「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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