(영어동화읽기) THE TURNIP

그냥 죽죽 읽어 나가세요. 대체로 짤막짤막해서 일단 읽기 시작하면 끝까지 읽으시기 바랍니다. 모르는 문장이나 단어가 나와도 그냥 추측하고 지나가시기 바랍니다. 작은 것을 버리고 큰 것을 얻으면 됩니다. 모르는 문장은 그런 상황을 뒤에서 여러번 만나면 저절로 알게 됩니다. 그리고 단어는 미리 혹은 나중에 따로 공부하면 됩니다. 그런 것에 자꾸 걸리면 진도가 안나가고 진도가 안나가면 금방 그만 둡니다. 읽을 때는 오직 줄거리에만 집중하셔야 합니다. 독해는 종합적인 공부로서 단어, 숙어, 문법, 회화, 듣기, 작문 실력을 한꺼번에 늘려 줍니다. 모든 영어공부 중에서 가장 종합적인 것이 읽기 입니다. 독해를 많이 하면 소위 영어의 내공이 쌓여 갑니다. 책을 많이 읽는 사람은 도저히 당할 수가 없습니다. 진짜 영어고수들은 모두 독서를 많이 한 사람들입니다. 중고등학교에서 영어성적 상위 1%에 드는 학생이라면 대체로 초등학교 때 영어동화책을 많이 읽은 학생입니다. 읽기는 모든 공부의 기초이면서 또한 완성입니다. 이런 동화들을 죽죽 읽어 나가다 보면 영문독해력은 그야말로 가랑비에 옷 젖듯이 자기도 모르게 쑥쑥 향상됩니다. 일단은 공부한다는 생각을 버리고 재미있게 읽는데 촛점을 맞추시기 바랍니다. 욕심을 버리고 재미있게 읽다보면 독해실력은 저절로 따라오죠. 욕심을 버리는 것! 이게 어렵습니다.

말이 나온 김에, 단어 이야기도 좀 하겠습니다. 모르는 단어도 여러번 실제 상황 속에서 만나게 되면 대충의 뜻을 저절로 알게 됩니다. 심지어 그 단어의 분위기나 색깔은 사전에서 보다 더 정확히 알 수 있습니다. 또 이렇게 체득된 단어는 아주 오래 갑니다. 단어실력을 유지하는 데도 독해가 최고죠. 최소한의 독서량을 유지만 해도 단어실력은 줄지 않습니다. 독서량이 늘면 어휘력이 증가되는 것은 물론, 기존의 어휘력이 유지 되며, 더 나아가 대충 알고 있던 의미가 더 정확해지고 뚜렷해 집니다. 평소에 무식하게 단어만 따로 외웠더라도 나중에 독해를 많이 하게 되면, 여러 상황 속에서 그런 단어들을 접하게 되므로 독해를 하면서 외운 단어들처럼 깊이 체화됩니다. 한 마디로, 독해야말로 어휘력을 늘리고 유지하고 정확히 하는 데도 최선의 방법입니다. 그래서 독해는 종합공부인 것이죠.

제가 약 200개 정도의 Grimm 형제 동화를 올릴 예정인데, 이것들을 다 읽을 수만 있다면 아무리 독해가 약했던 사람도 초기 상급자의 수준까지는 갈 수 있음을 장담합니다. 당근 그 이상의 수준으로 갈 수도 있습니다.

참고로, 상급자라 해도 다 같은 실력은 아닙니다. 하늘과 땅 차이일 수도 있습니다. 그러면 초기 상급자란 무엇인가? 일단 독해에 자신감이 있고 어떤 문장에 대해서도 거부감이 없는 상태이며 모르는 문장들이  나오더라도 실망하기 보다는 의욕과 투지가 불타는 수준을 말합니다. 어떤 상황에서도 포기하지 않고 오히려 모르는 문장들을 발전의 기회로 바라보는 수준이죠. 이 수준까지 가면 일단 그 사람은 영어가 강점이 되었으며 더 이상의 단계로 가는 것은 그냥 시간문제입니다. 미안하지만 이런 사람은 결코 다시 중급자나 하급자가 될 수 없습니다. 한 동안 영어를 놓았더라도 약간만 하면 금방 이전 수준으로 회복 됩니다. 영어실력 자체는 변동이 있을 수 있지만 마음 속에 한 번 자리잡은 자신감은 결코 사라지지 않습니다. 마치 자전거를 한 번 배운 사람은 언제라도 다시 자전거를 탈 수 있듯이요.^^

아래 판본은 여러 종류의 Grimm 형제 동화 번역본 중에서 최상급의 번역본입니다. 동화 특유의 파격이 있고 어휘가 좀 고전적이긴 하지만 문장이 깔끔하고 정제되어 있습니다. 웬만한 원어민 작가도 이 정도의 문장을 쓰기가 쉽지는 않습니다.
-----------------------

 

 

THE TURNIP

There were two brothers who were both soldiers; the one was rich and the other poor. The poor man thought he would try to better himself; so, pulling off his red coat, he became a gardener, and dug his ground well, and sowed turnips.

