大問１
Though the saying "No man is an
island" may not sound very important, many people find that they are
living isolated lives, particularly in Japan. To help prevent such a situation, it is
important to have a variety of relationships. The following are five different types of
relationships that are important for our sense of well-being and growth:
(1)
Relationships that offer daily contact, such as those with
shopkeepers, the person at the checkout counter, apartment managers, etc. ,
make it sure that you are a member of the local community.
(2)
Relationships with neighbors, or those with whom you can
engage in small talk about the weather or current events, help develop
sociability.
(3)
Deeper-level relationships expand your horizons and provide
stimulation. These include contact with
coworkers or people belonging to the same group with whom you can talk about
life events and share information (weekend activities, diets, trips, shopping,
etc. ).
(4)
Relationships with close friends are those in which you can
share your problems, disappointments, hopes and joys. They help develop your capacity to trust
others.
(5)
Your intimate friends and family members are a special group
of people with whom you share the deepest parts of yourself, including your
weaknesses and fears. They remind us of
our fragility and of our need for one another.
All five types of interactions have
something different to offer, and it is ideal to have relationships on all
levels. Surprisingly, a fair number of
expatriates find themselves having relationships on only one or two levels. Introverts often think that the kind of
"small talk" found on levels one and two is superficial and a waste
of time. They prefer intimacy at levels
three, four, and five. On the other
hand, extroverts are stimulated by having many friends and acquaintances and
have a tendency to spread their time and energy thinly. They may be unable to sustain the degree of
intimacy required for the type of relationships at levels four and five.
Living overseas, it is sometimes difficult
to have relationships with shopkeepers and neighbors because of the language
barrier. Daily contact with these
people, however, is important because it provides a sense of belonging and an
opportunity to share warm and friendly feelings. You may want to make a point of dining out
once a week at a local sushi restaurant or shopping at a mom-and-pop shop,
instead of at convenience or department stores, so as to become known on a
first-name basis. Even a friendly
exchange with a total stranger can be a precious experience. One American woman stated:
It just happened yesterday. I was tired and I got in the taxi, and the
driver was friendly and commented on how well I spoke Japanese. That was just the thing I needed. (462 words)
日本にいる外国人に対するアドバイス。長さも難易度も適当。内容的には穏当であまり感想がありません。
【大問２】
That summer my brother and I went for a
walking-tour in Switzerland, with our tutor. We traveled by train so far as the money
lasted. The tutor and I climbed
mountains: "We climbed the Wetterhorn and Monte Rosa. The spectacle of the
sunrise striking the peaks of the Bernese Oberland was so grand and marvelous. I longed to climb the Matter horn, but this
plan was not supported by the tutor. It
was not only too expensive but too dangerous. All this prudence, however, proved to be in
vain, as an incident happened to me in the lake of Lausanne. I record this
incident so that it may be a warning to others.
One day I went rowing a boat with another
boy a little younger than myself. When
we were more than a mile from the shore, we decided to have a swim. We pulled off our clothes, jumped into the
water and swam about in great delight. When we had had enough, the boat was perhaps
one hundred yards away. A breeze had begun
to stir the waters. The boat had a small
red awning over its stern seats. This
awning acted as a sail by catching the breeze. As we swam towards the boat, it drifted
farther off. After this had happened
several times we had perhaps halved the distance. But meanwhile the breeze was freshening and we
both, especially my companion, began to be tired. Up to this point no idea of
danger had crossed my mind. The sun
played upon the sparkling blue waters. The wonderful panorama of mountains and
valleys, the gay hotels and villas still smiled. But I now saw Death as near as
I believe I have ever seen him. He was
swimming in the water at our side, whispering from time to time. The rising wind continued to carry the boat
away from us at about the same speed we could swim. No help was near. Unaided we could never reach the shone. I was a good swimmer, but now I swam for life.
Twice I reached within a yard of the
boat and each time a strong wind carried it just beyond my reach. By a supreme effort I caught hold of its side
in the nick of time before a still stronger wind swelled the red awning again. I scrambled in, and rowed back for my
companion who, though tired, had not apparently realized the danger that had stolen
to us. I said nothing to the tutor about
this serious experience, but I have never forgotten it. Perhaps some of my readers will remember it
too. (436 words)
ちょっとしたエピソードをもとに教訓を伝える。教訓ははっきり書かれていませんが，「危険だと思ったら，どんなに楽しいと思ってもやらない勇気が必要だ」
この東邦・理は４月１４日早朝（午前２時から）にやりました。これまででもっとも遅い解答です。通例，３月下旬か４月の２，３日で終了するので，これは異例中の異例。実は宴会と出張の合間の時間に解答することになったので，こんなに厳しいスケジュールでやるのも久しぶり。これで２００７年度入試は本当に終了です。
（２００７年４月１４日）
大問１
Self-consciousness is caused by inferiority
feelings which may be wholly subconscious. in some -way we feel we are ‘different’ from
others. This feeling of isolation makes
us want to shrink from possible criticism by avoiding people. We are never at ease with people because
instead of being interested in them, we are wondering about our appearance, if
we are behaving correctly, whether we can hold their attention, whether they
like us.
We want to impress others favourably. We are ever-conscious of this urge, and always
consciously straining after their good, opinion. We are like a man who is watching himself in a
mirror, criticizing his every gesture. Our eyes are focused on ourselves. We worry about trifles which other people do
not even notice.
It is significant that two of the questions
which people ask most frequently are: ‘How
do I look?’ and ‘What impression did I make?'
The
happiest people are those easy-going souls who never bother about either. Without being eccentric, they dress to please
themselves and on all occasions remain their natural lovable selves. They have enough confidence and courage to
rely on their own personalities to carry them through.
We must make up our minds on one point, and
the sooner we do it the sooner we will find happiness. We are not going to be liked by everybody all
the time.
Would you rather be known as a person of
character with ideals and opinions of your own, or as a person who tries to
please everyone and therefore gives the impression that he is all things to all
men?
In the first case, you will make real
friends, and if you have the common sense to avoid being intolerant and
dogmatic, even your opponents will respect you; in time they may even like you.
In the second case, you will become a
typical `good fellow' with many acquaintances but no real friends. People may regard you as good company, but
they will never give you their complete confidence.
(334 words)
(
From How to Make Friends and Develop a
Positive Personality by C. H,Tccar, Coles Publishing Company, Toronto,
1980)
結構難しい英文です。出典が明示されています。古いことと，how toものだということがわかります。
大問２
You are of course aware that you will never
add very rapidly to your vocabulary by merely being exposed to words, or by
reading, or by talking. You must have a
plan.
Here is one way to get ahead with words in
everyday life. It's the simplest thing
in the world.
Buy a small pocket notebook. When you read a newspaper, a magazine, or book
or listen to TV or the radio, and come upon a strange word, enter it in your
notebook. Then look it up in the
dictionary. If you find that it's some
abstruse or highly technical term, such as, say, syzygy, "an immovable
union between two brachials of a crinoid," ( 2 ) . You won't be using it unless you are studying
to be a professor of biology. But it sounds
like a word that will be helpful to you, take possession of it, make it your
own personal property. Say it aloud many
times. Study its definition, note its
derivation. Be sure, also, to copy from
the dictionary the sample sentence in which it is used, if such is given, Then
write you own sentence along the lines of the example in the dictionary.
All this will take only a few minutes or so, but it is necessary to make the practice a daily habit. Then the list in your notebook will grow and grow, as will your command of English.
(237 words)
(From
,30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary by Wilfred Funk & Norman Lewis,
Pocket Books, New York, 1971)
こちらも有名な英文。私も購入した覚えがあります。語彙力はつきませんでしたが…
（４月２日）
大問1
Their first encounters with one another took
place at a time when natives and Europeans alike were intensely aware of the
passage of season. It was time when
people were so observant that they noticed an unfamiliar plant; when they were
so intimately connected with one another that a rumor of strangers could travel
hundreds of miles without benefit of telephone, broadcast, or newspaper. Impressions and intuition ware powerful then,
before the Age of Enlightenment and its insistence upon scientific proof. It can be hard for us--- children of that
Enlightenment and of its technological marvels --- to appreciate intuition or
the minute observations that guided daily life four and a half centuries ago.
From a hand of humble enclaves populated by
relatively small groups of people, a powerful influence radiates across the
Southwest. Why should this be so?
Perhaps we find our own long-forgotten selves in the people and the way of life
here. And all of the things they create
that we find so delight are ultimately derived from the fundamentals; from
earth, water, and sky, faith, hope, and community. Perhaps t is why they speak to us as they do.
