Girl in Blue

『Girl in Blue』
Ann Rinaldi（young adult fiction author）
Scholastic（2004）

　This is the story of a girl in the Civil War era who disguised herself as a man and joined the Union troops. She had a lot of adventures. I was interested in the Civil War, so I bought this book.
　The main character, Sarah Louisa, left home because her violent father tried to make her marry a middle age man although Sarah was in her early 20s at that time.
　She disguised herself as a man and joined the Union troops and experienced the defeat in Bull Run. According to scholarly research, over a hundred women fought as men in the Civil War.
　She was wounded and transferred to a hospital. The doctor noticed she was a female. But thanks to the doctor's cooperation, she could work as a spy.
　As a spy, she lived with Rose Greenhow, the famous confederate spy. Sarah detected Rose's message to the South. She contributed to the victory of the North.
　This book was truly depicted as history. The reader can experience some famous historical events.
　 I felt this book's vocabulary is easy, but the grammar was difficult. For foreigners, sentences of conversation are the most difficult.
（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）

タグ：Ann Rinaldi

Mary Seacole: The Charismatic Black Nurse Who Became a Heroine of the Crimea

『Mary Seacole: The Charismatic Black Nurse Who Became a Heroine of the Crimea』
Jane Robinson（historian）
Robinson Publishing（2006）

　I read the book "Mary Seacole: The Charismatic Black Nurse Who Became a Heroine of the Crimea".
　When I read books about Florence Nightingale, I wanted to learn about similar women from the same era, so I read this book.
　This book is a biography of Mary Seacole, who is famous for her medical service in the Crimean War.
　She was born in Jamaica; her father was Scottish, her mother was Jamaican.
　She treated cholera with herbs. She conducted an autopsy on the baby who died from cholera. She was more of a doctor than a nurse.
　When the Crimean War started, she decided to go to the battlefield, Nightingale,the leader of the nurses, rejected her, so she went to Crimea at her own expense.
　In the war, Nightingale was in the city of Scutari, Seacole was in the city of Balaklava, so Nightingale was called "Scutari's Lady with the Lamp", Seacole was called "Balaklava's Creole with the tea mug".
　Nightingale was hostile to Seacole, so she told her friends that Balaklava was a brothel and that Seacole had an illegitimate child.
　Seacole wanted to just save people, whereas Nightingale wanted to establish the profession of nursing and change the world. Nightingale saw Seacole as obstacle, because Nightingale's nurses kept very strict discipline, but Seacole's nurses sometimes caused trouble.
　It was very unfortunate that this two great people couldn't get long with each other.
　This book has a lot of difficult words because it was written in British English and had quotations from letters at that time.
（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）
（メアリー・シーコール：クリミアのヒロインとなったカリスマ黒人看護師）

タグ：Jane Robinson

Harriet Tubman－The Road to Freedom

『Harriet Tubman－The Road to Freedom』
Catherine Clinton（historian）
Back Bay Books（2005）

　I read "Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom" by Catherine Clinton because I was interested in Harriet Tubman, and I had already read "Mrs. Lincoln" by Catherine Clinton.
　Clinton, a historian about Afro-American Studies, wrote Tubman's biography for adults. Though, Tubman was very famous in elementary schools and there were a lot of Tubman's biographies for children, but there little for adults.
　Tubman was born as a slave in South, then escape to the North, and became a conductor of "the Underground Railroad", she liberated several hundred slaves from the South. In the Civil War, she was active as a spy, she informed Confederate army's formation accurately.
　This book is a biography of Tubman, but this has a lot of background history. So this book deals with Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Clara Barton and Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and telling the fight at Fort Wagner 54th Massachusetts Infantry's in detail.
　Colonel Shaw, the white colonel who led a black regiment, was buried with his black soldiers as an insult. I did not understand why this was an insult, but I learned it from this book. It was because the bodies of all the other officers that were killed were returned to the North. This meant Shaw was one of the black soldiers, so didn't need to return his body.
　Tubman served meals for Shaw and 54th just before this battle. The white woundeds at this battle were evacuated to the place of Clara Barton, and the black woundeds were evacuated to the place of Harriet Tubman.
　The most astonishing story was that Tubman might have her child. The writer said her niece Margaret was her daughter actually. Margaret was one of her evacuees, but Tubman evacuated only Margaret, not her family.
　It was said the characteristics of Margaret were similar to Harriet. Harriet formed an attachment to Margaret. Margaret was born in 1850 and had a light skin. So the writer said Margaret might be a child between Harriet and white. For that reason, Harriet and her husband John were estranged from each other. There might have been the tragedy of slavery.
（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）
（ハリエット・タブマン: 自由への道）

