英語・長文問題（岡山県公立高校入試問題）
次の英文は，中学生のMegumiが昨年の夏の思い出について述べたものである。①～⑤に答えなさい。
Last summer was special for my brother, Takuya. He was six years old then.
One day in August, my family went to my uncle’s home in a village. When we were swimming in the river, a small black thing fell from a big tree near the river. It was (ｱ)a big beetle. Takuya brought the beetle to our house. We never had an animal in our house, so he was very glad about his new friend.
Takuya began to (ｲ) the beetle. He put him in a cage and gave him food every day. Sometimes his younger sister, Yuka, tried to play with the beetle, but Takuya didn’t like that. He always had the cage with him when he was playing or when he was sleeping. The beetle became his best friend.
On the last day of August, (ｳ)a sad thing happened to Takuya. The beetle stopped moving, and he cried. It was a very sad evening for him. He wanted him to begin to move again the next day.
The next morning he got up early and looked at his friend. Then (a)he realized that (b)he was no alive. (c) He put him into a small box, and went to the garden with it. (d) He buried the beetle and put some flowers there. (e) He didn’t move and said nothing for a long time.
A few days later, Takuya didn’t look sad. I thought that he was trying to forget the beetle. But when we went to bed in the evening, he suddenly said in a small voice, “He died.” “Yes, he did,” I said in a gentle voice. “Now listen, Takuya. I know you are sad because you lost your friend. But all the things that have life can’t live forever. So we should know that life is important. And it is also important to love and take care of things that are alive. This is the thing your friend wanted to tell you.” He said, ”Thank you, my friend. I will remember you forever,” and smiled. I smiled, too.
He learned (ｴ) an important thing from his little friend last summer.
〔注〕fell fallの過去形 beetle カブトムシ cage かご buried bury（地中に埋める）の過去形
in a～voice ～声で gentle 優しい forever 永遠に
① 下線部（ア）を言いかえたものは，二重線(a)～(e)のうちではどれですか。
② (ｲ) に入れるのに最も適当な連続する英語３語を本文中から抜き出して書きなさい。
③ 下線部（ウ）の内容を具体的に日本語で答えなさい。
④ 下線部（エ）の内容を表すのは，(1)～(4)のうちではどれですか。
(1) 兄弟仲良くすることの大切さ (2) 限りある命の大切さ
(3) 生き物を飼うことの難しさ (4) 自然のすばらしさ
⑤ 本文の内容と合っているのは，(1)～(5)のうちではどれですか。二つ選びなさい。
(1) Takuya loved the beetle very much and he was always with him.
(2) Takuya lived with the beetle in his house for a few months last summer.
(3) Takuya was glad when Yuka played with the beetle in their house.
(4) Megumi tried to talk to Yuka about the beetle, but she didn’t listen.
(5) After talking with Takuya, Megumi thought he understood her and she smiled.
