英検準1級&東大・京大・早慶の英語(英単語)は英英方式で突破できる!

英英思考を制するものは英語を制す。英英辞典とネイティブ向け読み物への早期移行が異次元の高速学習を可能にした。

「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(62)

2011年01月04日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 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。

※(61)の解答①(anxious)②(foot)③(these appeared as though)④(gloomy)⑤(sniffed at every crack)⑥(be no use of)⑦(is so saturated with)⑧(drifting)⑨(perish)⑩(where)⑪(might put us on)⑫(trapped) ⑬(been likely to take)⑭(fair)⑮(do is to let)⑯(show us what part) ⑰(no better off than)⑱(out of my sight)⑲(crawls)⑳(set him to work )

(62)
Again we all ①***(succumbed : resumed : disrupted : clustered) round the Doctor as he carefully lifted off the glass lid and let the big beetle climb out upon his finger.

"Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home!" crooned Bumpo. "Your house is on fire and your chil—"

"Oh, be quiet!" snapped Polynesia crossly. "Stop insulting him! Don't you suppose he has ②(go / wits / to / enough) home without your telling him?"

"I thought perchance he might be of a philandering disposition," said Bumpo humbly. "It could be that he is tired of his home and ③(to / needs / encouraged / be). Shall I sing him 'Home Sweet Home,' think you?"

"No. Then he'd never go back. Your voice needs a rest. Don't sing to him: just watch him—Oh, and Doctor, why not ④*(invent : tie : operate : elect) another message to the creature's leg, telling Long Arrow that we're doing our best to reach him and that he mustn't give up hope?"

"I will," said the Doctor. And in a minute he had pulled a dry leaf from a bush near by and was covering it with little pictures in pencil.

At last, neatly ⑤*(shaped : fixed : predicted : identified) up with his new mail-bag, Mr. Jabizri crawled off the Doctor's finger to the ground and looked about him. He stretched his legs, ⑥*(worried : followed : rescued : polished) his nose with his front feet and then moved off leisurely to the westward.

We had expected him to walk UP the mountain; instead, he walked AROUND it. Do you know ⑦(takes / it / long / how) a beetle to walk round a mountain? Well, I ⑧*(address : translate : assure : endure) you it takes an unbelievably long time. As the hours dragged by, we hoped and hoped that he would get up and fly the rest, and ⑨(carry / let / on / Polynesia) the work of following him. But he never opened his wings once. I had not ⑩*(recommended : granted : committed : realized) before how hard it is for a human being to walk slowly enough to keep up with a beetle. It was the most ⑪**(tedious : modest : legitimate : prompt) thing I have ever gone through. And as we dawdled along behind, watching him like hawks ⑫(we / him / lest / lose) under a leaf or something, we all got so cross and ill-tempered we were ready to bite one another's heads off. And when he stopped to look at the scenery or polish his nose some more, I could hear Polynesia ⑬(out / behind / letting / me) the most dreadful seafaring swear-words you ever heard.

After he had led us the whole way round the mountain he brought us to the ⑭*(rapid : false : exact : decent) spot where we started from and there he came to a dead stop.

"Well," said Bumpo to Polynesia, "what do you think of the beetle's sense now? You see he DOESN'T know enough to go home."

"Oh, be still, you Hottentot!" snapped Polynesia. "Wouldn't YOU want to stretch your legs for ⑮*(evidence : voyage : exercise : pity) if you'd been shut up in a box all day. Probably his home is near here, and that's why he's come back."

"But why," I asked, "did he go the whole way round the mountain first?"

Then the three of us got into a violent ⑯*(method : luxury : argument : expression). But in the middle of it all the Doctor suddenly called out,

"Look, look!"

We turned and found that ⑰(was / to / he / pointing) the Jabizri, who was now walking UP the mountain at a much faster and more business-like gait.

"Well," said Bumpo sitting down wearily; "if he is going to walk OVER the mountain and back, for more exercise, I'll wait for him here. Chee-Chee and Polynesia can ⑱*(reveal : follow : recall : oppose) him."

Indeed it would have ⑲(made : given : taken : led) a monkey or a bird to climb the place which the beetle was now walking up. It was a smooth, flat part of the mountain's side, steep as a wall.

But presently, when the Jabizri was no more than ten feet above our heads, we all cried out together. For, even while we watched him, he had disappeared into the face of the rock like a raindrop ⑳***(ascending : soaking : assaulting : enclosing) into sand.
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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(61)

2011年01月03日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 正月名物の箱根駅伝の解説で、アップダウンの激しいクロスカントリーが有効という話が出てきました。
 学習スタイルは十人十色とはいえ、クロスカントリーのように伸びやかな、読書を中心にした英語学習を組込むと楽しいし力もつくと思います。
 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。

※(60)の解答①(trembling)②(moment)③(knows how long they've) ④(pray)⑤(seem to run all)⑥(grabbing up his hat)⑦(where he is if) ⑧(shaped)⑨(chance of my meeting)⑩(may mean death to)⑪(as we did that)⑫(fatigue)⑬(first to give up)⑭(strange mountain pictured in)⑮(summit)⑯(of breath from our)⑰(certainly)⑱(steep)⑲(search) ⑳(gather)

(61)
Then we all went off our different ways.

Each of us, you may be sure, was ①*(general : anxious : available : efficient) to be the one to make a discovery. And never was a mountain searched so thoroughly. But alas! nothing could we find that looked in the least like a fallen-in cave. There were plenty of places where rocks had tumbled down to the ②**(foot : cell : draft : heap)of the slopes; but none of ③(appeared / these / though / as) caves or passages could possibly lie behind them.

