『マチルダは小さな大天才』を翻訳して見た（パート1/2）

ロアルド・ダールの『マチルダは小さな大天才』（Matilda）という本をちょっとだけ翻訳してみました。

―――
マチルダの兄のマイカルはごく普通の男の子だが、妹は―前に言ったように―目が飛び出るほど特別な子だ。マチルダは一歳半の時、すでに大人と同じくらいの言葉が知っていて、完璧に話せる。でも、親たちに、うるさいおチャッピと言われて、小さい子は聞かられるべきじゃないように叱られた。

マチルダは三歳の時、自分で家に散らかっている新聞や雑誌を勉強して、もう読めるようになった。四歳の時、すらすら読めるようになって、本を欲しがっていた。でも、この賢明な家族の唯一の本は、お母さんの「イージー・コッキング」というものだ。マチルダはその本を隅から隅まで読んで、全部のレシピを覚えたら、もっと面白いのが欲しがっていた。

Matilda's brother Michael was a perfectly normal boy, but the sister, as I said, was something to make your eyes pop. By the age of one and a half her speech was perfect and she knew as many words as most grown-ups. The parents, instead of applauding her, called her a noisy chatterbox and told her sharply that small girls should be seen and not heard.

By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well and she naturally began hankering after books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting.