A man is on a tour of Mexico when the bus stops in a small town.
ある男が、メキシコを旅していた。バスが小さな町の停留所に停まった。
The bus driver says the bus will start about an hour later.
運転手は「あと1時間ほどで出発します」と言った。
So the man decides to have a look around the town.
そこで男は町を見て回ることにした。
After a while he realizes that he's left his watch on the bus.
しばらくして、男は腕時計をバスに置き忘れてきたことに気がついた。
He sees a sleepy hombre sitting against the wall in his sombrero so he asks, "Could you tell me the time please?"
眠たげに壁にもたれかかっている、ソンブレロをかぶった男が見えたので、
「今何時ですか?」
と尋ねた。
The man reaches out to a mule, lifts it's tail and then lets it drop.
すると男はロバに手を伸ばし、しっぽを持上げて手を放した。
"About 2:30," he says.
「2時30分くらいだな」と男が答えた。
"Amazing," says the tourist.
「驚いたな」旅人は言った。
"Can you tell the time by how quickly the tail falls in the heat at this time of the day?" he asks.
「しっぽがどのくらい速く落ちるかを試して気温を知ることで時間がわかるのですか?」彼は尋ねた。
"No," replies the man.
「いいや」と男は答えた。
"Can you tell the time by the heat of the tail at this time of day?" he asks.
「しっぽの温度で時間がわかるのですか?」と、彼は(また)尋ねた。
"No," the man replies again.
「いいや」と彼はまた答えた。
"Then how can you tell the time by lifteing that donkey's tail?" the tourist asks in confusion.
「じゃあ、どうやって、ロバのしっぽを持上げて時間がわかるのですか?」旅人は困惑して聞いた。
The man reaches over and lifts the donkey's tail again and points across the street, "Can you see the clock tower over there?" "Yes," says the tourist.
男は、ロバのしっぽを再び持上げて、通りの向こうを指差した。
「あそこの時計塔が見えるか?」
「ええ」
旅人は答えた。
Whaile I was (fortunately) able to give at least plausible answers for these and other questions, it struck me that there were many places in Tokyo that I should have seen, but didn't -- many things I should have noticed an investigated, but was too busy.
*plausible = 有り得る
*struck me = 感じさせる、印象づける、〜という気がする
The abrupt realization that in the last few years I had been so pre-occupied with work, and in the rut of everyday habit, I had in some way lost touch with the fact that the primary reason I came to this country was to learn and experience its unique and exotic culture.
*abrupt = 突然の
*pre-occupied = 気を取られて
*be in a rut = 型にはまりこんでいる、マンネリになっている
*primary = 第1の
In retrospect, I can look back on some of my Japanese friends living and "studying" in America and see the same thing.
*in retrospect = 振り返ってみると
アメリカに住んで、「勉強して」いた、日本の友達が、同じような感じだった、と振り返っているようです。
Living with other Japanese, and spending the majority of their time on the beach and playing golf (not a bad way to live) was the exact reason why when they left years later, they realized that their experience -- while enjoyable -- was not as complete as it could have been.
Here too, I found myself fairly capable of answering who, what, when, where and why... but was overcome with the impression that I should have been able to do more. Of course Kyoto, being a not so cheap and fairly long train ride away, the chances to go there are not often, but I could no shake the gnawing feeling that I had made it seem farther and more troublesome than it really was.
This intensified whenever I picked up his tourist guidebook, and I was confronted with pictures of places and events that I had always wanted to see, the very things that had drawn me here, but I had not.
*intensify = 強まる
This friend's visit taught me an important lesson, and hopefully the visit of another will give me a chance to show my gratitude.
After month of begging, one of my friends finally took me up on my invitation to visit me here in Japan.
*begging = 頼む、願う
*take up on = (依頼などを)受け入れる
With a relationship, and shared interest in histry that goes back to out elementary-school days, we set about in earnest planningwhat we would see and do.
