Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.92）
LESSON 7：Reporting on World Population
Part 1: Population Growth Trends
The UN has made its world population report public. // Called World Population
Prospects: the 2004 Revision, / it presents global population data / and predictions up to
the year 2050. //
The report estimates / that between 2000 and 2005, / world population increased by
76 million per year on average. // Although the growth rate will have slowed down / to 34
million per year by 2050, / total population will be around 9.1 billion. //
Population trends will differ / between more developed and less developed regions of
the world. // Figure 1 shows / how the population in certain regions will grow / over
five-year periods. // As shown by the red line, / percentages in more developed countries
will dip below zero / in the 2030-2035 period, / then decline even further. // The resulting
total population will also be lower. //
Growth rates in less developed countries / will also be decreasing. // The percentage
will remain above zero / as late as the 2045-2050 period. // As a result, / the population
in these countries will continue to grow, / but at a slower rate. //
In conclusion, / population growth rates are slowing down, / especially in less
developed regions. // On the other hand, / in 45 years, / our planet’s total population will
have increased / by another 2.6 billion. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.94）
LESSON 7：Reporting on World Population
Part 2: Total Fertility Rate
One of the statistics / which influences population growth most / is the Total Fertility
Rate, or TFR. // This specifies the average number of children / women give birth to. //
At the global level, / the TFR has been falling. // For the 1970-75 period, / the global
TFR was 4.49, / but by 2000-05, / the rate fell to 2.65. // According to UN predictions, / by
2050 / the rate will have been falling / for over 80 years. //
Current statistics for global population show / that as a rule, / the TFR is lower in
more developed regions. // For the 2000-05 period, / it was 1.56 children per woman, /
and in some Southern and Eastern European countries, / below 1.3. // A few countries /
such as Germany, France, and the US / showed minor increases in TFRs. // By 2050, /
the overall TFR for more developed regions / will rise to 1.84; / however, / this is still
relatively low. //
Fertility is generally higher in less developed countries. // For the 2000-05 period, /
the TFR for these areas was 2.9, / but by 2050, / the predicted TFR for these areas / will
have fallen to 2.07. // In other words, / 45 years from then, / the gap between TFRs in
these two regions / will have been narrowing / for some time. // Falling global TFRs will
contribute / to the slowing of global population growth. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.96）
LESSON 7：Reporting on World Population
Part 3: Poverty and Population in Asia and the Pacific
Sixty percent of the world’s population lives / in the 58 countries / constituting the
Asia and Pacific region. // To address the issues of population growth, / the Fifth Asian
and Pacific Population Conference was held / in Bangkok, Thailand / in 2002. //
The issue of poverty was another key theme of the conference. // People existing on
less than US $1 per day / number about 1.2 billion worldwide, / and in 2002, / 768
million of them lived / in the Asia and Pacific region. // Most were in South Asia, /
lacking both health care and education. //
The percentage of people / living below the poverty line in this region / was reduced
to 24 from 34 in the 1990s. // Unfortunately, / in countries with high poverty levels, /
population issues are seldom considered / when creating policies to reduce poverty. //
This is especially true / in Pakistan, Nepal, Laos, and the Philippines. //
It is expected / that by 2050, / progress will have been made / in understanding the
connection / between poverty and population. // The conference emphasized / that
meeting these two challenges / requires economic growth, / social development, / and
family planning services / which are easily accessible and affordable. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.98）
LESSON 7：Reporting on World Population
Part 4: The Status of Women in Asia and the Pacific
In 1994, / the International Conference on Population and Development was held. //
Representatives from 179 countries agreed / that women’s status must be raised. // As
part of a 20-year plan, / several targets were set, / and ten years later, / an official report
on Asia and the Pacific was released. //
Equal education for women / was the first target. // China made progress in this
area; / by 2000, / more Chinese girls than boys were enrolled / in elementary schools. //
The next target was / greater economic opportunities for women. // By the late 1990s /
