MomoはSalvatoreが家に帰って来るのを何時間も待ちました。深夜になりMomoは戸の前の階段で寝てしまいましたがやっと帰って来たSalvatoreの話を聴くことができました。
'I've been talking rubbish,' he said sadly. "I'm drunk again, Momo, that's the trouble. I often get drunk these days, there's no denying it, but that's the only way I can stomach the thought of what we're doing over there. To an honest brick-layer like me, it goes against the grain. Too little cement and too much sand, if you know what that means.
今日は上に出てきた "go against the grain" を覚えたいと思います。
・Cambridge Idioms Dictionary: if something that you say or do goes against the grain, you do not like saying or doing it and it is not what you would usually say or do It goes against the grain for William to admit that he's wrong. I don't think she likes to praise men. It goes against the grain.
・Wiktionary: To defy convention; to do something in a manner that is unusual or out of the ordinary. His method certainly goes against the grain, but it is unquestionably effective.
・American Heritage Dictionary: To go contrary to someone's natural disposition: “Having to get up this early in the morning really goes against my grain.”
This refers to the fact that someone who rubs his hand against the grain on a piece of lumber will get splinters.
最後に引用した辞書の説明が分かり易くて良いですね。
最近何故かMomoのところにやって来る人が減ってきました。そこで以前よく来ていた友人を訪ねて理由を探ることにしました。最初に行ったのは煉瓦職人のSalvatoreのところです。
Salvatore lived in a little garret under the roof -- but he wasn't at home. According to the other tenants, he now worked on one of the big new housing developments on the far side of town and was earning a lot of money. He seldom came home at all these days, they said, and when he did it was usually in the small hours.
"in the small hours" はどんな意味でしょう。いずれにせよこの "small" には小/少の意味はなさそうです。文脈からすると遅い時間あるいは深夜ではないでしょうか？ 辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Another way of saying the wee hours: Got home very late from LA last night, and sat in the small hours of the morning, listening to it three or four times over.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: the early hours of the morning, between twelve o'clock at night and the time when the sun rises: She was up until the small hours of the morning trying to finish her essay.
深夜といっても明け方に近い時間を示唆しているようです。
I was in a couple's home trying to fix their internet connection. The husband called out to his wife, who was in the other room, for the computer password.
"Start with a capital S, then 123," she shouted back.
We tried "S123" several times, but it didn't work. So we called the wife in. As she inputted the password, she muttered, "I really don't see what's so difficult about typing Start123."
Momoを読んでいますが５年前（8/10/2010）に取り上げているにも関わらず、つい数ヶ月前 "6/22/2015" にも取り上げた（つまり忘れた） "scotch" が次の様に出てきたので復習です。
It was a piece of childish nonsense, that's all. I would also urge the court to bear in mind that we easily managed to scotch the scheduled meeting by leaving people no time to attend it. Even dad we failed to do so, however, I'm confident that everyone would have dismissed the children's information as a cock-and-bull story.
次の辞書の説明を熟読しましょう。
・V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary: to prevent or put an end to something, usually abruptly Tips: The verb scotch essentially refers to putting an end to something. It is a useful word in the context of scotching (stopping) rumors. Scotch can also mean "to prevent something from moving by using a wedge," or can refer to the wedge itself. When you jam a wooden wedge under a door to keep it open, you scotch it. Scotch is also used to denote putting a small notch or score in the surface of something, like building materials or fabric, but this usage is no longer common--the word "score" is better for this. As an adjective, Scotch relates to Scotland or its people, but is not a favorable term among the people of Scotland. Usage Examples: The celebrity scotched the rumors of his affair by threatening to sue any publications that ran the story. (prevented, ended)
Momoが住む町にthe Timesaving Bankのthe men in greyが出没し、人々に時間の節約を勧めています。 床屋のMr Figaroのところにもthe man in greyがやってきました。
Work faster, for instance, and stick to essentials. Spend only fifteen minutes on each customer, instead of the usual half-hour, and avoid time-wasting conversations. Reduce the hour you spend with your mother by half. Better still, put her in a nice, cheap old folks' home, where someone else can look after her -- that'll save you a whole hour a day. Get rid of that useless budgerigar. See Miss Daria once every two weeks, if at all. Give up your fifteen-minutes review of the day's events. Above all, don't squander so much of your precious time on singing, reading and hobnobbing with your so-called friends. Incidentally, I'd also advise you to hang a really accurate clock on the wall so you can time your apprentice to the nearest minute.