*in earnest = 急ぎで、一生懸命
He being a lawyer just out that in the week before coming to Japan, he had read every piece of Japanese, he had read every piece of Japanese literature, travel guide, and novel that he could get his hands on.
I, having lived here for seven years and holding a degree in Japanese history and literature, was quite confident that I could not only give him the tour of his life, but easily handle any cultural question he threw at me.
degree = 学位
With only a week to work with, I decided to give him a taste of the urbancrunch of Tokyo, and the historic flavor of Kyoto.
*urban = 都市の
*crunch = 激しさ
While he was impressed with the glitz of Ginza, the amazing gadgets at Akihabara, and the towering skyascrapers of Shinjuku, his quick and discerning eyes were quick to pick up on the little things.
I was constantly bombarded with questions like "Why is salt placed at the entrances of restaurants?" and "What are the visible differences between a Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine?"
burn upは「燃える」と言う意味だが、熱(体温)を表す時にもよくつかわれる。
特に相手のひたいに手をあてて、熱を診た後に言うことが多い。
ただし、ひどい熱の場合によく使われるフレーズなので、
「少し熱がある」程度なら、"have a slight fever"や、
"be a little warm"のほうが一般的
*めまいがした "I saw stars."
A: That player tackled you prettye hard, are you OK?
B: Yeah, I saw stars for a minute, but now I am all right.
*practice*
A: Tommy can't seem to stop smiling!
B: That's because he finally made the first string on the soccer team.
※このイディオムはスポーツでのみ使われる表現で、「一流」の意味では使えないそうです。
★Scene 8 条件をつけずに "No Strings Attached"
相手が遠慮してしまうような申し出をする時に使う。
直訳は「ひもをつけずに」だが、意味は「善意からで、見返りは期待していません」。
逆に「条件つきで」は、"there are strings attached"よりも、
"wigh/under one condition"が一般的。
主にビジネスで、動機が怪しい時に使われる。
*practice*
A: Your all-expence-paid vacation offer is nice, but I cannot accept.
B: Doctor I assure you, there are no strings attached!
Melendez: She'd love it. Schulz says he doesn't know Japan or Japanese. It's hard for him to make strips about Japan. But if he came here then it would be easy. Onece he was around here for a week or two he'd just absorb all the necessary things.
Melendez: No. He just doesn't like to travel. He feels uneasy about flying. He's the only guy I know who turned down the president of the United States, who inveited him to a foray in Washington. And he turned him down, President Lyndon B. Johnson I belive.
Melendez : The people are usually standing there, and I ask them, "What's your name?" So I'll just make up something that will go with it. It's not hard. It just seems like it.
Question: People sort of identify themselves with these characters, don't they?
Melendez: This shows that Schulz is a very good writer because all the characters he creates have bery strong character, leanings, and each one is different from the other. To me, the only ones that are similar (I accused Schulz of that onece, and he said, (Of course not") are Snoopy and Woodstock, you know, that little bird. They're even drawn them the same way, except one is tiny and one is big.
*sort of = 多少、まあまあ
(例)He was sort of angry. 彼はいくぶん怒っていた(Weblioより)
*accuse = 告発する、訴える、非難する
*leaning(s) = 傾向、好み
『ピーナッツ』に登場するキャラクターは、それぞれ、個性たっぷり。メレンデスさんは、シュルツさんを、「good writer」とほめ、それぞれが、別のキャラクターと、ちゃんと描き分けられている点をあげています。
ただ、スヌーピーとウッドストック(黄色い鳥のキャラクター)だけは、同じように感じていたようですね。
それを、シュルツさんにも訴えてみたようです。
"They're even draw them the same way," というあたりは、漫画は読むだけの素人には、まったくわからないけれども、メレンデスさんにとっては、大きいか小さいかの違いしかなかったんですね。プロの目線はやはり違いますね!
Question: Are there any intersting tidbits about any of the characters?
Melendez: Schulz has a funny story about Peppermint Patty. He says that she destroyed the school dress code single handedly by refusing to wear shoes, only sandals. There are a lot of places in the States where the kids are very informal, and get away with it easily.