Human nature being what it is, we try to keep
our lives steady, stable, and comfortable. We cling to the notion that every
problem can be solved, and that hardship, pain or sacrifice can and should be
avoided. We resist the pull of the
seasons, using our technology to shut out the natural world and keep our
distance from one another. But the price
of insulating ourselves from the trials of life is to lose many its joys. As the seasons unfold, they can remind us to
look up and see the world anew, to encounter every day with awareness,
gratitude, and love.
And so surely what is important to outsiders
is not so much what a culture does, but why they do it. Life lived according to the seasons is life
everchanging yet the same. To realize, "Yes, l remember how it feels to
snuggle together and tell stories in winter to see the first bluebird of spring,
to plant, to harvest, to feast. " There is pleasure in this and sometimes,
transcendence.
(366
words)
この英文だけではぼーっと中身がわかる程度。途中でthe Southwestが登場。最初の英文でEuropeansとnatives。しかし，これだけではどことどこのことなのか判断がつきません。私は最初Southeastからの類推でアジアか南太平洋かと思いました。ただ，出典が出ておりました。Susan Lamb, Pueblo and Mission:Cultural Roots of the Southwest この出典で，これがアメリカ南西部の観光案内書であることが判明，理解がしやすくなりました。
センターレベルとしましたが，実際には「センターレベル」と「やや難」の中間ぐらい。
大問2
Very early in my life, I acquired a reputation
for having an enormous appetite. I never
put on weight, however. My mother used
to say all my food input turned into heat and energy. Nowadays, however, I must confess, a plentiful
input of beer and sake has given me a permanent paunch --- something I'd like
to forget about quickly. In England, by
the way, most children are allowed to choose for themselves whether they would
like to eat more or not. During the meal,
their mother will sometimes ask: "Would you like some more, dear?' or
"Have you had enough? “ The child
is given a sense of responsibility and independence by such methods as this. If he eats too much, he gets a stomachache; or
he becomes fat. I have learned, it seems,
too late!
One incident of my childhood remains indelibly
engraved in my mind. It was Christmas Day. Perhaps I was six or seven years old. My father was carving the seasonal turkey, and
as I was sitting very near him, I must have been staring at the luscious meat,
goggle-eyed with anticipation. He began
to place some pieces of turkey onto the empty plate in front of me one by one. Perhaps I expressed disappointment at the
small amount, I am not sure, but suddenly my father picked up the entire turkey
with the carving fork and knife and placed it on my plate. The entire family, including some relatives
and guests, who had been watching this little drama, burst into a gale of
laughter. Then my father abruptly removed the turkey from my plate, and equally
abruptly I burst into a flood of tears. The laughter all round me increased beyond
measure. They all thought that my tears
were caused by my disappointment in losing such a great prize as a whole turkey
to eat. Actually, the real reason was
quite different. Being of a naturally
shy disposition, I was acutely embarrassed to have such a wave of attention
directed at me. My tears were caused by
the shame and misery of being made such an exhibition of, not by disappointment.
To this day, my father persists in his
interpretation and delights in telling this story whenever he has the chance.
(380
words)
こちらはちょっとユーモアのあるエッセー。一応分類は小説。わかりやすいです。これも出典あり。Gavin Bantock, English people, English Opinions, 1987
ただし，確認できず。短い割にまとまりのある英文。これも「センターレベル」ということになりますが，どうも英語の難易度に幅があって，すべてセンターレベルにくくるのは難しいところがあります。かといって「やや難」とするわけにもいかず。
（３月３０日）
The great
majority of American children attend public schools (that is, schools that are
tax-supported and free). It is often confusing to people to find that there is
no nationally directed standardized system for all 50 states. Each state has been free to develop its own
levels and plans. These vary so widely
in quality, facilities, disciplines, and academic standards that people often
move into (or out of) a state because of the level of available schooling.
To make
matters even more confusing, local school districts have considerable leeway
within each state framework. City,
township, and district schools have their own curricula, boards, budgets, and
standards, even though these must follow, certain broad guidelines outlined by
their states.
School
support comes primarily from taxes at state and local levels, rather than from
national funds. When the federal
government does contribute to education, it does so primarily in the poorer
states, where local funds are inadequate. National funds tend to be channeled for
buildings, transportation, or other supplements which do not affect the
curriculum. As we have said above,
Americans jealously guard their independence from their own national government.
If there is even a chance that, as a
result of accepting national funds, the government may be able to exert some
kind of control, such funds are often turned down by community school boards
(elected citizens). There have been
heated arguments---even riots and demonstrations at the college level----when
citizens have felt that the federal government was exerting too strong an
influence on curriculum through support of scientific research programs, for
example, or military training or other specific projects. Since many of our forebears and many of
today's new citizens have come to this country for the express purpose of
escaping too much government control, this feeling still runs deep.
In line
with this emphasis on local control over education, there are no national
examinations at either school or college levels as there are, for example, in
France or England. College Board
examinations, which are taken across the country for entrance to colleges and
universities, are administered by a private organization, not by the federal
government, and no college is compelled to use them. Similarly, a private organization, the national
Board of Medical Examiners, administers a licensing examination for physicians.
The results of these tests are accepted
by virtually every state, although each state has its own examination system. This practice is common among other
professions as well.
This
state and local independence results, as was mentioned above, in substantial
variation in the quality of public education, even from one town to the next. In our fast-growing cities, elementary and
high schools are nearly all badly overcrowded. In recent years many have been
troubled with violence, teacher strikes and other problems. In suburban areas and small towns, public
schools tend to be more settled, with adequate facilities, reasonable ratios
between teachers and pupils, and good academic standards.
(513 words)
初めての担当でした。訳そうと思うと結構面倒なところが２カ所ありました。分からないというのでなく，ただ，英文が長い！
出典が書かれていました。Living in the U.S.Aこれは入試の定番のはずですが，この英文は未出のようで，かろうじて最初の部分が立命館大学2006年度に一部出ていただけでした。他に高知大2001年。教科書にはかなり採用されているはず。
→大意
(３月２９日）
大問１
My children, all now with families of their
own, seem to think my growing-up days were unique. So here goes. In 1933, when
I was 16 months old, my mother dropped me off as a day baby with a carer, in
Kilburn, northwest London, promised to pick me up at half past five, and then
disappeared. The old lady, who took in so many young children, did not know
that my mother, unlike all the others, was never to collect me later in the
day.
The dim three-story house in Loveridge Road
became my home. The house was bare of furniture --- floors with no carpets,
gaslights with no shades, the old armchair full of mice. My little bed was two
old armchairs pushed together, and my bedding one blanket and some old coats. I can still feel those huge buttons hitting me
in the teeth as I pilled them up around me on a cold night.
The house was full of mice, even though we
had a cat, and the prints on the wall housed the bugs, which crawled out at
night. The place smelled of a mixture of brown beer and tobacco.
My foster mum, however, was wonderful. But by
the age of 12, I was nursing her. She had frequent fits at night and I would
have to walk her about in the early hours to ease her pain. When I look back, I
realize what an untidy kid I was, in my funny old second-hand clothes. Such
things were not important in our house; what has stayed with me is that ours
was a home of laughter and hugs.
But I had become a terrible liar. I was
always inventing stories about myself. I used to say I had a mum who was beautiful,
with lovely hair and eyes, and she couldn't look after me because she was a
fashion model, and busy working. I made a little world of my own, and it helped
me to cope. As I grew into adulthood and began to see for myself the sadness
and poverty that had surrounded me, I tried in a feeble way to improve my
situation.
In 1952 I met Ron through Picture Post
magazine; it used to have a. page of penfriends. He was a serviceman and we
wrote to each other over a couple of years, but I was afraid that if he saw the
conditions of our home, he wouldn't bother with me again. I knew it was best he
never saw where I lived. To my horror, he did one time visit the house,
unannounced. I opened the door with curlers in my hair, and dirty knees from
scrubbing the floor. He said, “Hello, does Barbara live here?” I said, “That’s
me.
My fears were unfounded --- he liked my
foster parents, and he liked me. Within two years we were married. My foster
parents, by then in their 80s, came to my wedding in a neighbor's car, my
foster mother in a long coat and sneakers. Indeed. my own mother showed up. I
wish now that I had asked her so many questions, but she seemed so hard and
unapproachable --- we were really like strangers. Much later, when I gave birth
to my own daughter, I found out where she lived and turned up on her doorstep,
but she wouldn't let us in.
By that time I had said goodbye to the house
in Kilburn, and felt no pangs at doing so. But with all the comforts I now
have, l still look back on those early days and kind of miss them. Perhaps now
I've got too much. (610 words)
Barbara Brown
Saturday June 10,
2006
The Guardian
出典はGuardianのようです。驚いたことにほとんど書き換えはなし。大変平易な英文だったのでちょっと意外です。
英文の分類は論説，随筆，小説でほとんど。この英文は一応小説にしました。しかし，どうも新聞への投稿記事のような感じで，随筆に入るかもしれません。ここらへんの分類はほとんど適当。あまり印象の残るような英文ではありませんでした。→出典
→大意
大問２
Henry Charles Harrod started his working life
as a miller, but changed course to become a tea merchant in Eastcheap, London.
