樹木たちに未来の光合成を願う

　花の少ない季節にあって、今が盛りの「金木犀」です。例年より開花が少々遅いように感じます。これは今夏の猛暑が影響しているのかもしれません。実は、この写真は近隣の家の庭先に咲いてるものです。誠に明るくきれいな橙色です。

　この家の主は私の同級生ですが、数年前に急逝され、その後、間もなくして、元気だった奥様も高齢者施設に入居されました。このため、家屋は空き家となり、庭はそのまま残されたままです。しかし、親はなくても子は育つように「金木犀」の樹勢は良く、よい香りを放ってます。

　同様に、私の家の「金木犀」は樹齢１２０年以上と想われます。私が生まれたときはすでにいなかった幕末生まれの祖父母がもしかして植えたのかもしれません。親にきちんと聞いておけばよかったと悔やまれます。

　このように、植物は人間の寿命を遥かに超え、成長していくのですから、もしかして、私が植えた多くの西洋シャクナゲや日本シャクナゲ、花桃、５本の花梅、未だ咲いてるサルスベリなども、私の寿命を遥かに超え、これからの長い年月を毎年、咲き続けることでしょう。植物たちに未来の光合成を託し、今日も一日、植物たちをしっかり世話します。

Dear my friends abroad who like reading in English

　The simultaneous interpretation for your understanding will be done after my radio gymnastics held in the nearby park and breakfast in Japan time.

..................................................

　In this season when there are few flowers, the fragrant olive is in full bloom. It seems to be blooming a little later than usual. This may be due to the intense heat this summer. In fact, this photo shows the flowers blooming in a neighboring garden. What a bright and beautiful orange color. You can almost smell its fragrance through your device.

　The owner of this garden was my classmate, but he passed away suddenly a few years ago, and shortly thereafter, his healthy wife moved into a nursing home. As a result, their house is vacant and the garden is left as it is. However, as old saying that children grow up without parents, the fragrant olive is doing well and gives off a wonderful fragrance.

　Similarly, the fragrant olive in my garden is thought to be over 120 years old. Perhaps it was planted by my grandparents who were born at the end of Edo period but were no longer alive when I was born during world war Ⅱ. I regret that I should have asked my parents who had planted it more carefully.

　In this way, plants grow and develop far beyond the human lifespan, so perhaps the many Western and Japanese rhododendrons, flowering peach trees, five flowering plum trees, and the crape myrtle trees that I have planted will far outlive me and continue to bloom every year from now on. I will entrust these plants with photosynthesis for the future humans. I will take good care of them today as well.

https://ttsreader.com/ja/...

今年もカミキリムシの被害に遭う

　枝から枝まで６mほどある巨樹に成長した庭の「サルスベリ」が予定通り、昨日７月9日に一枝のみ開花したことを発見しました。樹木全体から見れば未だ１％にも過ぎません。それでも、毎年同じ日の前後に咲くので不思議です。

　おそらく、樹木が太陽高度や、それに伴う日照時間を察知しているのでしょう。現在の太陽高度は７６°【群馬県】です。これは地上に対する正午の太陽の角度です。現在、北半球では一年で最も高い位置から太陽光が当たってます。

　ご存じの通り、地軸の傾きは２３°２６′です。この度数と同じ北回帰線が通過する台湾などでは現在、太陽は真上から照らしてます。最初の就職で住んでたインドのカルカッタ市の位置は北緯２２度でしたから、今頃、太陽は少し北から照らしてます。

　調べてみると、サルスベリは中国南部が原産地で、日本へは江戸時代以前に渡来したといわれます。このため、日本でも真夏に咲き、１０月上旬まで約１００日間咲き続ける珍しい樹木です。

　ところで、サルスベリには害虫が住み着きます。幹に直径０．７ミリほどの穴が開くことがあります。これはカミキリムシの雌が幹の中に卵を産み付けます。サルスベリには硬い樹皮がないので穴を開けやすいのでしょう。また、凄い数の赤い小さな蟻が幹の中に巣作りします。ですから、サルスベリの健康のため、これらを防ぐのが私の仕事です。

Dear my overseas friends

　The simultaneous interpretation for you will be late, because from now on I will participate the radio gymnastics held nearby park and take a breakfast. Then I'll interpret into English for you above mentioned contents.

・・・・

　

　Yesterday on July 9th, I discovered that only one branch of the "crape myrtle" in the garden, which had grown into a huge tree, began to blooming as expectation. It is still only 1% of the total number of branches. Still, it's marvelous that it blooms around the same day every year.

　Perhaps the tree perceive the sun's altitude and the daylight hours." The current sun altitude is 76° [Gumma Prefecture]. This is the angle of the sun at noon with respect to the ground. Right now, in the northern hemisphere, the sun hits us from the highest point in the year.

　As you know, the tilt of the earth's axis is 23°26'. In places such as Taiwan where the Tropic of Cancer passes through at this degree, the sun shines directly from above. The city of Calcutta in India where I lived when I first got a job as a teacher of Japanese school, was located at 22 degrees north latitude, so the sun is shining from the north a little at this time.

　According to research, crape myrtle is said to have originated in southern China and was brought to Japan before the Edo period. For this reason, it is a rare tree that blooms in midsummer even in Japan and continues to bloom for about 100 days until early October.

　Not change the subject, but crape myrtle is tend to be settled down by some harmful insect." A hole about 0.7 mm in diameter opened in the trunk. Female longhorn beetles lay her eggs inside the trunk. Crape myrtle does not have a hard bark, so it is easy to pierce. Also, a great number of small red ants nest in the trunk. So it's my job to exterminate these things for the health of the crape myrtle.

※上記の英文をネイティブの発音で聴くには英文をドラッグしてコピーし、次に貼り付けて下さい。なお、右上の欄を必ずUS Englishにしてください。https://ttsreader.com/ja/