more women were employed outside agriculture / than ever before: / 16 percent of
women in India, / 39 percent in China, / and 46 percent in Sri Lanka. //
Increased participation in politics / was another important target. // Even in more
developed countries, / the percentage of women in national parliaments is low. // In
Japan, / only seven percent of the seats are held by women, / while 25 and 31 percent
are held by women / in Australia and New Zealand, respectively. // The Vietnamese
government has successfully raised female representation / from 18 in the 1990s to 26
percent. //
Since 1994, / the region’s governments have worked / to achieve better lives for all
their citizens / including women and the poor. // If they continue on this path, / the
situation will have been improved even more / by 2014 when the 20-year report is
released. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.107-108）
LESSON 8：Looking for Santa Claus
Part 1
A red suit and a long white beard. // Big black boots and a bag full of toys. // A giant
sleigh pulled by eight flying reindeer. // This is the image most Americans / －and now
Japanese, too－ / have of Santa Claus. //
Look at this 1921 Christmas card / from Finland. // Carrying a pig with a ribbon
around its neck / seems like a strange thing for Santa to do. // Is the pig a gift? // It’s
hard for us to say. // In the next card, / from 1941, / it’s another pig / which is pulling
Santa Claus’ sleigh, / instead of reindeer. // You see, / there is more than one way / to
imagine Santa Claus. //
We will never forget / waking up to find gifts from Santa. // Nowadays, / children all
over the world believe in Santa, / no matter what religion they follow. // But in the
beginning, / it was quite different. //
Most historians agree / that the original Santa Claus was a Christian bishop /
named Saint Nicholas, / who lived in Turkey in the fourth century. // Saint Nicholas was
said to be especially kind to children, / giving them gold coins. // In Scandinavian
countries, / pigs were thought to symbolize fertility. // When the story of Saint Nicholas
came to Finland, / it was mixed in / with their old custom of offering pigs to the gods. //
In this way, / people from different cultures / developed various original Saint Nicholas
images and legends. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.108-109）
LESSON 8：Looking for Santa Claus
Part 2
As time went by, / different European cultures added their own touches / to the Saint
Nicholas story. // In 17th century Germany, / for example, / Saint Nicholas’ Day evolved /
from a village festival into a family event. // They also introduced the idea / of giving
gifts at Christmas time. // As part of the season, / the first tree was placed / in the living
room of an individual home / in 1605. //
In the Netherlands, / children were told / that Saint Nicholas flew on a white horse, /
and came down the chimney into the living room. // While they were sleeping, / he put
gifts in their wooden shoes. // Scandinavians later added the white fur / we now see on
his hat and coat. // In Britain, / Saint Nicholas was given the name Father Christmas, /
translated from the French ‘Père Noël.’ // The Dutch called him Sinterklaas, / from
which we got the American name Santa Claus. //
In 1822 / an American named Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem, / “A Visit from
St. Nicholas” for his children. // Here people finally began / to imagine Santa Claus as a
happy, elderly man / in a sleigh led by eight reindeer. // In the 1860s, / the cartoonist
Thomas Nast provided / the first images of the “modern” Santa / in a series of magazine
illustrations. // Tracing Santa’s American past is easy; / he comes from the words of
Moore / and the imagination of Nast. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.109-110）
LESSON 8：Looking for Santa Claus
Part 3
From the 1920s through the 1960s, / a very popular artist painted hundreds of covers
/ for an American magazine called The Saturday Evening Post. // His name was Norman
Rockwell, / and he was proud / of having painted popular images / for many of the
magazine’s Christmas editions. //
In this 1935 cover, / Santa is answering letters from children / with special gift
requests. // In the 1939 cover, / after having checked his list of “EXTRA GOOD BOYS
&GIRLS,” / Santa is marking his delivery route / on a world map. // Although these
pictures were painted over 70 years ago, / they still capture the spirit of the Santa / we
know now. //
Ever since he was created, / children have asked, / “Is there really a Santa Claus?” /
Virginia O’Hanlon, an 8-year-old girl / sent this question to The New York Sun / back in
1897. // A Sun editor answered / with one of the best-loved editorials of all time. //
The editorial said, /
Yes, Virginia, / there is a Santa Claus. // He exists as certainly / as love and
