Goodbye Columbusの冒頭部分の要約

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  • ブレンダが泳ぐ姿に感動する
  • ブレンダが水の中でも鮮やかな姿勢を保つ
  • ブレンダが水着を整える場面に興味を持つ
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Goodbye Columbus の冒頭部分です

The first time I saw Brenda she asked me to hold her glasses. Then she stepped out to the edge of the diving board and looked foggily into the pool; it could have been drained, myopic Brenda would never have known it. She dove beautifully, and a moment later she was swimming back to the side of the pool, her head of short-clipped auburn hair held up, straight ahead of her, as though it were a rose on a long stem. The rose glided dry to the edge and then it was beside me. “Thank you,” she said, her eyes watery though not from the water. She extended a hand for her glasses but did not put them on until she turned and headed away. I watched her move off. Her hands suddenly appeared behind her. She caught the bottom of her suit between thumb and index finger and flicked what flesh had been showing back where it belonged. My blood jumped. 上記はGoodbye Columbus の冒頭部分ですが、2か所質問があります。 1.it could have been drained, myopic Brenda would never have known it. を たとえ水がなくても、近眼のブレンダにはわからなかっただろう、と訳されています。it could have been drained,が何故「たとえ水がなくても」という意味になるのですか?仮定法のようですが、仮定法にするとどういう意味合いを付け加えるのでしょうか? 2. flicked what flesh had been showing back where it belonged. これは「ずり上がっていたところを、ぐいっと引き下ろした」と訳されています。何故そういう訳になるのでしょう? flesh とは具体的に何を指しますか?Itは何を指しますか? flick はbackは一対でflick back と考えていいのでしょうか? 宜しくお願いします。

  • 英語
  • 回答数2
  • ありがとう数3

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  • cbm51901
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回答No.1

1. "drain" は「水を抜く」です。 https://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=drain つまり、「プールの中の水は抜かれていたかも知れない」となります。 「プールの中の水は抜かれていたかも知れないが、近眼のブレンダには決してわからなかっただろう。」 2. "flick" で「ピシッとはじく」です。 https://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=flick ですから "flicked back" で「ピシッとはじき返した」でしょう。 "flesh" は身体の「肉」で、ここではお尻の「お肉」のことを指していると思われます。"It" は "flesh" のことを指しています。つまり、ブレンダがプールに飛び込んだ際、水着がずり上がって彼女のお尻の部分が露出してしまったのでしょう(flesh had been showing)。だから彼女は水着のお尻の部分をつまんで下に引き下ろし、元の位置(back where it belonged)に戻したのです。 そしてその様子を見ていた話者は、頭に血が上った(ドキッとした)のです(My blood jumped.)。

0123gokudo
質問者

お礼

回答ありがとうございます。 なるほどそういうことですか。英語はなかなか複雑な言い回しをしますね。

0123gokudo
質問者

補足

fleshが一体どの部分の肉のことを指してるんだろうと疑問でしたが、う~ん、やっぱりお尻の肉だったんですね。訳からは、どうもそのようには理解出来たのですが、まさかそんな卑猥なことを描写するわけがないとも一方では思っていました。それで理解が進まなかったのかも知れません。

その他の回答 (1)

回答No.2

すでにほぼ言い尽くされていますが、ちょっとだけ。 1.it could have been drained, myopic Brenda would never have known it. 二つの文がただ並べられているのを、不思議に思われたのかもしれません。 普通なら、but でつなぐか、even if で従属節にするはずです。 しかし、こういう技法もあるのです。 juxtaposition といいます。 有名なところでは、Dickens の『二都物語』の冒頭部分。 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way … ほかにも、カエサルの有名な「来た、見た、勝った」はI came, I saw, I conquered と訳されます。原文が veni, vidi, vici ですからね。 2.動詞+O+結果状態という構文です。 目的語に対してある行為を行った結果、ある状態に変化するという意味です。 flick じゃなくてもいろんな動詞でこの構文をとります。 まあ、back に関しては bring an overdue book back to the library 返却期限が過ぎた本を図書館に返す [ジーニアス英和(第5版)辞典] というのと同じです。 flick した結果、お肉が見せていた部分を、元の位置に戻した、ってことです。

0123gokudo
質問者

お礼

回答ありがとうございます。 なるほど、juxtapositionというのは「並列」ですね。 時には適当な語、but やeven if を補うと理解しやすくなりますね。今までにお目にかかった記憶がありません。だから「????」てなったんですね。

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