難関大学を目指し、英文記事を読む！

仮定法

Tom Sawyerの一節です。学校サボって、川に泳ぎに行かないように、Aunt Pollyは、下着とシャツを糸でぬいつけておきます。しかし、トムは糸つきの針をもっていて、泳いだあと、縫い付けるという対応策を実行しています。しかし、Half-brotherのSidがその日縫い付けた糸の色の違いを指摘したので、川にいったことがばれてしまいます。

"Siddy, I'll lick you for that."
In a safe place Tom examined two large needles which were thrust into the lapels of his jacket, and had thread bound about them—--one needle carried white thread and the other black. He said:
"She'd never noticed if it hadn't been for Sid. Confound it! sometimes she sews it with white, and sometimes she sews it with black. I wish to geeminy she'd stick to one or t'other?　---I can't keep the run of 'em. But I bet you I'll lam Sid for that. I'll learn him!"
[from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]

エンジ色の文が仮定法です。ただ、

１．She'd never noticed if it hadn't been for Sidの部分は、学校文法の形とは違います。どう直せばいいですか。

２． I wish to geeminy she'd stick to one or t'other?　は、she'd=she wouldの形をとる仮定法。学校文法ではどの程度この辺のニュアンスを扱うかどうかわかりませんが、この文脈ではどんな気持ちが現れているでしょうか？なおgeeminyはGemini（間投詞）からきた表現です。これを辞書でチェックしてみると納得できると思います。

３．lickはどんな意味でしょう。この文章でほぼ同じ意味でつかっている言葉があります。それはどれですか？

４．下線部については、前者はone...the other, 後者はkeep up with them。入試では必須事項なのでしっかり使い方、意味合いを確認しておきましょう。

なお、Confound it!は、「悪態言葉」ですが、confoundの基本的な意味は確認しておいてください。

a basic understanding of humor

かなり手ごわい英文かもしれません。しかしテーマは「ユーモア」です。３つのパートに分けていますが、一続きの文章です。読んでみてください。

[Part I]
   Humor has many faces. It can be biting and sarcastic, subtle, slapstick, genuine, or insincere. It can be used to bring people closer, or to maintain distance. Scores of books have been written on the topic, and still some aspects of humor are too subjective ever to be explained fully. But a basic understanding of how it's used in communication is essential to accurately reading people.   

[Part II]
   Humor can be employed as a weapon or a shield. It can be a powerful tool of aggression, used to hurt and humiliate. It can be used to deflect criticism or defuse a crisis. People frequently use humor to disguise their true feeling; if they don't dare lodge a serious complaint, they'll toss off a humorous but pointed remark instead. As with self-criticism, humor can also be a means of self-protection. The woman who jokes about her height may be introducing the topic to guard against someone else bringing it up, or to suggest to others that she is comfortable with it.

[Part III]
   Always ask whether humor is directed at a particular person and, if so, whether it has a critical element. If the employee who arrives late is met by a supervisor who says, "I'm glad you could join us," he should take that comment seriously, no matter how lightheartedly it was delivered.
[2002 Meiji-gakuin]

ここで言われている'a basic understanding of  humor'をまとめてみましょう。

なお、ここでつかわれている言葉は、文脈を踏まえてしっかり覚えておきましょう。受験必須単語、受験では注がつくであろう単語を区別せずに覚えてしまうことが大切です。

不明な点は、コメント、あるいはメールで。なお、メインページには問い合わせフォームをあります。こちらからでもOKです。

black humour

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fireの映画が昨年公開されましたが、それより少し前にRoald DahlのCharlie and the Chocolate Factoryもロードショー公開され、明日２月３日はDVDが発売されます。
どちらも「おとぎ話」あるいは「ファンタジー」という言い方もできる小説の映画化です。
Harry Potterは非常に話題になりすぎで、具体的な内容は出題しにくいようでこれはで作者の伝記に関する英文くらいしか出題されていなかったと思います。一方、Dahlの方は確かにファンはいますが、まだ限定的なようでここでは内容まで踏み込んだ英文の出題になっています。

では、実際に筑波大（２００１年）で出題された英文の一部を二つに分けて読んでみましょう。
まず「その１」です。
   The use of the word 'unexpected' in relation to many of Roald Dahl's short stories is quite common. The endings to his stories are often unexpected and take the reader by surprise. Sometimes the endings are comic, sometimes they are tragic, sometimes a likeable character wins,sometimes an evil and disliked character wins; in most cases, however, the ending is almost impossible to predict and there is a 'twist-in-the-tail'. Many of the stories are humorous as characters find themselves in unusual or extreme situations but the humour is nearly always a 'black' humour because comic and tragic elements mix together.

読めましたか？ここで 'twist-in-the-tail'とあります。この言葉をここで使われている別の語を使って表現してください。

さて、次は「その２」です。読んでみてください。ちょっと以下の部分は語り切れていないように思います。出典で確認したいところですが、読んでみてください。
   Black humour is an important element in Roald Dahl's writings. Dahl seems to enjoy treating some of his characters in a cruel way. The characters find themselves in circumstances which they did not expect or which have tragic consequences, but their situation is often described in an amusing way and readers find that they are laughing at the personal tragedies of the character and that they may even enjoy reading about their misfortunes. Black humour is directed at characters who are shown to be unsympathetic but is also sometimes reserved for characters we have grown to like. The starting-point for many of the stories is often everyday, common incidents of ordinary life and the characters are often people with whom readers can identify. Not one of Roald Dahl's stories could be called sentimental.

ここで言われている 'black humour'についてまとめてみてください。
なお、興味があれば問題の全文も読んでみてください。