One by one, tired and disappointed, we straggled back to the meeting-place. The Doctor seemed ④*(intimate : extreme : urban : gloomy) and impatient but by no means inclined to give up.

"Jip," he said, "couldn't you SMELL anything like an Indian anywhere?"

"No," said Jip. "I ⑤(at / crack / sniffed / every) on the mountainside. But I am afraid my nose will ⑥(use / be / no / of) to you here, Doctor. The trouble is, the whole air ⑦(saturated / is / with / so) the smell of spider-monkeys that it drowns every other scent—And besides, it's too cold and dry for good smelling."

"It is certainly that," said the Doctor—"and getting colder all the time. I'm afraid the island is still ⑧**(thriving : yielding : drifting : posing) to the southward. Let's hope it stops before long, or we won't be able to get even nuts and fruit to eat—everything in the island will ⑨***(swallow : proclaim : summon : perish)—Chee-Chee, what luck did you have?"

"None, Doctor. I climbed to every peak and pinnacle I could see. I searched every hollow and cleft. But not one place could I find ⑩(which : when : where : what) men might be hidden."

"And Polynesia," asked the Doctor, "did you see nothing that ⑪(put / might / on / us ) the right track?"

"Not a thing, Doctor—But I have a plan."

"Oh good!" cried John Dolittle, full of hope renewed. "What is it? Let's hear it."

"You still have that beetle with you," she asked—"the Biz-biz, or whatever it is you call the wretched insect?"

"Yes," said the Doctor, producing the glass-topped box from his pocket, "here it is."

"All right. Now listen," said she. "If what you have supposed is true—that is, that Long Arrow had been ⑫*(searched : trapped : disturbed : rushed) inside the mountain by falling rock, he probably found that beetle inside the cave—perhaps many other different beetles too, eh? He wouldn't have ⑬(take / been / to / likely) the Biz-biz in with him, would he?—He was hunting plants, you say, not beetles. Isn't that right?"

"Yes," said the Doctor, "that's probably so."

"Very well. It is ⑭*(abundant : fair : mere : huge) to suppose then that the beetle's home, or his hole, is in that place—the part of the mountain where Long Arrow and his party are imprisoned, isn't it?"

"Quite, quite."

"All right. Then the thing to ⑮(is / do / let / to) the beetle go—and watch him; and sooner or later he'll return to his home in Long Arrow's cave. And there we will follow him—Or at all events," she added smoothing down her wing-feathers with a very superior air, "we will follow him till the miserable bug starts nosing under the earth. But at least he will ⑯(what / show / part / us) part of the mountain Long Arrow is hidden in."

"But he may fly, if I let him out," said the Doctor. "Then we shall just lose him and be⑰(better / than / no / off ) we were before."

"LET him fly," snorted Polynesia scornfully. "A parrot can wing it as fast as a Biz-biz, I fancy. If he takes to the air, I'll guarantee not to let the little devil ⑱(my / out / sight / of). And if he just ⑲*(crawls : employs : recovers : releases) along the ground you can follow him yourself."

"Splendid!" cried the Doctor. "Polynesia, you have a great brain. I'll ⑳(work / to / him / set) at once and see what happens."

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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(60)

2010年12月22日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 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とことで、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・読解と同様、ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解も連載終了後には冒頭から通読できるように並べ替える予定です。

※(59)の解答①(red spots on it)②(wonder)③(held it by its)④(something that looked like) ⑤(hurting)⑥(was covered with signs) ⑦(make)⑧(curious)⑨(stared)⑩(finger to make these)⑪(things put together mean)⑫(look as though they)⑬(spreading)⑭(would think of doing)⑮(writing that he knows)⑯(any one who caught)⑰(cave looking for medicine-plants)⑱(slim)⑲(grab)⑳(last cry for help)

(60)
He sprang to his feet as he ended, snatched out a note-book and put the letter between the leaves. His hands were ①**(restricting : trembling : abusing : nourishing) with haste and agitation.

"Come on!" he cried—"up the mountain—all of you. There's not a ②*(reality : fortune : region : moment) to lose. Bumpo, bring the water and nuts with you. Heaven only ③(long / knows / they've / how) been pining underground. Let's hope and ④*(pray : occupy : gather : notice) we're not too late!"

"But where are you going to look?" I asked. "Miranda said the island was a hundred miles long and the mountains ⑤(to / seem / all / run) the way down the centre of it."

"Didn't you see the last picture?" he said, ⑥(hat / grabbing / his / up) from the ground and cramming it on his head. "It was an oddly shaped mountain—looked like a hawk's head. Well, there's ⑦(if / is / where / he) he's still alive. First thing for us to do, is to get up on a high peak and look around the island for a mountain ⑧*(shaped : attempted : considered : claimed) like a hawks' head—just to think of it! There's a ⑨(of / chance / meeting / my) Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow, after all!—Come on! Hurry! To delay ⑩(mean / may / to / death) the greatest naturalist ever born!"

THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. HAWK'S-HEAD MOUNTAIN
WE all agreed afterwards that none of us had ever worked so hard in our lives before ⑪(that / did / we / as) day. For my part, I know I was often on the point of dropping exhausted with ⑫(penalty : fatigue : welfare : client); but I just kept on going—like a machine—determined that, whatever happened, I would not be the ⑬(to / up / first / give).

