『赤毛のアン』原文で英語脳を鍛える！ 脳科学者・茂木健一郎が重要シーンを解説
高校１年のときに『赤毛のアン』を原書で読むことによって英語力が飛躍的に高まったという脳科学者の茂木健一郎氏。とにかく最初から最後まで読み通すことで自信をつけ、「英語脳」を身につけることが英語力向上の秘訣。原文に現れる「英語フィーリング」を茂木氏が解説する新刊『赤毛のアンで英語づけ』より、印象的なシーンを紹介する。
『赤毛のアン』は、全部で38章からなっています。その中から、今回は第２章「マシュー・カスバート驚く」で、アン（Anne）がこの物語に登場するシーンを見てみましょう。
当記事はプレタポルテ（運営：夜間飛行）の提供記事です
ある６月初めの午後、マシュー・カスバート（Matthew Cuthbert）は馬車に乗り、ブライト・リバーという駅に、孤児院から来るはずの男の子を迎えに出かけます。そこで何かの手違いで来ていた女の子、すなわちアンを見つけて、仕方がなく声をかけるのです。
この時点では、マシューは女の子の名前がアンであることも、なぜ彼女が孤児院から送られてきたのかも知りません。女の子と話すのが苦手なマシューが勇気をふるって話しかけたのに対して、アンはまるで堰を切ったように話し出します。
さっそく原文を読んでいきましょう。
"I'm sorry I was late," he said shyly. "Come along. The horse is over in the yard. Give me your bag."
"Oh, I can carry it," the child responded cheerfully. "It isn't heavy. I've got all my worldly goods in it, but it isn't heavy. And if it isn't carried in just a certain way the handle pulls out--so I'd better keep it because I know the exact knack of it. It's an extremely old carpet-bag. Oh, I'm very glad you've come, even if it would have been nice to sleep in a wild cherry-tree. We've got to drive a long piece, haven't we? Mrs. Spencer said it was eight miles. I'm glad because I love driving. Oh, it seems so wonderful that I'm going to live with you and belong to you. I've never belonged to anybody--not really. But the asylum was the worst. I've only been in it four months, but that was enough. I don't suppose you ever were an orphan in an asylum, so you can't possibly understand what it is like. It's worse than anything you could imagine. Mrs. Spencer said it was wicked of me to talk like that, but I didn't mean to be wicked. It's so easy to be wicked without knowing it, isn't it? They were good, you know--the asylum people. But there is so little scope for the imagination in an asylum--only just in the other orphans. It was pretty interesting to imagine things about them--to imagine that perhaps the girl who sat next to you was really the daughter of a belted earl, who had been stolen away from her parents in her infancy by a cruel nurse who died before she could confess. I used to lie awake at nights and imagine things like that, because I didn't have time in the day. I guess that's why I'm so thin--I AM dreadful thin, ain't I? There isn't a pick on my bones. I do love to imagine I'm nice and plump, with dimples in my elbows."
knack＝コツ
asylum＝孤児院
orphan＝孤児
wicked ＝不道徳な、邪悪な
earl＝伯爵
plump＝ふくよかな、丸々した
dimples＝えくぼ、小さなくぼみ
"Oh, I can carry it," the child responded cheerfully. "It isn't heavy. I've got all my worldly goods in it, but it isn't heavy. And if it isn't carried in just a certain way the handle pulls out--so I'd better keep it because I know the exact knack of it. It's an extremely old carpet-bag. Oh, I'm very glad you've come, even if it would have been nice to sleep in a wild cherry-tree. We've got to drive a long piece, haven't we? Mrs. Spencer said it was eight miles. I'm glad because I love driving. Oh, it seems so wonderful that I'm going to live with you and belong to you. I've never belonged to anybody--not really. But the asylum was the worst. I've only been in it four months, but that was enough. I don't suppose you ever were an orphan in an asylum, so you can't possibly understand what it is like. It's worse than anything you could imagine. Mrs. Spencer said it was wicked of me to talk like that, but I didn't mean to be wicked. It's so easy to be wicked without knowing it, isn't it? They were good, you know--the asylum people. But there is so little scope for the imagination in an asylum--only just in the other orphans. It was pretty interesting to imagine things about them--to imagine that perhaps the girl who sat next to you was really the daughter of a belted earl, who had been stolen away from her parents in her infancy by a cruel nurse who died before she could confess. I used to lie awake at nights and imagine things like that, because I didn't have time in the day. I guess that's why I'm so thin--I AM dreadful thin, ain't I? There isn't a pick on my bones. I do love to imagine I'm nice and plump, with dimples in my elbows."
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