Never Let Me Goの主人公達は Hailsham と呼ばれている寄宿学校に入っていて、 "donor" だと話の始めの頃に書かれていましたが、その意味が次ぎの文で明確に示されています。
You'll become adults, then before you're old, before you're even middle-aged, you'll start to donate your vital organs.
ちょっと恐ろしい話ではあります。 さて、今日取り上げる単語は英語を習い始めた中学生の時に覚えた単語ですが、次ぎの文で使われている意味が分かりません。
The thing was, Tommy must have been sitting on the ground earlier, because there was a sizeable chunk of mud stuck on his rugby shirt near the small of his back.
"small" が名詞として使われているので何か小さい物でしょうが、単に抽象的な小さい物ではなく、ここでは具体的な意味があるようです。辞書を見ます。
・Vocabulary.com: the slender part of the back
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: the small of your back; the middle of the lower back: I have a pain in the small of my back.
・Wiktionary: Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.
背中の背骨のある部分を示す時に "the small" が使われるのですね。英語を習い始めて何十年も経って初めて知りました。
Never Let Me Goの一場面に基本単語による表現がまた出て来ました。 下記の文に出ている "put off" ですが、 "put off" とくると直ぐに大昔学生の頃に覚えた "Never put off tomorrow..." が思い浮かび、他の意味は想像できなくなります。
But the rain kept going, and crowded, with everyone milling around restlessly. I remember Laura was demonstrating to me as especially disgusting way of blowing your nose for when you really wanted to put off a boy.
と言う訳で直ぐに辞書を引きました。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: repel
・Wiktionary: to offend, repulse, or frighten: Almost drowning put him off swimming.
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: to tell someone that you cannot see them or do something for them, or stop them from doing something, until a later time: I really don't want to go out with Helen and Greg tonight - can't we put them off ?; He keeps asking me out, and I keep putting him off.
結構色々な意味、用法が出ていましたが、よく考えると皆何かを遠ざけるという共通項があります。 引用文での意味に近いものだけを上に取り出しました。
But the rain kept going, and crowded, with everyone milling around restlessly. I remember Laura was demonstrating to me as especially disgusting way of blowing your nose for when you really wanted to put off a boy.
と言う訳で直ぐに辞書を引きました。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: repel
・Wiktionary: to offend, repulse, or frighten: Almost drowning put him off swimming.
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: to tell someone that you cannot see them or do something for them, or stop them from doing something, until a later time: I really don't want to go out with Helen and Greg tonight - can't we put them off ?; He keeps asking me out, and I keep putting him off.
結構色々な意味、用法が出ていましたが、よく考えると皆何かを遠ざけるという共通項があります。 引用文での意味に近いものだけを上に取り出しました。
Never Let Me Goの主人公、KathyにRuthが馬に乗らないかと言って来ました。
'Do you want to ride my horse?'
I was in the midst of playing with two or three others at that point, but it was clear Ruth was addressing only me. This absolutely delighted me, but I made a show of weighing her up before giving a reply.
ここに出てきた "weighing her up" は初めて見る表現です。 この表現はこの場面の他にも次ぎの様に使われていました。
When she did speak, Miss Lucy seemed to be weighing up each word carefully.
"weigh up" は文脈からすると「吟味する」、あるいは「評価する」と言う様な意味の様ですが、辞書で確認します。
・Collins English Dictionary: to make an assessment of (a person, situation, etc); judge: Borrowers need to weigh up the immediate benefits against the cost associated with the mortgage.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to find out the weight of something. I can't tell you how much this will cost until I weigh it up. Liz weighed up the meat and jotted down the price.
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: to form an opinion about a situation or someone's abilities and character by thinking about them carefully: I weighed up my chances of escape, and decided to wait for a better moment.
・Oxford English Dictionary: weigh someone/thing up: carefully assess someone or something; the coach weighed up his team’s opponents
考えて見れば、重さを計る事は評価する事に通じるのは当然ですね。もちろん、重ければ良いとは限らず、軽い方が良い場合もありますね。
'Do you want to ride my horse?'
I was in the midst of playing with two or three others at that point, but it was clear Ruth was addressing only me. This absolutely delighted me, but I made a show of weighing her up before giving a reply.
