Activity 48

ざっと読みするために文章を読むときは同時にリスニングを行う。音声を途中で止めたりせずに、話されるスピードについていこう。これはあなたにいくつかの単語をスキップさせることになるだろう。それは実は大事なスキルだ。章は短いので、１０分費やすために何度も同じ章を繰り返しざっと読みすることになるだろう。

Listen to HNT Chapter 8 on YouTube (download it, or open another window) and follow along with the text below (you'll listen as you read).
 
Don't pause. Just allow the audio to continue smoothly.
 
Repeat until the 10 minutes are up.  Your job is simply to spend the time, not to understand every word.

Listen softly, lightly.


HNT Chapter 8
 
From Fukuoka, Mami and I travel to Kumamoto. The best way is by bus, or coach. I look out of the window and enjoy the scenery. This is my fifth visit to Japan. A lot of what I see is very familiar.
 
At Kumamoto, Mami’s mother is there to meet us. I know her, because she visited us in New Zealand. She has come by car to drive us home. The Yamaguchi family lives in Uto, about 15km south of Kumamoto. It’s a nice area with interesting old houses and with many rice fields too. The land is flat, but dotted with mountains. It’s all very pretty.
 
The family home is only about ten years old. It is quite large, and it has very neat grounds. We get out of the car, and I greet Mami’s sister, Rumi. The two are twins. Rumi has been to New Zealand too. I met her before I met her mother. Also living at home are the grandparents (on the father’s side). Mr Yamaguchi is not home at present. He likes to play pachinko.
 
I meet him for the first time an hour or two later, when he returns home. “How do you do?” I say in Japanese. Yamaguchi-san changes his clothes before showing me outside. He is a keen gardener. He works in the garden every day. He points to the different trees and bushes, and tells me the name of every vegetable and fruit.
 
Before I met him I was nervous. You see, I’m 16 years older than Mami. I’m closer to her parents’ age than to hers. Also, I’ve been married once before. I already have three children.