generosity and devotion exist… // How dreary would be the world / if there were no
Santa Claus! … // Nobody sees Santa Claus, / but that doesn’t mean / that there is no
Santa Claus. // The most real things in the world are those / that neither children
nor adults can see… // A thousand years from now, / Virginia, / even 100,000 years
from now / he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. //
Every year, / in thousands of newspapers and magazines, / the memory of a child’s
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
question / and its loving answer are revived. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.110-111）
LESSON 4：Looking for Santa Claus
Part 4
Surprisingly, / the story doesn’t end there. // In 1912, / Virginia began a 47-year
career as an educator, / and worked with children all her adult life. // She saw the
importance / of not giving up our dreams, / and wrote to answer the continuing question
/ of Santa’s existence / for a new generation. //
Dear children of yesterday and today, /
When that question was asked, / I, a little girl, / was interested in finding out the
answer / just for myself. // Now, / grown up and a teacher, / I really want all little
children to believe / that Santa Claus is real. // For I understand / a belief in Santa
Claus / to be essential to a happy childhood. //
Some little children doubt / that Santa still lives / because often their letters, / for
one reason or another, / never seem to reach him. // Nurses in hospitals know / who
some of these children are. // Teachers in great city schools know others. //
Dear children of yesterday, / won’t you try to seek out / these trusting children of
today / and make sure / that their letters in some way / may reach Santa Claus / so
that ‘he will continue / to make glad that heart of childhood’? // That, / I believe, / is
the best way of proving / there is a Santa Claus, / for ourselves and for the children.
//
What will you tell your children / about Santa Claus someday? //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.120）
LESSON 9：Past the Point of No Return?
Part 1
On July 30th, 2004, / a Scottish newspaper produced a report / that shocked the
country. // Hundreds of thousands of seabirds, / they reported, / had failed to breed / and
the species was disappearing. // The cause of these deaths, / scientists believed, / must
have been global warming. //
In the last twenty years, / the temperature of the North Sea / has increased by 2°C. //
This has caused the plankton in the area / to move north in search of cold water. // As a
result, / new generations of sand eels, / which feed on the plankton, / cannot find food. //
Because of this, / there has been a decrease / in the sand eel population. // Sand eels, / in
turn, / are the main food of many seabirds. // Their near-disappearance has caused /
widespread starvation among the birds, / who are now failing to breed. //
Food Chain: / Plankton → Sand eels → Seabirds //
Scotland’s 2000 study reported / that many kinds of seabirds / have produced almost
no young. // For example, / the 6,800 pairs of seagulls / on the Shetland Islands / would
normally produce hundreds of chicks, / but they had almost none at all. //
Recent studies estimate / that about 1,150 bird species, / or 12% of all birds, / are in
danger of disappearing. // This number has increased / by almost 400 since 1994, / and
another 600 to 900 could soon be added. //
What is happening? //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.122）
LESSON 9：Past the Point of No Return?
Part 2
Global warming is a threat / to carefully balanced ecosystems, / not only in Scotland,
/ but all over the world. // Species have adapted to certain climatic conditions, / which
are now changing. // As summer temperatures slowly increase / and winters become
drier, / plants and animals may either move north to cooler areas, / or die out. //
With the increase in temperature, / species that pupate or hibernate may emerge
early / to find that the plants that they feed on / have not changed their own calendars. //
The result will be / that animals find it more difficult, / or even impossible, / to find food.
//
One example of this was in 1989. // The early emergence of Edith’s checkerspot
butterflies in California / caused the death / of the entire local butterfly population. //
The butterflies must have hatched early from their pupae / because of the warmer
temperatures. // But because the flowers they needed / had not yet begun to bloom, / the
butterflies starved. // Losing an entire population like this / may have had several
consequences. // For one thing, / birds and other creatures / must have looked for
butterflies to eat, / but never found them. // Doesn’t this remind you / of the chain of
events / set off in Scotland’s seas? //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.124）
LESSON 9：Past the Point of No Return?