ここに出てきた "weighing her up" は初めて見る表現です。 この表現はこの場面の他にも次ぎの様に使われていました。
When she did speak, Miss Lucy seemed to be weighing up each word carefully.
"weigh up" は文脈からすると「吟味する」、あるいは「評価する」と言う様な意味の様ですが、辞書で確認します。
・Collins English Dictionary: to make an assessment of (a person, situation, etc); judge: Borrowers need to weigh up the immediate benefits against the cost associated with the mortgage.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to find out the weight of something. I can't tell you how much this will cost until I weigh it up. Liz weighed up the meat and jotted down the price.
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: to form an opinion about a situation or someone's abilities and character by thinking about them carefully: I weighed up my chances of escape, and decided to wait for a better moment.
・Oxford English Dictionary: weigh someone/thing up: carefully assess someone or something; the coach weighed up his team’s opponents
考えて見れば、重さを計る事は評価する事に通じるのは当然ですね。もちろん、重ければ良いとは限らず、軽い方が良い場合もありますね。
Never Let Me Goの主人公達がいた施設にやって来る車は多くなかったようで、たまに車がくると授業中のクラスは "bedlam" になると次ぎの個所に書かれています。
Days could sometimes go by without us seeing a vehicle coming down that narrow road, and the ones that did were usually vans or lorries bringing supplies, gardeners or workmen. A car was a rarity, and the sight of one in the distance was sometimes enough to cause bedlam during a class.
"bedlam" がそわそわ程度なのか、それとももっと大騒ぎなのか分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: a noisy situation with no order: It was bedlam at the football ground after the match was suspended.
・Vocabulary.com: Bedlam is a scene of madness, chaos or great confusion. If you allow football fans onto the field after the big game, it will be pure bedlam.The term bedlam comes from the name of a hospital in London, “Saint Mary of Bethlehem,” which was devoted to treating the mentally ill in the 1400's. Over time, the pronunciation of “Bethlehem” morphed into bedlam and the term came to be applied to any situation where pandemonium prevails. The trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange appears to be bedlam, but the traders insist it’s organized chaos.
騒々しいが収拾が付かない程の騒ぎでは無い様です。
Days could sometimes go by without us seeing a vehicle coming down that narrow road, and the ones that did were usually vans or lorries bringing supplies, gardeners or workmen. A car was a rarity, and the sight of one in the distance was sometimes enough to cause bedlam during a class.
"bedlam" がそわそわ程度なのか、それとももっと大騒ぎなのか分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: a noisy situation with no order: It was bedlam at the football ground after the match was suspended.
・Vocabulary.com: Bedlam is a scene of madness, chaos or great confusion. If you allow football fans onto the field after the big game, it will be pure bedlam.The term bedlam comes from the name of a hospital in London, “Saint Mary of Bethlehem,” which was devoted to treating the mentally ill in the 1400's. Over time, the pronunciation of “Bethlehem” morphed into bedlam and the term came to be applied to any situation where pandemonium prevails. The trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange appears to be bedlam, but the traders insist it’s organized chaos.
騒々しいが収拾が付かない程の騒ぎでは無い様です。
Reader's Digest 11月号に掲載されていた次のジョークの意味が分かりません。
As a child, I was made to walk the plank.
We couldn't afford a dog.
"walk the plank" の意味が分からないので当然ながら "We couldn't afford a dog." が何故オチになるのか悩みます。 "plank" の二つの意味（1. a long, flat piece of timber, thicker than a board. 2. any one of the stated principles or objectives comprising the political platform of a party campaigning for election）は知っていますが、ここではそのどちらの意味でも無い様なので、"walk the plank" が慣用句ではないかと思い調べると、確かに面白い意味がありました。
・Dictionary.com:
a. to be forced, as by pirates, to walk to one's death by stepping off a plank extending from the ship's side over the water.
b. to relinquish something, as a position, office, etc., under compulsion: We suspect that the new vice-president walked the plank because of a personality clash.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
1: to walk under compulsion over the side of a ship into the sea
2: to resign an office or position under compulsion
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs:
Fig. to suffer punishment at the hand of someone. (Fig. on the image of pirates making their blindfolded captives die by walking off the end of a plank jutting out over the open sea.) Fred may think he can make the members of my department walk the plank, but we will fight back. Tom thought he could make John walk the plank, but John fought back.