When the seed came up, there was one plant bigger than all the rest; and it kept getting larger and larger, and seemed as if it would never cease growing; so that it might have been called the prince of turnips for there never was such a one seen before, and never will again. At last it was so big that it filled a cart, and two oxen could hardly draw it; and the gardener knew not what in the world to do with it, nor whether it would be a blessing or a curse to him. One day he said to himself, 'What shall I do with it? if I sell it, it will bring no more than another; and for eating, the little turnips are better than this; the best thing perhaps is to carry it and give it to the king as a mark of respect.'

Then he yoked his oxen, and drew the turnip to the court, and gave it to the king. 'What a wonderful thing!' said the king; 'I have seen many strange things, but such a monster as this I never saw. Where did you get the seed? or is it only your good luck? If so, you are a true child of fortune.' 'Ah, no!' answered the gardener, 'I am no child of fortune; I am a poor soldier, who never could get enough to live upon; so I laid aside my red coat, and set to work, tilling the ground. I have a brother, who is rich, and your majesty knows him well, and all the world knows him; but because I am poor, everybody forgets me.'

The king then took pity on him, and said, 'You shall be poor no longer. I will give you so much that you shall be even richer than your brother.' Then he gave him gold and lands and flocks, and made him so rich that his brother's fortune could not at all be compared with his.

When the brother heard of all this, and how a turnip had made the gardener so rich, he envied him sorely, and bethought himself how he could contrive to get the same good fortune for himself. However, he determined to manage more cleverly than his brother, and got together a rich present of gold and fine horses for the king; and thought he must have a much larger gift in return; for if his brother had received so much for only a turnip, what must his present be wroth?

The king took the gift very graciously, and said he knew not what to give in return more valuable and wonderful than the great turnip; so the soldier was forced to put it into a cart, and drag it home with him. When he reached home, he knew not upon whom to vent his rage and spite; and at length wicked thoughts came into his head, and he resolved to kill his brother.

So he hired some villains to murder him; and having shown them where to lie in ambush, he went to his brother, and said, 'Dear brother, I have found a hidden treasure; let us go and dig it up, and share it between us.' The other had no suspicions of his roguery: so they went out together, and as they were travelling along, the murderers rushed out upon him, bound him, and were going to hang him on a tree.

But whilst they were getting all ready, they heard the trampling of a horse at a distance, which so frightened them that they pushed their prisoner neck and shoulders together into a sack, and swung him up by a cord to the tree, where they left him dangling, and ran away. Meantime he worked and worked away, till he made a hole large enough to put out his head.

When the horseman came up, he proved to be a student, a merry fellow, who was journeying along on his nag, and singing as he went. As soon as the man in the sack saw him passing under the tree, he cried out, 'Good morning! good morning to thee, my friend!' The student looked about everywhere; and seeing no one, and not knowing where the voice came from, cried out, 'Who calls me?'

Then the man in the tree answered, 'Lift up thine eyes, for behold here I sit in the sack of wisdom; here have I, in a short time, learned great and wondrous things. Compared to this seat, all the learning of the schools is as empty air. A little longer, and I shall know all that man can know, and shall come forth wiser than the wisest of mankind. Here I discern the signs and motions of the heavens and the stars; the laws that control the winds; the number of the sands on the seashore; the healing of the sick; the virtues of all simples, of birds, and of precious stones. Wert thou but once here, my friend, though wouldst feel and own the power of knowledge.

The student listened to all this and wondered much; at last he said, 'Blessed be the day and hour when I found you; cannot you contrive to let me into the sack for a little while?' Then the other answered, as if very unwillingly, 'A little space I may allow thee to sit here, if thou wilt reward me well and entreat me kindly; but thou must tarry yet an hour below, till I have learnt some little matters that are yet unknown to me.'

So the student sat himself down and waited a while; but the time hung heavy upon him, and he begged earnestly that he might ascend forthwith, for his thirst for knowledge was great. Then the other pretended to give way, and said, 'Thou must let the sack of wisdom descend, by untying yonder cord, and then thou shalt enter.' So the student let him down, opened the sack, and set him free. 'Now then,' cried he, 'let me ascend quickly.' As he began to put himself into the sack heels first, 'Wait a while,' said the gardener, 'that is not the way.' Then he pushed him in head first, tied up the sack, and soon swung up the searcher after wisdom dangling in the air. 'How is it with thee, friend?' said he, 'dost thou not feel that wisdom comes unto thee? Rest there in peace, till thou art a wiser man than thou wert.'

So saying, he trotted off on the student's nag, and left the poor fellow to gather wisdom till somebody should come and let him down.