#5 三島由紀夫『命売ります』
……羽仁男は、目をさまして、まわりがひどく明るいので、天国にいるかと思った。しかし後頭部にきつい頭痛が残っている。天国で頭痛がするわけはあるまい。
……Hanio woke up, and because it was terribly bright, he thought he was in heaven. But an intense headache remained at the back of his head. Surely, he wouldn’t have a headache if this was heaven.
Vocabulary:
三島由紀夫 みしまゆきお Mishima Yukio (author, 1925-1970)
羽仁男 はにお Hanio (proper name of the protagonist)
目をさます めをさます to wake up
まわり the vicinity, the surroundings
ひどく very, terribly, extremely
明るい あかるい bright
天国 てんごく heaven
後頭部 こうとうぶ the back of one’s head
きつい fierce, painful, harsh, intense, strenuous
頭痛 ずつう headache
残る のこる to remain
わけがない there is no way that…
Grammar:
~まい
This follows the dictionary form of group 1 verbs, and the stem form of group 2 and 3 verbs. It has several meanings, but here it is used as negative conjecture and means ‘surely not’. As such, あるまい is more or less the equivalent of ないだろう.
Often, ~まい is also used to express a negative intention: 二度と行くまい (にどといくまい), meaning ‘I intend to never go (there) again’.