英語で学ぼう！◆Who is he?①

コロナ月間、みなさん英語に慣れてきました？きょうはある人物の半生が書かれている文章を英語で速読してみましょう。ある男の子が世界で成功するまでの物語。その男の子はだれのことかしら？

A boy was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1927. He was named Hendrik but called Dick by his family and friends. When he was eighteen, his father wanted him to take over his publishing company in the future.

Following his father’s advice, Dick went to Paris to learn the business at a publishing company. Since he liked painting, he drew a great deal in his free time: roast-chestnut venders, street musicians, Notre Dame, Seine bridge. He also visited museums and learned much from the works of great artists. Finally, he thought of being an artist.

Back in the Netherlands in 1948, Dick convinced his father that he was not suited to a career in publishing. At last his father gave in and advised him to design book jackets and posters for his publishing company. Dick accepted his advice and designed one jacket after another. Every year he designed more than one hundred books. He was now a graphic designer. Designing was where his talents lay.

He had never been trained to be a graphic designer. He really was an outsider in the designers’ world. The characteristics of his designs —— simple forms and colors which had a touch of gentleness and wit —— came from his own inspiration. It took only about three years for him to arrive at a clear-cut style of his own. When Picasso, a great painter, saw Dick’s designs for the books, he admired him for what he had created. The young artist regarded this as one of the greatest compliments he had ever received.

It was picture books that Dick became interested in later. His picture books with simple forms and colors appealed directly to little children, from Amsterdam to Tokyo, from Oslo to Cape Town, and from San Francisco to London. They gave every child space to use his or her own imagination. Finally Dick was well known as the creator of a girl rabbit, who is loved by little children all over the world. Can you guess his full name?

速読は、キーワードを探し出すこと。ディックが誰なのか、彼の出身地（Utrecht, the Netherlands）、彼の作品の特徴（clear-cut style, simple forms and colors）は、最終的に彼が何に興味を持ったのか、そのあたりは掴んでおきたい情報ね。