タグ：Harriet Tubman

Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry

『Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry』
Russell Duncan（historian）
Univ of Georgia Pr（1999）

　　I'm interested in the Civil War, so I read "Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry ".
　　Robert Gould Shaw was a colonel in the Civil War who lead the 54th Massachusetts infantry, the famous black regiment from the movie "Glory".
　　Shaw was of short stature and gentle appearance, some even said "girlish". He shaved his beard and dressed as a woman at fancy-ball, but no one noticed until he spoke.
　　Shaw grew up in a female-dominated family but he had a masculine character. So the 54th Massachusetts infantry which Shaw lead had the most strict discipline of that time.
　　Before he commanded the black regiment, he fought in the battlefield and was shot at twice. At Front Royal, a bullet hit his pocket-watch on his chest, so he survived. It seemed like a movie scene.
　　Since Shaw grew up in a abolitionist family, the government asked him to command the black regiment. He hesitated at first, but then he accepted. At that time, he was twenty-five. I thought it was an impressive sight because a little, noble, young and beautiful white colonel commanded several hundred black soldiers.
　　Shaw's last fight was at Fort Wagner. He fought in the frontlines. When he was shot, he waved his sword and shouted "Forward, 54th Forward!"
　　Shaw understood he would die at the Wagner fortress. He wrote to his wife, "I might die happy, but it cannot be. I do not believe I will live through our next fight.
　　He willingly gave his life for the cause, and showed that black and white were equal on the battlefield.
　　Shaw's mother taught him "liberty is better than life." I think it's typical of Americans. It might be the motivational power to the help that U.S. lead the world.
　　His body was buried with his black soldiers by the confederate army as an insult to him, but Shaw's father answered that it was a glory for him to be buried with his brave soldiers. And now his body is left untouched.

（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）
（死と栄光が出会う場所: ロバート・グールド・ショー大佐と第54マサチューセッツ歩兵連隊）

タグ：Russell Duncan

Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy

『Behind Rebel Lines』
Seymour Reit（author of children's books）
Graphia（2001）

　　I finished reading "Behind Rebel Lines" by Seymour Reit.
　　This is the story about the girl who joins the North army as a man. She disguised herself as a man, and she worked as a nurse, then she disguised herself as a black man, went into the South.
　　She can disguise herself as different kinds of people, such as a white soldier, a black man or a white lady. She went to the South eleven times, but it never came out that she was a North spy.
　　This story was more exciting when she came back to the North than when she went to the South. There were no regular escape way, so she always looked for the chance with a ready wit and went back to the North.
　　This is a very interesting book, so I read it with excitement.

