次の文は，Paul Auster(ポール オースター)の“The New York Trilogy” に出てくる英文である．
ヒントを参考にしながら翻訳してみよう．
※Paul Auster(ポール オースター)は１９４７年生まれのアメリカの作家． 小説家であるだけでなく，詩，エッセイ，翻訳の作品もある． Paul Austerの作品は，日本の高校生２年生が知っている程度の単語と文法的 な知識で書かれているが，内容はかなり深いというのが特徴である． 今回の課題では，短いものから数十行に及ぶ部分で，分かりやすく，しかもこれまでに学んだ構文等が使われた部分を集めてみた．１．奇妙なことではあるが，Quinn(第一部［City of Glass］の主人公)が私立探偵だと勘違いされて，電話で仕事を依頼された後の場面．
Like most people, Quinn knew almost nothing about crime. He had never murdered anyone, had never stolen anything, and he did not know anyone who had. He had never
been inside a police station, had never met a private detective, had never spoken to a criminal. Whatever he knew about these things, he had learned from books, films,
and newspapers.
２．１に続く部分で，勘違いして Quinn に探偵の仕事を依頼した人は Quinn をPaul Auster(この本の著者の名前であるが単にこの名前を使っているだけ)という私立探偵だと思っている．さて， Quinn は電話での依頼の翌日，約束の場所に行くかどうか迷っている場面．
The next morning, Quinn woke up earlier than he had in several weeksAs he drank his coffee, buttered his toast, and read through the baseball scores in the paper
(the Mets had lost again, two to one, on a ninth inning error), it did not occur to him that he was going to show up for his appointment. Even the locution, his
appointment, seemed odd to him. It wasn't his appointment, it was Paul Auster's. And who that person was he had no idea.
３．“Never say a thing you know in your heart is not true.”
ヒント：下線部の後に関係代名詞が省略されているのは当然だが，それが分かっても難しい．２番目の下線部は［ＶＣ］だが［Ｓ］は何かが問題．
４．Quinn が仕事を引き受けて，ある男(Stillman)をつけている．その男はある安ホテルに宿泊していて，Quinn はそのホテルを何日間も見張っている場面．
At 57th Street he turned left and walked to Park Avenue. There he turned right and went on walking north until 69th Street, at which point he turned onto the Stillman's
block. The building looked the
same as it had on the first day.
２番目の下線部に省略あり
５．第二部の［Ghosts］の１場面．主人公の名は Blue ．彼は映画が好きだというところ．
Blue is fond of the movies, not only for the stories they tell and the beautiful women he can see in them, but for the darkness of the theater itself, the way the pictures on
the screen are somehow like the thoughts inside his head whenever he closes his eyes.
同格も駆使されている
６．第三部の［The Locked Room］の最初のところ．ずっと会っていなかった親友の奥さんから，その親友の失踪を知らされ，詳しい話を彼女のアパートまで聴きに行く場面．
She lived in a red-brick tenement in Chelsea, an old walk-up building with gloomy stairwells and peeling paint on the wall. I climbed five flights to her floors, accompanied by the
sounds of radios and squabbles and flushing toilets that came from the apartments on the way up, paused to catch my breath, and then knocked.
７．６の後，主人公は親友の奥さん(Sophie)を好きになった．奥さんの方も好意があるようだ．彼は２人で１日遊んだ後，彼女を家まで送る．どちらも好きだとは言い出せない場面 主人公は「医者」じゃないけど…
“Thank you, Doctor,” Sophie said. “The operation was a success.”
“My patients always survive.” I said. “It's the laughing gas. I
just turn on the valve, and little by little they get better.”
“The gas might be habit-forming.”
“That's the point. The patients keep coming back for more --
sometimes two or three operations a week. How do you think I paid for my Park Avenue apartment and the summer place in France?”
“So there's a hidden motive.”
“Absolutely. I am driven by greed.”
“Your practice must be booming.”
“It was. But I'm more or less retired now. I'm down to one patient
these days -- and I'm not sure if she'll be coming back.”
“She'll be back,” Sophie said, with the coyest, most radiant smile I had ever seen. “You can count on it.”
“That's good to hear.” I said. “I'll have my secretary call her to schedule the next appointment.”
“The sooner the better. With these long-term treatments, you can't waste a moment.”
“Excellent advice. I'll remember to order a new supply of laughing gas.”
“You do that, doctor. I really think I need it.”
We smiled at each other again, and then I wrapped her up in a big hug, gave her a brief kiss on the lips, and got down the stairs as fast as I could.