One of his customers was Philip Henry Burden, a Brompton grocer who owned one
of a row of single-storied shops. Mr. Burden's business was not flourishing.
Mr. Harrod befriended him, supplying tea on long credit, and in 1849, when
Burden could keep going no longer, Harrod took over the business and moved from
the city to live in the house behind the shop. He was nearly fifty at the time,
and had no ambitions (beyond ) an adequate income and a good home for his
family --- Brompton was a pleasant place to live in after the City. He hired
two assistants to help in the shop, and continued his wholesale trading in a
small way.
His son Charles Digby Harrod worked in a
grocery business in the City before joining his father. Then in 1861, when
Charles Digby was twenty, his father handed ( over ) control on the
understanding that it was not an inheritance but a business deal to be paid for.
Young Charles Digby paid it all off in three years, married and moved into the
house behind the shop, which by then had been designated 105 Brompton Road.
At that time, shopkeepers were expected to
allow their richer customers to run up large accounts. Young Harrod decided to
change all that; he announced that he would trade on a strictly cash basis that
would enable him to offer quality goods at lower prices than any other merchant
in the district.
The policy proved successful, and by 1868 he
was employing five assistants and had a weekly profit of 1,000 pounds. He
needed more space to expand, so he moved his family out to Easter, turning the
house into stockrooms and selling departments. Five years later, he built a
two-story extension over the back garden of the house, and in the (following) year
he acquired the leases of the adjoining shops. By 1880 Harrod was employing
nearly a hundred people, and in 1883 bought more land to build on at the back.
In December of that year, when the new building was nearly finished and the
shop fully stocked for Christmas, everything was destroyed by fire.
In the true tradition of brave English
shopkeepers, Harrod rose to the disaster. He hired Humphrey Hall on the other
side of Brompton Road and filled it with Christmas goods, renting temporary
offices nearby. Rebuilding on the old site was started forth with, and finished
in September 1884; there were many new departments, including carpets and
furniture.
Harrod now rivaled William Whiteley, whose
Westbourne Grove store had grown in less than ten years from a small shop to a
big department store. Whiteley later claimed that he could supply anything from
a pin to an elephant. Harrod, with more dignity, set himself to attract a more
fashionable clientele than Whiteley, and as a first step introduced limited
credit to approved customers.
(502
words)
ハロッズといえばデパート。ガイドブックにもあったので，家族とイギリス旅行をした際，ピカデリーサーカスから歩いて行きました。確かに広かったような気もしますが，普通のデパートを見ている現在，ハロッズだからといって特別の感慨もなく。ただのデパートでした。もっとも家族はおみやげを買うの忙しく，いろいろと買っていました。息子のバスケットシューズを買うというので，いろいろ探しましたが，結局たいしたものはなく。スポーツ品売り場も貧弱でした。さらに高級売り場に行きましたが，ここは買い物客も少なく場違いな感じ。夏の最盛期ということもあり，ロンドンは雑多でした。
→大意
（３月２８日）
Recently
we had two reports about concerns over the progress of boys in the American
education system. Some people say there is a crisis for boys. Others say there
are problems for some boys. But they say the situation is not so much that boys
are falling behind as that girls are catching up with boys.
Today we examine changes that have taken
place at the college level. Here there are similar issues. Some people are
worried about the situation for men while others praise areas of progress for
women.
In
nineteen seventy, women represented forty-two percent of college students in the
United States. Now they are about fifty-six percent.
A
recent report called 'The Truth About Boys and Girls" included this
information but not as evidence of a
crisis. Sara Mead, a policy analyst at the research group Education Sector,
wrote the report. She sees the situation this way:
Yes,
men are earning fewer four-year college degrees than women. But men are still
earning more degrees than they have in the past, only at a slower growth rate
than women.
And, yes, more women than men are also earning
master’s degrees. But men still earn more doctorates. These are the degrees
needed to become a doctor or a lawyer or a professor. In addition, men hold
more positions of power and earn more money on average than women do.
There
are many theories why males and females perform differently in their schooling.
Some are based on recent brain research, but others center on environment. Some
people say boys now face a hostile environment in American education.
Christina Hoff Sommers, a resident scholar at
the American Enterprise Institute, wrote the book `The War Against Boys."
She says the lower percentage of men in college points to a serious problem in
the education of American boys.
So, how many Americans go to college? The Census Bureau reports that in nineteen
seventy-five, eighteen percent of men in the United States had a four-year
degree. That compared to eleven percent of women. By two thousand, the numbers
were twenty-eight percent of men and twenty-four percent of women. The Census
Bureau says that each year since nineteen eight two, more women than men have
earned a four-year degree.
初めての担当でした。宮崎産業経営大学というのは，地区も違うので実は未聞。ホームーページで確認したところ，設立されてから間もない大学のようでした。
この長文はよく読まずにすぐに訳し始めたので，なんか，わかりにくいな，と思って訳しておりました。さらに，書き換えに不自然なところもあり，念のため，"theories why" "Sara Mead", "Christina Hoff Sommers"でgoogle検索をしたところヒットしました。問題をよく読めばわかりますが，段落がバラバラになっていました。したがって，文意がすっきり通じないのはあたりまえ。出典はVOAのニュース記事のようです。→http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2006-07/2006-07-12-voa2.cfm
（３月２６日）
Many
books and articles have been written about the theory of birth order. Supporters of this theory believe that the
order that children are born into a family can influence their personalities. We shall examine the main features of this
theory.
According
to birth-order theory, first-born or oldest children are natural leaders and
often high achievers. Birth order
theorists explain that since first-borns spend a lot of time with their parents
at the beginning of their lives, these children often sense their parents’
excitement over their actions and accomplishments, and they want to keep their parents’
attention. Consequently, first-born children
may develop a greater desire to achieve.
The majority of politicians, spokesperson and managing directors are
first-borns. They often believe they are
privileged or even superior. Generally,
first-borns are careful, precise people --- they pay attention to detail. They also tend to be punctual，organized, and competent.
They want to see things done right the first time and they don’t like surprises. On the other hand, older children are often
moody and occasionally lack sensitivity.
They can push people too hard or refuse to take no for an answer. Sometimes they can seem like a “know-it-all”
and often they are poor at assigning tasks ---- mostly because they don’t trust
other people as much as they trust themselves.
First-borns also tend to be bossy and can be perfectionist.
The
typical middle-born child is good at relationships, tends to be a people-pleaser
and usually hates conflict. Their basic
need is to keep life smooth and their motto might be “peace at any price.” They are usually very calm and tend to “go
with the flow.” Many middle children are
amiable and down-to-earth. They are
usually great listeners. According to
some birth-order researchers, this might be a result of not receiving a lot of
attention at home. Rather than fight for
their parents’ attention, middle children will often look for attention from
others outside the home. Because they
are skilled at seeing both sides of a problem and eager to make everybody
happy, they often become good mediators and negotiators. On the negative side, middle-borns tend to be
less ambitious than first-borns, but are much more eager to be liked. They are not good at making decisions that will
offend others. They also tend to blame themselves
when others fail.
The
baby of the family, the youngest child, is quite different from the other
children. Birth-order theory explains
that by the time youngest children are growing up, their parents are often
older and more relaxed. As a result,
rules in this child might not be as strict as for the other children. Typically, youngest children are funny and
carefree, but they are also more likely to be self-centered and insecure. They have strong people skills and love to
entertain and talk to others. They
usually make friends easily and immediately make others feel at home. They’re extrovert; however, they tend to get
bored quickly. They have a strong fear
of rejection and a short attention span.
When the fun stops, they’ve had enough and want to leave. They may have unrealistic expectations of
finding a relationship that is always fun --- of course, such relationships
simply do not last.
Finally,
we have the only child, who tends to have spent a lot of time only with
adults. Because they have received lots
of adult attention, they tend to be highly motivated. Only children are
task-oriented, very well organized, hard working and dependable. They are very knowledgeable about tasks,
ideas and details, and feel comfortable with responsibility. However, because they have no brothers or
sisters, they are often unforgiving and very demanding. Only children have to admit they’re wrong and
usually don’t accept criticism well. To
others, they seem very sensitive and indeed their feelings are easily hurt.
Though
birth-order theory lies more in the realm of popular psychology than hard
science, there may be some truth to the claim that birth order influences
personality.