（南軍の戦線の背後で：南北戦争のスパイ、エンマ・エドモンドの信じられない話）
（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）

これはもう本当に面白い本。文章も平易で本も薄い。変装の達人というべき女性がさまざまな変装で敵地に潜入して帰ってくる。しかも味方まで騙しているところが凄い。

タグ：Seymour Reit Emma Edmonds

Clara Barton: Courage under Fire - Janet & Geoff Benge

『Clara Barton: Courage under Fire』
Janet & Geoff Benge（American author）
Emerald Books（2002）

　　I finished reading "Clara Barton: Courage under Fire".
　　Clara Barton became a successful teacher first, then she became a nurse and organized the American Red Cross.
　　Clara played a war game in her childhood. This implied the active of the Civil War and her boyish character. She thought there was nothing the boys could do that she could not.
　　Clara's first job was teacher. There were taller boys in her school than her, because her height was five feet, but she had a talent as a teacher, so most students' parents put confidence in her, and then she established a public school by herself.
　　Her next job was a worker in a patent office, and then she became a nurse. At that time, her boss, surgeon general's name was Alfted Hitchcock. Absolutely he was not a famous film director.
　　She would carry the medical supplies in battlefield as a nurse, but she was not permitted to enter there because battlefield is not the place for women. At that time she asked it reasonably but her persuasion was useless, so accidentally she burst into tears. And her demands were met. I thought it was an interesting point about human emotion that crying and acting as they expected a woman to act produced the necessary permits.
　　The action of Clara as a nurse became more international. When she traveled to Europe, she learned about the activity of the Red Cross, and she founded the American Red Cross. The origin of the Red Cross was interesting. The convention of the Red Cross was held in Geneve in Swiss, so they decided to use a reversed Swiss flag as their emblem, which is red cross on a white background.
　　Clara Barton was as elected President of the Red Cross for life, but she was bothered by many slanders. She was accused of using the Red Cross to make herself rich and travel the world in comfort etc.
（クララ・バートン - 戦火の下の勇気）
（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）

アメリカ赤十字の創設者の伝記。文章も平易。本がしっかり作られている。お薦め。

タグ：Janet & Geoff Benge Clara Barton

Momo - Michael Ende

『Momo』
Michael Ende（German writer of fantasy）
PUFFIN（1973）

　The main character, Momo, is a poor orphan girl who doesn't have any material possessions. The only thing she does have is the ability to listen to others. This is her specialty. Even though listening is something everyone can do, it is very important. This is the main theme of this story.
　Her friends are road sweeper Beppo and merry talker Guido.
　Time-thieves appeared in the town where Momo lived. They stole time from the people in the town. The people in the town, especially those who always say "I have no time", lost their time, literally. Then Momo, Beppo, Guido and some children in the town fought the time-thieves.
　Later Momo went missing. Beppo and Guido always looked for and missed Momo. And Beppo and Guido surrendered to the time-thieves. It was very sad.
　Guido became a famous writer under the control of the time-thieves. He wrote many books that have the same content but different titles. I think this is making fun of some popular writers.

　Michael Ende had foresight. Nino, one of Momo's friend, is a pub master. He changed his business to a fastfood shop called "Nino's fastfood". "Momo" was written in 1973, so this was a kind of prophecy!

　This book is aimed at children in Japan, but I think that the following words used in the book are probably too difficult for children.

surreptitiously
inconspicuous
sympathetically
gesticulating excitedly
unaccustomed to running
as indistinguishable as peas
uncomprehendingly
incalculable risk
unintentionally

　These words might be literal translations from German. What do you think?
　I feel that it is quite strange if this book was written for children. It might be suitable for adult in the U.S. Furthermore, the cover illustration of Momo is not cute, so I don't think that it is aimed at children.
　It is probably a kind of philosophical novel in the U.S. Viewed in this light, I can suppose that it is about psychoanalysis, because Momo's abilities are quite similar to that of a psychoanalyst.
　This book will teach us the preciousness of listening to others and the importance of friendship.
（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）

タグ：Michael Ende

Amelia Earhart by Wil Mara

『Amelia Earhart』
Wil Mara（American author）
Childrens Pr（2003）

　Amelia Earhart was the first woman who flew across the Atlantic Ocean.
　The picture on the front cover was so lovely that I bought the book. This is a picture book for children.
　Amelia looks like a naughty boy in this boos's photos. She played like a boy, she liked sports, climbing trees and also hunted animals. She was a Tomboy.
　She worked as a nurse during WW1. The photo from that time is a bit feminine.
　She was lost in flight on July 2, 1937, the mystery of her disappearance is still unsolved.
　Since this book was a little short, I also bought the following three books about her.

