最優秀作品：A Kindness

最優秀作品：Letters

特選：The Day of the World’s End

特選：The Mystery Woman

特選：Killed by a Giant!

A Kindness
Jinpei
There was a boy named Ken. He was sleeping, but hewoke up because he heard a noise. And he saw someone
in his room. He screamed “Ahhh-h.”Then a man held a gun to his temple and said, “Don’tyell. If you yell, I’ll shoot you in the head.” Ken said,“OK. OK. I’ll be silent.”

Then Ken asked, “But why are you doing this to me?” “It’snone of your business,” he said, and then he went quiet.

One hour later, the man started talking. “My son has tobe operated on for cancer, so I need a lot of money, but I
don’t have enough money. So I broke into your room.
But I don’t want to kill anyone.” Ken said, “I’ll give you
enough money. I hope that your son will be cured.”“Really! Thank you.” “Wait a minute.”
A few minutes later, Ken came back with a big black bag. The man took the bagand went to his house.

2One year passed. Ken was sleeping, but he woke up
because he heard a noise. And he saw someone in hisroom. He screamed. “Don’t scream! Do you rememberme?” “Oh, I do. You came here last year. Was your soncured?” “Yes, I came here to say thank you to you.

Now, my son is running outside and studying hard.”
They talked for a long time.

30 years passed. Ken became ill and was hospitalized. When he saw his doctor, hewas very surprised. Ken asked, “Sorry. Did you have cancer in your childhood?” Thedoctor said, “Yes. But how did you know?” “I knew your father, and you resemble
him.”

3

LettersViolet
Dear son,
I had a strange dream last night. I was walking with you. I wasvery young, maybe about 17 years old. I do not remember wellbecause it was just a dream, but I
was saying something important
to you.

Anyway, I was happy because I could talk and walkwith you like a friend. You are in America with yourfather, so I’m a little lonely. But it’s not a problem.

I want you to live happily. You must go your own way
if I am not in this world. I’m going to undergo surgery
now. I don’t care whether it will go well or not because I
can meet you later in heaven
anyway.

I’m looking forward to it.
See you in the future.
From your mother, 7/24

4

Dear mother,Thank you for your letter. You’re not in this world, but
I’m writing to you in heaven. In fact, I had that dream,too! I took a girl (maybe she was you) to the hospital
because she wanted to say something important.

At the hospital she said. “After I die, we’ll meet again
here.” Now I understand that. I was happy, too, mother.
I have a big dream. I’ll go to university and will be adoctor. If my dreams come true, I’ll go to heaven andmeet you.

I was so happy to talk with you in this letter and in thedream. I’m already the happiest and most beloved childin the world. Thank you.
From your son, 7/25

5

The Day of the World’s EndK.K.nyagonigenyo
The sun was shining very brightly. It was as bright asnoon. But that was strange because it was five in themorning. “The sun is expanding,” I whispered, andclosed the car door.

My mother was sitting on the bed and looking out the window.
“I’m back.” I said to her. She just nodded, slowly.

It was 2 years ago. My wifeand son and I were visiting mymother’s house on summer
vacation. It was fun.

In the morning, we went to the beach. I’m not good atswimming, so I played beach ball and made a lot of sandcastles. My sun loved swimming and surfing. He
sometimes acted like a fool and made a lot of trouble.
We were happy… until then.

It was August 20th. We were returning to mymother’s house by car. And suddenly, it happened.

6

First, I thought it was a car crash. Many cars stopped,and I heard someone screaming. “What’s up? A caraccident?” my son asked. He looked nervous. “Let’s turnon the radio,” I said. And I did.

“… The sun is expanding. It cannot be stopped. Scientists say the Earth will break up…”
“Is it joke or something? Like ‘The War of theWorlds’ radio program?” I changed the channel. Click.
“The world will end…” Click. “We will die…” Click.
“The sun…” Click. Click, click, click! Every channel
was reporting the same news. “The world will end on
7/23/2014. It cannot be stopped.”
Now it is 7/23/2014. After the shocking news, mywife said she wanted to return to her hometown and die
there. We had a lot of arguments and separated. I live in
my mother’s house now. “You look so tired,” my mothersaid to me. “Really?” I said. “I think you look more tired
than me.” She smiled weakly. She got cancer last year.
Suddenly, the sun became brighter and brighter.
It seemed very dangerous.

My mother and I looked at the clock. 5:42. ‘The world
will end on July 23 at 5:45…’ I remembered thereporter’s voice. “Thank you for everything, Mom.” Isaid. She hugged me and smiled again. We sat on the bed,
and looked out the window together. Tick, tick, tick,tick…

7

The Mystery Woman
T.Y.
Once upon a time, there was a boy who was kidnappedby a mystery woman.
His name was Jack. The woman shut him up in herhouse in the forest for ten years.

When he was fifteen years old, one night he thought, “I
have been in this house for ten years.
Oh, I will be shut up in this house when I die.”He gave up, but then he thought of running away fromthere. “That’s a good idea!”Then, the very next day, he tried to do it early in themorning.

