８ まとまった話をする
ある程度まとまった長い話をする会話を想定しましょう。物語をする練習をすると長い内容の話をまとめるのに役立ちます。物語には始まり、中身、終わりという構成があるので、物語を話す練習をすると、一般的な内容でもこのような構成で話をすることが身につきます。長い物語も小文で構成することで十分に内容が話せます。
例題 １（初級練習問題 １１７）
「孫の友人」をよそおい高齢者の自宅を訪れ、金をだまし取る新手の詐欺が沖縄県内で相次いでいる。今年４月から１０月までに１３件の被害届があり、計約二百六十万円をだまし取られた。
英作文
In Okinawa
Prefecture, the number of seniors that have been fraudulently cheated out of
money is increasing. Thieves are posing as friends of friends of the seniors’
grand children. From April to October this year, a total of ten cases involving
2.6 million dollars were reported to the police.
英会話
George: “Hello
Makoto, where are you going?”
Makoto: “Hello
George, I am going to see my parents.”
George: “I haven’t
seen them for a while. How are they?”
Makoto: “They are
fine. Thank you. But they are living alone and I am a little concerned with
them regarding something I’ve read in the newspaper recently.”
George: “Oh? What
is it?”
Makoto: “Do you
know that there are some people who cheat old people and get a large sum of
money?”
George: “Vaguely”
Makoto: “Well, some
people pretend that they are friends of old people’s grand children. They phone
the old people and tell them that their grand children are in a big trouble, such
as a car accident or threatened by yakuza. They say their grand children cannot
contact the old people directly and have asked them to phone the old people.
Then, they tell the old people that unless the old people get money for their
grand children, their grand children will be in great danger. They tell the old
people to pay in money to a special account and get away with the money.”
George: “That’s
awful. But can the old people see that something wrong with such a story?”
Makoto: “Well,
sometimes they can. But sometimes they feel so concerned with their grand
children that they pay in money before they can check around if the story is
true.”
George: “I see.
What are you going to tell your parents?”
Makoto: “I am
thinking to tell them that for anything that involves a large sum of money,
they should first contact me or my brothers before they decide anything.”
George: “That’s a
good idea.”
例題 ２
これは日本の友人から聞いた話です。Makotoさんに話してもらいます。小文だけを使っていることに注意してください。
George: “Hi,
Makoto. Anything new today?”
Makoto: “Not
really, George. But I can tell you an interesting story I’ve heard the other
day.”
George: “You are a
good story teller. Please tell me the story.”
Makoto: “This is a
story my Japanese friend told me. He was working in Australia for a Japanese
company. One day, he received a phone call from his friends in Japan. Say, Ken
and Nobu for the sake of the story. They loved kangaroos.
George:
“Kangaroos?”
Makoto: “Yes,
kangaroos. They often went to a zoo to see kangaroos. But they wanted to see real
kangaroos in the natural environment. So they wanted to come to Australia.
Anyway, they arrived at Melbourne and rented a car. They drove out of the city.
They saw a sign on the highway, “Watch for kangaroos.” They were excited. Now
they could see kangaroos anytime. The highway was not so good. So they had to
concentrate on driving. All of a sudden, a large kangaroos jumped onto the
highway. They braked hard but could stop the car first enough and hit the
kangaroo. The kangaroo fell down and didn’t move at all.
George: “That’s too
bad. They must have been shocked.”
Makoto: “Yes, they
have. They came out of the car and looked down the kangaroo. They felt so sorry
for the kangaroo. Then, Ken said, “What can we do now? At least, we can take his
picture.” Nobu said, “Yes, we can take his picture. But the picture will not
look good if the kangaroo lies down on the highway. Ken, can you hold him up?”
Ken tried hard to pull up the kangaroo and finally managed to hold him up.”
“How does he look like, Nobu?” “Not bad. But can you put your hat on his head.”
“OK, now is this better?” “Yes, but if you can put your jacket on him, he will
look much better.”
So, Ken dropped the
kangaroo and they both worked to put Ken’s jacket on the kangaroo. Then, Ken
pulled up the kangaroo again. “How does he look like now?” “Looks great. Hold
him still, Ken.” Nobu clicked the camera. Then, the kangaroo woke up and jumped
away. It appeared the kangaroo got just fainted. He wasn’t dead. They were so
surprised and just looked at the kangaroo jumping away into the field. Ken
said, “Nobu, hurry, take his picture.” Nobu took a couple of pictures of the
kangaroo happily jumping away. They were so relived and happy that the kangaroo
was alive and well. Then, Ken said, “Oh my jacket!” Yes, the kangaroo was
running away with his jacket and hat on.
George: “I can’t
believe it. But what a story.”
Makoto: “This isn’t
the end of the story yet. You see, Ken realized that his passport and airline
tickets were in the jacket.
George: “Is that
right? What did they do?”
Makoto: “Well, they
kept on driving and saw a lot of kangaroos. When they came back to Melbourne,
they went to the office of the Consulate-General of Japan and explained how
they lost Ken’s passport. But they couldn’t convince the Consulate-General.
Then, this was the time my friend working in Melbourne got a phone call from
Ken. My friend went to the Consulate-General of Japan to see Ken and Nobu. They
tried hard to think how they could convince the Consulate-General. And my
friend came up with the ideas of the pictures Nobu had taken. They rushed to a
photo shop to get the pictures developed. Sure enough, the pictures showed the
kangaroo running away with Ken’s hat and jacket.
George: “A good
story. Can I tell the story to my friends?”
Makoto: “Off
course, you can. But watch out.”
George: “What do I
watch out for?”
Makoto: “Well, the
other day, one of my friends said to me, ‘Makoto, I heard about your trouble in
Australia. You lost your passport in the strangest way I could imagine.”