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It's about the drama club I belong to at juniorhigh school.
I was a member of the drama club at junior highschool.
There were almost 100 newcomers when I firstjoined it in the 7th grade, but only 6 remainedincluding me after a month because of sobertraining that was far from the stage glamour.
We did voice and physical exercises every day todevelop our abdominal muscles.
In the end of the exercises, the members wouldstand side by side and utter a loud and long toneone by one in front of the club captain.
While we were squeezing ah, a senior member wouldput a hand on our shoulder to see if it rose.
If we were doing abdominal breathing, ourshoulders didn't rise.
The club captain would time the length of the toneand check whether it wavered or not.
A loud, long, steady voice was good and I was theone who always uttered the loudest, longest, steadiest ah without raising my shoulders.
While the club captain corrected each member, inmy turn she would say nothing to be corrected tome.
That made me so happy and I practiced diligentlyback at home too, to hear her say that every time.
Gradually, I had tougher training at the club suchas tongue twisters, short dialogues and pantomime.
For some reason, I was good at those and had agood word from the captain each time.
I began to think I might have a talent for acting.
Secretly I took pleasure in picturing myself onthe stage of a school play.
A sad fact was, I was a fat and short girl.
Even with the ability to act well, things wouldn'tgo so smoothly for an ugly girl like me in thetheater.
But back then, I was too young and innocent torealize that.
I just kept on striving and improving only myacting without caring about my bad looks.
As a daily routine, I checked my horoscope everymorning on TV.
Mine warned a fight.
I checked my partner's and to my surprise, it foresaw a fight, too.
We had never had this similar horoscope before.
03:02
It seemed impossible to avoid a fight as it wasand I fell back on another horoscope on my cellphone to offset the ones on TV.
I was speechless when I saw it also say that therewould be a fight.
Now, a fight was inevitable very unlikely betweenmy partner and me.
Feeling gloom, I was ready for it.
But I still hoped I could manage to avert a fightsomehow and spent the whole day studying his moodcarefully and flattering him.
As the day wore on, I was extremely tired from theeffort not to offend him, which I wasn't used to.
In desperation, I even tried to initiate a fightbecause I wanted to do away with it.
He showed no interest and a fight didn't happen.
It was such a nerve-wracking day.
I might as well have a fight as endure a stressfulday avoiding one.
This incident happened one New Year's at the endof the card game called Kabu,
in which my uncle acted as dealer for the yearlyfamily casino at my grandparents' house.
He had lost quite a lot to my cousin, who was hisson,
as usual that night and my cousin had left thetable as the morning dawned.
My uncle, my mother and I were left at the tableand the game was about to close.
My mother asked for a few more deals because shehad also lost a large sum and wanted to get itback.
To recover her loss quickly, she bet by the $100.
The game was played for high stakes every year,but I had never seen the stakes this high.
She lost in succession and her loss swelled to $500 in a flash.
This is the last bet, she claimed in desperationand put $500 on the table.
She tried to offset her total loss on the lastdeal of the game.
All at once the tension skyrocketed and strangesilence filled the room.
I held my breath and withdrew my usual small bet.
The cards were dealt tensely and my mother and myuncle showed their hands of fate.
Both hands were ridiculously bad but my mother'swas even worse.
She lost $1000.
Burying her head in her hands, she repeatedlyuttered,
It can't be. Can't be true.
I saw tears in her widely opened bloodshot eyes.
Then she repeated Oh my. Oh my.
In a faint voice for ten times and staggered away.
I clearly remember her state of stupor.
A couple of days later back in our home,
I enticed her into playing Kabu with me since Ilearned how poorly she played it and I knew Iwould win.
I used to receive cash as a New Year's gift frommy relatives during New Years and it would amountto $1000.
I dangled it in front of her and said that itwould be her chance to get back her loss.
06:02
She took it and we played for $1000.
As I had thought, she lost another $1000 to me.
She said she couldn't pay, and I offered her theinstallment plan.
I got $100 more to my monthly allowance of $30 forthe next ten months.
That was the richest year in my early teens.
Many years later, she failed in real estateinvestment and lost most of our family fortunethat had been inherited for generations.
The amount she lost that time was well over $1million.
And that was the money I was supposed to inherit.
Yesterday I happened to see a news program on TVreporting about a discount store, which carriedthe lowest price soda in Japan.
Lowest price is a keyword that always hooks me andI watch the report.
Astonishingly, the reported store is located nearmy apartment.
I rushed into the store today.
It existed on the site of a supermarket where Iused to shop frequently but was closed for goodfour years ago.
The building had been abandoned until the newdiscount store opened there last July.
I can't believe I had neglected to find it foralmost a year as a person who is hunting for thelowest price constantly.
While the building was the same as four years ago,the store had been transformed into my taste.
The prices are incredibly low, some are the lowestin Japan, and the store opens 24 hours.
I had wanted an around-the-clock discount storefor years.
Since I decided to move out here, I found fabulousshopping destinations one after another, firstCostco, then this place.
Is this a sign to stay put? I'm so confused now.
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