「ドリトル先生アフリカゆき」から学ぶ大学入試・英検・TOEIC頻出語彙と読解(28)

　著作権の切れた童話「ドリトル先生アフリカゆき」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。

(28)
"Well, well!" said the Doctor. "You surprise me. That's very interesting.... Listen again and tell me what he's doing now."

"I'm not sure yet," said Too-Too, "if it's a man at all. Maybe it's a woman. Lift me up and let me listen at the key-hole and I'll soon tell you."

So the Doctor lifted the owl up and ①(close / him / held / to) the lock of the door.

After a moment Too-Too said,

"Now he's ②**(yielding : swearing : roaring : rubbing) his face with his left hand. It is a small hand and a small face. It MIGHT be a woman—No. Now he pushes his hair back off his forehead—It's a man all right."

"Women sometimes do that," said the Doctor.

"True," said the owl. "But when they do, their long hair makes quite a different sound.... Sh! Make that fidgety pig keep still. Now all hold your breath a moment ③(I / so / listen / can) well. This is very difficult, what I'm doing now—and the pesky door is so thick! Sh! Everybody quite still—shut your eyes and don't breathe."

Too-Too leaned down and listened again very hard and long.

At last ④(into / he / up / looked) the Doctor's face and said,

"The man in there is unhappy. He weeps. He has taken care not to blubber or sniffle, lest we should find out that he is crying. But I heard—quite distinctly—the sound of a tear ⑤(sleeve / falling / his / on)."

"How do you know it wasn't a ⑥(of / drop / falling / water) off the ceiling on him?" asked Gub-Gub. "Pshaw!—Such ignorance!" sniffed Too-Too. "A drop of water falling off the ceiling would have made ten times as much noise!"

"Well," said the Doctor, "if the poor fellow's unhappy, we've ⑦(in / got / get / to) and see what's the matter with him. Find me an axe, and I'll chop the door down."

THE SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER
THE OCEAN GOSSIPS
RIGHT away an axe was found. And the Doctor soon chopped a hole in the ⑧(big / door / to / enough) clamber through.

At first he could see nothing at all, it was so dark inside. So he struck a match.

The room was quite small; no window; the ceiling, low. For ⑨*(route : furniture : benefit : income) there was only one little stool. All round the room big barrels stood against the walls, ⑩*(fastened : improved : ruined : suffered) at the bottom so they wouldn't tumble with the rolling of the ship; and above the barrels, pewter jugs of all sizes hung from wooden pegs. There was a strong, winey smell. And in the middle of the floor sat a little boy, about eight years old, crying bitterly.

"I ⑪*(resist : declare : regret : cultivate), it is the pirates' rum-room!" said Jip in a whisper.

"Yes. Very rum!" said Gub-Gub. "The smell makes me giddy."

The little boy seemed ⑫(find / to / frightened / rather) a man standing there before him and all those animals ⑬*(dealing : staring : persisting : deciding) in through the hole in the broken door. But as soon as he saw John Dolittle's face by the light of the match, he stopped crying and got up.

"You aren't one of the pirates, are you?" he asked.

And when the Doctor threw back his head and laughed long and loud, the little boy smiled too and came and took his hand.

"You laugh like a friend," he said—"not like a pirate. Could you tell me where my uncle is?"

"I am afraid I can't," said the Doctor. "When did you see him last?"

"It was the day before yesterday," said the boy. "I and my uncle were out fishing in our little boat, when the pirates came and caught us. They sunk our fishing-boat and brought us both on to this ship. They told my uncle that they wanted him to be a pirate like them—⑭(clever / for / was / he ) at sailing a ship in all weathers. But he said he didn't want to be a pirate, because killing people and stealing ⑮(no / was / for / work ) a good fisherman to do. Then the leader, Ben Ali, got very angry and gnashed his teeth, and said they would throw my uncle into the sea if he didn't do as they said. They sent me downstairs; and I heard the noise of a ⑯(on / fight / above / going). And when they let me come up again next day, my uncle was nowhere to be seen. I asked the pirates where he was; but they wouldn't tell me. I am very much afraid they threw him into the sea and drowned him."

And the little boy began to cry again.

"Well now—wait a minute," said the Doctor. "Don't cry. Let's go and have tea in the dining-room, and we'll talk it over. Maybe your uncle is quite safe all the time. You don't KNOW that he was drowned, do you? And that's something. Perhaps we can find him for you. First we'll go and have tea—with strawberry-jam; and then we will ⑰(can / see / be / what) done."

All the animals had been standing around listening with great ⑱*(attitude : explanation : experiment : curiosity). And when they had gone into the ship's dining-room and were having tea, Dab-Dab came up behind the Doctor's chair and whispered.

"Ask the porpoises if the boy's uncle was drowned—they'll know."

"All right," said the Doctor, taking a second piece of bread-and-jam.

"What are those funny, clicking noises ⑲(making / you / with / are) your tongue?" asked the boy.

"Oh, I just said a couple of words in duck-language," the Doctor answered. "This is Dab-Dab, one of my pets."

"I didn't even know that ducks had a language," said the boy. "Are all these other animals your pets, too? What is that strange-looking thing with two heads?"

"Sh!" the Doctor whispered. "That is the pushmi-pullyu. Don't let him see we're talking about him—he gets so dreadfully ⑳**(compelled : embarrassed : consented : tolerated).... Tell me, how did you come to be locked up in that little room?"

※(28)の解答①(held him close to)②(rubbing)③(so I can listen) ④(he looked up into)⑤(falling on his sleeve)⑥(drop of water falling) ⑦(got to get in)⑧(door big enough to)⑨(furniture)⑩(fastened)⑪(declare)⑫(rather frightened to find)⑬(staring)⑭(for he was clever) ⑮(was no work for)⑯(fight going on above)⑰(see what can be) ⑱(curiosity)⑲(you are making with)⑳(embarrassed)