>>41 Some students coming to the library act as if they were in a coffee shop.
On days when there is no morning paper, you do not know how to pass the time. Usually you feel busy in the morning, but without a paper you feel as if time were passing slowly.
>>42 My grandfather, who is seventy-five years old, gets up at six every morning to take care of his flowers.
Hamamatsu is located to the east of Lake Hamana, which is famous for its beautiful scenery and delicious fish. The climate is mild; not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter. It is nice and comfortable all through the year.
>>43 I get nervous when I see someone taking their eyes off the road while driving. While walking hurriedly along the street, I could not help thinking that walking was far easier than driving.
>>44 At an airport in Paris, there was a man sitting on a suitcase, gazing into the air with his chin on his hand. When I was walking along with three books under my arm, one of them fell suddenly. When I tried to pick it up, another one also fell.
>>45 He often wrote down on pieces of paper what cane to mind. It is a pity that, although people want to protect their own privacy, they want to know what others do in private.
>>46 01 I read in the newspaper that more and more people living in cities are becoming interested in gardening. Our society is aging rapidly, and the number of young workers is steadily decreasing. 02 Very few people realize that happiness is often all around them. A lot of people have personal computers, but very few of them know how to use them effectively. 03 Most people spend most of their time working to live. Some young Americans living in Japan are beginning to say that the U.S. should make more effort to teach Americans the Japanese language. 04 If you are usually healthy, you may make mistakes when you fall ill. You often worry too much or too little about your health. If you have been to old European towns, you must have been impressed by how beautiful the streets were.
>>47 演習 05 If you live in a developing country for a while, you have an opportunity to look at Japan from a different point of view. Once you have gotten into a bad habit, it takes a lot of time and effort to stop it. 06 One out of three Japanese people sees a doctor regularly or complains about their physical condition. It is said that seven out of ten young people in Japan do not believe in religion. These days, however, many students pray at temples or shrines for success in their entrance exams. 07 Tens of thousands of tons of detergent and millons of liters of water are used every day to wash towels that have been used only once. The population of Sendai is more than five hundred thousand, so it is no exaggeration to say that it is the cultural center of Tohoku. However, it is far more quiet than Tokyo. 08 Once the telephone starts ringing, you have to answer it, no matter what you are doing at that moment. Therefore, when I make a call, I try not to bother the person I am calling. In Japan, business cards play an important part, especially in business. People usually exchange their cards when they meet for the first time. The cards are useful to Japanese, who want to know what each other's status is, because they tend to change their attitudes and language, depending on who they are talking to.
05 If you live in a developing country for a while, you have an opportunity to look at Japan from a different point of view. Once you have gotten into a bad habit, it takes a lot of time and effort to stop it. 06 One out of three Japanese people sees a doctor regularly or complains about their physical condition. It is said that seven out of ten young people in Japan do not believe in religion. These days, however, many students pray at temples or shrines for success in their entrance exams. 07 Tens of thousands of tons of detergent and millons of liters of water are used every day to wash towels that have been used only once. The population of Sendai is more than five hundred thousand, so it is no exaggeration to say that it is the cultural center of Tohoku. However, it is far more quiet than Tokyo. 08 Once the telephone starts ringing, you have to answer it, no matter what you are doing at that moment. Therefore, when I make a call, I try not to bother the person I am calling. In Japan, business cards play an important part, especially in business. People usually exchange their cards when they meet for the first time. The cards are useful to Japanese, who want to know what each other's status is, because they tend to change their attitudes and language, depending on who they are talking to.
演習 09 It is not unusual for me to call friends, even if I have nothing special to talk about. It is convenient to take the subway in order to get around in the center of Tokyo, where the traffic is heavy. 10 Nineteen years ago, I traveled by ship from the U.S. to Australia. About ten years ago, a famous painter bought me a meal at one of the best restaurants in Paris 11 I like taking pictures of birds. Many years ago, I often went to the seashore when I had free time. The best thing about my stay with an American family was that the parents treated me just like their daughter. 12 Everyone should be free to decide when to get married and whether to have children. It is said that there will soon be no room left to dump trash in Japan. We have no choice but to get more serious about recycling.
演習 13 With the widespread use of the Internet, sales of personal computers have been rapidly increasing over the last few years. Fewer and fewer swallows have been returning to Tokyo for the last few years, but no one knows exactly why. 14 Thanks to the map you drew me the other day, I managed to get here without getting lost. Although it took us longer than we had expected, we finally managed to reach an agreement. 15 Scientists have to collect as many facts as possible and examine them in order to find a truth. Needless to say, you should have a critical attitude in order to think clearly. 16 Natsuko covered her face with her hands, so that her parents would not see her tears. When you climb a mountain, you should take a map and a compass with you, so that you won't get lost.
