The English gentleman?

1st/01/2015

あっという間に2015年の幕開けとなりました。
皆様、明けましておめでとうございます。本年もどうぞ宜しくお願いいたします。

今回は Douglas Sutherland のユーモアたっぷりの風刺本 The English Gentleman の冒頭部分を音読してみようと思います。まずは文中に出てくるいくつかの単語の発音を確認してみましょう。発音は General British です。↓

English-gentleman words.mp3

discomfort /dɪsˈkʌmfət/, mutual /ˈmjuːtʃuəl/,
acquaintance /əˈkweɪnt(ə)ns/, Surrey /ˈsʌri/, damning /ˈdæmɪŋ/,
scheme /skiːm/, shareholder /ˈʃeəˌhəʊldə/,
Hogsnorton-in-the-Wold /ˌhɒɡsnətən ɪn ðə ˈwəʊld/,
Blistering-under-Wychwood /ˌblɪst(ə)rɪŋ ʌndə ˈwɪtʃwʊd/

それでは冒頭部分の朗読を実践してみます。発音は General British です。↓

English-gentleman.mp3

Gentlemen do not usually live in cities. At whatever discomfort to themselves and their families they prefer to live in the country and then only in selected parts of it.
 I can well remember a conversation with an elderly friend of mine about a mutual acquaintance whom we both agreed was a bounder. Although there are few worse things that one gentleman can say about another, my friend went further, ‘He is not only a bounder,’ he declared, ‘he is also a liar.’ These were strong words indeed. ‘What do you think of this?’ he asked. ‘The fellow told me he had a house in the country and I found out he lived in Surrey.’ It was certainly damning evidence.
 The truth is that the Home Counties, with their commuter population, housing development schemes and lack of foxes, are no longer suited to the gentleman’s way of life. It upsets his peace of mind to observe the hardships inflicted upon his neighbours by unheated trains and railway strikes, although he himself is unaffected by such things. He has quite enough to do at home without fooling around in the City with stocks and shares or running companies for ungrateful shareholders. Gentlemen prefer to live out of the way places with names like Hogsnorton-in-the-Wold or Blistering-under-Wychwood and grumble about The Times being a day late.

Today’s my singing
今回は “How The Web Was Woven” というバラード曲を歌ってみましたのでアップします。大好きな一曲です。

How The Web Was Woven 2012-12.mp3

How the web was woven in my soul, don’t you know
How the web was woven, can’t get loose, can’t let go

Like the weave of a spider, wound around my heart
I’m no longer free
At last I’m where you want me
Don’t you know, that’s where I want to be?

Spinning round like a blue fly, thoughts of you fill my head
And no matter, oh how I try, I can’t sleep in my bed

I’ve been round for the last time
Oh, girl, what can I do?
Oh the time the web was woven,
How I fell in love, fell in love with you

(*発音矯正を望まれる歌手・俳優、また、英語教師などの英語を使うお仕事をされている方は、ホームページをご覧の上メールにてお気軽にご相談ください。)

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2 Responses to “The English gentleman?”

  1. walnut より:

    今年もよろしくお願いいたします。
    いつも興味深いテーマを取り上げていただけるので、今年も楽しみに待っています。

  2. Shige より:

    いつもブログをご覧いただきありがとうございます!
    昨年はあまり更新できずに終わってしまいましたが、今年は頑張って更新回数を増やしていきたいと思ってます!

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