英語で怖い話を読みながら、楽しく英語を学んでみませんか？
この「英語で読む怖い話」シリーズでは、日本で有名な怖い話や都市伝説を、読みやすい英語のストーリーにして紹介します。
今回のお話は、日本の学校の怪談として有名な「トイレの花子さん」です。
学校のトイレで「花子さんがいる」という噂を聞いたことがある人も多いのではないでしょうか？
今回は、そんな花子さんの話をもとに、英語学習向けのオリジナルストーリーにしました。
英語のストーリーの後には、日本語訳だけでなく、重要な単語やフレーズ、読解チェックも紹介します。
怖い話を楽しみながら、英語のリーディング力を伸ばしていきましょう。
それでは、少し怖い物語の始まりです……。
※この記事にはアフェリエイト広告が含まれています
The Story
There was an old elementary school in a small town.
The school had been there for many years, and the students often told scary stories about it.
The most famous one was about a girl named Hanako.
They said that Hanako was a girl who had died at the school a long time ago.
According to the story, if you went to the girls’ bathroom on the third floor and knocked on the third stall three times, you could hear her voice.
One afternoon, a girl named Yuki was talking with her friends after school.
“Do you believe in Hanako?” one of her friends asked.
“No way,” Yuki said with a laugh.
“Then why don’t you go and see her?”
Yuki didn’t want to admit that she was scared.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
She walked to the girls’ bathroom on the third floor.
The school was strangely quiet.
There was nobody in the hallway.
Yuki stood in front of the third stall.
She took a deep breath.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
“Hanako, are you there?”
For a few seconds, there was no answer.
Yuki smiled.
“See? There’s nobody here.”
She turned around.
Then she heard a quiet voice from inside the stall.
“Yes…”
Yuki froze.
Her smile disappeared.
She slowly turned back toward the stall.
“Are you Hanako?”
There was no answer.
Yuki stepped closer.
Then the door slowly opened by itself.
Creak…
Yuki couldn’t move.
The stall was empty.
She took a step backward.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her.
Step.
Step.
Step.
She turned around.
There was no one there.
Yuki ran out of the bathroom as fast as she could.
When she reached the hallway, she saw her friends waiting for her.
“What’s wrong?” one of them asked.
Yuki couldn’t speak.
She just pointed toward the bathroom.
Her friends looked at each other.
Then one of them whispered,
“Yuki…”
“What?”
“You were supposed to ask, ‘Are you Hanako?'”
“I did.”
Her friend shook her head.
“No. The story says you have to ask, ‘Are you Hanako?'”
Yuki looked confused.
“That’s what I asked.”
Her friend looked frightened.
“Then what did she ask you?”
Yuki suddenly remembered the voice from inside the stall.
She had heard a question before the door opened.
A question she had completely forgotten.
The voice had whispered,
“Are you Yuki?”
Yuki’s face went pale.
Behind them, from inside the bathroom…
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Today’s Phrases
| English | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| scary story | 怖い話・怖い物語 | I love listening to scary stories. |
| believe in ~ | ～を信じる | Do you believe in ghosts? |
| take a deep breath | 深呼吸する | She took a deep breath before opening the door. |
| freeze | 体が固まる・動けなくなる | I froze when I heard the noise. |
| by itself | ひとりでに・勝手に | The door opened by itself. |
| step backward | 一歩後ろに下がる | He stepped backward slowly. |
| run out of ~ | ～から走って出る | She ran out of the room. |
| go pale | 青ざめる | His face went pale. |
Reading Check
Q1. Where did Yuki go?
Answer:
She went to the girls’ bathroom on the third floor.
Q2. What did Yuki do three times?
Answer:
She knocked on the third stall three times.
Q3. What happened when Yuki asked if Hanako was there?
Answer:
A voice answered, “Yes.”
Q4. What was the most frightening part of the story?
Answer:
Yuki realized that Hanako had asked, “Are you Yuki?”
Summary
今回の怖い話は、日本の学校の怪談として有名な**「トイレの花子さん」**をもとにしたストーリーです。
今回のストーリーでは、単純に「花子さんが出てくる」というだけではなく、最後に**「Are you Yuki?」**という一言を加えて、オリジナルの展開にしています。
英語の怖い話では、難しい単語をたくさん使わなくても、
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Step. Step. Step.
のように短い表現を繰り返すことで、怖い雰囲気を作ることができます。
ぜひもう一度、今度は日本語訳を見ずに読んでみてください。
そして最後の場面を想像してみてください。
Yukiが逃げたあと、トイレの中には本当に誰がいたのでしょうか？
コメント