英検1級道場－英語は極端に繰り返しを嫌う言語です

私は、これまで、度々、「英語は、繰り返しを極端に嫌う言語である」と言ってきました
下記の記事もその一つです
http://mbp-japan.com/chiba/eiken/column/4865/

先日、記事にした、トラッドジャパンのお盆の英文の中にも、その典型的な例が含まれているので、紹介します
【　　】でくくった単語を見てください
同じ内容を、違う単語で表現しています
the souls ⇔　the spirits
the departed　 ⇔　the dead　⇔ 　the decceased

この観点で英文を読んでいくと、気がつくことが多数あります
是非、やってみてください

The ritual which Awa-odori is based on is still practiced in a fishing community in Tokushima.
Those who have lost a family member within the past year gather at a port.

This straw doll is said to act as a magnet for the 【souls】 of 【the departed.】
People believe that facing the sea and calling out the names of 【the dead】 will bring their souls】 back to this world.
Then lively festival music is played.
The participants form a circle and start dancing.
This dance expresses the joy of having the ancestral 【spirits】 back for a brief while.

In many parts of Japan, Obon takes place around the fifteenth of August over a period of several days.
There are various regional customs associated with it.

On the first day of Obon, small fires are lit at the entrances to homes.
This is done to help the ancestral spirits find their way home.

During the Obon period, there is a tradition to make cucumber horses and aubergine oxen.
This is based on the desire for the ancestors to come to visit as fast as possible riding on horses but to leave as slowly as possible riding on oxen.

A special table is set up for the spirits and offerings of food and drink are placed on it.
It’s customary to treat the spirits as if they were still alive.

On the last day of Obon, August the sixteenth, fires are lit to send the spirits back to the world of 【the dead】.
One of the grandest send-off displays is Kyoto’s ‘Gozan no Okuribi.’

The sticks of firewood used for the Bon fires are offerings on which people have written messages to their ancestors.
Torchbearers climb up the hillsides carrying torches blessed by Buddhist priests and light one pile of firewood after another.

Here, we see an ideogram on the hillside, bright and magnificent.
These Bon fires are thought to help guide the spirits back to their world.

These events and practices related to Obon provide a glimpse into the Japanese outlook on life and death, which is based on the notion that people should always give a warm welcome to the spirits of 【the deceased.】