「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(72)

　著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。
英英辞典を使いながら演習すると効果倍増です。

※(71)の解答①(confused)②(that if it had)③(whole island would have)④(they made that village)⑤(it gave way in)⑥(have to rush off)⑦(wonder)⑧(this song being sung) ⑨(land to set free)⑩(trembled) ⑪(spear sticking in his)⑫(breath)⑬(directions)⑭(forehead)⑮(poured)⑯(chance to fly for) ⑰(knocked down flat by)⑱(assaulted) ⑲(exactly)⑳(extraordinarily)

(72)
If you have ever heard a ①(anger / screech / parrot / with) you will know that it makes a truly frightful sound; and if you have ever been bitten by one, you will know that its bite can be a ②**(nasty : obscure : courageous : innovative) and a painful thing.

The Black Parrots (coal-black all over, they were—except for a scarlet beak and a streak of red in wing and tail) on the word of ③**(associate : command : reproach : mortgage) from Polynesia set to work upon the Bag-jagderags who were now pouring through the village looking for plunder.

And the Black Parrots' ④*(chemistry : breath : competition : method) of fighting was peculiar. This is what they did: on the head of each Bag-jagderag three or four parrots settled and took a good foot-hold in his ⑤(their / hair / claws / with); then they leant down over the sides of his head and began clipping snips out of his ears, for all the world as though they were punching tickets. That is all they did. They never bit ⑥(anywhere / except / them / else) the ears. But it won the war for us.

With howls pitiful to hear, the Bag-jagderags fell over one another in their haste ⑦(out / to / of / get) that accursed village. It was ⑧(use / no / trying / their) to pull the parrots off their heads; because for each head there were always four more parrots waiting impatiently to get on.

Some of the enemy were lucky; and with only a snip or two ⑨*(prepared : referred : managed : forced) to get outside the fence—where the parrots immediately left them alone. But with most, before the black birds had done with them, the ears ⑩*(promised : refused : presented : inquired) a very singular appearance—like the edge of a postage-stamp. This treatment, very painful at the time, did not however do them any permanent harm ⑪(under : beyond : without : by) the change in looks. And it later got to be the tribal mark of the Bag-jagderags. No really smart young lady of this tribe would be seen walking with a man who did not have scalloped ears—for such was a ⑫*(relative : project : delivery : proof) that he had been in the Great War. And that (though it is not generally known to scientists) is ⑬(came / people / this / how) to be called by the other Indian nations, the Ragged-Eared Bag-jagderags.

As soon as the village was cleared of the enemy the Doctor ⑭(his / turned / to / attention) the wounded.

In spite of the length and fierceness of the struggle, there were surprisingly few serious injuries. Poor Long Arrow was the worst off. However, after the Doctor had washed his wound and ⑮(bed / got / to / him), he opened his eyes and said he already felt better. Bumpo was only badly stunned.

With this part of the business over, the Doctor called to Polynesia to have the Black Parrots drive the enemy right back into their own country and to wait there, guarding them all night.

Polynesia ⑮(got : went : felt : gave) the short word of command; and like one bird those millions of parrots opened their red beaks and let out once more their terrifying battle-scream.

The Bag-jagderags didn't wait to be bitten a second time, but fled helter-skelter over the ⑯(from / they / mountains / which) had come; whilst Polynesia and her victorious army followed watchfully behind like a great, threatening, black cloud.

The Doctor picked up his high hat which had been knocked off in the fight, dusted it carefully and put it on.

"To-morrow," he said, shaking his fist towards the hills, "we will arrange the ⑰*(sights : terms : goods : directions) of peace—and we will arrange them—in the City of Bag-jagderag."

His words were ⑱*(pretended : greeted : apologized : resulted) with cheers of triumph from the admiring Popsipetels. The war was over.
THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS
THE next day we ⑲*(let : set : gave : took) out for the far end of the island, and reaching it in canoes (for we went by sea) after a journey of twenty-five hours, we remained no longer than was necessary in the City of Bag-jagderag.

When he threw himself into that fight at Popsipetel, I saw the Doctor really angry for the first time in my life. But his anger, once aroused, was slow to die. All the way down the coast of the island he never ⑳**(installed : ceased : fired : absorbed) to rail against this cowardly people who had attacked his friends, the Popsipetels, for no other reason but to rob them of their corn, because they were too idle to till the land themselves. And he was still angry when he reached the City of Bag-jagderag.

解答は次回発表。ご意見、ご要望等はsuzuyasu@wmail.plala.or.jpでも承っております。

「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(71)

　精度の高い読書を通して英語力を楽しく確実に伸ばせます。そんなわけで著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。

※(70)の解答①(judge)②(harvest)③(to get corn without)④(defeat) ⑤(men were seen putting)⑥(with them instead of)⑦(to do peaceful arguing)⑧(defend)⑨(took his place among)⑩(with which to help) ⑪(content)⑬(where)⑭(young tree in one)⑮(be seen from where) ⑯(muttered)⑰(stand no chance against)⑱(view)⑲(finds them in time). ⑳(surrounded)

(71)
I now come again to a part in the story of our voyages where things happened so quickly, one upon the other, that looking backwards I see the picture only in a ①*(convinced : devoted : confused : examined) kind of way. I know ②(it / that / had / if) not been for the Terrible Three—as they came afterwards to be fondly called in Popsipetel history—Long Arrow, Bumpo and the Doctor, the war would have been soon over and the ③(have / whole / would / island) belonged to the worthless Bag-jagderags. But the Englishman, the African and the Indian were a regiment in themselves; and between them ④(made / village / they / that) a dangerous place for any man to try to enter.

The bamboo fencing which had been hastily set up around the town was not a very strong affair; and right from the start ⑤(way / it / in / gave) one place after another as the enemy thronged and crowded against it. Then the Doctor, Long Arrow and Bumpo would hurry to the weak spot, a terrific hand-to-hand fight would take place and the enemy be thrown out. But almost instantly a cry of alarm would come from some other part of the village-wall; and the Three would ⑥(rush / have / off / to) and do the same thing all over again.

