仙台 えいごの教室

  This time I would like to tell three small stories, and they all involve yellow.

 

  The first yellow story is …
　
  The other day I had a tiny cute yellow visitor in my room. I don’t see yellow ones so often. Isn’t it cute? Maybe it found some aphids² on plants in my room? I looked on the Internet to find out its species³. It is called a Yellow Tento — for obvious reasons⁴. I also got to know⁵ why it is called "Tento Mushi" in Japanese. Tento is written 天道, a path to heaven because they climb up and up the stem of a plant and at the tip they fly up in the air. So they are considered to be good luck! Wow! Cool!Thank you for visiting me!*　
 

  

The second "yellow" story is ….

  In this season, there are a lot of cobwebs⁶ near our house, especially ones of Joro Gumo. Our neighbor told us that the thread⁷ of their cobwebs is yellow. I never knew that before. Wow! Yes! I never paid attention to that before, but I got close and took a photo. Can you see it?

 

  I found out what people call it in English — Golden silk orb⁸ (-weaver) spider. No wonder!⁹

 

 

  The last "yellow" story is ….

  about the cherry tomatoes that Will grew this summer — Yellow Aiko. They have been producing tomatoes one after another for a loooong time. It’s getting cold, but we are still getting some. We had a huge success with Yellow Aiko. The skin is softer and it tastes sweeter than Red Aiko. Maybe it’s about time to take them down, but we will enjoy them until the last momnet! We definitely¹⁰ grow them next summer, too.
 

  Those are the stories!

 

  Ah! At the end, remember! When you speak English, don’t pronounce it "i – e – lou". That’s "ye" as if you shout "yay!"

 

 

  *In American English they call it a Lady bug (but in British English it’s a Lady Bird!), and I’ve been wondering why "lady". Now I understand this "lady" indicates¹¹ Maria (or some other goddess). They also see this bug as one which brings good fortune.