私は看護婦を相手に、父の水枕を取り更へて、それから新らしい氷を入れた氷嚢を頭の上へ載せた。がさ／＼に割られて尖り切つた氷の破片が、嚢の中で落ちつく間、私は父の禿げ上つた額の外でそれを柔らかに抑えてゐた。其時兄が廊下傳に這入て來て、一通の郵便を無言の儘私の手に渡した。空いた方の左手を出して、其郵便を受け取つた私はすぐ不審を起した。
translation
With the nurse, I replaced my father's water pillow and placed an ice bag filled with fresh ice on my head. I held it softly outside my father's bald forehead while the splintered, sharp shards of ice settled in the sac. At that time, my brother entered the corridor and silently handed me a piece of mail. When I received the mail with my free left hand out, I immediately became suspicious.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 看護婦: (female) nurse (かんごふ) | 相手: companion (あいて), partner, company, other party, addressee | 父: father (あて), father (かそ), father (かぞ), father (しし), father (ちち) |
| 取: taking (とり), taker, collecting, collector, remover | 更: alternately (こもごも), in succession, one-fifth of the night (approx. 2 hours) (こう), growing late (ふけ), latening | 新: new (しん), neo-, newness, novelty, Gregorian calendar | 氷: ice (こおり), shaved ice (usually served with flavored simple syrup), ice (ひ), hail, icicle (つらら) |
| 氷嚢: ice bag (ひょうのう), ice pack | 頭: counter for large animals (e.g. head of cattle) (とう), counter for insects in a collection, counter for helmets, masks, etc., head (あたま), head (かしら) | 上: above (うえ), over, up, top, summit | 載: 10^44 (さい), hundred tredecillion |
| 尖: diagonal move (こすみ), diagonal move (コスミ) | 切: eager (せつ), earnest, ardent, kind, keen | 破片: fragment (はへん), broken piece, splinter, chip, shard | 嚢: bag (ふくろ), sack, pouch, skin of an orange (and other like fruits), dead end |
| 落: slip (おち), slip (オチ), omission, omission, upshot | 禿: baldness (はげ), baldness (ハゲ), bald head, bald head, bald person | 額: (picture) frame (がく), framed picture, amount (esp. of money), sum, forehead (ひたい) | 外: outside (そと), outside (と), exterior, exterior, the open (air) |
| 抑: in the first place (そもそも), to begin with, from the start, originally, ab initio | 廊下: corridor (ろうか), hallway, passageway | 一通: one copy (of a document) (いっつう), one letter, one-way traffic, pure straight, winning hand containing nine consecutive tiles of the same suit (i.e. 1-9) | 郵便: mail service (ゆうびん), postal service, mail, post, mail |
| 手: hand (て), arm, forepaw, foreleg, handle | 空: emptiness (から), emptiness (カラ), being empty, being empty, not carrying anything | 方: direction (かた), way, person, lady, gentleman | 左手: left hand (ひだりて), left-hand side, left-hand direction, (on) the left, bow hand (ゆんで) |
| 郵便: mail service (ゆうびん), postal service, mail, post, mail | 受: vedana (sensation) (じゅ) | 不審: doubt (ふしん), suspicion, question, strangeness | 起: source (おこり), origin, cause, beginning, genesis |