Part 3
The average global temperature has risen / between 0.4 and 0.8°C / since the late
19th century; / scientists expect / that temperatures may increase / from 1.4 to 5.8°C /
between 1990 and 2100. // This may not sound like much, / but it could change the
earth’s climate / as never before. // At the peak of the last ice age, / 18,000 years ago, / ice
covered much of North America. // But the temperature was only 3.9°C colder / than it is
today! //
Past climate changes must have occurred slowly. // If so, / this allowed plants and
animals / to adapt to their new conditions / or move somewhere else. // However, / if
future climate changes occur / as quickly as some scientists predict, / plants and
animals may not be able / to react quickly enough to survive. //
In 2001, / a report on various projections of the sea level change / was made. // It
estimated that by the year 2100, / the sea will rise at least 9 cm / and perhaps / as much
as 88 cm. //
The main cause of global warming / is an increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air. //
This has an effect / on the sea level, agriculture, the weather, / and even the spread of
disease. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.126）
LESSON 9：Past the Point of No Return?
Part 4
In trying to slow global warming, / there are long-term measures / that have already
been taken. // For example, / in 1997, / a conference was held in Kyoto / and attended by
many world leaders. // The result was The Kyoto Protocol, / an important
emission-related document. // In the Protocol, / the leaders set clear goals for cutting
emissions. //
Countries with heavy industry / and high demand for energy production / still have
a long way to go, / however. // In 2003, / America produced 23.9% of the world’s CO2; /
that’s 20 tons a year per American citizen. // China produced 14.5% of all CO2, / but at a
rate of only 2.7 tons per capita. // Japan produced 9.4 tons per citizen, / but only 4.9% of
the world’s CO2. // India produced almost as much CO2－4.4%, / but at just 1 ton per
citizen. //
Scientists believe / that companies should work / to cut greenhouse gas emissions /
by using other energy sources, / such as wind, solar or waterpower. // These types of fuel
are less damaging / to the environment. //
You might have heard about the measures / that we all can take / to save energy /
and cut carbon dioxide in the air. // But / national and international energy laws / are
also key. // As we have seen, / millions of plant and animal species / may have already
been affected / by global warming. // The time to act is now. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.136）
LESSON 10：Fly High and Free
Part 1
Crowd Welcomes Back Bird
Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture, / September 24, 2005. // A crowd gathered early this
morning / in Toyooka City. // No, there wasn’t a famous movie star / or singer in town, /
but the feeling of excitement was the same. // Believe it or not, / the crowd was there / to
welcome back a few birds. //
Five boxes were laid out on the grass / in front of the crowd. // A big white stork with
beautiful feathers / appeared from one of the boxes. // Following the first one, / the rest
of four storks emerged one by one. // With strong flaps of their wings, / they flew in the
clear blue sky. // The crowd began to clap and cheer, / and soon the birds came down /
and pecked into the river water for food. // “It reminds me / of photos my grandmother
showed me!” / said Nobuo Kawada, / a high school student from Toyooka City. // If
Nobuo’s grandmother had seen the birds today, / she would have been impressed. //
Between 1998 and 2003, / these storks were hatched / at a breeding facility in
Toyooka City. // Before the birds were released, / researchers trained them / to live on
their own. // Also, / an 80-gram tracking device / was attached to each one. // The storks
will now be monitored / via satellite. // “I hope / the storks can adapt to life in the wild. //
I want the species to flourish again,” / a researcher explained / after watching the
historic moment. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.138）
LESSON 10：Fly High and Free
Part 2
Storks are beautiful birds / with black-and-white wings / and long black bills. // They
used to live / along rivers, wetlands and rice fields. // For food, / they ate fish, frogs and
grasshoppers. // The number of storks began decreasing / during the Meiji Period / due
to hunting. // Also, / farmers used agricultural chemicals / after World War II, / and this
destroyed the storks’ food supply. // In 1956, / the government designated storks / as a
specially protected species. // In 1965, / Hyogo Prefecture opened a special facility /
where researchers could breed storks in captivity. // However, / it was already too late /
to save them. // In 1971, / the last wild stork died in Toyooka City / and the species
became extinct in Japan. // The people there / were deeply saddened by this. //
In 1985, / six young wild storks / were sent from Khabarovsk, Russia. // If the storks
had not been given to the facility, / the breeding project would never have succeeded. //
Through the project, / 118 storks had been hatched / by the time the first five were
released. //
September 24, 2005 / was an historic day. // It was the first attempt / to release storks
/ from the facility into the wild. // After more than thirty years, / the people of Toyooka
could welcome the storks / back to Japan. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.140）
LESSON 10：Fly High and Free
Part 3
The training for the storks / began in September of 2003. // Researchers selected ten
storks. // They thought / these particular birds could best adapt / to life in the wild. // A
5-meter-high, / 625-square-meter cage was built / where the storks can be trained / to fly,
feed themselves, and socialize with other birds. // The training mimicked life in the wild
/ and eventually / the storks became stronger. // In addition, / as the park staff kept
away / from the storks, / the birds learned to keep a distance / from people. // Since
humans could be a real danger, / it was essential / that storks learn to avoid them. //
The researchers worked very hard / to prepare the storks. // However, / the local
community was also important / for the success of the project. // Farmers in the area /
reduced agricultural chemical use on their farms / so that when the storks were
released, / they would have a safe environment. // At first, / many of them didn’t want to
reduce the chemicals, / but finally / they were persuaded. // Without the involvement of
Toyooka citizens, / the project would have failed / the moment the storks were released.
