#111 大岡昇平『愛について』
三年前の五月の午後、冴子がその道ばたに車をとめていた私に声をかけたのは、運命というほかはないだろう。一つの偶然が一つの生涯の方向をきめたとしかいいようはない。
Vocabulary:
大岡昇平 おおおかしょうへい Ooka Shohei (author, 1909-1988)
冴子 さえこ Saeko (proper name)
道ばた みちばた the side of the road (also written as 道端)
運命 うんめい fate
偶然 ぐうぜん coincidence
生涯 しょうがい one’s (entire) life, one’s lifetime
方向 ほうこう direction
Translation:
The fact that, one May afternoon three years ago, Saeko called out to me when I had stopped my car on the side of the road was surely nothing short of fate. I could only describe it as one coincidence determining the direction of my entire life.
Grammar:
~(という)ほかはない
Literally, this phrase means something like “there is nothing but…”, but can often be translated as “is nothing short of…” or “is nothing other than…”.
~としかいいようがない
Here, いいよう is 言い様, meaning “way of saying”. So literally, the pattern means “there is no way of saying/putting/expressing it other than…”. A slightly more free or natural sounding translation would be “the only way to describe it is…”, or something along those lines.
Amazon.jp link for the book I used: