英語検定ライティング準１級（第179回）

ペット「高齢社会で大活躍している話」

ペットは飼えば家族の一員になると言われている。爬虫類は家族と一員として扱いたくはないが犬や猫を飼っている家庭は多い。たまに怒り狂ってペットを叱る人もいるがあれは何だろ。
Several students suggest that we should keep a pet.
The moment we buy a pet at the animal shop, he or she becomes a member of our family except a reptile.
Numerous family have a cat or dog, who is an important family member these days, we must admit.
Sometimes an owner scolds his or her pet furiously or angrily, which is never understandable in our society.

高齢社会においてペットの存在意義が大きいことは以前から聞いていた。あらためて統計を見ると60歳以上の高齢者でペットを飼っている割合は半数くらいだ。意外にも多くないな。
In this aging society, a cat or a dog could play a vital role, which has been mentioned for a long time.
An online statistics says that the percentage of pet owners more than 60 is a little over 50 percent, which is unexpectedly small, we assume.

飼ってない人の理由はいつ死ぬか分からないので最後まで面倒を見る自信がないとのこと。それはなかなか説得力のある理由だ。飼っている人の意見は孤独感から解放されるというもの。
An elderly non-owners’ reason is that he or she couldn’t have any confidences to keep a pet until a pet is dead because a senior citizen is likely to be killed earlier than it, which seems to be extremely persuasive for us.
A senior pet owner over 60 says that he or she could be released from a loneliness or solitude like a torture.

年齢を重ねるごとに存在意義が失われていくような錯覚に陥る。必要以上に他者と関わろうとすると拒否される。だから孤独ならそれでいい。サブスクで映画を見まくれば良いだけだ。
As we become older, we might find ourselves something trifle or burdensome, in short, we lose our self-esteem or confidence about ourselves little by little in our society.
We can safely call this phenomenon a loss of identity.
We aren’t accepted by those around us when we tried to have a friendly and close relationship with others.
We shouldn’t consider our solitude or loneliness as something negative, we tend to be disappointed.
We should enjoy the current situation, where we could watch numerous enjoyable moments with subscriptions.