(663
words)
送られてきたfaxの英文がかなり不鮮明で苦労しました。
出典が明記されており，インターネットから。ただ，そこには行き着けませんでした。
生まれ順と性格：人間の性格を第１子，真ん中，末っ子，それに一人っ子の４パターンに分類する方法。かなり大胆。星座や血液型よりいいかもしれませんが，血液型や星座が遺伝で人間の性格が決まると考えるのなら，生まれ順は人間の性格は環境で決まる，という考え方。現在，通例，人間の性格は環境半分，生まれ半分といった感じなので，それによれば，生まれ順だけに頼るのはいかにもばかげています。この種の会話は，よた話にはいいのでしょうが，あまりに検証がなされていなくて，非科学的としかいいようがありません。
（３月２４日）
大問１
As a student progressing from pre-school
through primary school and high school, the transitions you made have probably
been relatively easy until now. There
are some clear social and other indicators that identify you as a new student. For example, as the new student you are
usually the youngest, usually have the newest uniform and can easily identify
who are the teachers and those with more experience in the school than you have.
At university, these identifying factors
are either absent or difficult to identify. Therefore, the transition to university can be
quite a challenge.
It is important to remember that all new
students feel equally foreign in this new environment as they face the issues
confronting them. The good news is that
there are many things you can do to prepare yourself for making the transition.
Also, the university provides many
services to assist new students.
University is very different from high
school. It will be your responsibility
to learn and make the most of the challenges and opportunities presented to you.
Professors won't be breathing down' your
neck to make sure you get your assignments done or to make sure you attend
class. University may, at first, seem
big and impersonal but there are many people in the same situation. University life can be greatly enriched by the
opportunities for friendship and social interaction it offers. Here are some tips to help you make the
transition from high school to university.
First, keep focused on your goals. It is very important to think about long-term,
medium-term and short-term goals. A
long-term goal could be to get your degree, a medium-term goal could be to work
towards completing your course successfully throughout the coming year and a
short-term goal could be to make an early start on your assignments. Goals will help you maintain your direction,
and they must be realistic.
Second, develop strategies to help you
achieve your goals. Once you've worked
out your goals, you need to decide a way to achieve them. Review both your goals and your strategies for
achieving them every now and then because it will help you stay motivated. Develop a problem-solving approach to your
strategies. For example, if you are
having trouble with writing essays at university, enroll in an essay writing
seminar on campus.
Third, maintain a sense of self-worth. Many people feel shy or awkward when they move
from high school to university. Remind
yourself of the qualities and abilities that have made it possible for you to
be at university---you have proven yourself to be intelligent and capable. As you get to know people, through seeing them
at lectures and tutorials, and as you become familiar with the campus, you will
develop more confidence.
Fourth, understand what is required of you. Early in the year, professors will give you a
course outline referring to the material that will be covered in lectures,
required reading and details of term tests and assignments. Make sure you understand this and make clear
notes in your student diary of all due dates for assignments. If there is anything you are not sure of,
speak to your professor about it. Be
aware of the closing dates for additions to and withdrawals from your program
of study.
Fifth, be organized in your work from the
beginning of the term, set priorities and avoid procrastination When you sit
down at your desk, have a clear idea of what you need to do. Work on one task at a time to avoid getting
confused. Highlight anything you're not
clear about and clarify it later with your tutor or professor.
Finally, maintain a balance in your life. Study is important, but it shouldn't be a
prison for you. You need to have a
healthy and balanced lifestyle. Make
sure your diet includes enough fresh foods. Naturally, it is best to avoid tobacco and
alcohol. It is also important to have a
regular exercise program. Many students
complain of fatigue, often related to keeping irregular hours, studying long
into the night. Make an early start on your
study and work progressively throughout the semester. Maintain social contacts to provide balance in
your life. Make time to do
something you enjoy doing each day to
help you unwind.
(710
words)
本英文はHow toもの。大変読みやすいです。
大問 ２
The `Outback' is the image often conjured
up when people think of Australia --- a vast area of red desert and kangaroos. In reality, more than 85% of the population live within an hour's
drive of the coast. From Bondi Beach in Sydney (Southeastern Australia) to
Broome's Cable Beach in Western
Australia, our coastline stretches around the continent for some 36,000 kilometres. Australians and international visitors alike
have enjoyed these beaches for generations and over the years, our attitudes
and activities have changed dramatically.
Many of Australia's beautiful beaches are
located within populated areas, bringing city living to the shoreline. The beach is far more than a holiday
destination --- it is an important part of our national identity and culture. Our beaches continue to provide endless
inspiration for artists, writers and photographers. In fact, everyone can enjoy being creative at
the beach.
During the nineteenth century, it was
decided that the sea air had `healing' qualities, ideal in a climate like
Australia's. This encouraged people to
visit beaches to swim or engage in other outdoor activities. However, the modesty of the time restricted
what they could actually do at the beach. Until 1903, laws prevented anyone from
swimming during the day between the hours of 6 a. m. and 7 p. m.
The swimming costumes popular at this time
were `neck to knee' --- they were large, heavy and very impractical when wet. Many people even visited the beach fully
clothed. `Bathing boxes' were also used:
small huts on wheels which could be rolled down the sand and even into the
water, ensuring people were seen as little as possible in their swimwear. Times change and beach-wear has become
gradually smaller and more revealing, often causing uproar at each new
development. In the 1950s, the bikini
became popular among young beach-goers. Nowadays, acceptable beachwear ranges from
wetsuits to board shorts to a variety of bikinis.
Today, the beach is a hub for recreation,
including sports and many other kinds of entertainment. It is a place for individuals, groups and
families of all sorts-where young and old congregate to enjoy the sun, sea and
sand. On any sunny day you can see
people involved in dozens of different pastimes, proving the diversity of
Australian interests. Cricket,
snorkelling, soccer, Tai Chi, fishing and swimming are just some of the
activities you can usually see at the beach.
Australia's beaches have their hazards, with
pounding surf, burning sunlight and some dangerous forms of marine-life. For these reasons, Australia was the first
place in the world to have surf lifesaving clubs. The Bondi Surf Bathers Lifesaving Club opened
in 1906 and since then hundreds of clubs around the country have been established.
Every summer, thousands of volunteer
lifesavers make our coastline safer by patrolling beaches and providing
first-aid.
The changing uses of the beach over the past
two hundred years have resulted in many physical changes to the landscape. Different kinds of recreational activities
have required the building of changing areas and other amenities. One example
is the Bondi Beach Pavilion. It was
built to accommodate the increasing numbers of people who chose to swim at the
beach. The pavilion first opened in 1911
with bathing sheds and other basic facilities. This was expanded in the 1920s with the
addition of dressing accommodation, Turkish baths, shops, a gym and even a
ballroom.
Now, surf clubs, cafes, holiday resorts,
shops and parking areas can be found close to beaches. The popularity of our beaches means that they suffer
from pollution, as well as rubbish left by beach-goers. Even litter on the streets of our seaside
cities is washed through the drains and eventually ends up on the beach. It is up to all of us to look after our
beaches so we can continue to enjoy them for generations to come.
(632
words)
オーストラリアの海岸と人々。歴史順で海岸利用の変容と問題点などがまとめられていて，やはり，大変読みやすい英文です。
もう５年も前になりますが，この時期にゴールドコースト，エアーズロックに行ったこと思い出しました。行っておいてよかったと思っています。
（３月１８日）
大問１
When I talk about movies, people look at
me funny. Since I am legally blind, they
assure that such a visual medium is closed to me. In fact, I probably see better at the movies
than in real life. For one thing, I
always know what to look at. And at the
movies, the world is better lit than in real life, more vividly colored, less
random. The filmmaker’s mission is to
get the viewer to see things in a particular way. Shots are arranged to emphasize what is
important, and even when the viewer’s eye is allowed to wander around the
frame, the composition of the image compels particular interpretations. Editing organizes diverse elements in
suggestive ways. Music and other sounds
are not mere background distractions.
Rather, they set the mood and foreshadow or highlight action.
Of course, blindness sometimes gets in my
way at the movies, but only in the ways it does in real life. I need to sit very close to the screen and
sometimes must ask a companion to describe what’s happening. I have trouble recognizing faces, even as
magnified as they are on the screen. If
the plot depends on a physical resemblance between two characters. I will understand that this is going on but
will be unable to figure out the confusion without aid. Sight gags usually elude me. If a character receives a Dear John Letter or
a ransom note, I will be unable to read it.
But lately I’ve noticed that filmmakers resort to various techniques to
aid nonreading viewers at such moments:
Horror and science fiction films pose
particular problems. I can comprehend
Godzilla, Frankenstein, or walking corpses because they more or less resemble
things or people in the real world. But
if I want to have nightmares I go to movies about the blind. When a blind person appears on screen, what I
see is very scary. Movies about the
blind generally display such a distressing array of negative stereotypes that I
find it hard not to run screaming from the theater. The movie blind are a pretty sorry lot. Actors represent blindness with an
unblinking, zombie stare, directing their gazes upward to give the face a look
of helplessness. Even characters who
have been blind for a long time seldom seem to have mastered any of the skills
that real blind people employ. They
fumble with their canes and stumble over their guide dogs. The simplest daily task, such as dialing the
phone, gives them no end of trouble. If
they can read Braille, they do so inexpertly.
