幼稚園のころは... / 笑えようがない疑問 / 質問する / この本です

[eeky]

Hello,


1. 幼稚園のころは適当にうまく話して納得させていたのだが、これくらいの年になると、適当に 話してごまかすわけにもいかない。先日もいい加減に答 えたばかりに、子供には「本当はわからないんじゃない の」と言われるし、妻からは「子供の教育にもっと関心 を持ってよ」と怒られるし、ひどい目にあってしまった 。

My translation: "When he [the writer's son] was in kindergarten, I could satisfy him with glib and vague replies, but at the age he is now, it's impossible to evade his questions in the same way. The other day, when I answered (a question) carelessly, he retorted 'You don't really understand that, do you?' On top of that, my wife told me off with 'You should take more interest in the child's education', so I ended up having a hard time."

Is this all OK?


2. The next sentence is:

しかし、中には笑えようがない疑問というものもある。

I am stumped by this. To me, it appears to mean something like "However, among these are also question(s) that won't make (someone) laugh." Unfortunately this seems to make no sense in context for any value of "someone".


3. こういう質問は大人がすることはない。子供だからこそ するのだ。

My translation: "These kinds of questions are not asked by adults. They are only asked by children. (lit. Purely because it's a child does (the person) ask.)"

In both sentences I'm assuming する means 質問する. Is that right?


4. There is a picture of a teacher handing a girl a book. The girl is saying 「あの、拝見してもよろしいでしょうか」 and the teacher is saying 「この本です」. I'm not clear from the layout which is spoken first, but to me it looks like it means:

Teacher: It's this book.
Girl: Would it be OK if I looked?

I'm not sure I have quite grasped the meaning of この本です. My translation implies that they've spoken about the book before, but only now is the teacher actually showing the girl the book. I'm not very confident that this is what it means in the Japanese...

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
Yes. Good translation!

2)
First af all, 笑えようがない is not common, or possibly incorrect. ～しようがない is a structure to mean "to be impossible to do", so it's not usually used with potential forms. I think it's a typo/mistake of 笑いようがない.

しかし、中には笑いようがない疑問というものもある。
However, there are also quesetions I/one can't laugh off among them.

3)
The object 質問を is omitted. The meaning is the same to 質問する, though.

こういう質問は(= the topicalized 質問を)大人がすることはない。子供だからこそ（質問あ jするのだ。

4)
Either order, the teacher is first or the girl is first, are possible. Another interpretation than yours is a topic was talked between them, and she is asking the teacher to show a book that topic is in, and the teacher hands it while saying "here you are".

 

[eeky]

Thank you!

I apologise, (2) is a transcription error on my part. It should read しかし、中には答えようがない疑問というものもある。That would make more sense!