英文をいかに読むか
今日から本編となる第2編
第2編1Clarence S. Day
identity of namesが何を指しているのかがわかれば一気にわかりやすくなります。thisの内容はこの部分にはありません。
Father and I would have had plenty of friction in any case. This identity of names*1 made things worse. Every time that*2 I had been more of a fool than he liked, Father would try to impress on me my responsibilities as his eldest son, and above all as the son to whom he had given his name, as he put it*3. A great deal was expected, it seemed to me, of*4 a boy who was named after his father. I used to envy my brothers*5, who didn't have anything expected of them on this score*6 at all. I envied them still more after I was old enough to begin getting letters. I then discovered that when Father "gave"*7 me his name he had also, not unnaturally I had to admit*8, retained it himself, and when anything came for Clarence S. Day he opened it*9, though it was sometimes for me. So far as mail and express went, I had no name at all of my own.
Life with Father by Clarence S. Day
第2編2 Arnold Joseph Toynbee
My view of history is itself*10 a tiny piece of history; and*11 this*12 mainly other people's history and not my own; for a scholar's life-work is to add his bucketful of water*13 to the great and growing river of knowledge fed*14 by countless bucketfuls of the kind*15. If my individual view of history is to be made at all*16 illuminating*17, or indeed intelligible*18, it must be presented in its origin, growth*19, and social and personal setting*20.
My View of History by Arnold Joseph Toynbee
第2編3 Somerset Maugham 80歳のころの文章
In Tolstoy's book Confession*21 he asks himself whether there is any meaning in life that*22 can overcome the inevitable death that awaits us all, and because man is subject to illness, because he grows old, because he dies, he arrives at the conclusion that life has no meaning. I do not think that is reasonable. The human body is a mechanism*23 and there is no more sense in supposing that*24 it*25 will not get out of order*26 than*27 to expect your car or your watch never to fail you, never to need repair, never to wear out*28. I have had numerous illnesses, but I have recovered from them and I do not know that they have done me harm*29. From some*30 indeed I have spiritually profited. Tolstoy dreaded old age*31. It seems not to have occurred to him that in old age one no longer has the desires of youth*32. One no longer wants to do the things that make youth, with its*33 passions, its ambitions, its curiosity, seem exciting and delightful.
The Partial View by Somerset Maugham
第2編4 Somerset Maugham 70歳のころの文章
My reveries*34 tend often to be concerned with*35 my long past youth. I have done various things I regret, but I make an effort not to let them freet*36 me; I say to myself*37 that it is not I who did them, but the different I that I was then. I injured some*38, but since I could not repair the injuries I had done I have tried to make amends*39 by benefiting others*40.
A Writer's Notebook by Somerset Maugham
*1:名前が同一であること。同姓同名
*2:that: 関係副詞。at which
*3:彼の言葉によると。itはこの文の前半
*4:expect of: に期待する
*5:名前を継ぐのは長男なので、弟
*6:score: 点、件、理由。on this score: この点で
*7:he had also retainedと対照させる""
*8:not unnnatually: 当然。は、had to admitではなく、retainにかかる。cf: I had to admit it was not unnatural he had also retain...。cf2:第1編例文5参照
*9:it=letter
*11:等位接続詞で結ばれるものをセミコロンで表すことができる。そのとき、andを省略できる
*14:feed: を供給する、に注ぎ込む
*15:other people's historyに対応。the kindは著者が行うのと同種のもの(the same kind)を指す
*16:at all: (条件節で)仮にも、とにかく
*17:illuminating: 解明する、啓発する
*18:intelligible: 理解できる、意味の明瞭な。ここでのindeedはevenに近い。「いや、そこまではいかなくても･･･｣
*19:originateされた後の発展
*20:setting: 背景
*21:Confession: 『懺悔』
*22:that=meaning
*23:mechanism: 機械
*24:there is a sense in supposing that...: ･･･と思う
*25:the human body
*26:get out of order: 故障する
*27:A is no more ... than B: Bが･･･でないのと同じように、Aも･･･でない。
cf: A whale is no more a fish than a horse is.
馬が魚でないように、クジラも魚ではない。
*28:車や時計がいつまでも忠実に動き、決して修繕を必要とせず、寿命が尽きないことを期待するように。
fail someone: 人に役立たない、人を失望させる
wear out: 寿命が尽きる
*29:do someone harm: 人に害をなす
*30:some of the illness
*31:dread: 酷く怖がる
*32:youth: 若さ
*33:it=youth
*34:reverie: 物思い
*35:be concerned with: に関係する
*36:freet: いらいらさせる、じらす
*37:say to oneself: 腹の中で考える
*38:some people
*39:amends: 償い。1度の償いでもsがつく。
make amends (to someone for something): 人に物･事の償いをする
*40:other people.someと対照