Their sighted companions marvel at the smallest show of skill. They say, “How did you know it was me?” or “How
did you pour that without spilling?” And
the blind reward them by announcing a pathetic longing for their lost sight,
repeating their wish that they could catch one last glimpse of a lover’s face,
the old folks at home, a patch of blue.
Screenwriters and directors go out of their
way to remind viewers of the character’s blindness, because blindness is always
understood as central to the character’s existence. It is not an inconvenience to work around but
an impossible barrier to normal life.
The movie blind seem to have nothing else on their minds, which is no
wonder, since they are rarely financially independent. Usually they live off others or depend on
some sort of public assistance. When
they do have a job, it will probably have something to do with music,
confirming the popular belief that the blind are rewarded with a musical
gift. Or else they will be employed in
one of the traditional blind crafts:
broom-making, news-vending, flower-selling. (613 words)
一応「やや難」としました。今シーズン初です。内容はわかりやすいのですが，訳そうとするとなかなか，はかどらなかったので，まぁ，「やや難」かなと。
legaly blindの定義がよく分からないのですが，どうも弱視と言うことでしょうか。確かに映画で扱われる盲目者と言えば，ある程度定式したような思いこみがあって，日常生活に難儀するようなパターンで描かれることが多いので，目の不自由な人にとっては，この英文のような感想になると思います。
大問２
In 2002, the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary(SOED) was updated to record 3,500
new words or new applications of words that have entered the language since its
last revision in 1993.
The SOED
is comprised of two volumes and adds up to 3,792 pages, so “shorter” is a
relative concept. It is beach reading
compared with the full 20-volume Oxford
English Dictionary(OED); the former is a scaled down version of the latter,
which was first published in 1884 and has since remained one of the most famous
dictionaries in the world.
The lexicographers scrolling through their
70-million-word database inside the Oxford University Press headquarters have
had a breathless decade. “With
technology and the speed of communication, new words and usages become established
much more quickly,” said Angus Stevenson, 42, the new edition’s co-author.
The speed of change has made the dictionary’s
customary method of certifying new words or usages old-fashioned.
“By tradition a word has to be used five
times, in five different places, over five years, but something like ‘text
messaging’ got in sooner because it became so widely used so quickly,” said
Claire Turner, a spokeswoman for the trade and reference department.
The new words come from fast-talking areas
like global marketing, science fiction, popular literature, films, business and
politics.
There was a time when Oxford lexicographers
could go their clueless ways. “When the
word ‘television’ came into general use.”
Stevenson remembered, “one academic complained that no good would come
of an invention that had a half-Greek, half-Latin name.”
Expressions coined by Helen Fielding for Bridget Jones’ Diary --- like “singletons”
and “smug marrieds” --- make it, but under the five year rule, J.K, Rowling’s “muggles”
--- the nonwizards in the world of Harry
potter ---is too recent to slip in.
The SOED
calls itself a historical dictionary, and it sets out to record every word used
in English since 1700, with the dates when each was first uttered or written
and what it meant at the time.
Definitions are listed numerically, although the order does not imply
preference, as in standard dictionaries, but rather the chronological record of
their appearance in speech and literature.
“The emphasis is not on correct usage, but
on common usage, so language purists and Queen’s English snobs should look
elsewhere.” Stevenson and his team take
particular delight in words that over time come to mean the reverse of what
they originally did.
“One of my favorites is ‘nonplussed’, he
said. “It has always meant puzzled and confused, but we have evidence that in
America some people use it to mean the opposite, as in ‘sort of shaken but not
stirred,’ like ‘He was doing his best to appear nonplussed.’” Stevenson flashed a conspiratorial look. “It’s really a mistaken use,” he said.
He said the detective work made the job
particularly interesting, although it might not be for everyone. “We spend a lot of time arguing with equal
passion about things that would seem extremely obscure to average people,” he
said.
He brightened at the recollection of one of
them.
“The verb ‘to text’,” he said. “That’s the kind of thing that lexicographers
get very excited about. “Oh, they’re using “text” as a verb’ --- we love that
sort of thing.”
(538 words)
【３月１６日】
(A)
The
term “deaf” is so general that it makes it hard to consider all the differing
degrees of deafness. There are the “hard
of hearing.” These are the fifteen
million or so people in the U.S. population who can hear some speech using
hearing aids. Many of us have parents or
grandparents who are like this. They
have lost varying degrees of their hearing as a part of natural processes. A century ago they would have used ear
trumpets; now they use hearing aids.
There are also the “severity deaf.” Many of these people are deaf as a result of
ear disease or injury in early life. For
them, as with the hard of hearing, the hearing of speech is still possible,
especially with the new, highly sophisticated, computerized, and personalized
hearing aids now becoming available.
Then there are the “profoundly deaf.” These people have no hope at all of hearing
any speech, no matter what technological advances are made. Profoundly deaf people cannot converse in the
usual way ---they must be able to either lip-read, or to use sign language, or
both.
It is not merely the degree of deafness that
matters when talking about differences in deafness. The age at which deafness occurs also
matters. David Wright observes that he
lost his hearing after he had already acquired language. So he cannot even imagine what it must be
like for those who lack hearing or have lost hearing before the acquisition of
language.
“My becoming deaf when I did,” he writes, “was
remarkably fortunate. By the age of seven,
a child will have a grasped the essentials of language, as I had. Having learned naturally how to speak was
another advantage. I had the basis of a
vocabulary which could easily be extended by reading. All of these would have been denied me if I
had been born deaf or lost my hearing earlier than I did.”
It is another matter entirely if hearing is
absent at birth, or lost when very young before language is acquired. For these people, who have never been able to
hear, there can never be even the illusion of sound. They live in a world of utter, unbroken
soundlessness and silence. These, the
congenitally deaf,” number perhaps a quarter of a million in the United States
of America. They make up a thousandth of
the world’s children.
Whether deafness is “preferable” to
blindness, if acquired in later life, is arguable. But, to be born deaf is infinitely more
serious than to be born blind ---at least potentially so. Unable to hear their parents, those who are
born deaf risk being severely challenged, or even permanently defective, in
their grasp of language unless early and effective measures are taken.
For a human to be defective in language is
one of the most desperate of tragedies, because it is only through language that
we enter fully into our humanity and our culture. It is only through language that we can
communicate freely with our fellows, and that we can acquire and share
information. If we cannot do this, we
will be desperately disabled and cut off.
And indeed, we may be so little able to make full use of our intellectual
capacities that, as a result, we may appear to be mentally defective.
(551
words)
「耳を聞こえない」を３分類し，そのもち最も重度の完全聾唖（？）者について，言語のないことの困難さを説明したもの。最初の書き出しから，最後の問題意識の移行は多少新鮮です。また，「耳が聞こえない」人の言語習得について考えさせられる英文となっていました。
(B)
One of the ways that the Maya competed
against each other was by playing what was called the Ball Game. They used a rubber ball about 20 inches in
diameter, to play the game, which was played on a stone court whose
measurements varied. (The largest one
found so far measures 459 feet by 114 feet.) The court had walls that sloped
inward, and hanging high on the walls were stone rings.
The goal of the game was to pass the ball
around, without touching it with one’s hands, and then get the ball to pass
through one of the rings. Since the
rings were so high and players were not allowed to use their hands, it was
extremely difficult to get the ball through a ring. In fact, when a player did manage to get a
ball through a ring, that usually ended the game. Otherwise, the game ended when the ball
touched the ground.
In many ways the game was like games and
sports that people play today. The
players were working as a team to beat another team of players. The aim was to get the ball through a hoop as
in basketball. One rule was also not to
touch the ball with one’s hands like in soccer.
Huge structures were build just for playing. The games attracted very large numbers of
people. Gambling on who would win was
common.
The Mayan Ball Game was a solemn event,
filled with ritual importance. Religious
leaders attended, as did most chieftains and other government leaders. Sacred songs were sung, and other religious
activities also took place at the time of the game.
The winners were treated as heroes and given
a great feast, while the penalty for losing a game was unusually harsh ---
death! The captain of the team who lost
the game was killed. This fit in with
the Mayan belief that human sacrifice was necessary for the continued success
of the people’s agriculture, trade, and overall well-being.
