A Modest Proposal: For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick — Page 14
Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither clothes, nor houshold furniture, except what is of our own growth and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the materials and instruments that promote foreign luxury: Of curing the expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our women: Of introducing a vein of parsimony, prudence and temperance: Of learning to love our country, wherein we differ even from Laplanders, and the inhabitants of Topinamboo: Of quitting our animosities and factions, nor acting any longer like the Jews, who were murdering one another at the very moment their city was taken: Of being a little cautious not to sell our country and consciences for nothing: Of teaching landlords to have at least one degree of mercy towards their tenants.
それゆえ、他の方策について私に語りかける者があってはならない。不在地主に対して1ポンドにつき5シリングの税を課すこと、自国の産物と製造品以外の衣服も家具も一切使用しないこと、外国の奢侈を促す材料や道具を完全に拒絶すること、わが国の女性における虚栄心、うぬぼれ、怠惰、賭博の浪費癖を矯正すること、節倹、分別、節制の精神を導入すること、自国を愛することを学ぶこと――この点においてわれわれはラップランド人やトピナンブーの住民にさえ劣っている――、憎しみや党派心を捨て去り、ユダヤ人のように振る舞うのをやめること――彼らは都市が陥落したまさにその瞬間にも互いを殺し合っていた――、自国と良心をただ同然に売り渡さないよう少しは慎重になること、地主たちに小作人に対して少なくとも一片の慈悲を持つよう教えること。
Lastly, of putting a spirit of honesty, industry, and skill into our shopkeepers, who, if a resolution could now be taken to buy only our native goods, would immediately unite to cheat and exact upon us in the price, the measure, and the goodness, nor could ever yet be brought to make one fair proposal of just dealing, though often and earnestly invited to it.
最後に、わが国の商人たちに誠実さ、勤勉さ、技量の精神を吹き込むこと――彼らは、もし今すぐ国産品だけを買うという決議がなされたとしたら、たちまち団結して価格、分量、品質においてわれわれを欺き、ぼったくろうとするであろう。そして、たびたび真剣に求められたにもかかわらず、公正な取引の提案を一つとして行おうとしたことがない。
Therefore I repeat, let no man talk to me of these and the like expedients, till he hath at least some glympse of hope, that there will ever be some hearty and sincere attempt to put them into practice.
それゆえ繰り返す。これらおよびこれに類する方策について私に語りかける者があってはならない。それらを実行に移す誠実で真摯な試みがいつかなされるであろうという、せめてわずかな希望の光を持つまでは。
Vocabulary
- それ
- sore — That; that thing or person over there.
- ゆえ
- yuē — Therefore; for that reason; consequently.
- 方策
- hōsaku — Plan; strategy; measure or method.
- について
- tsuite — About; concerning; regarding; with respect to.
- 語り
- katari — Narrative; story; account or narration.
- かける
- kakeru — To hang; to place on; to impose or apply.
- あって
- atte — Being; existing; having (conditional form).
- なら
- nara — If; in case; provided that; when.
- ない
- nai — Not; do not; absence of something.
- 不在
- fuzai — Absence; not being present; away from place.
- 地主
- jinushi — Landowner; landlord; proprietor of land.
- 対し
- taishi — Towards; against; in contrast with or to.
- ポンド
- pondo — Pound; unit of weight or currency.
- つき
- tsuki — Per; each; moon; lunar; monthly basis.
- シリング
- shiringu — Shilling; former monetary unit of Britain.
- 課す
- kasu — To impose; to levy; to place burden on.
- こと
- koto — Thing; matter; fact; event or incident.
- 自国
- jikoku — One's own country; native country or homeland.
- 産物
- sanbutsu — Product; produce; result or outcome.
- 製造
- seizō — Manufacturing; production; making or fabrication.
- 以外
- igai — Other than; except; excluding or besides.
- 衣服
- ifuku — Clothing; garments; clothes or apparel.
- 家具
- kagu — Furniture; household furnishings or fittings.
- 一切
- issai — All; everything; without exception; anything.
- 使用
- shiyō — Use; usage; utilization or application.
- 外国
- gaikoku — Foreign country; abroad; outside one's nation.
- 奢侈
- shashi — Luxury; extravagance; lavishness or excess.
- 促す
- unagasu — To urge; to encourage; to promote or hasten.
- 材料
- zairyō — Material; ingredients; supplies or components.
- 道具
- dōgu — Tool; implement; instrument or equipment.
- 完全
- kanzen — Complete; perfect; entire or whole.
- 拒絶
- kyozetsu — Rejection; refusal; denial or declining.
- する
- suru — To do; to make; to perform action.
- わが
- waga — My; our; one's own; my dear.
- 女性
- josei — Woman; women; female gender; lady.
- おける
- okeru — Located in; existing in; at; in case of.
- 虚栄
- kyoei — Vanity; vainglory; empty pride or conceit.
- うぬぼれ
- unubore — Conceit; arrogance; self-importance or pretension.
- 怠惰
- taida — Laziness; idleness; sloth or indolence.
- 賭博
- tobaku — Gambling; wagering; betting or gaming.
- 浪費
- rōhi — Wasteful spending; extravagance; squandering money.
- 矯正
- kyōsei — Correction; reform; rectification or amendment.
- 節倹
- setsuken — Frugality; thrift; economical living.
- 分別
- bunbetsu — Discretion; judgment; sense or wisdom.
- 節制
- setsūsei — Moderation; restraint; temperance or self-control.
- 精神
- seishin — Spirit; mind; soul; psyche or essence.
- 導入
- dōnyū — Introduction; implementation; adoption or importing.
- 愛する
- aisuru — To love; to be fond of; to like.
- 学ぶ
- manabu — To learn; to study; to acquire knowledge.
- ――この
- kono — This; the present; current or aforementioned.
- において
- oite — In; at; during; on occasion or basis.
- われわれ
- wareware — We; us; ourselves; our people or group.
- 住民
- jūmin — Resident; inhabitant; dweller or occupant.
- さえ
- sae — Even; just; only; as far as.
- 劣っ
- otoreru — To be inferior; to fall short; to lose.
- いる
- iru — To be; to exist; to stay or remain.
- 憎しみ
- nikushimi — Hatred; hate; animosity; enmity or dislike.
- 党派
- tōha — Party; faction; group or political faction.
- 捨て
- sute — To throw away; to abandon; to discard.
- 去り
- sari — Departure; leaving; going away.
- ユダヤ
- yudaya — Jew; Jewish; pertaining to Judaism.
- よう
- yō — Like; as if; seems; appears to be.
- 振る舞う
- furumaū — To conduct; to behave; to act or manage.
- やめる
- yameru — To stop; to quit; to cease or abandon.
- ――彼ら
- karera — They; them; those people; those persons.
- 都市
- toshi — City; urban area; metropolitan area.
- 陥落
- kanraku — Fall; capture; collapse or downfall.
- まさに
- masani — Exactly; precisely; just; at that moment.
- その
- sono — That; the; its; aforementioned or said.
- 瞬間
- shunkan — Moment; instant; second; flash of time.
- 互い
- tagui — Each other; mutual; reciprocal; one another.
- 殺し
- koroshi — Murder; killing; assassination or slaying.
- 合っ
- atta — Matched; met; occurred; took place.
- 良心
- ryōshin — Conscience; moral sense; integrity or principle.
- ただ
- tada — Only; merely; simply; just or alone.
- 同然
- dōzen — Same as; as if; equivalent to.
- 売り
- uri — Sale; selling; merchandise; for sale.
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