引用したジョークはこの慣用句の意味を比喩的に使用していると推測しますが、それでもオチが "We couldn't afford a dog." ではどこかの最貧国の親に捨てられる子供のようで、ジョークにはなりません。
ブラックジョークだとしても面白くはありません。 何か別の解釈があるのでしょうか？
但し、慣用句の "walk the plank" は覚えておこうと思います。
As a child, I was made to walk the plank.
We couldn't afford a dog.
"walk the plank" の意味が分からないので当然ながら "We couldn't afford a dog." が何故オチになるのか悩みます。 "plank" の二つの意味（1. a long, flat piece of timber, thicker than a board. 2. any one of the stated principles or objectives comprising the political platform of a party campaigning for election）は知っていますが、ここではそのどちらの意味でも無い様なので、"walk the plank" が慣用句ではないかと思い調べると、確かに面白い意味がありました。
・Dictionary.com:
a. to be forced, as by pirates, to walk to one's death by stepping off a plank extending from the ship's side over the water.
b. to relinquish something, as a position, office, etc., under compulsion: We suspect that the new vice-president walked the plank because of a personality clash.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
1: to walk under compulsion over the side of a ship into the sea
2: to resign an office or position under compulsion
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs:
Fig. to suffer punishment at the hand of someone. (Fig. on the image of pirates making their blindfolded captives die by walking off the end of a plank jutting out over the open sea.) Fred may think he can make the members of my department walk the plank, but we will fight back. Tom thought he could make John walk the plank, but John fought back.
引用したジョークはこの慣用句の意味を比喩的に使用していると推測しますが、それでもオチが "We couldn't afford a dog." ではどこかの最貧国の親に捨てられる子供のようで、ジョークにはなりません。
ブラックジョークだとしても面白くはありません。 何か別の解釈があるのでしょうか？
但し、慣用句の "walk the plank" は覚えておこうと思います。
西洋では男性は女性のためにドアを開けて女性を先に通しますが、自分の夫は他人の女性にはそのマナーを守りますが、妻の私にはそのサービスをしないとReader's Digest 11月号のAsk Auntyに投書がありました。 Auntyの回答は：
Dear Lady, unless there's some passive-aggressive thing going on, which I doubt, this is just a matter of husband training. The next time you come to a door and he touches it, shout, "Stop!" （後略）
"passive-aggressive" の意味はだいたい見当は付きますが、この表現は一般的なものか、辞書に説明があるのか調べます。
・Collins English Dictionary: psychoanalysis of or relating to a personality that harbours aggressive emotions while behaving in a calm or detached manner: The Canadian actress Deborah Kara Unger plays the niece who harbours a great deal of passive-aggressive resentment for her uncle.
Times, Sunday Times (2004)
・Wordnik: Of, relating to, or having a personality disorder characterized by habitual passive resistance to demands for adequate performance in occupational or social situations, as by procrastination, stubbornness, sullenness, and inefficiency.; “Feeling angry and resentful, passive-aggressive persons will even go so far as to sabotage themselves to hurt their adversaries.” - Newsweek: Sugarcoated Hostility
・YourDictionary.com: Passive aggressive describes behavior that is exhibited by a person who is dissatisfied, uncooperative or unhappy but who doesn't want to be overtly mean or rude. Instead, the person behaves in a subtly contrary way. (adjective)
An example of passive aggressive is secretly turning the air conditioning up every time your spouse leaves the house because you have fought about what temperature to keep it on in the past.
たまにこの "passive-aggressive" な態度で非協力的あるいは反抗的な人がいますね。
Dear Lady, unless there's some passive-aggressive thing going on, which I doubt, this is just a matter of husband training. The next time you come to a door and he touches it, shout, "Stop!" （後略）
"passive-aggressive" の意味はだいたい見当は付きますが、この表現は一般的なものか、辞書に説明があるのか調べます。
・Collins English Dictionary: psychoanalysis of or relating to a personality that harbours aggressive emotions while behaving in a calm or detached manner: The Canadian actress Deborah Kara Unger plays the niece who harbours a great deal of passive-aggressive resentment for her uncle.
