Simon先生の英語ブログで学ぶ使える英語表現ーLocked out

※Simon先生のシリーズ前回の記事「Simon先生の英語ブログで学ぶ使える英語表現ーWe gave it a shot「やってみた」」を見逃した方はこちらからどうぞ！

今回のブログは、先生のお子さんとのハプニングエピソード、Locked out 「(鍵で)締め出された」をお届けします。

英語ブログを読もう！Locked out 「（鍵で）締め出された」

Hello, this is Simon.

Raising small kids has various potential hazards, one of them being the possibility of getting locked out of your own house.

数年前の出来事です

It happened to me several years ago, when I popped out to do some gardening near our entrance. I heard the dreaded click of the door lock and dashed back to the front door, only to find I couldn’t get back in. My then 2-year-old daughter was on the other side of the door, having just locked it. She seemed deaf to my pleas to unlock the door. After about a minute her silhouette disappeared, meaning she had gone back to the living room.

I went to the sliding glass door outside the living room and could see her sitting in front of the TV. I banged franticly on the glass, which she could definitely hear, but she completely ignored me. Fortunately, my wife came back from her outing about 30 minutes later and I was able to get back in. Since then, I have never gone out of the house without my keys.

その一年後にはご近所で

About a year later, as I was walking past my neighbor’s house, I heard a cry for help. My neighbor was calling to me from her balcony. She had been locked out by her 1.5-year-old daughter. She was less fortunate than I, because her husband was away at work and not due to return for many hours. With no mobile phone, she had no means of contacting anyone, so she asked me to call the fire department.

It ended up being quite a public affair, with a fire truck, ambulance and all sort of others turning up. The poor lady must have been mortified, and I really felt for her, but she did get get back into her house, in the end.

今度は僕の妻の番でした

The other day it was my wife’s turn, and the culprit was my son. A friend of hers had come for a brief visit, and when it was time to leave, my wife went out on to the driveway to see her friend off, leaving my son happily watching TV. However, she returned to a locked door. She could see his silhouette through the door, and so tried to get him to unlock it, but to no avail.

He also returned to the living room to watch TV, so my wife and her friend went to the sliding glass door, knocking on it and calling out to him. Unlike my daughter, he didn’t ignore them and came to the door, grinning from ear to ear. They pointed to the catch for opening the door, and eventually he tried it, but it was locked. They then gestured to him to flip the switch that locks the catch, and after some time, managed to get him to push the switch to the unlocked position.

絶体絶命！？

It was now just a matter of opening the door. However, there was one final catch. The door was still locked, because there was a small movable stopper at the bottom of the it, which is designed to stop small kids from opening it. Now, they thought they were cooked, because we had taken great effort to keep this stopper a secret from my son.

I wasn’t due home for another six or so hours, so it looked like my wife was going to have to ask her friend to make the inevitable call to the fire department. But, just as they were discussing what their next move should be, they saw my son bend down, heard small click, then saw him stand up again and open the door, as if it was nothing. It seems the little tyke had known about the lock all along. Fortunately, all’s well that ends well.

Moral of the story: Never go outside of your house without the keys, even if it’s just to the balcony, or to say goodbye to someone.

ーそれでは、本文の中からピックアップした英語表現を見てみましょう！

“the dreaded click of the door lock”

The adjective “dreaded” means “feared or thought of with worry“. When we say “the dreaded…”, we are talking about something we know well, that causes us concern or fear

(e.g. the dreaded Monday morning/the dreaded dentist appointment).

“deaf to my pleas”

A “plea” is “an urgent and emotional request”.
The expression to be “deaf to ones pleas“ means to ignore or refuse to listen to a person’s urgent calls or requests for help or understanding

(e.g. The company remained deaf to the workers’ pleas for better working conditions.)

“quite a public affair”

“Public affair“ is the opposite of “a private affair“, which is a matter or event only known by or involving a select group of people.

A celebrity’s wedding could be “a public affair“, in which the media is invited to cover the event. In the case of my neighbor, an incident that should have been private, became known by the entire neighborhood.

“mortified”

The adjective “mortified” means extremely embarrassed or ashamed, often to the point of feeling deeply humiliated

(e.g. She was mortified when she tripped and spilled her drink in front of everyone at the party.)

“to no avail”

The expression “to no avail” is used to indicate that “efforts or attempts were unsuccessful or did not achieve the desired result”

(e.g. He searched for hours, but to no avail—his keys were still missing./He tried to fix the computer, but to no avail; it wouldn’t turn on.)

“they were cooked”

To be “cooked” is a very casual way of saying to be in deep trouble and in an inescapable situation

(e.g. If we don’t finish this project by tomorrow, we’re cooked./He realized he was cooked when the evidence against him was revealed.)

“the little tyke”

The noun “tyke” means “a young child”. It is a very casual word but also implies a sense of affection towards the child, and is often used in a lighthearted way

(e.g. Look at that little tyke running around!/My little tyke has so much energy!)

It has been finally getting a little cooler. Enjoy this lovely weather while it lasts!

See you next month!

フルーツフルイングリッシュで英語表現の楽しさ感じてください 。初めての方には英作文添削チケット2回分をプレゼント。
「無料英語テスト800問（解説付）」メルマガも大人気。今すぐチェック！

Simon

Hello! My name is Simon.

I am from New Zealand, and have been living and teaching English in Japan since 1999.

My hobbies include movies, playing the guitar, gardening and hiking.