(331
words)
南山はどうも３回目の担当のよう。いずれも南米の文化を紹介する英文があった気がします。この中ではガラナという薬草（？）の紹介は印象に残って，入試長文にも採用されていた気がします。今回も南米もので，the Ball Gameというゲームの紹介。サッカー＋バスケットボールで，どちらの競技も近代になって考案されたのに，それよりはるか昔に国家的行事，宗教的行事として行われたというのは，なかなか目新しい経験です。
【３月１２日】
The World Health Organization reports that
avian influenza could become a worldwide threat unless governments act now to
stop it. Officials at the United Nations
agency warn that bird flu could kill as many as seven million people. They say the number of deaths would depend on
the severity of the virus once it entered the general population.
So far, avian influenza has mostly infected
people who have been around infected birds and their waste. The WHO said at the end of September that it
had reports of sixty deaths. These were
among one hundred sixteen confirmed cases since December of 2003. The virus has been found in birds in some
Asian countries. Experts say migrating
wild birds have helped spread the virus.
There are fifteen different flu viruses that
infect birds. Officials are most
concerned about the H5-N1 virus. It
could spread easily from person to person if it mixes with human flu
virus. That might happen if a person or
an animal, such as a pig, becomes infected with both human and avian flu. The human body has no defense against bird
flu. The first cases of H5-N1 in people
were reported in Hong Kong eight years ago.
Six people died. Workers quickly
killed one and a half million chickens and other birds to stop the spread of
the virus. Millions of farm birds have
been destroyed in an effort to halt the current outbreak.
Anti-viral medicine has been used with some
success to treat bird flu. Scientists
have a vaccine that might protect against the virus. However, US government officials say there is
not enough to deal with a major outbreak and have called for ways to expand
vaccine production. Some have suggested
the use of the military to try to contain any possible outbreak in the United
States. The US state Department last
week held an international meeting to discuss the threat from bird flu.
Also scientists in the United States recently
announced that they have remade the so-called Spanish flu virus. An outbreak in 1918 killed as many as fifty
million people worldwide. The scientists
say they found that the Spanish flu came from birds. They hope the recreated virus will help them
to better understand what makes the current bird flu so deadly. They also hope to find ways to protect
against a major outbreak. (391words)
なんとも感想が書きにくい英文。鳥インフルエンザということで，タイムリーですが，鳥インフルエンザをおおいそぎで，まとめた，表面的な英文。なにかの報道記事をもとにはしているのでしょうが，大幅な書き換え，削除が行われているはずです。鳥インフルエンザについての知識があれば，ほぼその知識で解決できるような英文。内容的にはかなり平易。すぐに忘れてしまいそうです。もっとインパクトのある英文を！
【３月１２日】
１
Men and women differ in almost every other way,
so why shouldn't they shop differently, too? The conventional wisdom on male
shoppers is that they don't especially like to do it, which is why they don’t
do much of it. It's a struggle just to
pet them to be patient company foe a woman while she shops. As a result, the entire shopping experience---from
packaging design to advertising to merchandising to store design and layout ---is
generally geared toward the female shopper.
Women
do have a greater affinity for what we think of as shopping--- walking at a
relaxed pace through stores, examining merchandise, comparing products and
values, interacting with sales staff, asking questions, trying things on and
ultimately, making purchases. Most purchasing
traditionally falls to women, and they usually do it willingly--even when
shopping for the daily necessities, even when the experience brings no
particular pleasure, women tend to do it in a dependable, agreeable fashion. Women take pride in their ability to shop
prudently and well. In a study we conducted of baby products, women
interviewed insisted that they knew the price of products by heart, without
even having to look. (Upon further
inquiry, we discovered that they were mostly wrong. ) As women's roles change,
so does their shopping behavior-they're becoming a lot more like men in that
regard---but they're still the primary buyer
In general, men, in comparison, seem like
loose cannons. We've timed enough
shoppers to know that men always move faster than women through a store's
aisles. Men spend less time looking, too.
In many settings it's hard to get them
to look at anything they hadn't intended to buy. They usually don't like asking where things
are, or any other questions, for that matter. They shop the way they drive. If a man can't find the section he's looking
for, he’ll wheel about once or twice, then give up and leave the store without
even asking for help.
You'll see a man impatiently move
through a store to the section he wants, pick something up, and then, almost
abruptly, he's ready to buy, having taken no apparent joy in the process of
finding. You've practically got to get
out of his way. When a man takes
clothing into a dressing room, the only thing that stops him from buying it is
if it doesn't fit. Women, on the other
hand, try things on as only part of the consideration process, and garments
that fit just fine may still be rejected on other grounds. In one study, we found that 65 percent of male
shoppers who tried something on bought it, as opposed to 25 percent of female
shoppers. This is a good argument for
positioning fitting rooms nearer the men's department than the women's if they
are in the same area. If they are not,
men's dressing rooms should be very clearly marked, because if he has to search
for it, he may just decide it's not worth the trouble.
Here's another statistical comparison:
Eighty-six percent of women look at price tags when they shop. Only 72 percent of men do. For a man, ignoring the price tag is almost a
measure of his manhood. As a result, men
are far more easily upgraded than are women shoppers. They are also far more suggestible than women---
men seem so anxious to get out of the store that they'll say yes to almost anything.
Now, a shopper such as that could be seen as
more trouble than he's worth. But he could also be seen as a potential source
of profits, especially given his lack of discipline. Either way, men now do more purchasing than
ever before. And that trend will
continue to grow. As they stay single
longer than ever, they learn to shop for things their fathers never had to buy.
And because they marry women who work
long and hard too, they will be forced to shoulder more of the burden of
shopping. The manufacturers, retailers
and display designers who pay attention to male ways, and are willing to adapt
the shopping experience to them, will have an edge in the twenty-first century.
(693 word)
金沢大学というと，あの「河合塾事件」を思い出します。おそろしく難しくて難儀した感じがあります。今年度の大問１は全くの記号式問題。大問が下線部役で，大問３，４が英作文。なんか英作文の比重が高い感じです。ただ，この大問１のような基本問題で決定的に差がつくと考えられます。語彙問題と，内容一致一致問題だけですが，これをあなどってはいけません。
なお，内容はごく穏当。典型的な男性としては，この買い物行動はよく理解できます。世の男性はほとんどがこんな感じなんでしょう。
２
Teenage girls bristle and rage about nearly
everything???from minor disappointments to undeniable tragedies???with nearly
equal intensity. It is well known that
adolescents perceive the most harmless of comments as slights or even major
insults. Many a mother has commented
that she has only to look at her daughter to be accused of criticizing her or
thinking she is "fat"': Paradoxically,
because your unquestioned love makes your daughter feel safe, she feels free to
direct much of her frustration and hostility toward you, regardless of whether
you are remotely involved. You have
likely joined the ranks of mothers who are tired of feeling they can never say
or do anything right.
At times your relationship with your
daughter may worsen further. As Ann, a
thirty-five-year-old single mother, put it, "I'm dealing with a level of
conflict I never imagined. Since she was
thirteen, Morgan pretty much decided she didn't need to listen to me or respect
me. She treats me with nothing but
contempt. I'm shocked by what our
relationship has become and frightened by what lies ahead. If we're constantly at each other's throats,
how can I hope to help her through these next years? How can I keep her safe from alcohol and drugs
and all the rest?"
Not only do mothers despair over feeling
that their relationships with their daughters have been lost, but they become
terrified about surrendering any threads of control they may have held.
(242
words)
下線部訳の英文
相変わらず難しい英文です。
娘と母親の戦い，多少誇張気味。今見ているGilmore Girlsを思い出しました。こちらはrealityのない母娘の愛情を徹底的に描いたホームドラマ。今シーズン１ですが，母と娘がわざとらしくてだんだん鼻についてきました。これがシーズン６ぐらいまでいっているそうなので，そのうちもっとrealityが出てくるのでしょうが，現在の所おとぎ話。こういうことがあったらいいなぁ，という良きアメリカ社会を描いているようです。
【３月６日】
Have you ever walked into a museum and seen
the skeleton of a dinosaur standing before you? It is a very impressive sight,
one which took long months of careful reconstruction. How is it done? Sometimes, only a few isolated bones of a prehistoric
creature are discovered, and the overall shape has to be guessed at. But other times, scientists have a more
accurate way of learning what a long-dead beast looked like---through fossils. The remains of plants and animals that lived
long ago are called fossils. The term
comes from a Latin word meaning "to dig. "
For an organism to be preserved, two
conditions must be met. One, the
organism must be quickly buried to delay the process of decay and prevent the
attack of scavengers (animals which eat dead bodies). Two, the organism must have hard body parts
that can be fossilized.
Most animal fossils are those of creatures
that died an accidental death in such a way that their bodies were quickly
covered by the earth. For example, an animal
that drowned near a river mouth and was swept out to sea and covered with sand
may have become fossilized.
A great majority of fossils are preserved
in water because the remains on land are more easily destroyed. Also, the conditions at the bottom of the seas
or other bodies of water are especially favorable for preservation. This is because, except for bacteria, there
are no marine creatures to destroy the remains.
