English Essay by Brian Southwick
14 The Old Custom House ネイティブスピーカー（ALT）によるＲＥＡＤＩＮＧ　　　

　 Do you like old buildings?  I like them very much.  We can learn about the history of a city through its old buildings.  When we visit them, we can imagine how people lived a long time ago.  And some old buildings are very beautiful, too.
     One of my favorite buildings in Niigata City is the Old Custom House.  It is at Minatopia, across the Shinano River from Toki Messe.  It was built in 1869 by local craftsmen and is one of the oldest buildings in Niigata City.  Niigata has had many fires, floods, and even a great earthquake since then, but the Custom House survived. 
　　The Custom House was very important.  When a ship from a foreign country came to Niigata City, someone from the Custom House inspected the ship.  The ship had to pay a tax on its goods.  The foreign sailors visited the Custom House to do business and to meet each other.
　　 Can you imagine living in Niigata in 1869?  There are many foreign people in Niigata today, but at that time there were very few.  I think it was interesting for people to go to the Custom House and hear English, French, or Russian for the first time.  The clothes worn by the sailors were very different from Japanese clothes, too.
　　 I think the sailors were interested in the Japanese language and in Japanese customs.  Do you think they liked Japanese food?  Do you think some of them wanted to stay in Niigata City?　If you like history and old buildings, why don’t you visit the Old Custom House someday? You can sit in one of the comfortable chairs, close your eyes, and imagine the interesting scenes of long ago.

注 imagine（想像する），how people lived（人々がどのようにして暮らしていたか）, a long time ago（ずっと昔に），Custom House（税関），Minatopia（みなとぴあ），the Shinano River（信濃川），Toki Messe（朱鷺メッセ）, 　local craftsmen（地方の熟練した職人たち），fire（火災），flood（洪水），earthquake（地震），survive（生き残る），ship（船），inspect（点検する），pay a tax（税金を払う），goods（品物），sailor（船員），　do business（仕事をする），each other（お互いに），at that time（その当時）, 　few（ほとんどいない），French（フランス語），Russian（ロシア語），for the first time（初めて），clothes（衣服），worn＜wearの過去分詞（着られた）,were different from～（～と異なっていた）， were interested in～（～に興味を持っていた）， why don’t you～？（～したらどうですか），comfortable（居心地のよい）， scenes of long ago（ずっと昔の場面）



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


Q1. What is one of Brian’s favorite buildings in Niigata City?

A1.

Q2. What can old buildings teach us?

A2.

Q3. Where is the Old Custom House?

A3.

Q4. Why did foreign sailors visit the Custom House?

A4.

Q5. Do you want to visit the Old Custom House someday?  Why?

A5.

 

解答例

A1.  It is the Old Custom House.
A2.  They can teach us the history of a city.
A3.  It is at Minatopia, across the Shinano River from Toki Messe.
A4.  They visited the Custom House to do business and to meet each other.
　　                       = it
A5.  Yes, I do.  (Because) I am interested in history (and old buildings).
            　　    (Because) Mr. Brian’s essay is very interesting.
               　　(Because) visiting the Old Custom House may be interesting.
　　　　　　　　　  (Because) I can sit in one of the comfortable chairs, close my eyes, and imagine the interesting scenes of long ago.
　　　 No, I don’t.  (Because) I’m not interested in history (or old buildings).
               など英文として意味が通っていれば可。




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