Anne of Green Gables (ペーパーバック)

始まりは口うるさいリンド婦人がグリーンゲイブルズの異変を察知するところだ。日本語訳を読みなれているからだろうか、目の前に田舎の風景がひろがる。アンが出てきてからは、そのセリフの長いこと、形容詞のすごい事に驚いた。英語だからかとてもとても長いセリフに思える。そして普通は言わないであろうと思われる修飾語（私も何度も辞書を見る羽目に）。「big word」を使いすぎるという周りの指摘も納得だ。子供がこんな形容詞をばんばん使って話しまくったら…　今でも変わった子供であることには間違いないだろう。

子供の頃はマリラはなんて怖いのだろうと思いながら読んでいたけれど、今はマリラの忍耐・寛容さに脱帽の思いだ。こんな子供が自分の家に来たら大変だろうと思う。自分も彼女のようにおしゃべりで質問好きだったことを思うと、なんだか身につまされる。

それでも、いきいきとしたアンは魅力的だ。子供だから起きるいろんな事件も面白い。少し大人になったアンに会いに、次の本へと進もうと思う。

The book is about an orphaned 11-year old girl named Anne Shirley. She has red hair that matches her temper, is skinny, and also has an unstoppable mouth! The two things she most wishes for is for a permanent and wonderful home and the other wish is that she becomes beautiful when she grows up. She has big imagination and a enormous heart which charms everyone she meets.

Marilla Cupberth and her brother Matthew are getting old and Matthew needs some help on their farm called Green Gables which is on and island called Prince Edward Island. Matthew and Marilla decides to adopt a boy around 11 or 12 to help Matthew. Some sort of queer mistake happens, Matthew calles it Providence later on, when Anne Shirley is sent from the orphanage instead of the boy they were expecting. Matthew figures that he couldn't leave her waiting at the train platform and brings her back to Green Gables, listening to her relentless tongue helplessly but rather enjoyingly.

Marilla is shocked and proposes to send her back to the orphanage the very next morning. Anne, being very happy about living at Green Gables, is very depressed. Marilla and Anne goes back to the orphanage where they discover that another woman who is very strict had been wanting a girl around 11 or 12. The orphanage lady quickly decides that Anne would be that girl. Marilla feels rather sorry for Anne and brings her back to Green Gables.

Anne, after being able to spend another night, is overjoyed as Marilla decides to let her stay permanently. Matthew is overjoyed too because he had somehow liked Anne's chattering. She meets a "busom friend" called Diana Barry at a picnic,cracks her slate over a boy called Gilbert Blythe who had teased her about her red hair in her first day of school, falls of the ridgepole of the roof of a house because of a dare, and dyes her hair green because she had wanted to make her red hair black! Fortunately, she does not stay a child of trouble, though she does stay a person who has a tongue which is used a lot. She passes an hard exam to collage and becomes first in every subject, always tieing with her hated rivalry Gilbert Blythe, who she has a grudge on since that day when he had called her hair "Carrots!". She also becomes a beautiful lady who has now auburn hair and no sign of her hated red hair. Marilla and Matthew has every right to be proud of her and you'll be proud with them as your read this charming book!

As I said before, this book is funny and also is soo interesting. I read this over 5 times and it has still not become boring. You'll love Anne Shirley forever as and after you read this book!

アンの熱烈なファンの方には物足りないかもしれませんが、雰囲気を味わいたい方や、
英語の勉強のために読むには向いていると思います。