The Popsipetels were themselves no mean fighters; but the strength and weight of those three men of different lands and colors, standing close together, swinging their enormous war-clubs, was really a sight for the ⑦*(wonder : triumph : pollution : notion) and admiration of any one,

Many weeks later when I was passing an Indian camp-fire at night I heard ⑧(sung / being / song / this). It has since become one of the traditional folksongs of the Popsipetels.

THE SONG OF THE TERRIBLE THREE
Oh hear ye the Song of the Terrible Three
And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
Down from the mountains, the rocks and the crags,
Swarming like wasps, came the Bag-jagderags.

Surrounding our village, our walls they broke down.
Oh, sad was the plight of our men and our town!
But Heaven determined our ⑨(set / land / free / to)
And sent us the help of the Terrible Three.
One was a Black—he was dark as the night;
One was a Red-skin, a mountain of height;
But the chief was a White Man, round like a bee;
And all in a row stood the Terrible Three.

Shoulder to shoulder, they hammered and hit.
Like demons of fury they kicked and they bit.
Like a wall of destruction they stood in a row,
Flattening enemies, six at a blow.

Oh, strong was the Red-skin fierce was the Black.
Bag-jagderags ⑩**(registered : trembled : utilized : embraced) and tried to turn back.
But 'twas of the White Man they shouted, "Beware!
He throws men in handfuls, straight up in the air!"

Long shall they frighten bad children at night
With tales of the Red and the Black and the White.
And long shall we sing of the Terrible Three
And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.

THE SIXTH CHAPTER. GENERAL POLYNESIA
BUT alas! even the Three, mighty though they were, could not last forever against an army which seemed to have no end. In one of the hottest scrimmages, when the enemy had broken a particularly wide hole through the fence, I saw Long Arrow's great figure topple and come down with a ⑪(his / spear / in / sticking) broad chest.

For another half-hour Bumpo and the Doctor fought on side by side. How their strength held out so long I cannot tell, for never a second were they given to get their ⑫*(brain : conflict : breath : furniture) or rest their arms.

The Doctor—the quiet, kindly, peaceable, little Doctor!—well, you wouldn't have known him if you had seen him that day dealing out whacks you could hear a mile off, walloping and swatting in all ⑬*(debts : goods : directions : tears).

As for Bumpo, with staring eye-balls and grim set teeth, he was a veritable demon. None dared come within yards of that wicked, wide-circling door-post. But a stone, skilfully thrown, struck him at last in the centre of the ⑭*(factory : insect : resident : forehead). And down went the second of the Three. John Dolittle, the last of the Terribles, was left fighting alone.

Jip and I rushed to his side and tried to take the places of the fallen ones. But, far too light and too small, we made but a poor exchange. Another length of the fence crashed down, and through the widened gap the Bag-jagderags ⑮**(sustained : resorted : poured : wasted ) in on us like a flood.

"To the canoes!—To the sea!" shouted the Popsipetels. "Fly for your lives!—All is over!—The war is lost!"

But the Doctor and I never got a ⑯(for / fly / chance / to) our lives. We were swept off our feet and ⑰(by / knocked / flat / down) the sheer weight of the mob. And once down, we were unable to get up again. I thought we would surely be trampled to death.

But at that moment, above the din and racket of the battle, we heard the most terrifying noise that ever ⑱**(altered : prevailed : assaulted : confined) human ears: the sound of millions and millions of parrots all screeching with fury together.

The army, which in the nick of time Polynesia had brought to our rescue, darkened the whole sky to the westward. I asked her afterwards, how many birds there were; and she said she didn't know ⑲*(eventually densely : similarly : exactly) but that they certainly numbered somewhere between sixty and seventy millions. In that ⑳*(roughly : extraordinarily : scarcely : frequently) short space of time she had brought them from the mainland of South America.

解答は次回発表。ご意見、ご要望等はsuzuyasu@wmail.plala.or.jpでも承っております。

「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(70)

　大学入試であれTOEICであれ英検であれ童話が出題されることはまずないとはいえ、童話の英語が理解できない段階で良好な試験結果を出すのは困難です。日本人英語学習者は童話ができない段階で難しい教材に取り組んで苦労するケースがあまりにも多いです。あせらずに、まず童話が理解できるようにしてから教材レベルを上げていけば余計な苦労をせずに済みます。そんなわけで、子どもが読んでも大人が読んでも面白い著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。
　コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解をクリックするとまとめて読めますのでご利用下さい。
　いままでにここのブログで連載した「オズの魔法使い」から学ぶ頻出語彙と読解、ドリトル先生アフリカゆきで学ぶ語彙・読解もクリックすると全文読めます。
　訳本は三点とも岩波少年文庫からいいものが出ています。たとえ数分でも自力で英文を理解するよう努力してからの訳本の利用がおすすめです。考えずに訳文を暗記するような横着をしていては英語思考力が伸ばせません。

※(69)の解答①(climate)②(got enough of them)③(splendid) ④(them to come over)⑤(how this island came)⑥(odd)⑦(explanation) ⑧(curious)⑨(filled with air as)⑩(what keeps it floating)⑪(us at full speed)⑫(their heads out of)⑬(serious)⑭(their noses against it)⑮(persuading)⑯(saw it begin to)⑰(calculation)⑱(take)⑲(discussing natural history with)⑳advancing

(70)
"Evil news indeed," said the Doctor. "Yet let us not ①*(decrease : judge : notice : avoid)harshly. Perhaps it is that they are desperate for food, having their own crops frost-killed before ②*(harvest : behavior : region : crisis). For are they not even nearer the cold South than you?"

"Make no excuses for any man of the tribe of the Bag-jagderags," said Long Arrow shaking his head. "They are an idle shiftless race. They do but see a chance ③(get / without / to / corn) the labor of husbandry. If it were not that they are a much bigger tribe and hope to ④*(describe : fix : defeat : reform) their neighbor by sheer force of numbers, they would not have dared to make open war upon the brave Popsipetels."

When we reached the village we found it in a great state of excitement. Everywhere ⑤(seen / men / putting / were) their bows in order, sharpening spears, grinding battle-axes and making arrows by the hundred. Women were raising a high fence of bamboo poles all round the village. Scouts and messengers kept coming and going, bringing news of the movements of the enemy. While high up in the trees and hills about the village we could see look-outs watching the mountains to the southward.

