parry

"Fahrenheit 451" を読んでいます。話の大きな流れは分かっても、場面場面に出てくる描写の意味がさっぱり分からない個所が相変わらず次々とでてきますが、とにかく読み飛ばしています。とは言っても知らない単語の意味は調べます。
"Stop blushing. I'm not needling, really I'm not. Do you know, I had a dream an hour ago. I lay down for a catnap and in this dream you and I, Montag, got into a furious debate on books. You towered with rage, yelled quotes at me. I calmly parried every thrust. "Power,' I said. And you, quoting Dr. Johson, said 'Knowledge is more than equivalent to force!' And I said, 'Well, Dr. Johnson also said, dear boy, that "He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.'" Stick with the firemen, Montag. All else is dreary chaos!"
動詞の "parry" の意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Answer (a question or accusation) evasively: ‘he parried questions from reporters outside the building’
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to avoid giving a direct answer to (a question) by being skillful or clever: She cleverly parried the reporters' questions.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to manage cleverly to avoid dealing with a difficult question or some criticism: Predictably the president parried enquiries about the arms scandal.
この能力が優れていれば世の中を渡るのに困らないでしょうね。
"Fahrenheit 451" を一応読み終えましたが、今まで読んだ本で最も難しい小説でした。