Quote:
Originally Posted by Decimus
I need help with the following passage:
Context: A teacher has just received a disagreeable gift (a hat.) from her (elementary) students. Naturally, the students expect her to wear it. The following is a monologue:
教え子作ったプレゼント
これに応えずなんとする
今こそまっすぐ教師の道を
守は子供のその笑顔
Sentences in the above order, without punctuation marks, as written.
The sentences seem to have an unusual structure and hence I'm somewhat stumped over what the conditional '応えず' is supposed to refer to.
Is this an acceptable translation?
"A present made by my students...
How should I respond?
As a proper teacher...
The smiles of these children is something that should be protected."
OR
"This is a present made by my students.
As a proper teacher, how should I respond?
I should preserve the smiles of these children."
Did I miss anything important, or should I add anything or rephrase the sentences to sound more natural?
Also, does "応える" have a meaning similar to "答える", except that the former can be used for more "abstract" cases than the latter?
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First of all, did it actually say 守は in the last line? I'm not saying it's incorrect but it's in an older style.
You didn't miss anything important. This writing is not prose. It's closer to "casual poetry" if the term makes any sense. It's written in the rhythmical 7-5-7-5 syllables as in haiku and tanka. This just flows so smooothly in the ear of a Japanese-speaker.
Regarding 応える, it means "to respond to an action". 答える is used differently; It means "to answer a question", as you know. The way you used the word "abstract" is really good.
これに応えずなんとする literally means "What would I do if I didn't respond to this?". What it's saying is that "I've got to respond in some way." 応えず, is a literary way of saying 応えないで.