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、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。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。
※(78)の解答①(fortune)②(murmured)③(formed up to leave)④(impressed)⑤(dizzy)⑥(for)⑦(disturbed)⑧(sent chills running up) ⑨(took his breath away)⑩(represents)⑪(decorated)⑫(signify)⑬(represent)⑭(proud to be known) ⑮(enormous)⑯(polished)⑰(ascending)⑱(halted)⑲(accompanied)⑳(dangled six inches from)
(79)
Then the old man turned round and looking up at the people ①(in / began / speak / to) a quiet even voice; but every word he said was easily heard in the furthest corner of the Whispering Rocks.
First he ②**(erected : recited : contrived : arosed) the names of all the great Popsipetel kings who in days long ago had been crowned in this ivory chair. He spoke of the greatness of the Popsipetel people, of their triumphs, of their hardships. Then ③(his / waving / towards / hand) the Doctor he began recounting the things which this king-to-be had done. And I am bound to say that they easily outmatched the ④**(clues : deeds : eruptions : counterparts) of those who had gone before him.
As soon as he started to speak of ⑤(where : that : what : when) the Doctor had achieved for the tribe, the people, still strictly silent, all began waving their right hands towards the throne. This gave to the vast theatre a very singular ⑥*(means : biology : appearance: poverty)acres and acres of something moving—with never a sound.
At last the old man finished his speech and stepping up to the chair, very respectfully removed the Doctor's battered high hat. He was about to put it upon the ground; but the Doctor ⑦(from / took / him / it) hastily and kept it on his lap. Then taking up the Sacred Crown he placed it upon John Dolittle's head. It did not fit very well (for it had been made for smaller-headed kings), and when the wind blew in freshly from the sunlit sea the Doctor had some difficulty in keeping it on. But it looked very ⑧*(available : splendid : absolute : spiritual).
Turning once more to the people, the old man said,
"Men of Popsipetel, behold your elected king!—Are you ⑨**(numerous : sound : appropriate : content)?"
And then at last the voice of the people broke loose.
"JONG! JONG!" they shouted, "LONG LIVE KING JONG!"
The sound burst upon the solemn silence with the crash of a hundred cannon. There, where even a whisper carried miles, the shock of it was like a blow in the face. Back and forth the mountains threw it to one another. I thought the echoes of it would never ⑩(as / die / it / away) passed rumbling through the whole island, jangling among the lower valleys, booming in the distant sea-caves.
Suddenly I saw the old man point upward, to the highest mountain in the island; and looking over my shoulder, I was just in time to see the Hanging Stone ⑪***(avert : revolt : topple : adore)slowly out of sight—down into the heart of the volcano.
"See ye, Men of the Moving Land!" the old man cried: "The stone has fallen and our ⑬*(legend : syndrome : utility : desert) has come true: the King of Kings is crowned this day!"
The Doctor too had seen the stone fall and he was now ⑭(at / standing / looking / up) the sea expectantly.
"He's thinking of the air-chamber," said Bumpo in my ear. "Let us hope that the sea isn't very deep in these parts."
After a full minute (so long did it take the stone to fall that depth) we heard a muffled, distant, crunching thud—and then immediately after, a great hissing of escaping air. The Doctor, his face tense with ⑮**(flavor : anxiety : gender : paradox), sat down in the throne again still watching the blue water of the ocean with staring eyes.
Soon we felt the island slowly sinking beneath us. We saw the sea ⑯**(decay : glow : creep : breed) inland over the beaches as the shores went down—one foot, three feet, ten feet, twenty, fifty, a hundred. And then, thank goodness, gently as a butterfly alighting on a rose, it stopped! Spidermonkey Island had ⑰(on / rest / to / come) the sandy bottom of the Atlantic, and earth was joined to earth once more.
Of course many of the houses near the shores were now under water. Popsipetel Village itself had entirely disappeared. But it didn't ⑱*(advance : matter : achieve : perform). No one was drowned; for every soul in the island was high up in the hills watching the coronation of King Jong.
The Indians themselves did not realize at the time what was taking place, though of course they had felt the ⑲(beneath / land / them / sinking). The Doctor told us afterwards that it must have been the shock of that tremendous shout, coming from a million throats at once, which had toppled the Hanging Stone off its perch. But in Popsipetel history the story was handed down (and it is firmly believed to this day) that when King Jong sat upon the throne, so great was his mighty weight, that the very island itself sank down ⑳(do / honor / to / him) and never moved again.
