Notes
obey 従う、服従する;

******************************
Traffic accidents are always bad news, but in the last ten years, there has been some good news. The number of people who die in traffic accidents in Japan has been going down. In 2012, there were 4438 deaths, but by 2022, the number of deaths had dropped to 2610. The government hopes that there will be fewer than 2000 deaths by 2025. Why are the number of deaths going down? According to the government, there are many reasons. Drivers are being more careful and watching out for children and senior citizens. People are not drinking and driving, and cyclists are obeying the rules. (by Prof. Douglas Jarrell)
******************************

Notes
stillness 静けさ、静寂;
gloom (心の)陰気、陰うつ;
hut (掘っ建て)小屋、あばら屋;
desert 廃棄する;
moan (苦痛・悲しみの)うめき(声);
trace 跡、足跡;

**************************
It was three years before his ship returned and he again drew near the island. Eagerly he looked up and down the shore for signs of a welcome from his people. But only the washing of the waves on the beach and the stillness and gloom of the dense forest greeted him. Not a person was to be found. His little granddaughter, her parents, and all the colonists had disappeared. The huts were deserted. Not a sound was to be heard but the cry of the birds and the moaning of the trees. On a tree were cut a few letters. Was it the name of some place to which the people had moved? Poor John White! He never found out. Heart-broken, he turned his ship back to England. Not a trace of this lost colony, not a trace of the little babe, Virginia Dare, has ever been found. (End)
**************************