>>71 演習 17 He is flexible in his thinking, so he will not reject a new idea just because it seems strange. He is always criticizing other people. However, it seems that he is unaware of his own faults. This is probably because he was an only child and was spoiled when he was growing up. 18 These days, we are all so busy that we rarely see each other, even though we live next door. I have met so many people in the last few days that I cannot remember all their names. 19 Those who expect that schools should teach children good manners simply prove that they do not understand what schools are for. Manners should be taught at home. Some people also say that, if you go to the U.S., you will easily make friends with Americans. This is not the case. This is proved by the fact that, although so many Japanese visit, or live and work in the U.S., Japan and the U.S. still cannot communicate well. 20 It does not necessarily follow that young people today are less eager to learn just because they read less. Just because you are a woman, it does not necessarily follow that you are a bad driver. However, I do not think that generally speaking, women drivers have a good reputation.
演習 21 Whether a college is good or bad depends not only on how intelligent its teachers and students are, but on how many books its library has and how good they are. It is no exaggeration to say that your life is determined by what kind of education you have had. 22 The best way to learn the grammar of a foreign language is to read and hear as much of it as possible, so that you can learn it in a natural way. The best way for developing countries not to repeat the mistakes developed countries have made is to learn from the past. 23 Ways of greeting people vary from country to country. It is interesting to study where these ways of greeting come from. When you speak Japanese, ways of speaking it vary, depending on whether you are a man or a woman, and an adult or a child. 24 A lot of words of foreign origin are used in the Japanese language, but their pronunciations and meanings are often quite different from those of the original words. Japanese people, unlike Americans, often tend to control their emotions. For example, when they get a gift from someone, they express their thanks for it, but put it aside, acting as if they were not at all interested in it.
>>73 演習 25 People are alike in many ways, but their languages and customs vary from place to place. Doctors and teachers are alike in that both of them do not deal with things, but with people. 26 I do not care how late you come home as long as you do not wake me up. I do not mind smokers as long as they are considerate of those around them. 27 It really makes me angry to see someone occupying two seats on a crowded train, not feeling guilty about it, even when there are other people standing. Far more serious is the fact that there are so many people who do not feel guilty about leaving their garbage in public places. 28 You are young and healthy, so you should do what you want to do, not caring about any mistakes you may make. When I went out into the real world, I realized that people often cared too much about what other people thought about them, and that they tried to know others from how they looked.
>>84 演習 29 When I was at elementary school, I was forced to read books and write essays about them as homework. Since then, I have disliked reading. At first, he did not want to let her drive his car, but she insisted and he ended up agreeing. 30 I only got this watch repaired a few days ago, but something is already wrong with it. When you want your children to learn something, you should consider carefully what they can do and what they are interested in. 31 It was not until he saw police cars and ambulances going around every day that he realized that he had come to a country totally different from Japan. I have often heard him boast that he can swim very well, but I have never actually seen him swim. 32 Thank you very much for inviting me to the party. Would you tell me the best way to get to your house by car? One of the purposes of studying a foreign language is to learn about the ways speakers of the language think and live. Another purpose is to tell people living abroad about your own culture and thoughts.
>>85 演習 33 One of our teachers told us to read one of the writer's original books and write our feelings about it. Those who grew up before the War probably still remember that their mothers scolded them, telling them not to play in the garden. 34 When you read a book again that you read several years ago, you are often surprised to discover something new you did not find when you read it for the first time. It is enjoyable to get letters, but troublesome to answer them. I know that I should reply to them, but I keep putting it off until it becomes more difficult to do so. 35 It was the heaviest rainfall in ten years, and it damaged many houses. I went to my junior high school class reunion for the first time in thirty years. At first, it was impossible to tell who was who. 36 It is surprising that, in New York, mothers can leave the hospital the day after having babies, as long as there have not been any problems. Children start speaking at the age of one and learn to express what they think by the time they are five or six years old. This is quite amazing when you stop to think about it.
>>86 演習 37 My father has been dead for twenty-five years. I have now reached the same age as he was when he died. So I must take especially good care of my health. It has been only a week since I began to do a part-time job, but I have already got used to it. When I told my mother that the job was more fun than studying, she looked worried. 38 It takes you about twenty minutes to walk to the Opera House, but you can get there in five minutes by subway. Matsushima, which is only a one-hour drive from Sendai, is a popular tourist destination. You should not go by car if you want to visit the town during the tourist season. 39 Parents these days spend less and less time with their children, and their children feel more lonely. For children born and brought up in cities, spending their vacation in the countryside is a very valuable experience, no matter how short the visit is. 40 Recent reserch shows that, when waiting for the elevator to come or the traffic light to change, most people become irritated in only thirty seconds. However, after several weeks I made a mistake. All I remembered was 5:30.
演習 41 They often say that it is not until you go abroad that you realize how wonderful traditional Japanese culture is. It was not until she died that I realized that she was truly a good person. I regretted that I had not been a little kinder to her. 42 Very few people think that it is more difficult to listen to others than to speak to them. The summer vacation, for example, is far shorter than that in the U.S. or European countries. Since older times, work in Japan has always been considered to be a good thing, while leisure has been seen as a bad thing. 43 Far more people than you might expect believe that they can control their emotions. If you ask a Japanese how many colors there are in the rainbow, he or she will answer, "There are seven, of course." However, considering that there are various languages in the world, the answer is not as easy as you might expect. 44 My memory is not as good as it used to be. They say that young people do not read as much as they used to. However, considering how well the books by popular authors sell, you should not jump to the conclusion that they don't like reading. Young people today only do what interests them.
