図書館から借りて読む雑誌のEnglish Journalに小説の "Midnight's Children" を推薦する記事がありました。著者のSalman Rushdieは小説「悪魔の詩」を書いたことでイランの最高指導者から死刑の宣告を受け、日本ではその本の翻訳者、五十嵐氏が暗殺された事件が起きたニュースを昔聞いたことを思い出し、読んで見たいと思い借りることにしました。先日読み終えた 'Homo Deus' を図書館で受け取った時に余りの大きさにショックを受けたのですが、 "Midnight's Children" は 'Homo Deus' 程大きい本ではありませんが、とても厚く、なんとページ数が６４７ページと私が借りて期限内に読めるページ数をはるかに超えています。しかたがないと読み始めたが、難しい単語が多く、かつ背景が昔のインドなので非常に分かり難い。とりあえず期限がまで読んで、多分読み終えないので、いったん返して休憩しよう。
Mumtaz was never brilliant; not as beautiful as Emerald; but she was good, and dutiful, and alone. She spent more time with her father than any of her sisters, fortifying him against the bad temper which was being exaggerated nowadays by the constant itch in his nose; and she took upon herself the duties of caring for the needs of Nadir Kahn, descending daily into his underworld bearing trays of food, and brooms, and even emptying his personal thunderbox, so that not even a latrine cleaner could guess at his presence.
"thunderbox" とは面白い単語ですが、何でしょう？ 辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A primitive or makeshift toilet.: They were, however, equipped with a wooden W.C. or ‘thunderbox’.
・Collins Dictionary: a portable boxlike lavatory seat that can be placed over a hole in the ground; any portable lavatory:
・Urban Dictionary: It is called a thunderbox because sometimes when you go to the loo you fart, and it sounds like thunder. I don't think I have to explain the box part.: Ah that felt good! I did a big one in the thunderbox just now! Boy it smells!
最後に引用した俗語辞典(Urban Dictionary)の説明は具体的過ぎる。臭う！
Mumtaz was never brilliant; not as beautiful as Emerald; but she was good, and dutiful, and alone. She spent more time with her father than any of her sisters, fortifying him against the bad temper which was being exaggerated nowadays by the constant itch in his nose; and she took upon herself the duties of caring for the needs of Nadir Kahn, descending daily into his underworld bearing trays of food, and brooms, and even emptying his personal thunderbox, so that not even a latrine cleaner could guess at his presence.
"thunderbox" とは面白い単語ですが、何でしょう？ 辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A primitive or makeshift toilet.: They were, however, equipped with a wooden W.C. or ‘thunderbox’.
・Collins Dictionary: a portable boxlike lavatory seat that can be placed over a hole in the ground; any portable lavatory:
・Urban Dictionary: It is called a thunderbox because sometimes when you go to the loo you fart, and it sounds like thunder. I don't think I have to explain the box part.: Ah that felt good! I did a big one in the thunderbox just now! Boy it smells!
最後に引用した俗語辞典(Urban Dictionary)の説明は具体的過ぎる。臭う！
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