English Essay by Brian Southwick

17 Summer Reading 3 　　ALTによるReading

　　 Fall is the season for the junior high school Sports Festival.   Students rehearse songs and dances for their performances.  They train for the many games and races held on festival day.  The students who are good at drawing and painting decoratecolorfulsign-boards for their teams.  Lafcadio Hearn’s middle school had a Sports Festival, too, 116 years ago.  It was very interesting for me to read about a Meiji era undokai.  
　　Mr. Hearn’s school held its Sports Festival on October 15.  The festival was very different from the Sports Day we have now.  Students from villages and towns nearbytook part: there were about 6000 boys and girls at the festival that day!  Each school had only one team.  There were many running races.  There were also fencing contests.  Some of the students played badminton.  There was a three-legged race and a tug-of-war, too. The last game was the most interesting.  It was called “Take the Castle.”  The castles were about five meters high and made of wood and paper.  Inside the castle, there was a bowl of liquid that burned very easily.  The students threw balls at other teams’ castles, trying to knock over the bowl.  If the liquid came out of the bowl, the castle started to burn.  The winner was the team whose castle burned last.  The game sounds very dangerous!  The Governor of Shimane Prefecture watched the festival that day, and he handed out the prizes to the students.   
　　　Mr. Hearn spent two years teaching English at the middle school in Shimane.  During that time his students taught him many things about Japanese culture, and he had many other interesting experiences at the school.  Leaving the school made Hearn very sad, but he always had good memories of his students and their school.

・Lafcadio Hearn's photo by Wikimedia 　　　・About Lafcadio Hearn by Wikipedia



（注）
rehearse（稽古をする），performance（演技），train（訓練する，練習する），
race（競争），decorate（飾る），colorful（色彩に富んだ），sign-board（看板），
era（時代），nearby（近くの），took＜take part in〜（〜に参加する），
fencing contest（剣術の試合），three-legged race（二人三脚），tug-of-war（綱引き），
castle（城），inside（〜の内側に），a bowl of liquid（液体の入った茶碗），
knock over(ひっくり返す)，whose（関係代名詞，所有格，意味なし），
dangerous（危険な），the Governor of Shimane Prefecture（島根県知事），
hand out（手渡す），prize（賞品），spent＜spend（過ごす，〜を費やす），
made＜make（〜にする），memory（思い出）


Questions and Answers: Please answer in English in a complete sentence, with a subject and a verb.

Q1. When was the Sports Festival at Mr. Hearn’s school?

A1.

Q2. How many students took part in the festival?

A2.

Q3. Who gave the students their prizes?

A3.

Q4. How long did Mr. Hearn teach at the school? 

A4.

Q5. What did the students teach Mr. Hearn?

A5.

＜解答例＞

A1. It was October 15.

A2. About 6000 boys and girls did.

A3. The Governor of Shimane Prefecture did.

A4. He taught for two years (at the school).
　　　　　                            = there

A5. They taught him many things about Japanese culture.


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