Through the Looking Glass 鏡の国のアリス
鏡の国のアリスは不思議の国のアリスの作者ルイス・キャロルが不思議の国のアリスの続編として書いた童話。
日本ではそれほど良くは知られていないのがちょっと残念だが、かなり有名な童話だ。
鏡の前で子猫と遊んでいたアリスが、鏡を通り抜けて鏡の中の世界に迷い込む。
垣根と小川でできたチェス盤の世界で不思議な冒険を繰り広げたアリスが、最後に元の世界に戻るストーリ。
言葉遊びや、駄洒落がふんだんに出てくるのは、不思議の国のアリスと同じ。
原作は童話とは言え、かなり長くて難しく英検二級よりは上のレベルだ。
オクスフォードブックワームシリーズのStage3の1000ワードシリーズが適当に編集していて短くしてあり読みやすい。
オクスフォードブックワーム、原作の順に読めば比較的楽に読みこなせる。
出だしの数行が意味が判りずらくて面食らってしまうが、それ以降はそれほど難しい英文ではない
One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had
nothing to do with it:-it was the black kitten's fault
entirely. For the white kitten had been having its face
washed by the old cat for the last quarter of an hour (and
bearing it pretty well, considering); so you see that it
couldn't have had any hand in the mischief.
The way Dinah washed her children's faces was this:
first she held the poor thing down by its ear with one
paw, and then with the other paw she rubbed its face all
over, the wrong way, beginning at the nose: and just now,
as I said, she was hard at work on the white kitten, which
was lying quite still and trying to purr- no doubt feeling
that it was all meant for its good.
But the black kitten had been finished with earlier in
the afternoon, and so, while Alice was sitting curled up
in a corner of the great arm-chair, half talking to
herself and half asleep, the kitten had been having a
grand game of romps with the ball of worsted Alice had
been trying to wind up, and had beer rolling it up and
down till it had all come undone again; and there it was,
spread over the hearthrug, all knots and tangles, with the
kitten running after its own tail in the middle.
"Oh, you wicked wicked little thing!" cried Alice,
catching up the kitten, and giving it a little kiss to
make it understand that it was in disgrace. "Really, Dinah
ought to have taught you better manners! You ought, Dinah,
you know you ought!" she added, looking reproachfully at
the old cat, and speaking in as cross a voice as she could
manage- and then she scrambled back into the arm-chair,
taking the kitten and the worsted with her, and began
winding up the ball again. But she didn't get on very
fast, as she was talking all the time sometimes to the
kitten, and sometimes to herself. Kitty sat very demurely
on her knee, pretending to watch the progress of the
winding, and now and then putting out one paw and gently
touching the ball, as if it would be glad to help if it
might.
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