日本人が英語で苦労する最大の原因はやたら難しく格調高かった大学入試英語にあると言っても過言ではありません。三面記事が満足に読めない受験生に社説を読ませるようなことをして力がついたら不思議です。しかしゆっくりとした動きながらも大学入試英語や実用英検は、やさしい英語を高い精度で理解する力を問う方向に変わりつつあります。TOEICはビジネス語彙が多少必要になるとはいえ、やさしい英語をスピーディに理解する能力を問う試験です。そのため、三面記事や童話を楽に読めるようになればたいていの英語試験で有利になります。
そこで、著作権の切れた童話「オズの魔法使い」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みました。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。
「オズの魔法使い」のような童話が英検、TOEIC、大学入試で出題されることはまずありません。しかし、語彙、語法、文法等に関しては共通点がたくさんあります。
「オズの魔法使い」の冒頭には以下のようなくだりがあります。
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles.
ここでのforが接続詞で「なぜならば」という意味で使われているあることがわかっていれば、２００４年慶応大学総合政策学部で出題された以下の問題を解く有力な手がかりを得ることができます。
（引用開始）
As a professional economist, I am much concerned about the current state of the debate over “globalization.” The debate is lively, often passionate, and has sometimes been violent. Since the debate is untidy and ill-defined, one could react by saying that it has no place for professional economists. But we economists cannot afford to ingore it,
［31］(1 if 2 while 3 for) the views and attitudes expressed in it will inevitably affect public policy‐and the issues are critically important for the future economic growth and well-being of all the peoples of the globe.
（引用終了）
※［31］の解答は3 forとなります。
さらには、When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. とよく似た表現が東進ブックス英熟語FORMULA1000に掲載されていましたので御紹介します。
(引用開始）
As far as the eye can reach, there is nothing but sand.（神戸学院大）
見渡す限りあるのは砂にすぎなかった。［見渡す限り砂ばかりだった］
（引用終了）
ペーパーバック３ページ足らずの中に多数の重要単語のみならず重要熟語も含まれていました。
もちろん童話を読むだけで大学入試英語を突破できるわけではないにしても、やさしいものでも一冊ペーパーバックを読んでみると格段に英語センスが良くなります。ただ、ある程度の精度を維持しないことには力はつきませんのでシンプルな練習問題を組込んでみました。
以下、文中の( )にアルファベットの一文字を入れて文脈に合う単語を完成してください。日本語を介在させずに読解力、語彙力を養成できます。わからない単語があれば英英辞典で調べると一層有効です。
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。使いにくければ
english x englishをお試しください。英英辞典を使うのが楽になります。
1. The Cyclone
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be ①()()rried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room ②()()()tained a rusty looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar--③exc()()() a small hole dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, ④wh()()() the family could go in ⑤ca()() one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.
When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see ⑥()()()hing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all ⑦()()()ections. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.
When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had ⑧()()()en the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now. When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would ⑨scr()()() and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with ⑩()()()der that she could find anything to laugh at.
Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and ⑪sole()(), and rarely spoke.
It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and ⑫()()ved her from growing as gray as her other ⑬()()()roundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.
Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked ⑭()()()iously at the sky, which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes.
From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the long grass ⑮()()wed in waves before the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they ⑯()()rned their eyes that way they saw ripples in the grass coming from that direction also.
Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up.
"There's a cyclone coming, Em," he called to his wife. "I'll go ⑰()()ok after the stock." Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept.
Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. One ⑱gla()()() told her of the danger close at hand.
"Quick, Dorothy!" she screamed. "Run for the cellar!"
Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and the girl started to get him. Aunt Em, badly ⑲()()()ghtened, threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole. Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to follow her aunt. When she was halfway across the room there came a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor.
Then a strange thing happened.