The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart - Mary S. Lovell
East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart - Susan Butler
Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earhart - Patricia Lauber

　So I will write my book impression of the books, please correct my composition. And if you have a book recommendation, tell me about it!
（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）

タグ：Amelia Earhart アメリア・イアハート

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the underground railroad (Ann Petry)

『Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the underground railroad』
Ann Petry（American author）
Amistad（1996）

　Harriet Tubman was a woman who helped many slaves escape from the South to the North or to Canada when the U.S. had slavery. She was called "Moses".
　There are no books about her in Japan, so I can't learn about her life in Japanese. I felt that Japanese people don't know very much about the U.S.
　She was seriously injured helping an escaping slave in her youth. She developed narcolepsy as an aftereffect so would she suddenly fell asleep. However, she had a dream at that time that predicated she would escape her crisis. It was a mysterious episode.
　Some of her words are impressive.
　When she, as an underground railroad conductor, stayed at a house, she used the password "a friend with friends". It's a little bit humorous.
　Her escaping route was so difficult that several people attempted to give up and go away. Then she said "We got to go free or die." They were simple, yet strong words.
　When she escaped to the North, she was married but her husband didn't agree with her because he was free. So she escaped alone. Then she, as an underground railroad conductor, came back and asked him to go with her. To her surprise, he had married another girl. Long afterward she heard he was killed, and felt regret. It is a different side of a tough woman. She could not go with her husband, but she took the rest of her family to the North. I felt happy for her.
　Her escaping route to the North was tough with severe hardships, but the road to the South was different. She rode on the train, because fugitive slaves could not ride the Southbound train. How bold she was!
　I got a great impression that Canadians rejected the requirement of returning about fugitive slaves to the U.S. I remembered when Google disobeyed China. For the sake of real human value, we must struggle against the law on occasion. "All men are created equal", this is a sentence in the Declaration of Independence, I think this is not only for American people but for all human beings on the Earth, even in China or North Korea.
（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）

タグ：Ann Petry ハリエット・タブマン Harriet Tubman

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

『Charlie and the Chocolate Factory』
Roald Dahl（novelist）
Puffin（2004）

The mystery of an automated chocolate factory.

This is a story about five children who are invited to an automated, mysterious chocolate factory. I felt this story is simpler than I expected. There is not a lot twist, since it is a story for children.

Charlie the main character child, was a little far fetched since he did nothing to diserve his luck. In fact other children were way too spoiled, behaved badly, but a well-behaved child is not as good as you would think.

Charlie found a dollar bill on the ground, purchased the candy bar that contained an invitation. So I expected a surprise ending, but there was nothing.

After reading the book, I watched the movie because there were very interesting songs in the book.

I think the movie is more interesting than the book. Johnny Depp is very cute and too funny. Characters are more detailed in movie. One thing I didn't expect was that the Oompa-Loompas were middle age men!

I was not able to understand what the children said because of their pronunciation.
I always felt a child's pronunciation is difficult even in such countries as China and Korea. I don't understand why because they did not speak in long sentences.

There were words I didn't know. They were onomatopoeic and mimetic intransitive verbs, such as "whir" "scowl" etc. Maybe it is because the school in Japan doesn't teach these kind of words.