// The people of Toyooka City are proud, / and with reason. // By working together, / they
have made sure / that storks are again / part of the balance of nature. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.142）
LESSON 10：Fly High and Free
Part 4
Can the storks released in Toyooka be regarded / as the same species / as those which
existed before in Japan? // Some argued / that because the storks had come from a
Russian flock, / they were not. // However, / by using DNA samples, / researchers were
able to answer this question. //
In 1995, / the World Conservation Union set guidelines / for releasing a species into
the wild. // As a result, / researchers must be sure / that a newly introduced species is
compatible / with the local environment. // It is necessary / that maximum care be taken
/ to prevent any negative effects / on an ecosystem. //
Researchers in Toyooka / had to follow these guidelines. // To do this, / they took gene
samples / from stuffed storks / that had lived near the city before. // Next, / they took a
sample / from the storks at the facility in Toyooka. // When the two samples were
compared, / the researchers found / that the DNA samples were identical. // The
researchers had an answer to their question; / indeed, / the storks that were released in
Toyooka / were the same. //
The release of the storks made history. // The people of Toyooka worked hard / to
make that day a success. // Now, / it is everyone’s responsibility / to make sure / the
storks can survive in the wild. // If we keep the environment safe for them, / they will
continue to fly high and free / in the Japanese skies / far into the future. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.151-152）
Optional Reading：The Boy Who Dreamed of Mars
Part 1
In the late 1800s, / five-year-old Robert Goddard wanted to fly. // But unlike other
boys, / he didn’t simply flap his arms / and jump off chairs. // He used science instead. //
Having recently learned / that electricity could make things move, / Robert thought /
he would use it to fly. // He held part of a battery, / scuffed his shoes along the ground /
to create static electricity, / and launched himself into the air. // Nothing happened, /
but he wasn’t discouraged. // His desire to reach the sky / simply grew stronger. //
Growing up in Roxbury, Massachusetts / in the 1890s, / young Robert was often sick /
and missed more school / than most kids. // But his illnesses never slowed his
imagination or his reading. // One of the books he read / was From Earth to the Moon, /
by Jules Verne. // At the time he read it, / the idea of going to the moon / was pure
fantasy. // Cars were just being introduced, / and airplanes did not exist. // But Robert
saw some possibilities / in Verne’s story. // He scribbled notes in the book’s margins, /
suggesting ways / in which humans might actually be transported into space. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.152-153）
Optional Reading：The Boy Who Dreamed of Mars
Part 2
Robert set up a laboratory / in his attic, / where he did all kinds of experiments. // He
tried to make artificial diamonds, / but a tube of hydrogen gas exploded, / and no
diamonds were formed. // He flew the first box kite / his neighbors had ever seen. // He
even directed his friends / in digging a tunnel to China, / spending a whole week at it /
before finally giving up. //
Although many of his experiments failed, / Robert learned a lot about science /
through doing them. // At around age 16, / he returned to his original fantasies of flight.
