Notes
thrust (力強くすばやく)押す;
chubby まるまる太った;
flowing 流れ；
ache (ずきずき)痛む;
stiff (曲がらなくて)硬い;
numb まひした、無感覚になった;
be drowned 溺れる、溺死される;
groan うめき声;
faithfulness 忠実;

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He climbed down the side of the dike and thrust his chubby little hand and finger into the tiny hole and stopped the flowing of the water. Then he cried out for help, but no one heard him; no one came to help. It grew dark, and cold; he was hungry; his arm ached and it began to grow stiff and numb. He shouted again: “0 mother! mother!” But his mother thought Peter must be spending the night with the blind man, and did not know of his danger. Peter thought how warm and cozy all at home were sleeping in their beds, and he said to himself, “I will not let them be drowned!” So that good boy stayed there all night long, holding back the water. Early next morning, a minister on his way to visit the sick, heard a groan, saw the boy, and called out to him, “What is the matter, my boy? Are you hurt? Why are you sitting there?” When Peter told him what he had done, the minister said, “I will hold my hand there while you run quickly to the town and get help.” Very soon men came and repaired the leak in the dike, but all knew that Peter, by his courage and faithfulness, had saved the town of Haarlem that night. ((Excerpt from the book “Worlds Story Retold”. The end)
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Notes
Holland オランダ;
kind-hearted 親切な、心の優しい;
light-hearted 気楽な、快活な、陽気な;
stream 流れ,(特に)小川;
trickle ちょろちょろ流れる;
bank 川岸;
leak 漏れ;
dike (氾濫・逆流などを防ぐための)堤防;

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Once there was a good boy who had a kind-hearted mother. One afternoon she said: “Here, Peter, are some cakes I want you to take to the poor old blind man who is very ill, and who lives a mile and a half away from town. If you go quickly and do not stop to play, you will be home before it is dark.” Peter took the cakes to the poor old blind man, who said, “You are a kind-hearted boy; thank your mother for me.” Light-hearted because he had made the blind man happy, Peter was walking home when suddenly he noticed a little stream of water trickling through the great bank on the side of the road. This was in Holland, where much of the land is below the level of the sea, and where dikes are built by the people to keep back the sea. Every boy in Holland knows the danger of even a small leak in the dike. Peter understood at once that this tiny stream would soon make a large hole and the whole city would be flooded. In a moment he saw what he must do. (Excerpt from the book “Worlds Story Retold”. To be continued)
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(Image from https://www.brainkart.com/article/The-Little-Hero-of-Holland_39537/)