Passage Content
妻の雪絵は私より二歳ばかり年下だから、もう二十八九になるのだろうか。私は年齢に無頓着※1で、そもそも自分が正確に幾つ※2なのかも判らない※3。それにしても、雪絵は実際の年齢よりは上に見える。良くいえば落ち着いているのだが、要は苦労しているのだ、と思う。妻はたいがい疲れている。出会った頃は十八九の娘だったのでそうは感じなかったが、最近は特に疲れているように思う。昨日寅吉が世辞をいっていたが、我が妻ながら、驚く程綺麗に※4見えるときもあるし、十人並に思えるときもある。十人並のときは概ね疲れているときで、だから私はそんなとき少しだけ責任を感じる。（京極夏彦『姑獲鳥の夏』講談社による）
Reference translation
English
My wife, Yukie, is about two years younger than me, so I suppose she must be around twenty-eight or twenty-nine now. I am indifferent to age, and I don't even know exactly how old I am myself. Even so, Yukie looks older than her actual age. To put it favorably, she is composed, but in short, I think she has had a hard time. My wife is almost always tired. When we first met, she was a young girl of eighteen or nineteen, so I didn't feel that way, but lately she seems especially tired. Yesterday Torakichi paid her a compliment; even though she is my wife, there are times when she looks astonishingly beautiful, and times when she looks quite ordinary. The times she looks ordinary are generally when she is tired, and so at those times, I feel a slight sense of responsibility.
Multiple Choice Questions (1)
Question 1【問い】「そんなとき」とは、どんなときか。
