#2 An emotional anchor: Learn Japanese

When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. 

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
ドロシーが とぐちにたつと、
はいいろの だいそうげんだけが みえた。
  • predicate: 
  • 見える

Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. 

いえも、きも、なかった。
  • subject: 

The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. 

たいようが とちを やいてしまった。
  • subject: 太陽
  • predicate: 焼く

Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. 

くさも みどりではなかった。
  • subject: 草
  • predicate: 緑ではない

Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.

いえも はいいろだった。
  • predicate:
    灰色

When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. 

かのじょは わかくて かわいい おくさんだった。
  • predicate: 
  • 奥さん

The sun and wind had changed her, too. 

たいようとかぜが かのじょを かえてしまった。
  • subject: 
  • 太陽

They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. 

たいようとかぜが かのじょのひとみを はいいろにした。
  • modifier: 
  • 瞳を

She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now. 

かのじょは わらわなかった。
  • predicate: 
  • 笑わない

When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child’s laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy’s merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.

エムおばさんは ドロシーのこえに おどろく
  • predicate:
  • 驚く

Uncle Henry never laughed. 

ヘンリーおじさんは わらわなかった。

He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. 

かれは よろこびを しらなかった。
  • predicate: 
  • 知らない

He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.

かれは めったに はなさなかった。

It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. 

トトが はいいろになることから ドロシーを まもった。
  • predicate: 
  • 守る
  • 心の拠り所(こころのよりどころ, emotional anchor / source of comfort)
  • こころのよりどころ means something or someone that gives a person stability, comfort, or a sense of inner support during difficult times.

Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. 

トトは はいいろではなかった。

Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.

ドロシーは トトを こころから だいじにした。
  • predicate: 
  • 大事にする

Referenced from: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

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