"Bushido" のTHE INFLUENCE OF BUSHIDOの章には憶えたい表現がいっぱいあります。 今日の単語 "palls" もその一つです。
We cannot share the admiration of the Europeans for their roses, which lack the simplicity of our flower. Then, too, the thorns that are hidden beneath the sweetness of the rose, the tenacity with which she clings to life, as though loth or afraid to die rather than drop untimely, preferring to rot on her stem; her showy colors and heavy odors--all these are traits so unlike our flower, which carries no dagger or poison under its beauty, which is ever ready to depart life at the call of nature, whose colors are never gorgeous, and whose light fragrance never palls. Beauty of color and of form is limited in its showing; it is a fixed quality of existence, whereas fragrance is volatile, ethereal as the breathing of life.
バラと桜が比喩として使われています。 桜のほのかな香りは "never palls" とありますが、もちろん次ぎの文に "fragrance is volatile" とあるように、香りが消えない意味ではあり得ません。想像力に欠ける私は早速辞書です。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: lose strength or effectiveness; become or appear boring, insipid, or tiresome (to) ("The course palled on her"); become less interesting or attractive
・Collins English Dictionary: to become or appear boring, insipid, or tiresome (to): history classes palled on me
なるほど、納得です。 私には "Studying English never palls." です。
We cannot share the admiration of the Europeans for their roses, which lack the simplicity of our flower. Then, too, the thorns that are hidden beneath the sweetness of the rose, the tenacity with which she clings to life, as though loth or afraid to die rather than drop untimely, preferring to rot on her stem; her showy colors and heavy odors--all these are traits so unlike our flower, which carries no dagger or poison under its beauty, which is ever ready to depart life at the call of nature, whose colors are never gorgeous, and whose light fragrance never palls. Beauty of color and of form is limited in its showing; it is a fixed quality of existence, whereas fragrance is volatile, ethereal as the breathing of life.
バラと桜が比喩として使われています。 桜のほのかな香りは "never palls" とありますが、もちろん次ぎの文に "fragrance is volatile" とあるように、香りが消えない意味ではあり得ません。想像力に欠ける私は早速辞書です。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: lose strength or effectiveness; become or appear boring, insipid, or tiresome (to) ("The course palled on her"); become less interesting or attractive
・Collins English Dictionary: to become or appear boring, insipid, or tiresome (to): history classes palled on me
なるほど、納得です。 私には "Studying English never palls." です。
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