Long Arrow brought another Indian, short but enormously broad, and introduced him to the Doctor as Big Teeth, the chief warrior of the Popsipetels.

The Doctor volunteered to go and see the enemy and try to argue the matter out peacefully ⑥(them / with / of / instead) fighting; for war, he said, was at best a stupid wasteful business. But the two shook their heads. Such a plan was hopeless, they said. In the last war when they had sent a messenger ⑦(arguing / to / peaceful / do), the enemy had merely hit him with an ax.

While the Doctor was asking Big Teeth how he meant to ⑧*(develop : owe : seek : defend) the village against attack, a cry of alarm was raised by the look-outs.

"They're coming!—The Bag-jagderags-swarming down the mountains in thousands!"

"Well," said the Doctor, "it's all in the day's work, I suppose. I don't believe in war; but if the village is attacked we must help defend it."

And he picked up a club from the ground and tried the heft of it against a stone.

"This," he said, "seems like a pretty good tool to me." And he walked to the bamboo fence and ⑨(among / took / place / his) the other waiting fighters.

Then we all got hold of some kind of weapon ⑩(help / with / to / which ) our friends, the gallant Popsipetels: I borrowed a bow and a quiver full of arrows; Jip was ⑪**(subtle : content : indespensible : initial) to rely upon his old, but still strong teeth; Chee-Chee took a bag of rocks and climbed a palm ⑬(when : which : where : that) he could throw them down upon the enemies' heads; and Bumpo marched after the Doctor to the fence armed with a ⑭(one / in / tree / young) hand and a door-post in the other.

When the enemy drew near enough to ⑮(from / be / where / seen) we stood we all gasped with astonishment. The hillsides were actually covered with them—thousands upon thousands. They made our small army within the village look like a mere handful.

"Saints alive!" ⑯**(cracked : excluded : muttered : captured) Polynesia, "our little lot will ⑰(no / against / stand / chance) that swarm. This will never do. I'm going off to get some help." Where she was going and what kind of help she meant to get, I had no idea. She just disappeared from my side. But Jip, who had heard her, poked his nose between the bamboo bars of the fence to get a better ⑱*(party : view : supply : cure) of the enemy and said,

"Likely enough she's gone after the Black Parrots. Let's hope she ⑲(in / time / finds / them). Just look at those ugly ruffians climbing down the rocks—millions of 'em! This fight's going to keep us all hopping."

And Jip was right. Before a quarter of an hour had gone by our village was completely ⑳*(expanded : surrounded : restored : revealed) by one huge mob of yelling, raging Bag-jagderags.

解答は次回発表。ご意見、ご要望等はsuzuyasu@wmail.plala.or.jpでも承っております。

「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(69)

　著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題になっています。
　わからない単語が四語選択問題の中にあれば辞書で調べて、どの単語が文脈に合うか考えるだけでも英語力がつきます。英英辞典を使えれば効果倍増です。
ネイティブの発想でわかりやすく書かれた英英辞典は英語の万能細胞と言っても過言ではなく、英英辞典を「使わず」にTOEIC900点、英検１級レベルに到達することはあっても、英英辞典を「使えず」に到達することはまずないと思われます。
　英英辞典が使えるかどうかは
英英実力判定テストでお調べください。点数が思わしくなければ
english x englishをお試しください。英英辞典を使うのが楽になり、徐々に英語を英語のまま和訳せずに理解できるようになります。

※(68)の解答①(astonishment)②(falling on their knees)③(bare) ④(of fried fish passed)⑤(got them to bring)⑥(vast ring of Indians)⑦(trying to get warm)⑧(handling)⑨(taken into their houses)⑩(had brought with him)⑪(secretly)⑫(patiently)⑬(determined)⑭(explore)⑮(found that not only)⑯(gathering together for flight)⑰(terrible)⑱(looking out to sea)⑲(current)⑳(perish)

(69)
"Well," said the porpoises, "then the thing to do is to get it back into a warmer ①*(taste : charge : period : climate), isn't it?"

"Yes, but how?" said the Doctor. "We can't ROW it back."

"No," said they, "but whales could push it—if you only ②(of / got / them / enough)."

"What a ③*(decent : splendid : steady : grateful) idea!—Whales, the very thing!" said the Doctor. "Do you think you could get me some?"

"Why, certainly," said the porpoises, "we passed one herd of them out there, sporting about among the icebergs. We'll ask ④(come / them / over / to). And if they aren't enough, we'll try and hunt up some more. Better have plenty."

"Thank you," said the Doctor. "You are very kind—By the way, do you happen to know ⑤(this / came / how / island) to be a floating island? At least half of it, I notice, is made of stone. It is very ⑥*(sufficient : odd : casual : regular) that it floats at all, isn't it?"

"It is unusual," they said. "But the ⑦*(explanation : solution : sentence : obstacle) is quite simple. It used to be a mountainous part of South America—an overhanging part—sort of an awkward corner, you might say. Way back in the glacial days, thousands of years ago, it broke off from the mainland; and by some ⑧*(bare : curious : mutual : domestic) accident the inside of it, which is hollow, got ⑨(as / filled / air / with) it fell into the ocean. You can only see less than half of the island: the bigger half is under water. And in the middle of it, underneath, is a huge rock air-chamber, running right up inside the mountains. And that's ⑩(floating / it / keeps / what)."

"What a pecurious phenometer!" said Bumpo.

"It is indeed," said the Doctor. "I must make a note of that." And out came the everlasting note-book.

The porpoises went bounding off towards the icebergs. And not long after, we saw the sea heaving and frothing as a big herd of whales came towards ⑪(speed / full / us / at).

They certainly were enormous creatures; and there must have been a good two hundred of them.

"Here they are," said the porpoises, poking ⑫(out / their / of / heads) the water.

"Good!" said the Doctor. "Now just explain to them, will you please? that this is a very ⑬*(domestic : serious : broad : patient) matter for all the living creatures in this land. And ask them if they will be so good as to go down to the far end of the island, put ⑭(against / their / it / noses ) and push it back near the coast of Southern Brazil."

The porpoises evidently succeeded in ⑮*(doubting : persuading : bothering : adopting) the whales to do as the Doctor asked; for presently we saw them thrashing through the seas, going off towards the south end of the island.

Then we lay down upon the beach and waited.

After about an hour the Doctor got up and threw a stick into the water. For a while this floated motionless. But soon we ⑯(it / saw / to / begin )move gently down the coast.

"Ah!" said the Doctor, "see that?—The island is going North at last. Thank goodness!"

Faster and faster we left the stick behind; and smaller and dimmer grew the icebergs on the skyline.

The Doctor took out his watch, threw more sticks into the water and made a rapid ⑰(cause : profit : calculation : view).

"Humph!—Fourteen and a half knots an hour," he murmured—"A very nice speed. It should ⑱(make : take : let : get) us about five days to get back near Brazil. Well, that's that—Quite a load off my mind. I declare I feel warmer already. Let's go and get something to eat."

THE FIFTH CHAPTER. WAR!
ON our way back to the village the Doctor began ⑲(history / with / discussing / natural) Long Arrow. But their most interesting talk, mainly about plants, had hardly begun when an Indian runner came dashing up to us with a message.

Long Arrow listened gravely to the breathless, babbled words, then turned to the Doctor and said in eagle tongue,

"Great White Man, an evil thing has befallen the Popsipetels. Our neighbors to the southward, the thievish Bag-jagderags, who for so long have cast envious eyes on our stores of ripe corn, have gone upon the war-path; and even now are ⑳*(consuming : repairing : attracting : advancing) to attack us."

解答は次回発表。ご意見、ご要望等はsuzuyasu@wmail.plala.or.jpでも承っております。

「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(68)

　著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。

※(67)の解答①(if he knew what)②(wonder)③(weeping)④(can get cold anyway)⑤(thoroughly)⑥(he said turning to)⑦(this land are dead)⑧(pockets to see if)⑨(employ)⑩(fear)⑪(forced)⑫(dispatch)⑬(promptly)⑭(brought to our door)⑮(as though it were)⑯(curious)⑰(realized)⑱(grinding this stick into)⑲(that was smoking with)⑳(filled)

(68)
The Indians murmured and grunted with ①*(pollution : faith : courage : astonishment). At first they were all for ②(knees / falling / their / on) and worshiping the fire. Then they wanted to pick it up with their ③*(profound : fair : regular : bare) hands and play with it. We had to teach them how it was to be used; and they were quite fascinated when we laid our fish across it on sticks and cooked it. They sniffed the air with relish as, for the first time in history, the smell ④(passed / of / fish / fried) through the village of Popsipetel.

Then we ⑤(bring / to / them / got ) us piles and stacks of dry wood; and we made an enormous bonfire in the middle of the main street. Round this, when they felt its warmth, the whole tribe gathered and smiled and wondered. It was a striking sight, one of the pictures from our voyages that I most frequently remember: that roaring jolly blaze beneath the black night sky, and all about it a ⑥(of / vast / Indians / ring), the firelight gleaming on bronze cheeks, white teeth and flashing eyes—a whole town ⑦(get / trying / warm / to), giggling and pushing like school-children.

In a little, when we had got them more used to the ⑧*(resisting : handling : removing : expressing) of fire, the Doctor showed them how it could be ⑨(houses / taken / their / into) if a hole were only made in the roof to let the smoke out. And before we turned in after that long, long, tiring day, we had fires going in every hut in the village.

The poor people were so glad to get really warm again that we thought they'd never go to bed. Well on into the early hours of the morning the little town fairly buzzed with a great low murmur: the Popsipetels sitting up talking of their wonderful pale-faced visitor and this strange good thing he ⑩(brought / him / had / with)—FIRE!

THE FOURTH CHAPTER. WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT
VERY early in our experience of Popsipetel kindness we saw that if we were to get anything done at all, we would almost always have to do it ⑪*(secretly : precisely : merely : actually). The Doctor was so popular and loved by all that as soon as he showed his face at his door in the morning crowds of admirers, waiting ⑫*(awfully : rapidly : finally : patiently) outside, flocked about him and followed him wherever he went. After his fire-making feat, this childlike people expected him, I think, to be continually doing magic; and they were ⑬(exploded : determined : wandered : pretended ) not to miss a trick.

It was only with great difficulty that we escaped from the crowd the first morning and set out with Long Arrow to ⑭**(seize : explore : violate : commute) the island at our leisure.

In the interior we ⑮(only / not / that / found ) the plants and trees were suffering from the cold: the animal life was in even worse straits. Everywhere shivering birds were to be seen, their feathers all fluffed out, ⑯(for / gathering / flight / together) to summer lands. And many lay dead upon the ground. Going down to the shore, we watched land-crabs in large numbers taking to the sea to find some better home. While away to the Southeast we could see many icebergs floating—a sign that we were now not far from the ⑰*(ideal : proper : previous : terrible) region of the Antarctic.

As we were ⑱(to / looking / sea / out), we noticed our friends the porpoises jumping through the waves. The Doctor hailed them and they came inshore.

He asked them how far we were from the South Polar Continent.

About a hundred miles, they told him. And then they asked why he wanted to know.

"Because this floating island we are on," said he, "is drifting southward all the time in a ⑲**(cheer : shortage : current : flame). It's an island that ordinarily belongs somewhere in the tropic zone—real sultry weather, sunstrokes and all that. If it doesn't stop going southward pretty soon everything on it is going to ⑳**(withstand : perish : abuse : embrace)."

解答は次回発表。ご意見、ご要望等はsuzuyasu@wmail.plala.or.jpでも承っております。

「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(67)

　学習効率を大きく左右する要因は「楽しさ」の有無で、無味乾燥な教材を通しての学力向上はきわめて困難です。しかし興味の持てる教材ならば余計な苦労をせずに済みます。そんなわけで、子どもが読んでも大人が読んでも面白い著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。
　コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解をクリックするとまとめて読めますのでご利用下さい。
　いままでにここのブログで連載した「オズの魔法使い」から学ぶ頻出語彙と読解、ドリトル先生アフリカゆきで学ぶ語彙・読解もクリックすると全文読めます。
　訳本は三点とも岩波少年文庫からいいものが出ています。たとえ数分でも自力で英文を理解するよう努力してからの訳本の利用がおすすめです。考えずに訳文を暗記するような横着をしていては英語思考力が伸ばせません。

※(66)の解答①(cluster of large grass)②(situated)③(covers)④(rescue)⑤(greet)⑥(white visitor to their)⑦(lifted)⑧(welcome we received was)⑩(had no idea that)⑪(had done were recited)⑫( informed)⑬(elected)⑭(prepared)⑮(invited us to sit)⑯(disappointed) ⑰(seem to think this)⑱(prefer our fish cooked)⑲(astonishment) ⑳(he leant down to)

(67)
THE THIRD CHAPTER. FIRE
THEN the Doctor asked Long Arrow ①(knew / if / what / he ) fire was, explaining it to him by pictures drawn on the buckskin table-cloth. Long Arrow said he had seen such a thing—coming out of the tops of volcanoes; but that neither he nor any of the Popsipetels knew how it was made.

"Poor perishing heathens!" muttered Bumpo. "No ②(matter : wonder : reason : where) the old chief died of cold!"

At that moment we heard a crying sound at the door. And turning round, we saw a ③*(reducing : weeping : removing : neglecting) Indian mother with a baby in her arms. She said something to the Indians which we could not understand; and Long Arrow told us the baby was sick and she wanted the white doctor to try and cure it.

"Oh Lord!" groaned Polynesia in my ear—"Just like Puddleby: patients arriving in the middle of dinner. Well, one thing: the food's raw, so nothing ④(get / anyway / can / cold)."

The Doctor examined the baby and found at once that it was ⑤*(thoroughly : narrowly : rapidly : accurately) chilled.

"Fire—FIRE! That's what it needs," ⑥(to / turning / said / he) Long Arrow—"That's what you all need. This child will have pneumonia if it isn't kept warm."

"Aye, truly. But how to make a fire," said Long Arrow—"where to get it: that is the difficulty. All the volcanoes in ⑦(are / this / dead / land)."

Then we fell to hunting through our ⑧(see / pockets / if / to) any matches had survived the shipwreck. The best we could muster were two whole ones and a half—all with the heads soaked off them by salt water.

"Hark, Long Arrow," said the Doctor: "divers ways there be of making fire without the aid of matches. One: with a strong glass and the rays of the sun. That however, since the sun has set, we cannot now ⑨*(fix : employ : affect : hesitate). Another is by grinding a hard stick into a soft log—Is the daylight gone without?—Alas yes. Then I ⑩*(deny : fear : contain : involve) we must await the morrow; for besides the different woods, we need an old squirrel's nest for fuel—And that without lamps you could not find in your forests at this hour."

"Great are your cunning and your skill, oh White Man," Long Arrow replied. "But in this you do us an injustice. Know you not that all fireless peoples can see in the dark? Having no lamps we are ⑪*(replaced : forced : wasted : followed) to train ourselves to travel through the blackest night, lightless. I will ⑫**(prolong : reform : assert : dispatch)a messenger and you shall have your squirrel's nest within the hour."

He gave an order to two of our boy-servants who ⑬**(scarcely : promptly : eventually : timidly) disappeared running. And sure enough, in a very short space of time a squirrel's nest, together with hard and soft woods, was ⑭(door / brought / our / to).

The moon had not yet risen and within the house it was practically pitch-black. I could feel and hear, however, that the Indians were moving about comfortably ⑮(though / as / were / it) daylight. The task of making fire the Doctor had to perform almost entirely by the sense of touch, asking Long Arrow and the Indians to hand him his tools when he mislaid them in the dark. And then I made a ⑯*(generous : curious : capable : sensitive) discovery: now that I had to, I found that I was beginning to see a little in the dark myself. And for the first time I ⑰*(pretended : realized : postponed : mentioned) that of course there is no such thing as pitch-dark, so long as you have a door open or a sky above you.

Calling for the loan of a bow, the Doctor loosened the string, put the hard stick into a loop and began ⑱(into / this / grinding / stick) the soft wood of the log. Soon I smelt that the log was smoking. Then he kept feeding the part ⑲(with / that / smoking / was) the inside lining of the squirrel's nest, and he asked me to blow upon it with my breath. He made the stick drill faster and faster. More smoke ⑳*(lasted : filled : observed : freezed) the room. And at last the darkness about us was suddenly lit up. The squirrel's nest had burst into flame.

解答は次回発表。ご意見、ご要望等はsuzuyasu@wmail.plala.or.jpでも承っております。

「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(66)

　震災後、はじめての教材書き込みです。福島原発の深刻な状態が報道されるたびに、あらゆる活動から無駄を省いていく必要性を痛感します。英語学習においても、やさしいものができない段階で難しいものをやらせてきた旧来の教育法はあまりにも無駄が多かったと思います。
　そんなわけで、著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。
　コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解をクリックするとまとめて読めますのでご利用下さい。
　いままでにここのブログで連載した「オズの魔法使い」から学ぶ頻出語彙と読解、ドリトル先生アフリカゆきで学ぶ語彙・読解もクリックすると全文読めます。

※(65)の解答①(signaled to Bumpo who)②(dreadful)③(stand upon her feet)④(starving)⑤(clapping their hands with)⑥(accompanied) ⑦(mourned)⑧(white man who had)⑨(apologizing)⑩(saw him conversing with)⑪(trick)⑫(regular) ⑬(mountain in halves with)⑭(treatment)⑮(celebrate)⑯(something which appeared to)⑰(informed)⑱(whispered)⑲(current)⑳(chance of being wrecked)

(66)
Presently we came over a saddle in the hills, and looking downward on the far side of the island, we saw the village—a ①(grass / large / of / cluster) huts and gaily colored totem-poles close by the edge of the sea.

"How artistic!" said the Doctor—"Delightfully ②*(pretented : situated :reduced : inspired). What is the name of the village?"

"Popsipetel," said Long Arrow. "That is the name also of the tribe. The word signifies in Indian tongue, The Men of The Moving Land. There are two tribes of Indians on the island: the Popsipetels at this end and the Bag-jagderags at the other."

"Which is the larger of the two peoples?"

"The Bag-jagderags, by far. Their city ③*(consumes : wastes : covers : prepares) two square leagues. But," added Long Arrow a slight frown darkening his handsome face, "for me, I would rather have one Popsipetel than a hundred Bag-jagderags."

The news of the ④*(favor : decade : attitude : rescue) we had made had evidently gone ahead of us. For as we drew nearer to the village we saw crowds of Indians streaming out to ⑤*(trust : greet : bet : disturb) the friends and relatives whom they had never thought to see again.

These good people, when they too were told how the rescue had been the work of the strange ⑥(to / white / their / visitor) shores, all gathered round the Doctor, shook him by the hands, patted him and hugged him. Then they ⑦*(occupied : lifted : wandered : followed) him up upon their strong shoulders and carried him down the hill into the village.

There the ⑧(we / was / welcome / received) even more wonderful. In spite of the cold air of the coming night, the villagers, who had all been ⑨**(shivering : stumbling : eliminating : sweeping) within their houses, threw open their doors and came out in hundreds. I ⑩(no / had / that / idea) the little village could hold so many. They thronged about us, smiling and nodding and waving their hands; and as the details of what we ⑪(recited / were / done / had) by Long Arrow they kept shouting strange singing noises, which we supposed were words of gratitude or praise.

We were next escorted to a brand-new grass house, clean and sweet-smelling within, and ⑫*(saved : informed : delivered : accused) that it was ours. Six strong Indian boys were told off to be our servants.

On our way through the village we noticed a house, larger than the rest, standing at the end of the main street. Long Arrow pointed to it and told us it was the Chief's house, but that it was now empty—no new chief having yet been ⑬*(spoiled : enabled : supposed : elected) to take the place of the old one who had died.

Inside our new home a feast of fish and fruit had been ⑭*(proved : compared : prepared : claimed). Most of the more important men of the tribe were already seating themselves at the long dining-table when we got there. Long Arrow ⑮(us / invited / sit / to) down and eat.

This we were glad enough to do, as we were all hungry. But we were both surprised and ⑯*(encouraged : recovered : convinced : disappointed) when we found that the fish had not been cooked. The Indians did not ⑰(think / seem / this / to) extraordinary in the least, but went ahead gobbling the fish with much relish the way it was, raw.

With many apologies, the Doctor explained to Long Arrow that if they had no objection we would ⑱(our / cooked / prefer / fish ).

Imagine our ⑲**(experiment : astonishment : insight : courage) when we found that the great Long Arrow, so learned in the natural sciences, did not know what the word COOKED meant!

Polynesia who was sitting on the bench between John Dolittle and myself pulled the Doctor by the sleeve.

"I'll tell you what's wrong, Doctor," she whispered as ⑳(to / he / down / leant) listen to her: "THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO FIRES! They don't know how to make a fire. Look outside: It's almost dark, and there isn't a light showing ii the whole village. This is a fireless people."

解答は次回発表。ご意見、ご要望等はsuzuyasu@wmail.plala.or.jpでも承っております。

「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(65)

　素早く外国語を習得する才能に恵まれた人がいるとはいえ、学習方法さえ誤らなければ誰でも外国語は使えるようになります。肝心なのはやさしいものを確実に習得してから難しいものに進むことで、童話が読めない状態で大人向けの読み物に取り組んでも無駄な苦労を重ねるだけです。そんなわけで、著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。
　コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解をクリックするとまとめて読めますのでご利用下さい。
　いままでにここのブログで連載した「オズの魔法使い」から学ぶ頻出語彙と読解、ドリトル先生アフリカゆきで学ぶ語彙・読解もクリックすると全文読めます。
　訳本は三点とも岩波少年文庫からいいものが出ています。たとえ数分でも自力で英文を理解するよう努力してからの訳本の利用がおすすめです。考えずに訳文を暗記するような横着をしていては英語思考力が伸ばせません。

※(64)の解答①(yelled)②(ran for our lives)③(it moved apart from) ⑤(describe)⑥(though)⑦(which to tell you)⑧(knowing how much this)⑨(gazed)⑩(revealed)⑪(shield his eyes from)⑫(whisper)⑬(with his hand outstretched)⑭(heard old Bumpo sniffle)⑮(buried)⑯(last) ⑰(been so glad in)⑱(face lit up with)⑲(owe)⑳(for)

(65)
Then the Doctor ①(to / who / signaled / Bumpo) came forward with the nuts and water. But Long Arrow neither ate nor drank. Taking the supplies with a nod of thanks, he turned and carried them into the inner dimness of the cave. We followed him.

Inside we found nine other Indians, men, women and boys, lying on the rock floor in a ②**(dreadful : gradual : conspicuous : tame) state of thinness and exhaustion.

Some had their eyes closed, as if dead. Quickly the Doctor went round them all and listened to their hearts. They were all alive; but one woman was too weak even to ③(feet / her / stand / upon).

At a word from the Doctor, Chee-Chee and Polynesia sped off into the jungles after more fruit and water.

While Long Arrow was handing round what food we had to his ④*(prevailing : cursing : offending : starving) friends, we suddenly heard a sound outside the cave. Turning about we saw, clustered at the entrance, the band of Indians who had met us so inhospitably at the beach.

They peered into the dark cave cautiously at first. But as soon as they saw Long Arrow and the other Indians with us, they came rushing in, laughing, ⑤(their / with / clapping / hands) joy and jabbering away at a tremendous rate.

Long Arrow explained to the Doctor that the nine Indians we had found in the cave with him were two families who had ⑥*(founded : accompanied : recognized : surrounded) him into the mountains to help him gather medicine-plants. And while they had been searching for a kind of moss—good for indigestion—which grows only inside of damp caves, the great rock slab had slid down and shut them in. Then for two weeks they had lived on the medicine-moss and such fresh water as could be found dripping from the damp walls of the cave. The other Indians on the island had given them up for lost and ⑦***(dictated : mourned : mingled : evaporated) them as dead; and they were now very surprised and happy to find their relatives alive.

When Long Arrow turned to the newcomers and told them in their own language that it was the ⑧(man / white / had / who) found and freed their relatives, they gathered round John Dolittle, all talking at once and beating their breasts.

Long Arrow said they were ⑨*(replacing : apologizing : attracting : containing) and trying to tell the Doctor how sorry they were that they had seemed unfriendly to him at the beach. They had never seen a white man before and had really been afraid of him—especially when they ⑩(with / conversing / him / saw) the porpoises. They had thought he was the Devil, they said.