Fossils are a faithful recording of dead
animals and plants, an accurate imprint of the past. Imagine a prehistoric fish swimming around in
the sea a few million years ago. One
day, the fish dies and its body sinks down to the water's bottom, where it
becomes buried in soft mud.
As time passes, the flesh decays and only the
skeleton is left. An imprint of the
skeleton stays in the mud, even after the skeleton itself is destroyed. Many years pass. The mud with the fish's imprint gradually
hardens and turns to stone under the pressure of the rock layers that have
subsequently built up on top of it.
Millions of years later, people decide to
build a road through the same rock layers where a sea once stood, and the fish
fossil is discovered by man for the first time. A creature dead millions of years is perfectly
preserved in the fossil.
People have been finding fossils for
centuries, but it is only recently that we have understood what they are and
how to read their secrets. For many
years, people believed all fossils were created during the biblical flood of
Noah. When the waters finally went
further away, they thought, many creatures were unable to move on land masses,
died, and became fossils.
In the year 1769, two men-an Englishman
and a Frenchman- were born. The two
would one day create a new science of fossils called paleontology, from Greek
words meaning the science (logic) of very old (palaios) existing things (onta).
The science of extinct animals is
paleozoology. The science of extinct
plants is paleonbotany. The science that
tries to establish the typical weather conditions of the past from the fossils
of a given locality is paleoclimatology. The science that tries to trace ancient
features of the lands, oceans, rivers, mountains, etc is paleogeography.
The Englishman was William Smith, geologist,
who discovered that certain fossils were always found in the same layers of the
earth's crust. Smith was able to date
when each layer was created and thereby figure out when the fossilized animal
found in that layer had walked the earth. The Frenchman, Baron Georges Cuvier, used
anatomical details, not external appearances, to classify extinct animals. Cuvier applied the same methods in use for
classifying living animals to classify extinct ones.
Thanks to these two men, paleontology became
a popular field of science in the 1800s, and people began finding fossils of
dinosaurs and other creatures everywhere. One such find was made in 1822, by Gideon
Mantell. He found the remains of a 15-foot-high reptile, an iguanodon, in Sussex,
England. We say "reptile," not
'dinosaur,' because at that time, scientists thought these long-dead animals
were ancestors of the modern lizards. Scientists chose this name, Iguanodon, because
the teeth of Iguanodon looked very similar to the teeth of modern iguanas. The discovery of Iguanodon led scientists to
determine that dinosaurs were reptiles. Iguanodon
was the second dinosaur to be discovered, nearly 20 years before Richard Owen coined
the name "dinosaur. "
Iguanodon lived about 159 to 99 million years
ago. Remains of Iguanodon have been found in
Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, and North America, primarily in Utah. It was a large, slow-moving dinosaur that
could walk either on all fours or on its hind legs alone. Iguanodon reached a length of about 9 meters
and stood up to 5 meters tall. It
weighed about 5 tons. The most
distinctive feature of Iguanodon was its five ?fingered front feet, which were
something like hands.
Iguanodon was not a meat eater. Most of the time, it ate from low-growing
plants while standing on all fours. To
reach leaves in trees, it stood up on its two hind legs, balancing itself with
its heavy tail.
Anatomist Richard Owen set things straight
when he concluded that, these extinct creatures were a breed unto themselves. He called then Divosauria, taken from the
Greek words deinos and sauros, meaning "terrible lizard. "
The biggest fossil find was yet to come. In 1871, American naturalist Edward Cope set
out to collect fossils of every extinct animal known to have lived in the
American West. But Cope had a
rival-paleontologist Othniel Marsh. A
race quickly developed between Cope and Marsh to see who could find the first
dinosaur fossil in that area.
The rivalry proved a beneficial one. Between the two of them, Cope and Marsh found
more than 130 species of dinosaurs, including the familiar, long-necked
Brontosaurus.
By studying fossils, scientists have been
able to piece together some of the important pages in the history of the Earth
and its people. They have proven that
the Rocky Mountains, the Alps, and the Himalayas were once below the level of
the ocean. Scientists know this because the remains of sea animals have been
found high up on their slopes. Fossils
have taught the scientists that the ancestors of the camel once roamed the
plains of North America. They lave also
shown that tropical forests once covered the United States and Europe and that
many plants once grew in the polar regions.
(1095
words)
長文は長文です。１０００語を越えています。ただ，英文が難しいわけでなく，一番把握しやすい時間軸で進行していますので，理解は難しくないと思います。恐竜の形が徐々に明らかになることを歴史的経緯から説明されています。最初の化石の成立は，ごく当たり前の英文。中盤に出てくる科学者は古生物学の創始者としてとみに有名な人物。後半のアメリカの恐竜発掘競争もその世界ではきっと大変有名な事実だろうと思います。おもしろみにはかけますが，まぁ，こんなものかなと。
（３月３日）
A
hurricane is a powerful storm with strong winds and heavy rains. The word hurricane comes from a word of the
Taino people of the Caribbean meaning “evil spirit of the wind.” People also call hurricanes cyclones or
typhoons, especially when they occur in Asia. Meteorologists, scientists who study the
weather, use the technical term tropical cyclones when talking about hurricanes.
Hurricanes form over the ocean in regions near, but not on, the equator.
These storms need just the right conditions
to form. The ocean water must be 27℃ or warmer, and the
air must be warm and moist.
Particles of warm air are farther apart than particles of cold air are. Warm air forms a pocket of low pressure,
whereas cold air forms a high pressure area.
Hurricanes can form only in areas of low-pressure air. Warm ocean waters heat the low-pressure air,
causing it to rise and form tall clouds. As the warmed air rises, high-pressure air
rushes in from the sides and creates wind.
The
rotation of the Earth causes the growing storm to spin. As long as the storm stays over warm water, it
continues to grow. If the winds reach a
speed of 61 kilometers per hour, meteorologists call the storm a tropical storm.
If the winds reach a speed of 119
kilometers per hour, meteorologists call the storm a hurricane.
A
hurricane is shaped like a thick ring with a hollow center. The center is called the eye. Here the winds are calm and the sky is
cloudless. Sometimes people make the
mistake of thinking a hurricane is over when the eye passes over them. All around the eye are strong winds and tall thunderclouds
that produce heavy rains. A hurricane
can survive for a few hours or a few weeks. It will not break up or weaken until it moves
over cold water or land.
Hurricanes
can cause millions of dollars in damage. The powerful winds destroy homes, rip roofs
off buildings, break windows, break trees, and tear down power lines. The storm’s heavy rains cause flooding, and so
do huge waves created by the strong winds. The sea can rise over three meters during a
hurricane in what is called a storm surge. The flooding from a hurricane often kills more
people than the winds do.
(391 words)
近畿大学の担当は初めて。文法問題が多いので，文法問題では結構お世話になっています。並べ替えに癖があり，他の大学と違うので扱いちょっと特殊。さて，今年度の全学入試は長文はこの１題だけ。語数も短い感じ。内容はハリケーンの説明で，途中理科的でわかりにくいこともありますが，常識で処理できる範囲。また，ハリケーンについて，それほど新たな知見もあるわけでなく，単なる子ども向け紹介記事，ということで，やはり印象に残りにくい英文ということになりそうです。
（３月２日）
During a performance of a Broadway play,
someone's cell phone rang. After putting
up with the annoyance for twenty-five seconds, an actor stopped the scene and
said in a loud voice: "Will you turn off that phone, please?" He
received a long applause of approval.
It has not yet risen to an organized
consumer movement, but there are unmistakable signs of an angry reaction against
the 80 million handheld communication devices now on the American scene. Easier
to get and use than ever, cell phones keep users in touch whether they are on the
road, at the grocery store, or in the middle of a national park.
A cell phone conversation is not the
same as a face-to-face one: it's often louder, for one thing , because people
mistakenly think they have to shout to be heard on the other end, and it's
annoying for eavesdroppers because it goes only one way. On the road, a cell phone conversation is
absolutely dangerous. According to a
certain study, car phone users are four times as likely as other drivers to
have an accident.
Examples of rude cell phone conduct exist
in great numbers. Consider this. A certain cell phone user wanted to avoid annoying
the people at his own table when he decided to use his phone, so he turned his
body so that he would face diners at an adjoining table and conversed loudly in
that direction.
Cell phone users seem to have no idea how
rude or careless they can be. However, most people believe it is not
appropriate to use a wireless phone at a funeral, a restaurant, or a movie
theater. Many cell phone users don't
apologize for their habits. A certain
public relations executive keeps one phone in her purse, another in her briefcase,
and two in her car. She sees nothing wrong with talking in a restaurant or on the train.
