#3 安部公房『砂の女』
八月のある日、男が一人、行方不明になった。休暇を利用して、汽車で半日ばかりの海岸に出掛けたきり、消息をたってしまったのだ。捜索願も、新聞広告も、すべて無駄におわった。
One day in August, a man went missing. Ever since he went out to the seashore about half a day away by train for his holiday, he wasn’t heard from again. The police searches, the newspaper ads, they all ended without result.
Vocabulary:
安部公房 あべこうぼう Abe Kobo (author, 1924-1993)
八月 はちがつ August
男 おとこ man
一人 ひとり one (person)
行方不明 ゆくえふめい missing
休暇 きゅうか holiday, vacation
利用する りようする to use (to one’s benifit)
汽車 きしゃ (steam) train
半日 はんにち half a day
ばかり 1. about (estimation); 2. just, only
海岸 かいがん the seashore
出掛ける でかける to go out
消息をたつ しょうそくをたつ to stop communications (たつ = 絶つ)
捜索願 そうさくねがい application for reporting a missing person
新聞広告 しんぶんこうこく newspaper ad
無駄 むだ waste, pointless, fruitless
~におわる to end in…
Grammar:
~きり
This follows the past tense of a verb and means ‘ever since…’, and has the connotation of a limit. This example is no different: ‘ever since he went on holiday, we heard no more of him’. It therefore has the connotation of cut-off. It is (almost) never written in kanji, but it finds its roots in the verb 切る (きる) ‘to cut’. Sometimes written as ~ぎり.
When following a noun, this pattern often takes the shape of ~っきり. When used in this way, it means ‘only’ or ‘just’.