Then they went outside and looked at the great stone we had thrown down, big as a meadow; and they walked round and round it, pointing to the break running through the middle and wondering how the ⑪**(border : trick : illusion : shortage) of felling it was done.

Travelers who have since visited Spidermonkey Island tell me that that huge stone slab is now one of the ⑫*(complete : regular : dull : narrow) sights of the island. And that the Indian guides, when showing it to visitors, always tell THEIR story of how it came there. They say that when the Doctor found that the rocks had entrapped his friend, Long Arrow, he was so angry that he ripped the ⑬(in / mountain / with / halves) his bare hands and let him out.

THE SECOND CHAPTER. "THE MEN OF THE MOVING LAND"
FROM that time on the Indians' ⑭*(arrangement : solution : analysis : treatment) of us was very different. We were invited to their village for a feast to ⑮*(prevent : celebrate : suspect : disturb) the recovery of the lost families. And after we had made a litter from saplings to carry the sick woman in, we all started off down the mountain.

On the way the Indians told Long Arrow ⑯(which / to / appeared / something) be sad news, for on hearing it, his face grew very grave. The Doctor asked him what was wrong. And Long Arrow said he had just been ⑰(examined : informed : estimated : rescued) that the chief of the tribe, an old man of eighty, had died early that morning.

"That," Polynesia ⑱*(whispered : satisfied : demanded : supplied) in my ear, "must have been what they went back to the village for, when the messenger fetched them from the beach.—Remember?"

"What did he die of?" asked the Doctor.

"He died of cold," said Long Arrow.

Indeed, now that the sun was setting, we were all shivering ourselves.

"This is a serious thing," said the Doctor to me. "The island is still in the grip of that wretched ⑲**(volcano : context : current : glory) flowing southward. We will have to look into this to-morrow. If nothing can be done about it, the Indians had better take to canoes and leave the island. The ⑳(being / chance / wrecked / of) will be better than getting frozen to death in the ice-floes of the Antarctic."

解答は次回発表。ご意見、ご要望等はsuzuyasu@wmail.plala.or.jpでも承っております。

「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(64)

　やさしいものができずに難しいものに手を出しても力がつかないのは英語に限ったことではないでしょう。残念ながら日本の英語教育では、児童書に触れる機会が乏しいまま大人向けの英語を読まされる傾向が続いてきました。これでは英語学習で挫折者が続出するのも無理はありません。しかしやさしいものを確実に習得していけば余計な苦労はせずに済みます。そんなわけで、著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。
　コロンで区切られているのが四語選択問題、スラッシュで区切られているのが四語整序問題です。＊印は難易度の目安で、＊印が多いほど難しい単語になっています。無印は語法・文法等の問題です。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解をクリックするとまとめて読めますのでご利用下さい。
　いままでにここのブログで連載した「オズの魔法使い」から学ぶ頻出語彙と読解、ドリトル先生アフリカゆきで学ぶ語彙・読解もクリックすると全文読めます。
　訳本は三点とも岩波少年文庫からいいものが出ています。たとえ数分でも自力で英文を理解するよう努力してからの訳本の利用がおすすめです。考えずに訳文を暗記するような横着をしていては英語思考力が伸ばせません。

※(63)の解答①(clinging)②(dreadful)③(army)④(wonder how thick it)⑤(against)⑥(echo of it died)⑦(one another as though)⑧(gigantic)⑨(for our tiny strength)⑩(around trying to find)⑪(where it leaned against)⑫(conceal)⑬(prisoners inside to eat)⑭(discovery which led to )⑮(resting on nothing but)⑯(guess)⑰(direction)⑱(whole crew of us )⑲(during which in spite)⑳(squash him flatter than)

(64)
Presently there was a grating, grinding sound.

"Look out!" ①*(convicted : yelled : consented : irritated) John Dolittle, "here she comes!—Scatter!"

We ②(our / ran / lives / for), outwards, toward the sides. The big rock slid gently down, about a foot, into the trough which we had made beneath it. For a moment I was disappointed, for like that, it was as hopeless as before—no signs of a cave-mouth showing above it. But as I looked upward, I saw the top coming very slowly away from the mountainside. We had unbalanced it below. As ③(moved / from / it / apart) the face of the mountain, sounds of human voices, crying gladly in a strange tongue, issued from behind. Faster and faster the top swung forward, downward. Then, with a roaring crash which shook the whole mountain-range beneath our feet, it ④*(treated : struck : glanced : supplied) the earth and cracked in halves.

How can I ⑤*(describe : explore : justify : compare) to any one that first meeting between the two greatest naturalists the world ever knew, Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow and John Dolittle, M.D., of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh? The scene rises before me now, plain and clear in every detail, ⑥(so : unless : when : though) it took place so many, many years ago. But when I come to write of it, words seem such poor things with ⑦(you / tell / to / which) of that great occasion.

I know that the Doctor, whose life was surely full enough of big happenings, always counted the setting free of the Indian scientist as the greatest thing he ever did. For my part, ⑧(much / this / knowing / how)meeting must mean to him, I was on pins and needles of expectation and curiosity as the great stone finally thundered down at our feet and we ⑨*(bowed : supplied : argued : gazed) across it to see what lay behind.

The gloomy black mouth of a tunnel, full twenty feet high, was ⑩*(represented : intended : attempted : revealed). In the centre of this opening stood an enormous red Indian, seven feet tall, handsome, muscular, slim and naked—but for a beaded cloth about his middle and an eagle's feather in his hair. He held one hand across his face to ⑪(his / shield / from / eyes) the blinding sun which he had not seen in many days.

"It is he!" I heard the Doctor ⑫*(seek : whisper : aim : fix) at my elbow. "I know him by his great height and the scar upon his chin."

And he stepped forward slowly across the fallen stone ⑬(outstretched / with / hand / his) to the red man.

Presently the Indian uncovered his eyes. And I saw that they had a curious piercing gleam in them—like the eyes of an eagle, but kinder and more gentle. He slowly raised his right arm, the rest of him still and motionless like a statue, and took the Doctor's hand in his. It was a great moment. Polynesia nodded to me in a knowing, satisfied kind of way. And I ⑭(old / sniffle / heard / Bumpo) sentimentally. Then the Doctor tried to speak to Long Arrow. But the Indian knew no English of course, and the Doctor knew no Indian. Presently, to my surprise, I heard the Doctor trying him in different animal languages.