When we had scrambled to the top of a high peak, almost instantly we saw the ⑭(pictured / strange / in / mountain) the letter. In shape it was the perfect image of a hawk's head, and was, as far as we could see, the second highest ⑮*(trial : summit : trend : industry) in the island.

Although we were all out ⑯(from / of / our / breath) climb, the Doctor didn't let us rest a second as soon as he had sighted it. With one look at the sun for direction, down he dashed again, breaking through thickets, splashing over brooks, taking all the short cuts. For a fat man, he was ⑰*(briefly : urgently : rarely : certainly) the swiftest cross-country runner I ever saw.

We floundered after him as fast as we could. When I say WE, I mean Bumpo and myself; for the animals, Jip, Chee-Chee and Polynesia, were a long way ahead—even beyond the Doctor—enjoying the hunt like a paper-chase.

At length we arrived at the foot of the mountain we were making for; and we found its sides very ⑱*(confident : sensitive : dense : steep). Said the Doctor,

"Now we will separate and ⑲*(prepare : search : compare : equip ) for caves. This spot where we now are, will be our meeting-place. If anyone finds anything like a cave or a hole where the earth and rocks have fallen in, he must shout and hulloa to the rest of us. If we find nothing we will all ⑳*(suit : rescue : gather : feed) here in about an hour's time—Everybody understand?"
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
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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(59)

2010年12月12日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 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。

※(58)の解答①(even asked us if)②(bet)③(get away from this) ④(us go up into)⑤(harm)⑥(decent)⑦(ignorant)⑧(discouraged)⑨(hard to get through)⑩(present)⑪(splendid)⑫(set to work at)⑬(which made excellent eating)⑭(supplied)⑮(where)⑯(get glimpses of wonderful)⑰(among)⑱(miss)⑲(bother)⑳(treasure)

(59)
It certainly was a most beautiful insect. It was pale blue underneath; but its back was glossy black with huge ①(it / red / on / spots).

"There isn't an entymologist in the whole world who wouldn't give all he has to be in my shoes to-day," said the Doctor—"Hulloa! This Jabizri's got something on his leg—Doesn't look like mud. I ②*(bet : wonder : achieve : beg)what it is."

He took the beetle carefully out of the box and ③(it / its / held / by ) back in his fingers, where it waved its six legs slowly in the air. We all crowded about him peering at it. Rolled around the middle section of its right foreleg was ④(looked / that / like / something) a thin dried leaf. It was bound on very neatly with strong spider-web.

It was marvelous to see how John Dolittle with his fat heavy fingers undid that cobweb cord and unrolled the leaf, whole, without tearing it or ⑤*(hurting : doubting : preventing : adopting) the precious beetle. The Jabizri he put back into the box. Then he spread the leaf out flat and examined it.

You can imagine our surprise when we found that the inside of the leaf ⑥(signs / with / covered / was) and pictures, drawn so tiny that you almost needed a magnifying-glass to tell what they were. Some of the signs we couldn't ⑦(carry : make : take : look) out at all; but nearly all of the pictures were quite plain, figures of men and mountains mostly. The whole was done in a ⑧*(sensible : curious : rational : false) sort of brown ink.

For several moments there was a dead silence while we all ⑨*(mentioned : exibited : aimed : stared) at the leaf, fascinated and mystified.

"I think this is written in blood," said the Doctor at last. "It turns that color when it's dry. Somebody pricked his ⑩(to / finger / these / make) pictures. It's an old dodge when you're short of ink—but highly unsanitary—What an extraordinary thing to find tied to a beetle's leg! I wish I could talk beetle language, and find out where the Jabizri got it from."

"But what is it?" I asked—"Rows of little pictures and signs. What do you make of it, Doctor?"

"It's a letter," he said—"a picture letter. All these little ⑪(put / mean / things / together ) a message—But why give a message to a beetle to carry—and to a Jabizri, the rarest beetle in the world?—What an extraordinary thing!"

Then he fell to muttering over the pictures.

"I wonder what it means: men walking up a mountain; men walking into a hole in a mountain; a mountain falling down—it's a good drawing, that; men pointing to their open mouths; bars—prison-bars, perhaps; men praying; men lying down—they ⑫(though / look / they / as) might be sick; and last of all, just a mountain—a peculiar-shaped mountain."

All of a sudden the Doctor looked up sharply at me, a wonderful smile of delighted understanding ⑬*(lasting : spreading : following : blowing)over his face.

"LONG ARROW!" he cried, "don't you see, Stubbins?—Why, of course! Only a naturalist ⑭(of / would / doing / think) a thing like this: giving his letter to a beetle—not to a common beetle, but to the rarest of all, one that other naturalists would try to catch—Well, well! Long Arrow!—A picture-letter from Long Arrow. For pictures are the only ⑮(that / writing / knows / he)."

"Yes, but who is the letter to?" I asked.

"It's to me very likely. Miranda had told him, I know, years ago, that some day I meant to come here. But if not for me, then it's for ⑯(who / one / caught / any) the beetle and read it. It's a letter to the world."

"Well, but what does it say? It doesn't seem to me that it's much good to you now you've got it."

"Yes, it is," he said, "because, look, I can read it now. First picture: men walking up a mountain—that's Long Arrow and his party; men going into a hole in a mountain—they enter a ⑰(medicine-plants / for / cave / looking) or mosses; a mountain falling down—some hanging rocks must have slipped and trapped them, imprisoned them in the cave. And this was the only living creature that could carry a message for them to the outside world—a beetle, who could BURROW his way into the open air. Of course it was only a ⑱*(fat : mental : slim : recent) chance that the beetle would be ever caught and the letter read. But it was a chance; and when men are in great danger they ⑲*(release : grab : polish : defend) at any straw of hope.... All right. Now look at the next picture: men pointing to their open mouths—they are hungry; men praying—begging any one who finds this letter to come to their assistance; men lying down—they are sick, or starving. This letter, Stubbins, is their ⑳(help / last / for / cry)."

