原文
"I'm so sorry for people who live in lands where there are no
Mayflowers," said Anne. "Diana says perhaps they have something better,
but there couldn't be anything better than Mayflowers, could there,
Marilla? And Diana says if they don't know what they are like they don't
miss them. But I think that is the saddest thing of all. I think it
would be TRAGIC, Marilla, not to know what Mayflowers are like and NOT
to miss them. Do you know what I think Mayflowers are, Marilla? I think
they must be the souls of the flowers that died last summer and this
is their heaven. But we had a splendid time today, Marilla. We had our
lunch down in a big mossy hollow by an old well--such a ROMANTIC spot.
Charlie Sloane dared Arty Gillis to jump over it, and Arty did because
he wouldn't take a dare. Nobody would in school. It is very FASHIONABLE
to dare. Mr. Phillips gave all the Mayflowers he found to Prissy Andrews
and I heard him to say 'sweets to the sweet.' He got that out of a
book, I know; but it shows he has some imagination. I was offered some
Mayflowers too, but I rejected them with scorn. I can't tell you the
person's name because I have vowed never to let it cross my lips. We
made wreaths of the Mayflowers and put them on our hats; and when the
time came to go home we marched in procession down the road, two by two,
with our bouquets and wreaths, singing 'My Home on the Hill.' Oh, it was
so thrilling, Marilla. All Mr. Silas Sloane's folks rushed out to see us
and everybody we met on the road stopped and stared after us. We made a
real sensation."
語彙など
- Mayflower:5月に花咲く草木
- tragic:痛ましい
- soul:魂
- splendid:素晴らしい
- mossy:コケで覆われた,古めかしい
- hollow:くぼ地,谷間
- well:井戸,泉
- take a dare:挑戦に応じる
- fashionable:流行の,ナウい,上流社会の
- reject:拒否する
- with scorn:さげすんで,軽蔑して
- vow:誓う
- lip:唇
- wreath:花輪
- in procession:行列で
- bouquet:花束
- thrilling:わくわくさせる
- folks:家族
- make a sensation:世間を騒がす,センセーションを起こす