8/09/2016

A dead pigeon

When I took my 6-year-old daughter to the nursery school in the morning two days ago, she told me on our way there:

"Mom, look at that! A pigeon is dead there!"

I looked at the place where she pointed at, there was a dead pigeon which was overturned on the side of the road in front of our neighbor's house.

It didn't have any visible injuries.

"It might have died because it was too hot."

When I picked her up at the nursery school in the evening on the same day, the pigeon was still there.

Ants were around it.

Since I didn't want my daughter to see it, I told her not to look at it when we passed by it.

I hoped that the neighbor would have noticed the dead pigeon and remove it.

But it was not in the grounds of their house, it was on the road.

So I thought it wasn't the neighbor's duty, but it was the duty of all people who live near there.

But I didn't want to get involved.



I found it again yesterday's morning.

I felt like the eyes of the pigeon were watching me, so I lit the area out there.

On the evening of the same day, I saw the eye of the pigeon was pierced by a small twig.

How could someone do such a cruel thing?

I felt indignant to see it and I didn't want my children to see it.

I wondered what I can do in such a situation.

I asked my husband:

"Are you able to remove it if you find an animal is dead on the road?"

"No, I don't want to do it. But one of my colleagues sometimes removes dead animals which he finds, because he feels sorry for them."

He said.

"He is a glutton for punishment, isn't he? I will make a phone call to the city hall or the public health center and ask whether they can remove it or not."

I told him.


When I went to the balcony in my house to hang the laundry in the morning, I saw that the neighbor was cleaning the road where the pigeon was dead.

He had a trash bag, so I guessed he put the pigeon in there.

I really thanked him.

I sometimes have to remove the trash which has been blown by the strong winds into our garden.

In such a case, I always think WHY I have to throw them away though they are not our trash.

But, as long as we live in the community, we need to help each other.

Even such as these caused me to realize this.


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にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 英語の日記(英語のみ)へ

4 comments:

  1. Hello Kumi-san,

    Having to deal with dead animals is always a little disconcerting. Luckily I am not squeamish so it does not cause me much of a problem removing such things when required. Though thankfully this is not something that I have had to do very often.

    Here is a list of other issues found with the rest of the post:

    Part 1:

    This line:
    "Mom, look at that! A pigeon was dead there!"

    Should be:
    "Mom, look at that! A pigeon is dead there!"

    This line:
    It didn't have any damages.

    Should be:
    It didn't have any visible injuries.

    This line:
    "It might be dead because it was too hot."

    Should be:
    "It might have died because it was too hot."

    This line:
    When I picked her up at the nursery school in the evening at the same day, the pigeon was still there.

    Should be:
    When I picked her up at the nursery school in the evening on the same day, the pigeon was still there.

    This line:
    Since I didn't want my daughter to see it, I told her not to look at it when we passed through it.

    Should be:
    Since I didn't want my daughter to see it, I told her not to look at it when we passed by it.

    This line:
    I hoped that the neighbor noticed the dead pigeon and put it away.

    Should be:
    I hoped that the neighbor would have noticed the dead pigeon and (put it away/removed it).

    This line:
    But it was not within their house, it was on the road.

    Should be:
    But it was not in the grounds of their house, it was on the road.

    This line:
    So I thought it wasn't the neighbor's duty, but it was the duty for all people who live near there.

    Should be:
    So I thought it wasn't the neighbor's duty, but it was the duty of all people who live near there.

    This line:
    The eyes of the pigeon felt like watching me, so I lighted out there.

    Should be:
    I felt like the eyes of the pigeon were watching me, so I (lit/illuminated) the area out there.

    Reason: 1 Word order changes. 2. Lighted (did you mean to say you illuminated the area because it was dark and the pigeon was making you nervous?)

    This line:
    At the evenigng of the same day, I saw the eye of the pigeon was pierced by a small twig.

    Should be:
    On the evening of the same day, I saw the eye of the pigeon was pierced by a small twig.