※(1)の解答①carried ②contained ③except④where⑤case（in case of「～の場合には」は重要熟語）⑥nothing⑦directions⑧taken ⑨scream ⑩wonder⑪solemn(これは大学入試レベルでの難単語だが、児童文学にも登場する。ここでは「いかめしい」くらいの意味）⑫saved⑬surroundings⑭anxiously⑮bowed ⑯turned⑰look(look after「面倒を見る」は重要熟語）⑱glance⑲frightened
そこで、著作権の切れた童話「オズの魔法使い」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みました。楽しみながら英語力を伸ばしていただければ幸いです。
「オズの魔法使い」のような童話が英検、TOEIC、大学入試で出題されることはまずありません。しかし、語彙、語法、文法等に関しては共通点がたくさんあります。
「オズの魔法使い」の冒頭には以下のようなくだりがあります。
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles.
ここでのforが接続詞で「なぜならば」という意味で使われているあることがわかっていれば、２００４年慶応大学総合政策学部で出題された以下の問題を解く有力な手がかりを得ることができます。
（引用開始）
As a professional economist, I am much concerned about the current state of the debate over “globalization.” The debate is lively, often passionate, and has sometimes been violent. Since the debate is untidy and ill-defined, one could react by saying that it has no place for professional economists. But we economists cannot afford to ingore it,
［31］(1 if 2 while 3 for) the views and attitudes expressed in it will inevitably affect public policy‐and the issues are critically important for the future economic growth and well-being of all the peoples of the globe.
（引用終了）
※［31］の解答は3 forとなります。
さらには、When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. とよく似た表現が東進ブックス英熟語FORMULA1000に掲載されていましたので御紹介します。
(引用開始）
As far as the eye can reach, there is nothing but sand.（神戸学院大）
見渡す限りあるのは砂にすぎなかった。［見渡す限り砂ばかりだった］
（引用終了）
ペーパーバック３ページ足らずの中に多数の重要単語のみならず重要熟語も含まれていました。
もちろん童話を読むだけで大学入試英語を突破できるわけではないにしても、やさしいものでも一冊ペーパーバックを読んでみると格段に英語センスが良くなります。ただ、ある程度の精度を維持しないことには力はつきませんのでシンプルな練習問題を組込んでみました。
以下、文中の( )にアルファベットの一文字を入れて文脈に合う単語を完成してください。日本語を介在させずに読解力、語彙力を養成できます。わからない単語があれば英英辞典で調べると一層有効です。
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。使いにくければ
english x englishをお試しください。英英辞典を使うのが楽になります。
1. The Cyclone
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be ①()()rried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room ②()()()tained a rusty looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar--③exc()()() a small hole dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, ④wh()()() the family could go in ⑤ca()() one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.
When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see ⑥()()()hing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all ⑦()()()ections. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.
When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had ⑧()()()en the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now. When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would ⑨scr()()() and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with ⑩()()()der that she could find anything to laugh at.
Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and ⑪sole()(), and rarely spoke.
It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and ⑫()()ved her from growing as gray as her other ⑬()()()roundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.
Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked ⑭()()()iously at the sky, which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes.
From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the long grass ⑮()()wed in waves before the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they ⑯()()rned their eyes that way they saw ripples in the grass coming from that direction also.
Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up.
"There's a cyclone coming, Em," he called to his wife. "I'll go ⑰()()ok after the stock." Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept.
Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. One ⑱gla()()() told her of the danger close at hand.
"Quick, Dorothy!" she screamed. "Run for the cellar!"
Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and the girl started to get him. Aunt Em, badly ⑲()()()ghtened, threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole. Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to follow her aunt. When she was halfway across the room there came a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor.
Then a strange thing happened.
※(1)の解答①carried ②contained ③except④where⑤case（in case of「～の場合には」は重要熟語）⑥nothing⑦directions⑧taken ⑨scream ⑩wonder⑪solemn(これは大学入試レベルでの難単語だが、児童文学にも登場する。ここでは「いかめしい」くらいの意味）⑫saved⑬surroundings⑭anxiously⑮bowed ⑯turned⑰look(look after「面倒を見る」は重要熟語）⑱glance⑲frightened
自分が高校生の頃にこういったものを読んでいれば楽に英語力をつけられたのになあという思いもあって取り上げてみました。