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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(58)

2010年11月27日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 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。


※(57)の解答①(wreck besides his razor)②(precious)③(suffered) ④(its usual paths by)⑤(quite close to us)⑥(assured)⑦(glimpse)⑧(growing light it became)⑨(chance to stretch our)⑩(realized)⑪(withered)⑫(be on account of)⑬(float)⑭(explore)⑮(by signs to show)⑯(to tell him that)⑰(situation)⑱(sail)⑲(that they were wanted )⑳(they went off with)

(58)
"What discourteous pagans!" said Bumpo. "Did you ever see such inhospitability?—Never ①(asked / if / us / even) we'd had breakfast, the benighted bounders!"

"Sh! They're going off to their village," said Polynesia. "I'll ②**(let : last : bet : lift) there's a village on the other side of those mountains. If you take my advice, Doctor, you'll ③(away / this / get / from) beach while their backs are turned. Let ④(go / us / into / up) the higher land for the present—some place where they won't know where we are. They may grow friendlier when they see we mean no ⑤*(humanity : tribe : harm : stuff). They have honest, open faces and look like a ⑥*(decent : obscure : steep : accurate) crowd to me. They're just ⑦**(stable : homogeneous : ignorant : sore)—probably never saw white folks before."

So, feeling a little bit ⑧*(cultivated : amused : contributed : discouraged) by our first reception, we moved off towards the mountains in the centre of the island.

THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE JABIZRI
WE found the woods at the feet of the hills thick and tangly and somewhat ⑨(get / hard / through / to). On Polynesia's advice, we kept away from all paths and trails, feeling it best to avoid meeting any Indians for the ⑩*(matter : past : present : issue).

But she and Chee-Chee were good guides and ⑪**(casual : splendid : empty : moist) jungle-hunters; and the two of them ⑫(to / at / set / work) once looking for food for us. In a very short space of time they had found quite a number of different fruits and nuts ⑬(made / which / eating / excellent), though none of us knew the names of any of them. We discovered a nice clean stream of good water which came down from the mountains; so we were ⑭*(demanded : elected : supplied : involved)with something to drink as well.

We followed the stream up towards the heights. And presently we came to parts ⑮(which : what : where : that) the woods were thinner and the ground rocky and steep. Here we could ⑯(wonderful / get / of /glimpses ) views all over the island, with the blue sea beyond. While we were admiring one of these the Doctor suddenly said, "Sh!—A Jabizri!—Don't you hear it?"

We listened and heard, somewhere in the air about us, an extraordinarily musical hum-like a bee, but not just one note. This hum rose and fell, up and down—almost like some one singing.

"No other insect but the Jabizri beetle hums like that," said the Doctor. "I wonder where he is—quite near, by the sound—flying ⑰(for : among : from : during)the trees probably. Oh, if I only had my butterfly-net! Why didn't I think to strap that around my waist too. Confound the storm: I may ⑱*(hate : miss : remove : include) the chance of a lifetime now of getting the rarest beetle in the world—Oh look! There he goes!"

A huge beetle, easily three inches long I should say, suddenly flew by our noses. The Doctor got frightfully excited. He took off his hat to use as a net, swooped at the beetle and caught it. He nearly fell down a precipice on to the rocks below in his wild hurry, but that didn't ⑲*(ignore : bother : resemble : share) him in the least. He knelt down, chortling, upon the ground with the Jabizri safe under his hat. From his pocket he brought out a glass-topped box, and into this he very skillfully made the beetle walk from under the rim of the hat. Then he rose up, happy as a child, to examine his new ⑳*(vehicle : treasure : appointment : method) through the glass lid.

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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(57)

2010年11月24日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 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。


※(56)の解答①(can I get to)②(not noticed it before)③(surface)④(place I left them)⑤(figure)⑥(full force of his)⑦(direction)⑧(bumped)⑨(that I was nearer)⑩(them were perched upon)⑪(shaving his face by)⑫(which he drew from)⑬(cheered)⑭(put it away for) ⑮(things which no other)⑯(what Miranda meant when)⑰(comfort)⑱(disturbed)⑲(for getting me so)⑳(orders)

(57)
How much he had lost in the ①(besides / razor / wreck / his) I did not know—everything, most likely, together with all the money he had saved up to buy the ship with. And still he was smiling as though he wanted for nothing in the world. The only things he had saved, as far as I could see—beyond the barrel of water and bag of biscuit—were his ②*(vacant : precious : vague : immediate) note-books. These, I saw when he stood up, he had strapped around his waist with yards and yards of twine. He was, as old Matthew Mugg used to say, a great man. He was unbelievable.

And now for three days we continued our journey slowly but steadily—southward.

The only inconvenience we ③*(suffered : avoided : owned : searched) from was the cold. This seemed to increase as we went forward. The Doctor said that the island, disturbed from ④(by / its / paths / usual) the great gale, had evidently drifted further South than it had ever been before.

On the third night poor Miranda came back to us nearly frozen. She told the Doctor that in the morning we would find the island ⑤(close / quite / us / to), though we couldn't see it now as it was a misty dark night. She said that she must hurry back at once to a warmer climate; and that she would visit the Doctor in Puddleby next August as usual.