    Reason: Changed "At" to "On" and corrected spelling mistake for "evening".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Part 2:

    This line:
    How could you do such a cruel thing?

    Should be:
    How could someone do such a cruel thing?

    Reason: Changed "you" to "someone" as "you" implies that you know who impaled the pigeon. You are not certain who carried out the act and so you would use "someone/somebody".

    This line:
    I felt indignant to see it and I didn't want to show it to my children.

    Should be:
    I felt indignant to see it and I didn't want my children to see it.

    Reason: Changed "to show it to my children" to "my children to see it". The original sentence implies that there are occasions when you would actively show the pigeon to your children when this is not the case.

    This line:
    I wondered what I can do such a situation.

    Should be:
    I wondered what I can do (in such/about such) a situation.

    This line:
    "Can you put it away if you find an animal is dead on the road?"

    Question: In the line above are you asking if your husband would remove a dead bird from the road if he saw one. Or are you asking if you (or anyone else) is allowed/permitted to remove an dead animal from the road?

    If you are requesting that your husband remove the bird you would write:

    "Can you please remove the (dead bird/pigeon) from the road?"

    If asking your husband if he is allowed/permitted to remove a dead animal you would write:

    "Are you allowed/permitted to remove a dead (animal/pigeon) from the road?"

    This line:
    "No, I can't. But one of my colleagues sometimes put dead animals which he found away, because he feels sorry for them."

    Should be:
    "No, I can't. But one of my colleagues sometimes removes dead animals which he (has found/finds), because he feels sorry for them."

    This line:
    "He is a glutton for punishment, isn't he? I will make a phone call to the city hall or the public health center and ask whether they put it away or not."

    Should be:
    "He is a glutton for punishment, isn't he? I will make a phone call to the city hall or the public health center and ask whether they can remove it or not."

    This line:
    When I went to the balcony in my house to hang the laundry in this morning, I saw that the neighbor was cleaning the road where the pigeon was dead.

    Should be:
    When I went to the balcony in my house to hang the laundry in the morning, I saw that the neighbor was cleaning the road where the pigeon had died.

    This line:
    He had a trash bag, so I guessed he put the pigeon away.

    Should be:
    He had a trash bag, so I guessed he put the pigeon in there.

    This line:
    I sometimes have to throw the trash which has been blown by the strong wind and came to our garden away.

    Should be:
    I sometimes have to (remove/tidy up) the trash which has been blown by the strong winds into our garden.

    This line:
    I have realized that in this happening.

    Should be:
    Events such as these have caused me to realize this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Terry.
      Thank you for a lot of corrections.

      This line:
      The eyes of the pigeon felt like watching me, so I lighted out there.

      Should be:
      I felt like the eyes of the pigeon were watching me, so I (lit/illuminated) the area out there.

      Reason: 1 Word order changes. 2. Lighted (did you mean to say you illuminated the area because it was dark and the pigeon was making you nervous?)

      I wanted to use the idiom "light out".

      I found it on the internet.
      It means Leave hastily/run away, isnt' it?
      I also serched its past tence, then i found it "lighted".
      But I found that "lit" is also its past tense.
      Do you think what is the best way to express my sentence?

      Delete
    2. Ah I understand. I have never seen "light out" used in the way described. Though you are correct in how to use it. But I think it will be unlikely that many people will know the meaning. It seems to have originated in North American and is a casual/colloquial term. So outside of North America it is not likely to be understood.

      I would rewrite your original sentence as:

      I felt like the eyes of the pigeon were watching me, so I (quickly departed from/rushed away from/rushed from/made my departure from) the area.

      This website may be of some use to you:

      http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/leave?s=t

      It is a very good thesaurus and it has options to only show common definitions for words and can be configured to only show certain types of different meanings for words.

      For example leave can mean grant permission, it can also mean to exit an area and apparently has many other uses.

      Delete