Study of English : John Willie - Editors : 00

英語が苦手だ。何年も英語のサイトに目を通してきた（読んできたとはとてもいえない）、普通、これぐらい英語に触れてくれば多少なりとも語学力がつくのではないかと思うのだが、微塵も向上しない。たぶん、それは端からきちんと読むつもりがなく、翻訳サイトと辞書に頼って何となく大意さえ掴めれば良いといういい加減な態度に問題あったのではないかと思う。いい加減、これではいけないと思うので、ちょっと真面目に英語の読解の勉強をすることにした。

とりあえず、いきなり長文を読むのは挫折するのが目に見えているので、手始めにごく短い文章を読んでみることにする。題材は、雑誌「Bizarre」の創刊号(1946年)にJohn Willieが書いた編集記。この文章を選んだ理由は短いのと、John Willieが雑誌「Bizarre」の創刊にあたり何を書いたのか読んでみたいからだ。 とりあえずTASCHENから出ている復刻版より全文を転記しておく。

In a certain town, in a certain country there is a small club whose member all belong to the tailoring trade.

On each day of each year each member is pledged to eat an apple - not because the have an affinity for doctor's wives - but simply because their motto dates back to the dawn of time.

IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE APPLE WHERE WOULD THE TAILORING BUSINESS BE?

They could of course include dressmakers, and shoe makers and so on, but they don't - which perhaps is rather unfair, and it definitely seems unfair not to include the rest of mankind, for we owe a debt of gratitude to the apple or the snake, or whatever it was that put the idea of fig leaves and so on into the heads of simple, unadorned, Adam and Eve.

After much deliberation and much research conducted from the front row stalls in dozen different theaters, and convenient tables at some suitable cabarets, the entire staff have come to the unanimous conclusion that our education has been sadly misdirected, and that it was a fairy godmother wrapped up in that serpent's skin and not Old Nick in person.

As we were throughly delighted with what we saw we think it an idle waste of time to question, argue the toss, or debate as to whether or not the ladies and gentlemen “Do woman dress to please men or merely for their own amusement?”

この文書を一文ずつ順番に読んでいこうと思う。