// He designed several flying machines on paper. // When he finally came up with one /
he thought he could actually build, / he bought some aluminum / and set to work. //
First, / he pounded a very thin sheet of the metal / into the shape of a pillow / and glued
its edges together. // He then pumped in hydrogen gas / from a tank. // He hoped / the gas,
being lighter than air, / would lift the balloon. // He launched his flying machine / from
the street / outside a nearby shop. // But, / as he wrote in his diary, / “Aluminum balloon
will not go up. // Aluminum is too heavy.” //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.153-154）
Optional Reading：The Boy Who Dreamed of Mars
Part 3
In high school, / Robert, still sickly / and now two years behind in his studies, / read
another book / called The War of the Worlds / by H. G. Wells. // It tells of an imaginary
attack / by Martians who fly to Earth in spaceships. // Robert wrote in his diary / that
the story “gripped my imagination.” // He read the book / again and again. //
Then, / on October 19, 1899, / Robert climbed his grandmother’s cherry tree / in
Worcester / to prune some branches. // There / a vision came to him. // He later
remembered, / “As I looked toward the fields, / I thought / how wonderful it would be / to
make a machine / which could ascend to Mars.”//
Robert would never forget this vision. // In fact, / he made October 19 / a personal
holiday, / which he called “Anniversary Day.” // From that day forward, / he made it his
life goal / to study space travel. // He began / by watching butterflies and birds / to learn
their secrets of flight. // He took notes / on how they used their tails to turn / and how
they could increase their speed / by becoming more streamlined. // He noticed / that
some birds cut through the air / much faster than others, / simply because of their shape.
// He also observed guns and cannons / and explored / how their firing ranges can be
increased / in various ways. //
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Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.154-155）
Optional Reading：The Boy Who Dreamed of Mars
Part 4
After much study, / Robert wrote an article / called “The Navigation of Space,” /
which he sent to Popular Science News magazine. // One of his ideas was / to use “the
recoil of a gun / placed in a vertical position / with the muzzle directed downwards, / to
raise itself together / with a car containing the operator.” // The magazine didn’t publish
his ideas. //
Soon after, / Robert figured out / that raising a 500-pound object / 2,000 miles high /
would need 56 tons of explosive! // Using so much would be impossible. // But no matter;
/ his mind was full of other ideas. // Robert graduated from high school / and went on to
study engineering / at Worcester Polytechnic College. //
In 1920, / at the age of 38, / Robert Goddard had an article / published by the
Smithsonian Institution, / “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes,” / which touched
on the possibility / of getting a rocket into space. // But the New York Times joked about
his ideas. // Space flight, / they claimed, / was impossible / because there was no air in
space / for the rocket’s motors to push against. // The truth is, / as we now know, / that a
rocket’s motors push / against the inner walls of the rocket itself, / not against space. //
The paper apologized to Goddard / 50 years later, / the same month / that people walked
on the moon / for the first time. //
21／22
Magic Hat English CourseⅡ スラッシュ・リーディング用シート
●意味のまとまりに注意して，次の英文を読みましょう。 （教科書 p.156-157）
Optional Reading：The Boy Who Dreamed of Mars
Part 5
In 1926, / Goddard used liquid fuel / to launch a homemade 10-foot rocket /
nicknamed Nell / to a height of 41 feet. // It landed in his aunt’s vegetable garden / 184
feet away / after flying for just 2.5 seconds. // “It looked almost magical / as it rose,” / he
later wrote. //
Goddard went on to become / one of the greatest aerospace engineers / in history. //
Without him, / America would not have landed the first man / on the moon / in 1969. //
Goddard successfully launched 35 liquid-propelled rockets / in his lifetime. // He
invented the multi-stage rocket, / which joins two or more rockets together / in order to
fly higher. // He also designed a rocket chamber and nozzle / that produced a more
powerful thrust, / and he was the first / to use liquid fuels / instead of solid ones, / for
better performance. // All in all, / he is credited with more than 200 inventions, / most of
them involving rockets. //
Although Goddard died in 1945 / at age 63, / before seeing a human in space, / today /
he is known / as the father of space flight. // NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is
named after him. // Now / scientists say / that his dream of getting humans to Mars / －
the vision he had in the cherry tree－ / may come true / as soon as the year 2025. //
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