"Don't forget, Miranda," said John Dolittle, "if you should hear anything of what happened to Long Arrow, to get word to me."

The Bird-of-Paradise ⑥*(resolved : begged : rushed : assured) him she would. And after the Doctor had thanked her again and again for all that she had done for us, she wished us good luck and disappeared into the night.

We were all awake early in the morning, long before it was light, waiting for our first ⑦*(greed : defect : glimpse : opponent) of the country we had come so far to see. And as the rising sun turned the eastern sky to gray, of course it was old Polynesia who first shouted that she could see palm-trees and mountain tops.

With the ⑧(became / growing / it / light) plain to all of us: a long island with high rocky mountains in the middle—and so near to us that you could almost throw your hat upon the shore.

The porpoises gave us one last push and our strange-looking craft bumped gently on a low beach. Then, thanking our lucky stars for a ⑨(to / our / chance / stretch) cramped legs, we all bundled off on to the land—the first land, even though it was floating land, that we had trodden for six weeks. What a thrill I felt as I ⑩*(encountered : realized : exposed : uttered) that Spidermonkey Island, the little spot in the atlas which my pencil had touched, lay at last beneath my feet!

When the light increased still further we noticed that the palms and grasses of the island seemed ⑪**(esteemed : withered : enriched : retained) and almost dead. The Doctor said that it must ⑫(of / account / on / be) the cold that the island was now suffering from in its new climate. These trees and grasses, he told us, were the kind that belonged to warm, tropical weather.

The porpoises asked if we wanted them any further. And the Doctor said that he didn't think so, not for the present—nor the raft either, he added; for it was already beginning to fall to pieces and could not ⑬*(attract : float : participate : conceal) much longer.

As we were preparing to go inland and ⑭*(advertise : explore : conclude : recommend) the island, we suddenly noticed a whole band of Red Indians watching us with great curiosity from among the trees. The Doctor went forward to talk to them. But he could not make them understand. He tried ⑮(to / by / show / signs) them that he had come on a friendly visit. The Indians didn't seem to like us however. They had bows and arrows and long hunting spears, with stone points, in their hands; and they made signs back to the Doctor ⑯(tell / to / that / him) if he came a step nearer they would kill us all. They evidently wanted us to leave the island at once. It was a very uncomfortable ⑰*(negotiation : lecture : revolution)situation.

At last the Doctor made them understand that he only wanted to see the island all over and that then he would go away—though how he meant to do it, with no boat to ⑱*(trust : sail : pack : save) in, was more than I could imagine.

While they were talking among themselves another Indian arrived—apparently with a message ⑲(were / that / wanted / they) in some other part of the island. Because presently, shaking their spears threateningly at us, ⑳(off / they / with / went) the newcomer.

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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(56)

2010年11月22日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 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とことで、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・読解と同様、ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解も連載終了後には冒頭から通読できるように並べ替える予定です。

※(55)の解答①(help)②(strength are not everything)③(direction from which he)④(sorts of miserable thoughts)⑤(starve)⑥(raft on which I )⑦(growing)⑧(made me want to)⑨(verge)⑩(come out all right)⑪(raft to keep warm)⑫(courage)⑬(end of my raft)⑭(hug)⑮(guessed)⑯(firm)⑰(he found you stunned)⑱(refuge)⑲(sent me off with)⑳(tip)

(56)
"Well, but how ①(get / can / to / I) the Doctor, Miranda?—I haven't any oars."

"Get to him!—Why, you're going to him now. Look behind you."

I turned around. The moon was just rising on the sea's edge. And I now saw that my raft was moving through the water, but so gently that I had ②(before / not / it / noticed).

"What's moving us?" I asked.

"The porpoises," said Miranda.

I went to the back of the raft and looked down into the water. And just below the ③*(surface : misery : shore : grocery) I could see the dim forms of four big porpoises, their sleek skins glinting in the moonlight, pushing at the raft with their noses.

"They're old friends of the Doctor's," said Miranda. "They'd do anything for John Dolittle. We should see his party soon now. We're pretty near the ④(I / place / them / left)—Yes, there they are! See that dark shape?—No, more to the right of where you're looking. Can't you make out the ⑤*(labor : era : figure : author) of the black man standing against the sky?—Now Chee-Chee spies us—he's waving. Don't you see them?"

I didn't—for my eyes were not as sharp as Miranda's. But presently from somewhere in the murky dusk I heard Bumpo singing his African comic songs with the ⑥(force / his / full / of ) enormous voice. And in a little, by peering and peering in the ⑦*(globe : desire : fellow : direction) of the sound, I at last made out a dim mass of tattered, splintered wreckage—all that remained of the poor Curlew—floating low down upon the water.

A hulloa came through the night. And I answered it. We kept it up, calling to one another back and forth across the calm night sea. And a few minutes later the two halves of our brave little ruined ship ⑧*(replaced : explored : bumped : glanced) gently together again.

Now ⑨(I / that / nearer / was) and the moon was higher I could see more plainly. Their half of the ship was much bigger than mine.

It lay partly upon its side; and most of ⑩(upon / them / perched / were ) the top munching ship's biscuit.

But close down to the edge of the water, using the sea's calm surface for a mirror and a piece of broken bottle for a razor, John Dolittle was ⑪(by / face / his / shaving) the light of the moon.

