CRITICAL READING TRAINING

Target: Identifying Topics

Lesson 2 では，あるポーランド人女性が人々のために命がけで困難に立ち向かった姿を見てきました。英語の論説文では，基本的に，ある主題（Topic）について，筆者の伝えたいこと（Main Idea）が示されています。まず，「何についての文章か＝ Topic」を意識し，そのTopic について「筆者の意見は何か＝ Main Idea」を読み取りましょう。

Read the passage below and answer the following questions.

The story of Irena Sendler was forgotten for many years, until four Kansas high school girls rediscovered it by doing a history project. The girls heard about Irena and decided to investigate. It was difficult to find information, but slowly they learned Irena’s story.

The girls decided to tell Irena’s impressive story to as many people as possible. First of all, they wrote a play about her, called “The Holocaust and Life in a Jar.” The play became （　①　） and was performed all over the US and abroad. Second, they found someone to translate documents from Polish and they made （　②　） a collection of letters and documents about Irena. Finally, the students traveled to Poland and met Irena. The Polish press helped make Irena’s story （　③　）.

Thanks to four high school students, the story of Irena Sendler will never be forgotten. There are books and websites about Irena and her story has appeared in many languages. Irena now has the recognition that she deserves.

(1) Fill in the blanks in the second paragraph, using a ～ c.

①　a. classical　b. famous　c. traditional

②　a. certain　b. private　c. public

③　a. more interesting　b. even worse　c. internationally famous

Identifying Topic（本文の主題を見分ける問題）

(2) Which of the following sentences expresses the topic of this passage?

  1. How four Kansas high school students started their project
  2. How the story of Irena Sendler came to be better known
  3. Why the play “The Holocaust and Life in a Jar” became famous

Identifying Main Idea（本文のいちばん伝えたいポイントを見分ける問題）

(3) Which of the following sentences expresses the main idea of this passage?

  1. Four Kansas high school students made Irenaʼs story known to the world.
  2. It was very difficult to make the story of Irena Sendler famous.
  3. Irena had a hard time during World War II in Poland.