Charlie family consist of 4 grandparents, and both of his parents. And they are very poor. It seemed just like the future about aging society in Japan！

・Today's two sentences
Nobody ever comes out, and nobody ever goes in!
誰一人出てきたことがなく、誰一人入った者もいない！
나온 자도 아무도 없었고, 들어간 자도 아무도 없었다!
没人出来过，也没人进去过！

How can you whip cream without whips? Whipped cream isn't whipped cream at all unless it's been whipped with whips. Just as poached egg isn't a poached egg unless it's been stolen from the woods in the dead of night!
どうすれば鞭なしでクリームを鞭打つことができますか？鞭で鞭打たれない限り、ホイップクリームは全くホイップクリームではないのだ。それはまさに真夜中の森から盗まれない限り落とし卵が落とし卵ではないようにね！
어떻게 하면 회초리 없이 크림에 채찍을 가할 수 있어요? 회초리로 채찍을 가하지 않는 한, 생크림은 전혀 생크림이 아니다. 그것은 마치 한밤중의 숲에서 도둑 맞지 않는 한 수란이 수란이 아닌 것 같이!
怎么做不用鞭子可以抽打奶油吗？不用鞭子抽打的话，那么惯奶油将不是真正的惯奶油。那就像深夜的森林里没被偷拿的水煮荷包蛋一样不是真正的水煮荷包蛋。

（Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!）

タグ：Charlie and the Chocolate Factory roald dahl

飛行家をめざした女性たち

『飛行家をめざした女性たち』
平木国夫（民間航空史）
新人物往来社（1992）

戦前日本の女性飛行家の伝記集。

この本の内容を中心に、このころに活躍した女性飛行家たち紹介する。

I will introduce some female pilots from in the early stages of the aviation circles in the East.

Hyodo Tadashi
6 April 1899 - 23 April 1980. Birth place: North Ube county in Ehime prefecture
She learned about airplanes at Ito Airplane Research Institute in Tsudanuma. She had an interesting episode. She had taken off on training plane which was not able to fly because she was too light, 40kg. She failed landing and broke the airplane. On 24 March 1922, she got a third-class airplane license. She was the first female airplane pilot in Japan. The scandal with a man that was spread by newspaper expelled her from the airplane circles, and then she was never able to ride an airplane again.

Ninamiji Yone
24 November 1890 - 3 November 1980. Birth place: Nishimuro county in Wakayama prefecture.
In August 1912, she got a airplane license at Schiller airplane school in Dominguez airport in U.S. She was the first Japanese female airplane pilot.

Imai Komatsu
13 August 1899 - 19 March 1984. Birth place: Shimofukuchiyama county in Kyoto prefecture.
She had the pen name "Kumoi Tatsuko". Imai was her maiden name, so after she married, she was called Nishihara. She watched at the performance of Katherine Stinson and decided to become a pilot. She learned flying from Negishi Kinzo at the First Airplane School in Shiota airport in Tsurumi county in Kanagawa prefecture. In 1923, she got a third-class pilot license. She was going to make money by flying to search for fish, but she did not succeed. In July 1928, she got off a airplane and opened a cafe named "Tsubasa"(meaning wings).

Kibe Shigeno
12 Nobember 1903 - 29 July 1980. Birth place: Chikujo county in Fukuoka prefecture.
On 5 May 1923, she entered the First Airplane School at Shiota airport in Tsurumi county in Kanagawa prefecture. She always wore a formal suit for males. She was very popular so her pictures sold very well. In 1930, when she was 33 years old, she stopped flying.

Park Kwang-yong
24 July 1901 - 7 August 1933. Birth place: Taegu City Kyongsang-Do in Korea.
She was 168cm, which was very tall for women at that time. On 1 February 1926, she entered Tokyo Nippon Airplane school in Tokyo. In 1927, she got a third-class pilot license. When a reporter asked her about boyfriends, she answered "My boyfriend is my airplane." In 1928, she got a second-class pilot license. In 1933, she tried to fly over the Korean Strait, but she crashed into Gengadake Mountain in Atami city and died.

Kwon Ki-ok
11 January 1901 - 7 August 1933. Birth place: Sangsugu Village in Pyongyang in North Korea.
After watching the airplane show of Art Smith, she decided to become a pilot. In 1923, she entered into the Yunnan airforce school and graduated at March in 1925. She became a captain of Central Airforce of the Kuomintang in China. She was the first Korean female pilot.