Times, Sunday Times (2004)
・Wordnik: Of, relating to, or having a personality disorder characterized by habitual passive resistance to demands for adequate performance in occupational or social situations, as by procrastination, stubbornness, sullenness, and inefficiency.; “Feeling angry and resentful, passive-aggressive persons will even go so far as to sabotage themselves to hurt their adversaries.” - Newsweek: Sugarcoated Hostility
・YourDictionary.com: Passive aggressive describes behavior that is exhibited by a person who is dissatisfied, uncooperative or unhappy but who doesn't want to be overtly mean or rude. Instead, the person behaves in a subtly contrary way. (adjective)
An example of passive aggressive is secretly turning the air conditioning up every time your spouse leaves the house because you have fought about what temperature to keep it on in the past.
たまにこの "passive-aggressive" な態度で非協力的あるいは反抗的な人がいますね。
The phone bill was exceptionally high one month, and the man of the house decided to call a family meeting.
Dad: Listen, all. This is unacceptable. You have to limit the use of the phone. I don't even use this phone - I use the one at the office.
Mum: Same here. I hardly use this home telephone, 'cos I use my work telephone.
Son: Me too, I never use the home phone. I always use my company mobile.
Maid: What is the problem? So we all use our work telephones.
Dad: Listen, all. This is unacceptable. You have to limit the use of the phone. I don't even use this phone - I use the one at the office.
Mum: Same here. I hardly use this home telephone, 'cos I use my work telephone.
Son: Me too, I never use the home phone. I always use my company mobile.
Maid: What is the problem? So we all use our work telephones.
Reader's Digest 11月号の記事からです。筆者の父 Charlieは今から百年程前、14歳の時に英国からカナダに送られ、農場で働くなどして苦労した事を、筆者が二十歳になって初めて知りました。その話の中に興味のある表現がありました。
Mr. Corbin grew vegetables and fruit on his three-acre fields, which was bordered by rows of fruit trees. Charlie's bedroom was in the attic and always warm. But the biggest difference between the Corbin farm and the Slinger's was that there was lots of laughing at the Corbin's.
As the spring came, Charlie planted rows of carrots, beans, pea, turnips and corn. He learned how to hill up potatoes and how to stake the beans.
私は東京生まれで東京育ち、農業の事はほとんど分かりませんので、上の文の最後に出てきた "hill up potatoes" を「ポテトを山積みにする」と理解しても不思議ではないのですが、最近野菜作りに興味を持っているので、ジャガイモの栽培では土寄せをする事をしっています。そこで "hill up potatoes" は土寄せをする事ではないかと推測しますが、辞書で確認します。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
1: to form into a heap
2: to draw earth around the roots or base of: hilled peat moss around the rosebushes to protect them from the freeze
・Oxford English Dictionary: form (something) into a heap. bank up (a plant) with soil: if frost threatens our new plants, we hill them up
あと1年間区民農園が借りれるので、来年もまたジャガイモを栽培して見たい。
Mr. Corbin grew vegetables and fruit on his three-acre fields, which was bordered by rows of fruit trees. Charlie's bedroom was in the attic and always warm. But the biggest difference between the Corbin farm and the Slinger's was that there was lots of laughing at the Corbin's.
As the spring came, Charlie planted rows of carrots, beans, pea, turnips and corn. He learned how to hill up potatoes and how to stake the beans.
私は東京生まれで東京育ち、農業の事はほとんど分かりませんので、上の文の最後に出てきた "hill up potatoes" を「ポテトを山積みにする」と理解しても不思議ではないのですが、最近野菜作りに興味を持っているので、ジャガイモの栽培では土寄せをする事をしっています。そこで "hill up potatoes" は土寄せをする事ではないかと推測しますが、辞書で確認します。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
1: to form into a heap
2: to draw earth around the roots or base of: hilled peat moss around the rosebushes to protect them from the freeze
・Oxford English Dictionary: form (something) into a heap. bank up (a plant) with soil: if frost threatens our new plants, we hill them up
あと1年間区民農園が借りれるので、来年もまたジャガイモを栽培して見たい。
ROGER PULVERS氏がThe Japan Timesに毎週書いているコラムCUNTERPOINTを久しぶりに読みました。
キャプションはU.S. base plan reveals obsequious Australia's frail sense of nationhoodとなっていました。
全文は長いので以下に抜粋して引用します。
That's the rub of this "unbreakable" yet highly unbalanced relationship. Australians do not ask themselves what they can do for their country; they ask themselves what they can do to ingratiate themselves into the good books of the United States of America. This red-white-and-blue label on the fabric of Australian foreign policy is manufactured and affixed in the interests of the U.S. on the implied basis that those interests coincide with Australia's.
