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For Life
2006.12.27

Christmas has its fur trees trimmed with ornaments and colored lights. The Japanese New Year has its elegant “kadomatsu” displays. So let's spend the last two days before the New Year's break talking about trees - the largest, tallest, and longest-lived of nature's creations!

Today's Lesson
PINE / BAMBOO / PLUM   松/竹/梅

Explanation

  • In English, the three kinds of trees traditionally used in “kadomatsu” at New Year's in Japan are:

    pinebambooplum
  • 伝統的に日本の新年の門松に使われる3種類の素材は、英語では次のように言います。松は pine、竹は bamboo、梅は plum です。

examples

  1. (in a forest)
    Can you smell the pine trees?
  2. (to a salesperson in a furniture store)
    I'm looking for an inexpensive pine chest of drawers.
  3. We walked through a beautiful bamboo forest in Sagano. It's probably my favorite place in Kyoto.
  4. It won't be long now before the plum trees are in blossom.

英会話レッスンThanks for joining us!