The
penalty for cell phone use while driving can be bodily injury. As a result, more communities are considering
laws to limit the use of wireless phones while driving. (347 words)
なんとも，感想の書きにくい英文。典型的な入試英文としかいいようがありません。
最初のエピソードはケビン・スペイシーだそうです。これは昨年の入試英文の騒音問題の第３の例として登場しました。同志社大学だったと思います。
携帯電話について，羅列的に述べた英文で，深みがなく，表面的。問題も読解と言うより語法問題が主。受験生の学力低下を如実に反映した問題でした。
→大意
Asia is the planet’s largest continent
with a vast population. While possessing
some of the world's oldest and most highly developed civilizations, Asia has
experienced enormous changes during the past two centuries. Historically conservative and traditional, the
people of Asia have had to face waves of dynamic Western modernity. The result has been a great number of
technological advances.
In
the late 1990s, a most extraordinary economic crisis struck the Asian people.
Beginning in Thailand, the crisis spread rapidly like a virus, affecting the
economies of Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the rest of the region. Stock markets collapsed, millions of people
were left unemployed, and many lost their savings. Conditions became so bad in Indonesia that
President Suharto was forced to resign.
The economic crisis of the late 1990s was
an example of both the good and bad points of two centuries of Westernization
in Asia. By importing Western technology
and economics, Asian nations were able to modernize and achieve dynamic growth.
While importing Western science and
technology, however, many Asian nations failed to import Western systems of law.
Regional integration within Asia has
proceeded more slowly than in Europe and North America because the countries of
Asia have not been able to overcome their many long-standing divisions. India and Pakistan, for example, are divided
by religion. Peaceful relations between
India and Pakistan are extremely important, particularly since each now possesses
nuclear weapons.
Asia
has energetically accepted Western science and technology, but it has been reluctant to accept Western
forms of democracy. Asian nations are
still ruled by elite groups. Despite
many difficulties, however, the future of Asia need not be dark and gloomy. Asia possesses many advantages that can
contribute to a better life. Among them
are its ancient cultural traditions, its highly skilled and hardworking people,
and its large supply of natural resources. Western businessmen have repeatedly pressured
Asian societies to become free market economies with rapid growth and mass
consumption. These kinds of dynamic
measures have generated economic wealth, but they have created much social
disorder and have not brought about social justice. If Asia is to improve conditions, Asians
themselves must rethink the relationship between their own cultures and
imported practices from the West. (369
words)
こちらもなんともコメントにしようがない英文。アジアの通貨危機，アジアの現状と未来。アジアが今世紀重要な位置を占めるのは間違いなので，トピックとしてはよいと思いますが，あまりに網羅的，表面的。こういったことにうとい受験生では内容は理解できないでしょう。もっとも内容が分からなくても設問には答えられてしまいます。下線部の単語，英文を選択肢から選ぶもので，よほどのことのないかぎり間違わないと思います。ここにも受験生の学力低下が反映されているのでしょう。
（３月１日）
１
Nothing like last
week's number of deaths and amount of destruction has visited European or U.S. shores,
but that doesn't mean they are safe. Large tsunamis are, not so rare and, every
now and again, they crash into familiar places, sweeping away people and
property. In 1960, for example, a tremendous earthquake in Chile created a
series of giant waves that killed 61 on the island of Hawaii before moving on
to kill at least 100 on the Japanese island of Honshu. Four years later, a
tsunami caused by an earthquake off the coast of Alaska resulted in more than
100 deaths there.
The worst
European tsunami in recorded history occurred in 1755, when an earthquake off
Portugal's Atlantic coast sent gigantic waves crashing into Lisbon. Together,
the quake, waves and fire took 60,000 lives in the city at a time when it was
the capital of an empire. A similar number of deaths was recorded along Italy's
Strait of Messina after the tsunami of 1908.
The more
scientists look into the tsunami threat beyond Asia, the larger it seems.
Tsunamis can be caused by massive landslides as well as earthquakes, and
University of Hawaii oceanographer Gary McMurtry has evidence to suggest that
around 120,000 years ago, a landslide caused by Mauna Loa created a mega-tsunami
that heaved sand and sea fossils 500 meters up the slopes of Mt. Kohala. Sand
layers along the coasts of the North and Norwegian Seas in Europe and the
northeastern Atlantic Ocean have been attributed to a huge tsunami created by
an underwater landslide off Norway some 7,100 years ago. In the Canary Islands
today, the unstable western slope of the Cumbre Vieja* volcano poses a threat
to Atlantic coastlines. Should it collapse and slide into the sea, scientists
warn, it would send tsunamis moving through the Atlantic basin at hundreds of
miles per hour. According to one nightmare scenario, the island chain would be
wiped out, and massive waves would strike the west African coast, European
countries lying along the Atlantic, northern South America, Caribbean islands,
southeastern Canada and the U.S. East Coast. Some waves could be as tall as
five-story buildings.
Tsunamis take
time to travel, which can give populations at risk anywhere from a few minutes
to many hours to flee. Far this reason, 26 countries have cooperated to
establish a tsunami-warning system for the Pacific (though not yet for the
Atlantic or Indian Oceans, or the Mediterranean Sea). "Tsunamis are
low-probability, high-consequence events," says Viacheslav K. Guslakov,
head of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Tsunami Laboratory in Novosibirsk.
Siberia. "But even we specialists on hazards could not quite believe that
today a tsunami could kill so many. We used to think of the risks in terms of
material damage, rather than the loss of human life. This great tragedy showed
we were wrong."
At present, the
warning system is far from perfect, generating a 75% rate of false alarms. But
that should change when the new generation of deepwater detectors are
positioned. In November 2003, a trial run of the system showed that a tsunami
caused by an Alaskan earthquake would be too small to do any damage when it
reached Hawaii --- so avoiding an unnecessary and
costly coastal evacuation* like one caused by a false alarm eight years
earlier. After last week's disaster, however, few are likely to ignore the
tsunami sirens the next time they sound. (569 words)
２００７年度最初の担当。
学習院大学の英語の問題は分量が適当で，内容も穏当で，法政と同じくらい好感を持っています。ただし，実際に訳し出すと読みやすい割に日本語にしにくい所があります。
この英文はあきらかに時事的な英文。問題にも２００４年１２月２６日，スマトラ沖大地震の１週間後に書かれた，と明示されています。
出典はTIME. (http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2005/01/fieldwork2.html)
もう大昔になりますが，英語の教科書で津波について扱ったことがあります。開拓社の教科書で結構難しかったなぁ，というのが印象。
→大意
Ⅱ
Industries such
as information technology, biotechnology and communications cannot grow without
a steady supply of highly educated workers. Compared to India and China, the
United States is falling behind in education. "Most U.S. high school
students choose not to take advanced science, with only one-quarter enrolling
in physics, one-half in chemistry," the
National Science Foundation discovered. Another government body concluded
that U.S. students were "alarmingly far" from leading the world in
science and math.
Aware that the
learning environment in the American classroom needs to be improved, President
Bush's education reforms have put almost every imaginable part of the U.S.
School system under a microscope, establishing national standards for teacher
training, student testing and basic funding. But a striking omission from the
reform program is any significant examination of that most basic of classroom
tools, the textbook.
With younger,
inexperienced teachers being thrown into classrooms to meet new federal standards,
as much as 90 percent of the burden of instruction rests on the textbooks,
claims Frank Wang, a former textbook publisher who left the field to teach
mathematics at the University of Oklahoma.
And yet, few if
any textbooks are ever tested to find out whether they actually help students
learn. "This is where people miss
the boat. They don't realize how important textbooks are," Wang said.
"We talk about more money and more teachers, but education is about books.
That's where the content is."
If America's
textbooks were thoroughly graded, Wang and other scholars say, they would fail
badly. American textbooks are both unusually oversized so much so that some
states are thinking of demanding lighter books to save students from back
injuries-and intellectually lightweight, glancing briefly at too many topics
without examining them in detail. (To make matters worse, many of them are,
from an educational point of view, untruthful. They have been so thoroughly
altered by editors keen to make them fit in with the demands of competing
political groups that they end up painting an inaccurate picture of American
history and society.
Textbooks have
become so boring that they are "a scandal and an outrage," according
to Diane Ravitch, a senior official in the Education Department and co-author
of a recent report. "They are edited to avoid displeasing anyone who sits
on textbook selection committees, they are poorly written, and they are
burdened with unsuitable and boring content," wrote Ravitch in the
report's introduction. "As a result," she added, "they undermine
learning instead of building and encouraging it." If President Bush wants
America to keep up with its competitors, he will have to add textbook reform to
his education program.
(434 words)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12705167/
こちらは教科書問題。内容的には，教科書の検討がなおざりになっているので，しっかりやりなさい，という至極穏当な主張。
対して印象に残らないまま，忘れてしまいそうです。
【２月２４日】