原文
They saw it as they walked up the pine-fringed hill from the park. Just
on the crest, where Spofford Avenue petered out into a plain road, was
a little white frame house with groups of pines on either side of it,
stretching their arms protectingly over its low roof. It was covered
with red and gold vines, through which its green-shuttered windows
peeped. Before it was a tiny garden, surrounded by a low stone wall.
October though it was, the garden was still very sweet with dear,
old-fashioned, unworldly flowers and shrubs--sweet may, southern-wood,
lemon verbena, alyssum, petunias, marigolds and chrysanthemums. A tiny
brick wall, in herring-bone pattern, led from the gate to the front
porch. The whole place might have been transplanted from some remote
country village; yet there was something about it that made its
nearest neighbor, the big lawn-encircled palace of a tobacco king, look
exceedingly crude and showy and ill-bred by contrast. As Phil said, it
was the difference between being born and being made.
語彙など
- pine:松
- fringe:縁取る
- crest:頂上
- peter out:先細りになって消滅する
- plain:地味な
- frame house:木造家屋
- vine:つる植物,蔓
- shutter:よろい戸を閉める,〜を閉める
- peep:のぞく
- old-fashioned:古風な,昔風の
- shrub:低木,潅木
- may:さんざし(バラ科の落葉低木)
- lemon verbena:香水木
- alyssum:アブラナ科ニワナズナ属の草
- petunia:ペチュニア
- marigold:マリーゴールド
- chrysanthemum:菊
- herring-bone pattern:矢筈模様
- transplant:移植する
- lawn:芝生
- encircle:取り巻く
- palace:大邸宅
- exceedingly:甚だしく
- crude:粗野な,品の良くない
- showy:派手な
- ill-bred:育ちの悪い
- by contrast:それに比べて