〜ヒント〜
４月２８日出題分
あまりなじみの無い単語・熟語をちょっと解説。
Seven Years in Tibet :
Into Tibet-4I found I was able to make myself understood by these pleasant companions, and the feeling that my knowledge of the language was improving gave me great pleasure. We arranged to go hunting together the next day, and meanwhile made ourselves at home in the tent of young couple. The nomad and his wife were the first cheerful and friendly Tibetans we had met, and I shall not forget them. The highlight of our host's hospitality consisted in his producing a wooden bottle of barley beer. It was a cloudy, milky liquid that bore no resemblance to what we call beer, but it had the same effect.
The next morning the three of us went hunting. Our young friend had an antediluvian muzzle loader and in a breast pocket carried leaden bullets, gunpowder, and a quick match. When we saw the first flock of wild sheep he managed laboriously to light the quick match by using a flint. We were anxious to know how this museum piece of a gun would function. There was a report like thunder, and by the time I had got clear of the smoke, there was no sign of a sheep to be seen. Then we saw the flock galloping away in the distance; before they vanished over the rocky ridge, some of them turned around to eye us with a mocking glance. We could only laugh at our own discomfiture, but in order not to return with empty hands, we picked wild onions, which grow everywhere on the hillsides and which go so well with venison.
these pleasant companions：前回テントに招いてくれた遊牧民の夫婦のことを指します
the language：（この場合は）チベット語
arrange：計画する
highlight：山場
hospitality：もてなし、歓待
consisted in 〜：〜にある
barley：大麦
cloudy：濁った
bore no resemblance to 〜：〜に似ていなかった
antediluvian：旧式の、大昔の
muzzle loader：口装銃（前の方から弾を込める銃）
leaden：鉛の
gunpowder：火薬
match：（この場合は）火縄
flock：群れ
laboriously：苦労して
flint：火打石
report：銃声
in the distance：遠くに
mock：あざける
discomfiture：失敗