"How do you do?" he said in dog-talk; "I am glad to see you," in horse-signs; "How long have you been ⑮*(reduced : buried : wounded : flourished)?" in deer-language. Still the Indian made no move but stood there, straight and stiff, understanding not a word.

The Doctor tried again, in several other animal dialects. But with no result.

Till at ⑯(best : least : most : last) he came to the language of eagles.

"Great Red-Skin," he said in the fierce screams and short grunts that the big birds use, "never have I ⑰(in / been / glad / so) all my life as I am to-day to find you still alive."

In a flash Long Arrow's stony ⑱(lit / face / with / up) a smile of understanding; and back came the answer in eagle-tongue,

"Mighty White Man, I ⑲*(adopt : owe : save : cure) my life to you. For the remainder of my days I am your servant to command."

Afterwards Long Arrow told us that this was the only bird or animal language that he had ever been able to learn. But that he had not spoken it in a long time, ⑳(but : for : so : though) no eagles ever came to this island.

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「ドリトル先生航海記」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(63)

　やさしいものをしっかり習得してから上に進めば英語学習はそれほど大変なものではありません。しかし昔の日本の英語教育のように童話が読めない段階でシェイクスピアを読ませるようなことをしてしまうと、英語力養成はきわめて困難な作業になります。効率的英語力養成の必須条件は子ども向け読み物を楽に読めるようにすることで、大人が楽しめる童話は結構あります。
　そんなわけで著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生航海記」から、シンプルで、大学入試にもTOEICにも英検にも有効な練習問題を作成しています。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。いままでにここのブログで連載した「オズの魔法使い」から学ぶ頻出語彙と読解、ドリトル先生アフリカゆきで学ぶ語彙・読解もクリックしてご利用いただければ幸いです。

※(62)の解答①(clustered)②(enough wits to go)③(needs to be encouraged)④(tie) ⑤fixed⑥(polished)⑦(how long it takes)⑧(assure)⑨(let Polynesia carry on)⑩(realized)⑪(tedious)⑫(lest we lose him) ⑬(behind me letting out)⑭(exact)⑮(exercise)⑯(argument )⑰(he was pointing to)⑱(follow)⑲(taken)⑳(soaking)

(63)
"He's gone," cried Polynesia. "There must be a hole up there." And in a twinkling she had fluttered up the rock and was ①**(attributing : clinging : consulting : corresponding) to the face of it with her claws.

"Yes," she shouted down, "we've run him to earth at last. His hole is right here, behind a patch of lichen—big enough to get two fingers in."

"Ah," cried the Doctor, "this great slab of rock then must have slid down from the summit and shut off the mouth of the cave like a door. Poor fellows! What a ②**(genetic : vivid : diligent : dreadful) time they must have spent in there!—Oh, if we only had some picks and shovels now!"

"Picks and shovels wouldn't do much good," said Polynesia. "Look at the size of the slab: a hundred feet high and as many broad. You would need an ③*(income : effect : army : era) for a week to make any impression on it."

"I ④(thick / it / wonder / how) is," said the Doctor; and he picked up a big stone and banged it with all his might ⑤(from : by : for : against) the face of the rock. It made a hollow booming sound, like a giant drum. We all stood still listening while the ⑥(of / echo / died / it ) slowly away.

And then a cold shiver ran down my spine. For, from within the mountain, back came three answering knocks: BOOM!... BOOM!. .. BOOM!

Wide-eyed we looked at ⑦(though / as / another / one) the earth itself had spoken. And the solemn little silence that followed was broken by the Doctor.

"Thank Heaven," he said in a hushed reverent voice, "some of them at least are alive!"

PART FIVE

THE FIRST CHAPTER. A GREAT MOMENT
THE next part of our problem was the hardest of all: how to roll aside, pull down or break open, that ⑧**(irrelevant : gigantic : moderate : coherent) slab. As we gazed up at it towering above our heads, it looked indeed a hopeless task ⑨(our / strength / for / tiny).

But the sounds of life from inside the mountain had put new heart in us. And in a moment we were all scrambling ⑩(trying / around / find / to) any opening or crevice which would give us something to work on. Chee-Chee scaled up the sheer wall of the slab and examined the top of it ⑪(leaned / it / against / where) the mountain's side; I uprooted bushes and stripped off hanging creepers that might ⑫*(bind : lack : conceal : survive) a weak place; the Doctor got more leaves and composed new picture-letters for the Jabizri to take in if he should turn up again; whilst Polynesia carried up a handful of nuts and pushed them into the beetle's hole, one by one, for the ⑬(to / prisoners / eat / inside ).

"Nuts are so nourishing," she said.

But Jip it was who, scratching at the foot of the slab like a good ratter, made the ⑭(to / led / discovery / which) our final success.

"Doctor," he cried, running up to John Dolittle with his nose all covered with black mud, "this slab is ⑮(nothing / resting / but / on) a bed of soft earth. You never saw such easy digging. I ⑯*(investigate : guess : gather : endure) the cave behind must be just too high up for the Indians to reach the earth with their hands, or they could have scraped a way out long ago. If we can only scratch the earth-bed away from under, the slab might drop a little. Then maybe the Indians can climb out over the top."

The Doctor hurried to examine the place where Jip had dug.

"Why, yes," he said, "if we can get the earth away from under this front edge, the slab is standing up so straight, we might even make it fall right down in this ⑰*(attraction : direction : experiment : faculty). It's well worth trying. Let's get at it, quick."

We had no tools but the sticks and slivers of stone which we could find around. A strange sight we must have looked, the ⑱(us / whole / of / crew) squatting down on our heels, scratching and burrowing at the foot of the mountain, like six badgers in a row.

After about an hour, ⑲(spite / during / in / which) of the cold the sweat fell from our foreheads in all directions, the Doctor said,

"Be ready to jump from under, clear out of the way, if she shows signs of moving. If this slab falls on anybody, it will ⑳(than / squash / flatter / him) a pancake."
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