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。
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。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。
※(78)の解答①(fortune)②(murmured)③(formed up to leave)④(impressed)⑤(dizzy)⑥(for)⑦(disturbed)⑧(sent chills running up) ⑨(took his breath away)⑩(represents)⑪(decorated)⑫(signify)⑬(represent)⑭(proud to be known) ⑮(enormous)⑯(polished)⑰(ascending)⑱(halted)⑲(accompanied)⑳(dangled six inches from)
(79)
Then the old man turned round and looking up at the people ①(in / began / speak / to) a quiet even voice; but every word he said was easily heard in the furthest corner of the Whispering Rocks.
First he ②**(erected : recited : contrived : arosed) the names of all the great Popsipetel kings who in days long ago had been crowned in this ivory chair. He spoke of the greatness of the Popsipetel people, of their triumphs, of their hardships. Then ③(his / waving / towards / hand) the Doctor he began recounting the things which this king-to-be had done. And I am bound to say that they easily outmatched the ④**(clues : deeds : eruptions : counterparts) of those who had gone before him.
As soon as he started to speak of ⑤(where : that : what : when) the Doctor had achieved for the tribe, the people, still strictly silent, all began waving their right hands towards the throne. This gave to the vast theatre a very singular ⑥*(means : biology : appearance: poverty)acres and acres of something moving—with never a sound.
At last the old man finished his speech and stepping up to the chair, very respectfully removed the Doctor's battered high hat. He was about to put it upon the ground; but the Doctor ⑦(from / took / him / it) hastily and kept it on his lap. Then taking up the Sacred Crown he placed it upon John Dolittle's head. It did not fit very well (for it had been made for smaller-headed kings), and when the wind blew in freshly from the sunlit sea the Doctor had some difficulty in keeping it on. But it looked very ⑧*(available : splendid : absolute : spiritual).
Turning once more to the people, the old man said,
"Men of Popsipetel, behold your elected king!—Are you ⑨**(numerous : sound : appropriate : content)?"
And then at last the voice of the people broke loose.
"JONG! JONG!" they shouted, "LONG LIVE KING JONG!"
The sound burst upon the solemn silence with the crash of a hundred cannon. There, where even a whisper carried miles, the shock of it was like a blow in the face. Back and forth the mountains threw it to one another. I thought the echoes of it would never ⑩(as / die / it / away) passed rumbling through the whole island, jangling among the lower valleys, booming in the distant sea-caves.
Suddenly I saw the old man point upward, to the highest mountain in the island; and looking over my shoulder, I was just in time to see the Hanging Stone ⑪***(avert : revolt : topple : adore)slowly out of sight—down into the heart of the volcano.
"See ye, Men of the Moving Land!" the old man cried: "The stone has fallen and our ⑬*(legend : syndrome : utility : desert) has come true: the King of Kings is crowned this day!"
The Doctor too had seen the stone fall and he was now ⑭(at / standing / looking / up) the sea expectantly.
"He's thinking of the air-chamber," said Bumpo in my ear. "Let us hope that the sea isn't very deep in these parts."
After a full minute (so long did it take the stone to fall that depth) we heard a muffled, distant, crunching thud—and then immediately after, a great hissing of escaping air. The Doctor, his face tense with ⑮**(flavor : anxiety : gender : paradox), sat down in the throne again still watching the blue water of the ocean with staring eyes.
Soon we felt the island slowly sinking beneath us. We saw the sea ⑯**(decay : glow : creep : breed) inland over the beaches as the shores went down—one foot, three feet, ten feet, twenty, fifty, a hundred. And then, thank goodness, gently as a butterfly alighting on a rose, it stopped! Spidermonkey Island had ⑰(on / rest / to / come) the sandy bottom of the Atlantic, and earth was joined to earth once more.
Of course many of the houses near the shores were now under water. Popsipetel Village itself had entirely disappeared. But it didn't ⑱*(advance : matter : achieve : perform). No one was drowned; for every soul in the island was high up in the hills watching the coronation of King Jong.
The Indians themselves did not realize at the time what was taking place, though of course they had felt the ⑲(beneath / land / them / sinking). The Doctor told us afterwards that it must have been the shock of that tremendous shout, coming from a million throats at once, which had toppled the Hanging Stone off its perch. But in Popsipetel history the story was handed down (and it is firmly believed to this day) that when King Jong sat upon the throne, so great was his mighty weight, that the very island itself sank down ⑳(do / honor / to / him) and never moved again.
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。
※コメント投稿者のブログIDはブログ作成者のみに通知されます