Kitamura Kaneko
26 November 1903 - 26 July 1931. Birth place: Osaka prefecture in Japan.
She was a friend of Park Kyonwon. She always wore a blue and brilliant clothes, which was the exact opposite from simplicity of Park Kyonwon. She was a journalist and she wrote five books. Her literary style was sharp and humorous. She was good at language and made a speech at International Convention for Women's Suffrage in German and English. She entered Tokyo Nippon Airplane school in Kachikawa. In April the next year, she got an airplane license. She planned to fly to Europe, suddenly she caught appendicitis and died.

Uemura Suzuko
14 February 1912 - 30 January 1973 Birth place: Oono county in Gifu prefecture.
29 Sptember 1930, she entered to the Nippon Light Airplane Club at Kidanuma coast. She achieved single-handedly nonstop flight alone from Tokyo to Oosaka.

Matsumoto Kiku
20 November 1912 - 6 October 1979. Birth place: Kodama county in Saitama prefecture.
She practiced flying by using a water plane at Ando Airplane institute in Chita peninsula in Aichi prefecture. On 22 October 1934, she flew to Manchuria. She was the first female pilot who flew over the Korean Strait. She had a boyfriend. When her boyfriend's father because seriously ill, her boyfriend found a girl who looked like Kiku and showed her to his father. That girl and he got married. Kiku broke up with him. In the Pacific War, she volunteered to participate as a pilot who airlifts the war patients, but the airforce did not permit her to.

Mabuchi Chouko
5 June 1911 - 23 May 1985. Birth place: Hirosaki City in Hokkaido.
She entered Asian Airplane school at Tokyo Suzaki airport. In 26 October 1934, she flew to Manchuria after Matsumoto Kiku.

Tanaka Atsuko
26 January 1914 - .
Her maiden name was Nishimura. She worked as clerk at Tanaka Airplane institute, and then she got an airplane license because the director, Tanaka, recommended she get one. She was very beautiful so she appeared in movie as an actress.

Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!

タグ：平木国夫

四季 ― 起承転結 What is the four-part structure?

日本語の文章構成方法としての起承転結を示す文章を書いてみた。

The four seasons ― the four-part structure of an essay
　One day in summer. It was a muggy day after the rain. When I came home and I was about to turned on the fan, I was very surprised to find a tree frog sitting on the switch. My room is on the 2nd floor. How did it get in here? That green creature demurely sitting on the switch was very cute. I caught it gently in both hands and took it down to the 1st floor. I released it into the hedge. It made me feel good.
　One day in autumn. There was a spider on the wall in my room. I caught it with a cassette tape case and took it down to the 1st floor. When I released it into the hedge, I felt that I am a kind-hearted person.
　One day in winter. Even though it was winter a mosquito was flying in my room. There are mosquitoes throughout the year in Japan. I squashed the mosquito immediately. I felt like I was discriminating against them.
　One day in spring. This time there was another spider in my room. I left it where it was. I wanted to encourage it, so I said, "Catch lots of mosquitoes!"
　My enemy's enemy is my friend.

四季 ― 起承转合
　夏季的有一天。那天下雨后还很闷热，我回到家，正想打开电扇的瞬间，看到一只小青蛙蹲在电扇的开关上，我一时不知所措。我的房间可在二楼，它从哪儿进来的？绿色小生命孤零零地蹲着，招人怜爱。我用双手轻轻地捧住它，带它去楼下，放回到矮树篱笆里。不知为何我感到温暖。
　秋季的有一天。一只蜘蛛爬在我房间的墙上。我用磁带的盒子捕捉它，又将它放回到矮树篱笆上。我觉得自己算是个善良的人。
　冬季的有一天。虽然是冬天，蚊子却还在我的房间里盘旋。现在的日本，一年到头都有蚊子。我立刻打死了蚊子。我觉得我的行动有点不公平。
　春季的有一天。一只蜘蛛又在墙上爬着。这次我没有采取任何行动。我想鼓励它，叫它一声，"加油，再多捉住蚊子！"
　敌人的敌人就是我的朋友。

