米国の捕鯨船に助けられた万次郎達４人の中で一番若い万次郎だけが捕鯨を手伝い英語を覚えようとしています。
Manjiro spent the day puzzling over that and over all the words he'd learned that had more than one meaning: The bow was the front of the vessel. But it was also what he did when he bent from the waist when meeting someone. The fins on a whale's tail were called its fluke. But a fluke also meant a stroke of luck--like the fact that Captain Whitefield had sent a boat to fetch turtles on Bird Island that day. That was a stroke of luck--a fluke. Or was it fruke? R's and L's were impossible.
"fluke" also meant a stroke of luck のの意味は昨年Kazuo IshiguroのThe Remains of the Dayを読んだ時に覚えましたが、"whale's tail" の意味もあるのは知りませんでした。一応辞書で確かめます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: one of the lobes of a whale's tail
・Collins Dictionary: .either of the two lobes of the tail of a whale or related animal
捕鯨はしない現代では英米人でもこの意味を知らないのではないかと思いますがどうでしょう。
Manjiro spent the day puzzling over that and over all the words he'd learned that had more than one meaning: The bow was the front of the vessel. But it was also what he did when he bent from the waist when meeting someone. The fins on a whale's tail were called its fluke. But a fluke also meant a stroke of luck--like the fact that Captain Whitefield had sent a boat to fetch turtles on Bird Island that day. That was a stroke of luck--a fluke. Or was it fruke? R's and L's were impossible.
"fluke" also meant a stroke of luck のの意味は昨年Kazuo IshiguroのThe Remains of the Dayを読んだ時に覚えましたが、"whale's tail" の意味もあるのは知りませんでした。一応辞書で確かめます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: one of the lobes of a whale's tail
・Collins Dictionary: .either of the two lobes of the tail of a whale or related animal
捕鯨はしない現代では英米人でもこの意味を知らないのではないかと思いますがどうでしょう。
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