英文解釈教室の出典を探る(70)

Chapter 11 修飾語の位置（2）

例題 11.3.2

Reuben君は嫁と二人きりでドイツからロンドンに逃れる。彼はとても心優しい男だが、悲しいことに、彼自身は結核もちで、嫁はやかましいヒステリーもちであった。ドイツからの補償金で花屋を開くのが、彼の唯一の夢。そんなReuben君の勤め先でのお話。

A Rose for Reuben

…And it was an odd thing that whenever one of the employees was in trouble or needed advice, of all the people working in the place on whom he or she could have unburdened themselves it was invariably Robert who was singled out. Perhaps the secret lay in his ability to listen with his complete attention, as though your trouble was actually his, and the most important thing in the world at that very moment was for him to help you in your struggle against it. As often as not the complainer would leave without waiting for Robert's comments---almost as though it had been enough to be allowed to talk without interruption, and the answer to one's problem had come easily and unhurriedly from within oneself, merely through the effort of expressing it to Robert….

出典：Robert Rietti, "A Rose for Reuben: Stories of Hope from the Holocaust", 2006

（補注）

例題ではRobertですが、原文はReubenです。短編なのでGoogleブックスで全文が読めます。

（参考）