1998年度 東北大学 Ⅳ 和文英訳 解答例

【設問】

　次の文章の中で，日本語で記された部分(1)，(2)を英語に訳しなさい。

　Recently in Japan an incident happened which would never have occurred in a Western country.　The president of a large Japanese company took responsibility and resigned his post when it was revealed that one of the company’s employees had engaged in illegal dealings with foreign countries.　The resignation was considered to be a most profound way for the firm to apologize.

　In this incident, we see an extended parent-child relationship.　(1)日本では子どもが大人になっている場合でも，親が子供の犯した過ちの責任をとって被害者や社会にわびることが多い。 In a company too, a boss resigns his post, taking responsibility for the misconduct of his men.

　This way of taking responsibility may be inconceivable to Western people.　But Japanese people readily give up what they possess – their honor, social position, income, and sometimes even their own life.　(2)日本人は，自分の大切なものを失うという罰を自らに課すことによって，謝罪の気持ちを表すことができると考えるのである。

【解答例】

(1)　In Japan, parents often apologize to victims and society to take responsibility for their children’s misconduct even if their children are grown-up.

(2)　Japanese people think that they can express their apology by imposing on themselves the punishment of losing what is precious to themselves.

【語句・表現】

・「大人」adult / grown-up

・「被害者」victim

・「A(罰)をB(人)に課す」impose A(罰) on B(人)