高校教科書

一課をやるのも一日がかり、なかなか意味が不明でした。
なんとか、やりました。でも、続けることが重要かな。

lesson6
the american cowboy
Many stroies have been written about american cowboys who drove thir herds of cattle（牛の群） over（越えて） the Western plains. Hollywood movies and television dramas often deal with this subject. What are the facts about this romantic period of Amerikan history?
Cattle raising began in Texas well before the Civil War. The cattle had originally come in from Mexico. Even the clothing worn by the cowboy-the wide hats, the coats and trousers made of leather- and the lasso, which you are familiar with in Western movies, were taken from the Mexican cowboys.
メス牛の飼育は、市民戦争よりかなり以前にはじまった。その牛たちは、もとは、メキシコから入り込んでいた。カウボーイによって着用されているもの、広いつばの帽子、、革でできたズボンやコート、そして投げ輪、それらをあなたたちは、西部劇にて親しんでいるものだが、メキシコカーボーイからとらえたものです。
During the Civil War the number of cattle in Texas increased greatly. The reason for this was that most Texas men were away at war there was no way of selling the cattle.
Texas formed part of the Confederacy, but the Mississippi River, which the Union army held , was closed to Southern commerce. While Confederate solders in Virginia were dying of hunger , the cattle in Texas went on growing in number.
テキサスは、南部連邦の一部を形成していたのだが、しかし、ミシシッピ川は、北軍が保っていたので、南部諸州に対して交易を閉ざされていた。バージニアにいる、南部兵士たちは、上で死んでいく一方で、テキサスの牛は、数が増えて行っておりました。
By 1865, when the war finally ended , there were some 6,000,000　head of cattle on the Texas plains.
Economic conditions were very bad in Texas after the war, as in all other Southern States that had been severely defeated.
ひどく敗退した他の南部州におけるように、
At the same time , the North was enjoying a period of good business.
The number of cattle had gone down during the war years.
All of the meat went to the army.
After the end of the war there were millions of people in the North who were now demanding meat. They were also ready to pay high prices for it. In Texas, cattle were selling for as little as a dollar a head.
　Thus the long drivers north began.
There were , of course, no railroads in the Southwest at this time.
Railroads had been built only as far west as Kansas.鉄道は西の方、カンサスまでしか建設されなかった。
So the problem was to move the cattle north to the railroad in Kansas.だから問題は、北の方、カンサスにある鉄道へと牛を移動させることだった。
Texas cattle were sold to dealers in Kansas towns, then placed in freight cars and shipped directly to Chicago.
テキサスの牛は、カンサスの町で、商人に売られた。それから鉄道荷車に乗せられ、シカゴまで直接荷積みされた。
The movement of cattle north from Texas went on steadily for some fifteen years .
It is said that then million head of cattle traveled over the plains during this period.
テキサスから北への牛の移動は、15年ばかり着実に続けられた。
それから百万頭の牛が、この期間に　平原を渡って横切った。
The herds were often small , much smaller than those you see in Hollywood movies.
Around ten cowboys went along with each herd.
They worked in pairs (二人一組で）guarding the cattle twenty-four hours a day.
彼らは、ふたり一組で、一日２４時間を牛を守ることで過ごす。
The herds moved slowly, usually not more than ten or twelve miles a day. The trips often took several months, sometimes as long as a whole year.
Then , around 1880, conditions began to change.
Sometimes ,after the long drive, there was no market for the cattle.
Or the cattle were so thin after months of travel that they had to be given a rest to grow strong and fat.
Thus there developed all through the Middle West a series of small ranches where the cattle could rest and feed while waiting to go on to market.
In time, these ranches grew in size and became permanent.
かくして、中央西部一面につながりのある小さな牧場、そこで牛が市場に移されるのを待っている間に、休憩し、えさを与えられ得るような牧場が開発された。
まにあって、これらの牧場は、おおきさをもち、恒久的なものとなった。
More attention was given to breeding and to improving the quality of meat.
Railroad lines were extended, so that markets were easier to reach.
The duties of the cowboys became limited .
Now there were no lost cows to round up（かきあつめる）, no wild cattle to rope and break（ならす）.
The long drives were over .
The romantic period of the Western cowboy- a period of really only twenty years from 1865 to about 1885 -had come to an end.