THE FIFTH CHAPTER. LAND!
THEY all gave me a great greeting as I clambered off my half of the ship on to theirs. Bumpo brought me a wonderful drink of fresh water ⑫(he / which / from / drew) a barrel; and Chee-Chee and Polynesia stood around me feeding me ship's biscuit.

But it was the sight of the Doctor's smiling face—just knowing that I was with him once again—that ⑬**(prevailed : cheered : failed : implemented) me more than anything else. As I watched him carefully wipe his glass razor and ⑭(it / put / for / away) future use, I could not help comparing him in my mind with the Stormy Petrel. Indeed the vast strange knowledge which he had gained from his speech and friendship with animals had brought him the power to do ⑮(which / things / other / no) human being would dare to try. Like the petrel, he could apparently play with the sea in all her moods. It was no wonder that many of the ignorant savage peoples among whom he passed in his voyages made statues of him showing him as half a fish, half a bird, and half a man. And ridiculous though it was, I could quite understand ⑯(Miranda / when / what / meant) she said she firmly believed that he could never die. Just to be with him gave you a wonderful feeling of ⑰(atmosphere : comfort : institution : procedure) and safety.

Except for his appearance (his clothes were crumpled and damp and his battered high hat was stained with salt water) that storm which had so terrified me had ⑱**(transmitted : penetrated : blessed : disturbed) him no more than getting stuck on the mud-bank in Puddleby River.

Politely thanking Miranda ⑲(getting / for / so / me) quickly, he asked her if she would now go ahead of us and show us the way to Spidermonkey Island. Next, he gave ⑳(matters : orders : fuels : hardships) to the porpoises to leave my old piece of the ship and push the bigger half wherever the Bird-of-Paradise should lead us.
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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(55)

2010年11月13日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 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。
 本日はweather(切り抜ける)という数年前の実用英検1級一次語彙問題に出題された多義語が登場します。童話が読めれば英検1級レベルに到達するわけではないにしても、童話が読めないで英検1級はまず無理です。

※(54)の解答①(beginning to take on)②(grew)③(of cloud swept like)④(confess)⑤(terrible)⑥(slapped)⑦(idea of how our)⑧(of Polynesia screeching somewhere)⑨(arise)⑩(clinging)⑪(fainted)⑫(hazy in my head)⑬(thinking that I would) ⑭(sight)⑮(bruised head / began to)⑯(hand into my pocket)⑰(reminded)⑱(awful thought came to)⑲(to see if it) ⑳(attract)

(55)
Twice it circled round my raft, lazily, with hardly a flip of the wing. And I could not ①(make : give : help : leave) wondering, in spite of the distress I was in, where it had spent last night—how it, or any other living thing, had weathered such a smashing storm. It made me realize the great big difference between different creatures; and that size and ②(not / strength / everything / are). To this petrel, a frail little thing of feathers, much smaller and weaker than I, the Sea could do anything she liked, it seemed; and his only answer was a lazy, saucy flip of the wing! HE was the one who should be called the ABLE SEAMAN. For, come raging gale, come sunlit calm, this wilderness of water was his home.

After swooping over the sea around me (just looking for food, I supposed) he went off in the ③(from / he / direction / which) had come. And I was alone once more.

I found I was somewhat hungry—and a little thirsty too. I began to think all ④(thoughts / miserable / of / sorts), the way one does when he is lonesome and has missed breakfast. What was going to become of me now, if the Doctor and the rest were drowned? I would ⑤*(restrict : starve : submit : attribute) to death or die of thirst. Then the sun went behind some clouds and I felt cold. How many hundreds or thousands of miles was I from any land? What if another storm should come and smash up even this poor ⑥(which / raft / I / on)stood?

I went on like this for a while, ⑦(leaving : growing : giving : having) gloomier and gloomier, when suddenly I thought of Polynesia. "You're always safe with the Doctor," she had said. "He gets there. Remember that."

I'm sure I wouldn't have minded so much if he had been here with me. It was this being all alone that ⑧(me / to / made / want) weep. And yet the petrel was alone!—What a baby I was, I told myself, to be scared to the ⑨(incentive : bias : eclipse : verge) of tears just by loneliness! I was quite safe where I was—for the present anyhow. John Dolittle wouldn't get scared by a little thing like this. He only got excited when he made a discovery, found a new bug or something. And if what Polynesia had said was true, he couldn't be drowned and things would ⑩(out / come / right / all) in the end somehow.

I threw out my chest, buttoned up my collar and began walking up and down the short ⑪(keep / raft / warm / to). I would be like John Dolittle. I wouldn't cry—And I wouldn't get excited.

How long I paced back and forth I don't know. But it was a long time—for I had nothing else to do.

At last I got tired and lay down to rest. And in spite of all my troubles, I soon fell fast asleep.

This time when I woke up, stars were staring down at me out of a cloudless sky. The sea was still calm; and my strange craft was rocking gently under me on an easy swell. All my fine ⑫*(hostage : courage : mischief : courtesy) left me as I gazed up into the big silent night and felt the pains of hunger and thirst set to work in my stomach harder than ever.

"Are you awake?" said a high silvery voice at my elbow.

I sprang up as though some one had stuck a pin in me. And there, perched at the very ⑬(my / end / raft / of), her beautiful golden tail glowing dimly in the starlight, sat Miranda, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise!

Never have I been so glad to see any one in my life. I almost fell into the water as I leapt to ⑭**(hug : damn : torture : rid) her.

"I didn't want to wake you," said she. "I ⑮*(described : guessed : disturbed : paused) you must be tired after all you've been through—Don't squash the life out of me, boy: I'm not a stuffed duck, you know."

"Oh, Miranda, you dear old thing," said I, "I'm so glad to see you. Tell me, where is the Doctor? Is he alive?"

"Of course he's alive—and it's my ⑯*(oral : fake : shallow : firm) belief he always will be. He's over there, about forty miles to the westward."

"What's he doing there?"

"He's sitting on the other half of the Curlew shaving himself—or he was, when I left him."

"Well, thank Heaven he's alive!" said I—"And Bumpo—and the animals, are they all right?"

"Yes, they're with him. Your ship broke in half in the storm. The Doctor had tied you down when ⑰(found / he / stunned / you). And the part you were on got separated and floated away. Golly, it was a storm! One has to be a gull or an albatross to stand that sort of weather. I had been watching for the Doctor for three weeks, from a cliff-top; but last night I had to take ⑱**(disaster : lecture : refuge : sentence) in a cave to keep my tail-feathers from blowing out. As soon as I found the Doctor, he ⑲(me / sent / with / off ) some porpoises to look for you. A Stormy Petrel volunteered to help us in our search. There had been quite a gathering of sea-birds waiting to greet the Doctor; but the rough weather sort of broke up the arrangements that had been made to welcome him properly. It was the petrel that first gave us the ⑳**(trash : mission : colony : tip) where you were."

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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(54)

2010年11月08日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 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。


※(53)の解答①(leaned)②(stiff)③(weary)④(scratched)⑤(that colored man upstairs)⑥(ship to steer herself)⑦(that her voice rose)⑧(on deck to take)⑨(favorable)⑩(thinking that at any)⑪(uneasy)⑫(measuring distances on them)⑬(on board to eat)⑭(hate to keep her) ⑮(is likely to end)⑯(breeze)⑰(coast)⑱(made up its mind)⑲(fierce)⑳(sail down right away)

(54)
Indeed the whole sky was now ①(take / beginning / on / to ) a very threatening look. The black line to the eastward ②(drew : left : fell : grew) blacker as it came nearer and nearer. A low, rumbly, whispering noise went moaning over the sea. The water which had been so blue and smiling turned to a ruffled ugly gray. And across the darkening sky, shreds ③(cloud / of / like / swept) tattered witches flying from the storm.

I must ④*(punish : hesitate : confess : interpret) I was frightened. You see I had only so far seen the sea in friendly moods: sometimes quiet and lazy; sometimes laughing, venturesome and reckless; sometimes brooding and poetic, when moonbeams turned her ripples into silver threads and dreaming snowy night-clouds piled up fairy-castles in the sky. But as yet I had not known, or even guessed at, the ⑤*(precious : decent : humid : terrible) strength of the Sea's wild anger.

When that storm finally struck us we leaned right over flatly on our side, as though some in-visible giant had ⑥**(carved : slapped : assented : lamented) the poor Curlew on the cheek.

After that things happened so thick and so fast that what with the wind that stopped your breath, the driving, blinding water, the deafening noise and the rest, I haven't a very clear ⑦(how / idea / our / of ) shipwreck came about.

I remember seeing the sails, which we were now trying to roll up upon the deck, torn out of our hands by the wind and go overboard like a penny balloon—very nearly carrying Chee-Chee with them. And I have a dim recollection ⑧(Polynesia / of / somewhere / screeching) for one of us to go downstairs and close the port-holes.

In spite of our masts being bare of sail we were now scudding along to the southward at a great pace. But every once in a while huge gray-black waves would ⑨*(freeze : arise : trace : recollect) from under the ship's side like nightmare monsters, swell and climb, then crash down upon us, pressing us into the sea; and the poor Curlew would come to a standstill, half under water, like a gasping, drowning pig.

While I was clambering along towards the wheel to see the Doctor, ⑩*(remarking : screaming : clinging : wasting) like a leech with hands and legs to the rails lest I be blown overboard, one of these tremendous seas tore loose my hold, filled my throat with water and swept me like a cork the full length of the deck. My head struck a door with an awful bang. And then I ⑪**(rebelled : fainted : extinguished : located).


THE FOURTH CHAPTER. WRECKED!
WHEN I awoke I was very ⑫(head / hazy / my / in). The sky was blue and the sea was calm. At first I thought that I must have fallen asleep in the sun on the deck of the Curlew. And ⑬(that / would / thinking / I) be late for my turn at the wheel, I tried to rise to my feet. I found I couldn't; my arms were tied to something behind me with a piece of rope. By twisting my neck around I found this to be a mast, broken off short. Then I realized that I wasn't sitting on a ship at all; I was only sitting on a piece of one. I began to feel uncomfortably scared. Screwing up my eyes, I searched the rim of the sea North, East, South and West: no land: no ships; nothing was in ⑭*(height : feature : theory : sight). I was alone in the ocean!

At last, little by little, my ⑮(head / bruised / to / began) remember what had happened: first, the coming of the storm; the sails going overboard; then the big wave which had banged me against the door. But what had become of the Doctor and the others? What day was this, to-morrow or the day after?—And why was I sitting on only part of a ship?

Working my ⑯(into / my / hand / pocket), I found my penknife and cut the rope that tied me. This ⑰*(reminded : included : recovered : ceased) me of a shipwreck story which Joe had once told me, of a captain who had tied his son to a mast in order that he shouldn't be washed overboard by the gale. So of course it must have been the Doctor who had done the same to me.

But where was he?

The ⑱(thought / to / awful / came) me that the Doctor and the rest of them must be drowned, since there was no other wreckage to be seen upon the waters. I got to my feet and stared around the sea again—Nothing—nothing but water and sky!