千円床屋はまさに１５分で一人の客をさばいています。
さて "hobnobbing" は知らない単語です。友人と一緒に本を読むことはしませんが、歌う他に直ぐに思いつくのは話したり、飲むことですが何でしょう？ 辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Mix socially, especially with those of higher social status: a select few who hobnob with the biggest celebrities the country has to offer
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to spend time with someone (such as a famous or wealthy person) in a friendly way: He loves to hobnob with celebrities.
なるほど、"hobnobbing" に会話や飲食はつきものなので当たらずとも遠からずでした。駄目押しの説明を引用します。
・Vocabulary.com: To hobnob is to spend time or hang out with someone, especially at a social event. When you're invited to a fancy benefit party at a museum, you might get to hobnob with socialites and minor celebrities.
When you hobnob, you mingle or pal around with fancy folks. People who work in book publishing occasionally get to hobnob with writers, and if you get a job on a movie set, you may have a chance to hobnob with movie stars. Hobnob first meant "to drink to one another," or "to toast each other." In Britain, a HobNob is also a popular cookie or biscuit brand.
Momoは沢山の友人ができましたが、特に二人と仲良くなり、Beppoはその一人です。
Beppo lived near the amphitheatre in a home-made shack built of bricks, corrugated iron and tar paper. He was not much taller than Momo, being an exceptionally small man and bent-backed into the bargain.
慣用句らしい "into the bargain" の意味が分からないので辞書で調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: In addition to what was expected; moreover: an upstate yokel and a raving paranoiac into the bargain
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: besides :tastes good and is good for you, into the bargain
Momoは想像して遊ぶのが得意です。
Being a research vessel, of course, the Argo had been specially designed to tackle the Travelling Tornado. Her hull was entirely constructed of adamantium, a steel as tough and flexible as a sword blade, and had been cast in one piece by a special process that dispensed with rivets and welded seams.
"adamantium" はスティールの様に硬い金属であるのは文章からも分かりますが、聞いたことのない金属なので調べます。
・Wikipedia: Adamantium is a fictional metal alloy appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, and is best known as the substance bonded to the character Wolverine's skeleton and claws. Adamantium was created by writer Roy Thomas and artists Barry Windsor-Smith and Syd Shores in Marvel Comics' Avengers #66 (July 1969), which presents the substance as part of the character Ultron's outer shell. In the stories where it appears, the defining quality of adamantium is its practical indestructibility.
漫画で作られた想像上の金属でした。小説Momoは1973年の発行ですからWikipediaに記述のある漫画で生まれた金属と判断して良さそうです。
小説Momoから取り上げる表現は今日も熟語です。
By dint of skilful haggling, Nino had persuaded Salvatore to part with a radio in exchange, laughing up his sleeve to think that Salvatore was getting the worst of the bargain.
"laughing up his sleeve" とはどんな笑い方でしょうか？
・Oxford English Dictionary: Be secretly or inwardly amused: he must have been laughing up at his sleeve all the time I was interviewing him
・Dictionary.com: be secretly amused or contemptuous; laugh inwardly: to laugh up one's sleeve at someone's affectations.
"laugh inwardly" ですか。内心ほくそ笑む感じですね。
Michael EndeのMomoを読み始めました。この本のドイツ語の正式のタイトルを英語に直訳するとMomo, or the strange story of the time-thieves and the child who brought the stolen time back to the peopleとなるそうで、ドイツの哲学者が書いたようなタイトルです。難しい単語は余り出てこない様ですが、英語が母国語ではない私にとっては馴染みのない表現がやはり出てきます。Momoについての描写から引用します。
Aside from being rather odd, Momo's personal appearance might well have shocked anyone who set store by looking clean and tidy.
熟語らしい "set store by" の意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: set (or lay or put) store by (or on): Consider (something) to be of a particular degree of importance or value: many people set much store by privacy
・Dictionary.com: to have high regard for; value; esteem: She sets great store by good character.
・The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms: Also, set great store by. Regard as valuable or worthwhile, as in I don't set much store by her judgment, or He sets great store by his good name. The word store here is used in the sense of "something precious," a usage that is obsolete except in these terms.
なるほど、"store" に昔は貴重な物の意味があったのですね。
A young man recently came to the clinic I work at for an MRI and was put into the machine by an equally young, blonde technologist. When the examination was complete, he was removed from the MRI machine and greeted by a middle-aged, dark-haired tech. "Whoa!" the patient exclaimed. "How long was I in there?"
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