>>88 演習 45 The more technology advances, the smaller the world becomes. The more we learn about nature, the more fully we realize how important it is to preserve it. 46 When you are away from home, nothing is as enjoyable as receiving a letter from your parents. When you are asked something about your own country by someone from abroad, nothing is as embarrassing as being uable to answer. 47 Nothing is as enjoyable as getting a book I have long wanted. There is no city in the world where as many languages are spoken as in New York. 48 The population of the town where I live is smaller than that of yours, but it has twice as many temples, probably because an important priest used to live here. In Japan, it rains a lot. Japan has twenty times as much rainfall as Greece, which is said to have very little rain.
演習 49 No matter how many books you may read, it is no use if you do not try to think for yourself. No matter how seriously you may think, it is a waste of time if you do not read books. No matter how good you are at driving, you might happen to get involved in an accident caused by someone else. 50 A monkey is still a monkey even if it falls from a tree, but a politician becomes an ordinary person if he or she loses an election. Some people boast that they are such good swimmers that, even if they were thrown into the sea, they would never drown. However, these people should know that swimming in a pool is very different from swimming in the sea with their clothes on. 51 If each country continues to regard its own interests as more important than what other countries need, the opportunity to improve international relations will be lost. People wish they could live forever and never become older. However, if this wish came true, the earth would be overcrowded. 52 I managed to catch the 3:00 express. If I had missed it, I could not have come back today. If each of us had tried harder to improve the situation at that time, we would not have been criticized so severely.
>>100 演習 53 Without your help, I would have been at a loss. Without newspapers, which let us know what is going on in the world every day, we would realize how inconvenient life is. 54 Some students coming to the library act as if they were in a coffee shop. On days when there is no morning paper, you do not know how to pass the time. Usually you feel busy in the morning, but without a paper you feel as if time were passing slowly. 55 My grandfather, who is seventy-five years old, gets up at six every morning to take care of his flowers. Hamamatsu is located to the east of Lake Hamana, which is famous for its beautiful scenery and delicious fish. The climate is mild; not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter. It is nice and comfortable all through the year. 56 I get nervous when I see someone taking their eyes off the road while driving. While walking hurriedly along the street, I could not help thinking that walking was far easier than driving.
>>101 演習 57 At an airport in Paris, there was a man sitting on a suitcase, gazing into the air with his chin on his hand. When I was walking along with three books under my arm, one of them fell suddenly. When I tried to pick it up, another one also fell. 58 He often wrote down on pieces of paper what came to mind. It is a pity that, although people want to protect their own privacy, they want to know what others do in private. 59 It seems that they firmly believed that every adult in the community must teach the children good manners. This belief enabled the children to realize that they were members of the community. 60 They took it for granted that while Japan was a country which attached too much importance to someone's academic backgrounds, that was not the case in European countries.
演習 01 I read in the newspaper that more and more people living in cities are becoming interested in gardening. Our society is aging rapidly, and the number of young workers is steadily decreasing. 02 Very few people realize that happiness is often all around them. A lot of people have personal computers, but very few of them know how to use them effectively. 03 Most people spend most of their time working to live. Some young Americans living in Japan are beginning to say that the U.S. should make more effort to teach Americans the Japanese language. 04 If you are usually healthy, you may make mistakes when you fall ill. You often worry too much or too little about your health. If you have been to old European towns, you must have been impressed by how beautiful the streets were.
>>105 演習 05 If you live in a developing country for a while, you have an opportunity to look at Japan from a different point of view. Once you have gotten into a bad habit, it takes a lot of time and effort to stop it. 06 One out of three Japanese people sees a doctor regularly or complains about their physical condition. It is said that seven out of ten young people in Japan do not believe in religion. These days, however, many students pray at temples or shrines for success in their entrance exams. 07 Tens of thousands of tons of detergent and millons of liters of water are used every day to wash towels that have been used only once. The population of Sendai is more than five hundred thousand, so it is no exaggeration to say that it is the cultural center of Tohoku. However, it is far more quiet than Tokyo. 08 Once the telephone starts ringing, you have to answer it, no matter what you are doing at that moment. Therefore, when I make a call, I try not to bother the person I am calling. In Japan, business cards play an important part, especially in business. People usually exchange their cards when they meet for the first time. The cards are useful to Japanese, who want to know what each other's status is, because they tend to change their attitudes and language, depending on who they are talking to.
09 It is not unusual for me to call friends, even if I have nothing special to talk about. It is convenient to take the subway in order to get around in the center of Tokyo, where the traffic is heavy. 10 Nineteen years ago, I traveled by ship from the U.S. to Australia. About ten years ago, a famous painter bought me a meal at one of the best restaurants in Paris. 11 I like taking pictures of birds. Many years ago, I often went to the seashore when I had free time. The best thing about my stay with an American family was that the parents treated me just like their daughter. 12 Everyone should be free to decide when to get married and whether to have children. It is said that there will soon be no room left to dump trash in Japan. We have no choice but to get more serious about recycling.