PULVERS氏が言いたい最後の段落です。
Obama strategically sugared his speech with a handful of Australian-English expressions. This pleased the crowd of lawmakers no end.
All you need to do is make a single 27-hour visit once a term, say a few words in the local lingo, and we're yours forever more.
But we should be saying to the U.S.: "Fair crack of the whip, mate." We're not as dumb as we look ... are we?
PULVERS氏はオーストラリア人の様です。オーストラリア人が "mate" を使う事は聞いたことがあります。
今日覚えたいフレーズは "fair crack of the whip" です。 辞書の説明を見ます。
・Collins English Dictionary: informal a fair crack of the whip a fair chance or opportunity
・Cambridge Dictionaries Online: an equal chance to do something: It's only right that all the candidates should be given a fair crack of the whip.
当然な主張です。
12月3日のArcaMax Vocabulary（メルマガ）の記事も興味のある内容でした。
読書（ネイティブ）から代名詞のおかしな使用法をよく見掛けるとの投書がありました。
Q: What's your opinion of the commonplace use of "they" to mean "he or she," "them" to mean "him or her," and "their" to mean "his or her?" Here is an example of part of a note that might be sent home by my child's school: "If your child wishes to purchase a lunch, they should bring their money in an envelope."
回答は丁寧ですが、全てを引用すると長いので抜粋して以下に紹介します。
Technically, of course, the singular antecedent "child" requires a singular pronoun. The old-fashioned solution was to use the masculine pronouns "he," "him" and "his" to refer to both genders, i.e., "He should bring his money in an envelope."
Another option is to use double-barreled pronouns, e.g., "he or she," "him or her," "he/she" and "him/her." But such constructions are cumbersome and awkward and, when used more than a few times, become tedious and annoying to readers or listeners.
回答者の結論です。
* Use a plural subject with "they": If your children want to purchase a lunch, they ...
* Rewrite the sentence to eliminate pronouns entirely: Your child can purchase a lunch by bringing money in an envelope.
* Change the pronoun to an article, such as "the" or "a": A child wishing to purchase lunch should bring the money in an envelope.
納得です。 英文を書くことはほとんどありませんが、ネイティブでも手本にならない英語を使う事があるので要注意という例でした。
読書（ネイティブ）から代名詞のおかしな使用法をよく見掛けるとの投書がありました。
Q: What's your opinion of the commonplace use of "they" to mean "he or she," "them" to mean "him or her," and "their" to mean "his or her?" Here is an example of part of a note that might be sent home by my child's school: "If your child wishes to purchase a lunch, they should bring their money in an envelope."
回答は丁寧ですが、全てを引用すると長いので抜粋して以下に紹介します。
Technically, of course, the singular antecedent "child" requires a singular pronoun. The old-fashioned solution was to use the masculine pronouns "he," "him" and "his" to refer to both genders, i.e., "He should bring his money in an envelope."
Another option is to use double-barreled pronouns, e.g., "he or she," "him or her," "he/she" and "him/her." But such constructions are cumbersome and awkward and, when used more than a few times, become tedious and annoying to readers or listeners.
回答者の結論です。
* Use a plural subject with "they": If your children want to purchase a lunch, they ...
* Rewrite the sentence to eliminate pronouns entirely: Your child can purchase a lunch by bringing money in an envelope.
* Change the pronoun to an article, such as "the" or "a": A child wishing to purchase lunch should bring the money in an envelope.
納得です。 英文を書くことはほとんどありませんが、ネイティブでも手本にならない英語を使う事があるので要注意という例でした。
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