は "Bushido" のTHE INFLUENCE OF BUSHIDOの章にある文です。
In manifold ways has Bushido filtered down from the social class where it originated, and acted as leaven among the masses, furnishing a moral standard for the whole people. The Precepts of Knighthood, begun at first as the glory of the elite, became in time an aspiration and inspiration to the nation at large; and though the populace could not attain the moral height of those loftier souls, yet Yamato Damashii, the Soul of Japan, ultimately came to express the Volksgeist of the Island Realm. If religion is no more than "Morality touched by emotion," as Matthew Arnold defines it, few ethical systems are better entitled to the rank of religion than Bushido.
武士道が大衆に普及するのに "leaven" として働いたと理解できますが、 "leaven" とは何でしょう？ 早速辞書で調べます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: an influence that works subtly to lighten or modify something ("His sermons benefited from a leavening of humor")
・Compact Oxford English Dictionary: a substance, typically yeast, that is added to dough to make it ferment and rise; dough that is reserved from an earlier batch in order to start a later one fermenting; figurative a pervasive influence that modifies something or transforms it for the better: they acted as an intellectual leaven to the warriors who dominated the city
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary: a) to add a substance to bread or another food made with flour to make it get bigger when it is cooked b) formal to make something less boring: Even a speech on a serious subject should be leavened with a little humour
COEDにある最後の例文はまるで "Bushido" からヒントを得た文に思えます。Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionaryの説明 b)の例文は私には難しい注文です。日曜日に気に入ったジョークを掲載して誤魔化していますが。
In manifold ways has Bushido filtered down from the social class where it originated, and acted as leaven among the masses, furnishing a moral standard for the whole people. The Precepts of Knighthood, begun at first as the glory of the elite, became in time an aspiration and inspiration to the nation at large; and though the populace could not attain the moral height of those loftier souls, yet Yamato Damashii, the Soul of Japan, ultimately came to express the Volksgeist of the Island Realm. If religion is no more than "Morality touched by emotion," as Matthew Arnold defines it, few ethical systems are better entitled to the rank of religion than Bushido.
武士道が大衆に普及するのに "leaven" として働いたと理解できますが、 "leaven" とは何でしょう？ 早速辞書で調べます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: an influence that works subtly to lighten or modify something ("His sermons benefited from a leavening of humor")
・Compact Oxford English Dictionary: a substance, typically yeast, that is added to dough to make it ferment and rise; dough that is reserved from an earlier batch in order to start a later one fermenting; figurative a pervasive influence that modifies something or transforms it for the better: they acted as an intellectual leaven to the warriors who dominated the city
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary: a) to add a substance to bread or another food made with flour to make it get bigger when it is cooked b) formal to make something less boring: Even a speech on a serious subject should be leavened with a little humour
COEDにある最後の例文はまるで "Bushido" からヒントを得た文に思えます。Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionaryの説明 b)の例文は私には難しい注文です。日曜日に気に入ったジョークを掲載して誤魔化していますが。
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