But he was found by the mystery woman. “Where areyou going?” she said in a wicked voice. Then she cast aspell on him.

8

But he never gave up. Two years later, he tried to run
away again.
He did it. He went to a new world! It was very beautiful.

He had never seen such a beautiful thing. But he hadno time. He dashed and dashed. He ran through a forest.

At last, he left the forest and he arrived in a town.
There were many factories, cars and buildings. He
looked for something to help him as he ran.

Then he found an elegant house. He asked for help
at the house. “Help me! I have been running awayfrom a kidnapper!” he shouted. The house’s ownerlooked at him.

Then he froze. “Do you think you can escape from me?”The owner was the mystery woman.

9Killed by a Giant!
Cockroach
I was a cockroach who was killed by a nasty boy.
I came here two weeks ago. The room was warm andnice, so I lived here.

That night, when I was going to sleep, I heard a loudvoice. I looked up and noticed a boy who was looking in
my direction and yelling.
It was too noisy to sleep,
so I went out of the roomand slept in another place.
It happened again the next night. And again and again.

It happened every day for two weeks. I noticed he yelled becauseof me.

One night two weeks later, when I was entering myhouse, I mean the room, he looked very angry. Heyelled at me, then he chased me. So I went to the left
but he kept running in the wrong direction, because
he was crazy or maybe because I was too small tosee.

10Then he looked back and noticed I was here.
Suddenly he looked so afraid that he went backward. Ithought he was really crazy or had schizophremia.

I wanted to talk to make him calm down, so I went
forward and tried to go near him. This time he looked really really angry. I thought heshould go to a hospital. Then he ran to me again.
This time I had no time to avoid him. But he jumped very high, so I thought he wasavoiding me. Wow! I was avoided by people. I felt like a giant.

But the next moment I noticed I was wrong. He wasn’t
avoiding me. He was killing me. “What? Why are you
killing me! I didn’t do anything!” I screamed.

Then his feet pressed down on me. “It hurts! Ithurts!” I screamed. My legs broke. Maybe I’ll have togo to a hospital, not him. But the next moment I felt
myself going flat. “Ugh!” Then I died.

11Mike 先生からのコメント

A Kindness
This story is full of surprises. It starts out with what seems to be a violent robbery, but after thatthe robber and victim cooperate to do a good deed. At the end of the story, there is another surprise.

Letters
The two letters in this story show the deep love between a mother and a son. It also shows howeven after someone in your family passes away, you can still feel close to them.

The Day of the World's End
This science fiction story takes a major worldwide disaster and focuses on its effect on a single
family. Because the writer gives a lot of information about the characters' backgrounds, the reader
feels emotionally involved in the story.

The Mystery Woman
This story, in which a mystery woman who seems to be a witch kidnaps a child, is a combinationof a fairy tale and a nightmare. The writer does an excellent job describing Jack's fear of themystery woman and his desire to become free.

Killed by a Giant!
This writer had the brilliant idea of retelling the story in the textbook from the point of view ofthe cockroach rather than the boy, and then did an excellent job developing the idea, giving the
cockroach an appealing personality.

12

宮下先生からのコメント

A Kindness
心温まるストーリーです。統一感のある言葉づかいが、自然な流れにのって美しく響きます。イディオムが頻繁にかつ効果的に使われ上手に入れてあり、前置詞の使い方も巧みです。会話文には感情がこめられ、バランスよく文章中に配置されています。ひとつの作品として、総合的にみて卓越しています。登場人物は性格がよいのも好感がもてます。

Letters
時空を超えたストーリーラインは斬新です。ドラマ化してもよい雰囲気です。手紙のやりとりでお話しを伝えるという手法は、よく練られています。文字を追っていくと、不思議なことに情景も浮かんでくるのは、表現力が高さを示しています。子供が the happiest andmost beloved child in the world というのも心を打たれます。

The Day of the World’s End
地球が最後の日を迎えたら、、、という壮大なテーマに取り組んだ作品です。パンクチュエーション（句読法）が作品の切れ味をよくしています。また倒置が文章のアクセントになっており、ハッとさせられます。文のスタイルをよく考えて構成してあります。人にとって大切なものは何なのかを問う秀作です。

The Mystery Woman
登場人物 2 名ともがあきらめない、というドキドキする作品です。意外な結末がおもしろいものの、ゾクゾクした気分のまま読み終わります。イラストを上手に使って、お話しの流れに合わせてあります。続編も書けそうです。作者はこの作品にどのようなメッセージをこめているのか考えさせられます。

Killed by a Giant!
ゴキブリが主人公という奇想天外なお話しです。普段はゴキブリサイドからは思考しないので、意表をつく展開です。難しい単語もよく調べてあります。ユーモアたっぷりなお話しですが、理論的な文章でもあります。最初と最後の太陽のイラストは、対照的でゴキブリの気持ちをよく表しています。

1314

15

16