The Gift of the Magi

“Cut it off and sold it”, said Della.
“Don’t you like me just as well, anyhow ?
I’m me without my hair, ain’t I ?”
Jim looked about the room curiously.
"You say your hair is gone ?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.
“You needn’t look for it,” said Della.
“It’s sold, I tell you --- sold and gone, too.
It”s Christmas Eve, boy.

anyhow = anyway : いずれにせよ、ともかく
idiocy : 白痴、何が何だか判らない様子

The Gift of the Magi

It'll grow again --- you won't mind, will you?
I just had to do it.
My hair grows awfully fast.
Say 'Merry Christmas !' Jim. and let's be happy.
You don't know what a nice --- what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."
"You've cut off your hair ?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.

It : My hair
laboriously : 一言一言苦しそうに
that patent fact : その歴然たる事実

The Gift of the Magi

He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.
Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
“Jim, darling, “ she cried, “don’t look at me that way.
I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present.

stare : じっと見つめる、じろじろ見る
fixedly : しっかりと、じっと
peculiar : 独特の、変な、特別の
wriggled off the table : 身をよじってテーブルから離れた
I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without : ～することなしにクリスマスを過ごすなんて私には出来なかったの

The Gift of the Magi

Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail.
His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her.
It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for.

a setter at the scent of quail : ウズラの匂いを嗅いだセッター
fix : しっかり固定する、留める
could not read : （何を考えているのか）理解できない
disapproval : 不賛成、不満、反感
sentiment : 心情、意見、感傷

The Gift of the Magi

and now she whispered : "Please, God, make him think I am still pretty."
The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it.
He looked thin and very serious.
Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two --- and to be burdened with a family !
He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.

be burdened with ～ : ～の重荷を背負わされている

第一級殺人弁護 （中嶋博行）

現役弁護士の作品です。
短編集です。
「鑑定証拠」は、ＤＮＡ鑑定の危うさをテーマにした作品で、
興味深かった。

ヘッドフォン

MDR-Q68LW-T SONY をネットで注文した。
どうも、私の耳にイアホンは相性が悪いようです。
耳の穴が小さいのか、すぐに落ちてしまう。
こういうタイプのなら大丈夫だろう。
wktk

The Gift of the Magi

Jim was never late.
Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door thet he always entered.
Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment.
She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about the simplest ereryday things,

doubled : 二つ折りにした
fob chain : 懐中時計の鎖

チョコレートゲーム（岡嶋二人）

４日間で読めた。
日本人作家の作品は読みやすいです。

う～む、中学生があんなことをするのだろうか？
途中で誰かが教師に密告すると思うのだが・・・・・

The Gift of the Magi

"before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl.
But what could I do --- oh, what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents !"
At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the fryingpan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.

Coney Island chorus girl : コニー・アイランドのコーラスガール
the chops : チョップ（あばら骨付きの厚切りの肉片）