Presently a long way off I saw the small dark shape of a bird skimming low down over the swell. When it came quite close I saw it was a Stormy Petrel. I tried to talk to it, ⑲(if / to / it / see)could give me news. But unluckily I hadn't learned much sea-bird language and I couldn't even ⑳*(exaggerate : attract : express : treat) its attention, much less make it understand what I wanted.

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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(53)

2010年11月07日 | ドリトル先生航海記で学ぶ語彙・読解
 難関視される実用英検1級筆記試験も、その内容はせいぜい中学校の社会科程度であるのが日本語訳を読めばおわかりいただけると思います。TOEIC900点も英語圏の中学生なら楽にクリアーできるでしょう。
 実用英検1級やTOEIC高得点が高い壁のように感じられるのであれば、英語圏の小学生レベルの英語が身についていない可能性大ですので、童話やTIMEFORKIDSのような子どもニュースを教材に使うのが合理的です。実力相応の教材を大量に高い精度で学べば、外国語の運用能力を母語の運用能力に近づけていくことは難しくありません。
 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。


※(52)の解答①(for you to do)②(enormous)③(creature)④( transparent)⑤(seen carrying his food)⑥(explore)⑦(get him for me)⑧(seldom)⑨(terrible)⑩(existence)⑪(belongs to past ages) ⑫(do wish I could)⑬(spare)⑭(to get it for)⑮(disappeared)⑯(to put you back)⑰(care for anything before)⑱(thank you enough for)⑲(mention)⑳(emptied)

(53)
I dropped my pencil on the table and ①*(gained : leaned : succeeded : constituted) back with a sigh. My fingers were so ②**(obscure : stiff : odd : sensible)with writers' cramp that I felt as though I should never be able to open my hand again. But I, at least, had had a night's sleep. As for the poor Doctor, he was so ③**(cruel : weary : diligent : affirmative) that he had hardly put the tank back upon the table and dropped into a chair, when his eyes closed and he began to snore.

In the passage outside Polynesia ④**(grasped : devoured : creeped :scratched ) angrily at the door. I rose and let her in.

"A nice state of affairs!" she stormed. "What sort of a ship is this? There's ⑤(upstairs / man / colored / that) asleep under the wheel; the Doctor asleep down here; and you making pot-hooks in a copy-book with a pencil! Expect the ⑥(to / herself / steer / ship) to Brazil? We're just drifting around the sea like an empty bottle—and a week behind time as it is. What's happened to you all?"

She was so angry ⑦(voice / that / rose / her ) to a scream. But it would have taken more than that to wake the Doctor.

I put the note-book carefully in a drawer and went ⑧(take / on / to / deck) the wheel.


THE THIRD CHAPTER. BAD WEATHER
AS soon as I had the Curlew swung round upon her course again I noticed something peculiar: we were not going as fast as we had been. Our ⑨**(sour : aggressive : concise : favorable) wind had almost entirely disappeared.

This, at first, we did not worry about, ⑩(that / any / thinking / at ) moment it might spring up again. But the whole day went by; then two days; then a week,—ten days, and the wind grew no stronger. The Curlew just dawdled along at the speed of a toddling babe.

I now saw that the Doctor was becoming ⑪*(concrete : vital : calm : uneasy). He kept getting out his sextant (an instrument which tells you what part of the ocean you are in) and making calculations. He was forever looking at his maps and ⑫(them / on / distances / measuring). The far edge of the sea, all around us, he examined with his telescope a hundred times a day.

"But Doctor," I said when I found him one afternoon mumbling to himself about the misty appearance of the sky, "it wouldn't matter so much would it, if we did take a little longer over the trip? We've got plenty ⑬(eat / board / to / on) now; and the Purple Bird-of-Paradise will know that we have been delayed by something that we couldn't help."

"Yes, I suppose so," he said thoughtfully. "But I ⑭(keep / hate / her / to ) waiting. At this season of the year she generally goes to the Peruvian mountains—for her health. And besides, the good weather she prophesied ⑮(likely / end / is / to) any day now and delay us still further. If we could only keep moving at even a fair speed, I wouldn't mind. It's this hanging around, almost dead still, that gets me restless—Ah, here comes a wind—Not very strong—but maybe it'll grow."

A gentle ⑯*(risk : breeze : source : diet) from the Northeast came singing through the ropes; and we smiled up hopefully at the Curlew's leaning masts.

"We've only got another hundred and fifty miles to make, to sight the ⑰*(flood : coast : bottom : voyage) of Brazil," said the Doctor. "If that wind would just stay with us, steady, for a full day we'd see land."

But suddenly the wind changed, swung to the East, then back to the Northeast—then to the North. It came in fitful gusts, as though it hadn't ⑱(its / made / mind / up) which way to blow; and I was kept busy at the wheel, swinging the Curlew this way and that to keep the right side of it.

Presently we heard Polynesia, who was in the rigging keeping a look-out for land or passing ships, screech down to us,

"Bad weather coming. That jumpy wind is an ugly sign. And look!—over there in the East—see that black line, low down? If that isn't a storm I'm a land-lubber. The gales round here are ⑲**(secure : mature : coherent : fierce), when they do blow—tear your canvas out like paper. You take the wheel, Doctor: it'll need a strong arm if it's a real storm. I'll go wake Bumpo and Chee-Chee. This looks bad to me. We'd best get all the ⑳(down / away / right / sail), till we see how strong she's going to blow."

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