English Essay by Brian Southwick

35 Taking Pictures
ＲＥＡＤＩＮＧ (slow) (fast)　


　　Hello again, everyone. Today is Friday, February 2, and it is snowing heavily in Niigata City for the first time this winter. I enjoy taking pictures, and I think I will go for a walk this afternoon and take some pictures of the snow. 　In my essay today, I will tell you about one of my hobbies, photography.
　　I have always admired people who can draw or paint pictures. 　Over the years I have bought many drawing pads and pencils and tried to sketch simple objects, but I simply am no good at drawing.　However, I can use my camera to enjoy making pictures of people and nature.
　　When I was a child, my father had a nice camera that he used to take pictures of flowers and other natural objects. He taught me the basics of taking pictures, and he sometimes let me borrow his camera. I rode my bicycle around town, and if I saw something interesting, I took a picture of it. At first my pictures weren’t very good, but with practice they became better.
　　I have been taking pictures for many years, and I keep them in a large box at home. I often enjoy looking at them with my family. There are snapshots of my children when they were babies. There are also pictures of the places I have been, in both Japan and America. Taking pictures helps us remember the past. It also helps us keep our eyes open in the present.

<注>　
heavily（激しく），go for a walk（散歩に出かける），essay（エッセイ，随筆），hobby（趣味），
photography（写真撮影），admire（賞賛する），draw（線で描く），paint（絵の具で描く），
over the years（長年にわたって），drawing pad（画用紙帳），sketch（スケッチする），
simple（簡単な），object（物），simply（単に），however（けれども），basic（基礎，基本），
let（〜させる），practice(練習），have been taking（[現在完了進行形］ずっと撮ってきている），
snapshot（スナップ写真），past（過去），present(現在）









Question and Answers:  Please answer the following questions
in English in a complete sentence, with a subject and　a verb.

Q1. What is Brian going to do in the afternoon?

A1.


Q2. Can Brian draw or paint pictures well?

A2.


Q3. Who took pictures of flowers when Brian was a child?

A3.


Q4. How long has Brian been taking pictures?

A4.


Q5. What does taking pictures help us to do?

A5.

＜解答例＞
A1. He will go for a walk in the afternoon and take some pictures of the snow.
　　　　　= is going to
A2. No, he can’t.
A3. His father did.
A4. He has been taking pictures for many years.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　= since he was a child.
A5. It helps us remember the past. It also helps us keep our eyes open in the present.