사철 ― 기승전결
　어느 여름 날. 비가 갠 뒤로 무더웠던 그 날, 집에 돌아와서, 선풍기 스위치를 누르려고 하다가 깜짝 놀랐다. 스위치 외에 청개구리가 앉아 있었던 것이다. 내 방은 2층이다. 어떻게 올라 온 것일까? 혼자 달랑 앉은 초록색 생물은 아주 귀여웠다. 나는 청개구리를 양손으로 살짝 잡고, 1층까지 가지고 내려가서 생울타리에 놓아줬다. 웬지 아주 부드러운 느낌이 들었다.
　어느 가을 날. 방 벽에 거미가 있었다. 카세트 테이프의 케이스를 사용해서 잡고, 생울타리에 놓아주었다. 내가 스스로 다정한 사람이라고 느껴졌다.
　어느 겨울 날. 겨울인데 방에 모기가 날아다니고 있었다. 일본에는 사시사철 모기가 있다. 나는 즉시 모기를 때려 죽였다. 무언가 차별하고 있다는 느낌이 들었다.
　어느 봄 날. 또 방에 거미가 있었다. 그대로 내버려뒀다. “모기를 열심히 잡아라”하고 격려해주었다.
　적의 적은 아군이다.

四季 ― 起承転結
　ある夏の日。雨上がりの蒸し暑いその日、家に帰り、扇風機のスイッチを入れようとして驚いた。スイッチの所にアマガエルが座っていたのだ。私の部屋は２階である。どうやってやって来たのだろうか。ちょこんと座った緑色の生き物はとても可愛かった。私はアマガエルを両手でそっと捕まえて、１階まで連れて生き、生け垣に放した。何だかとても優しい気持ちになった。
　ある秋の日。部屋の壁にクモがいた。カセットテープのケースを使って捕まえ、生け垣に放した。自分が優しい人のような気がした。
　ある冬の日。冬なのに部屋に蚊が飛んでいた。日本は一年中蚊がいる。私は蚊を直ちに叩き殺した。何だか差別してるような気持ちになった。
　ある春の日。また部屋にクモがいた。そのまま放っておいた。「頑張って蚊を捕まえろ」と激励した。
　敵の敵は味方なのだ。

Lang-8's friends, thank you for your cooperation!

タグ：起承転結 기승전결 the four-part structure 起承转合

Travel to Korea

　I went to Seoul in Korean in this April.
　I went to Ch'angdokkung Palace Complex. When I bought a ticket and waited untill to open the gate, I talked with a Korean old man. He was very good at speaking Japanese. There were many Korean university students, so he introduced me to them. I spoke them in Korean and Chinese, because there were Chinese students studying abroad.
　I went to Gyeongbokgun, there were many foreign tourists and Korean elementary school pupils. Most of tourists were Chinese and Japanese. A couple took commemorative picture in Korean traditional costume. The woman's clothing was very beautiful and brilliant. It seemed to wear a rainbow.
　I bought books, an electronic dictionary and glasses in Korea. They sell many foreign books in Korea. English books are cheaper than in Japan. The electronic dictionary contains Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese, so it is very convenient for me. Korean glasses are very light.
　My friends are studying Korean in a Korean university. I met them and talked all kinds of things on Sunday. They said that most of students studying abroad are Japanese ladies and Chinese young people.
　I saw people quarreling each other several times in Korea. They were bus drivers, a couple and train passengers. The difference between Korean and Japanese is that Korean raise the voice easily.
　Korea is very similar to Japan, so I had a good time without any anxiety. Korean and Japanese are very similar, but there are small difference between them. It made me feel interesting.

タグ：英語 韓国

The fairy tale exchange between Japanese, Chinese and Korean