Deaths in Final Destination（ネタバレ注意）

アメリカに住んでいた頃、ケーブルテレビを契約していたので、（いろいろな意味で）アメリカンな映画を鑑賞する機会がありました。その中の一つにFinal Destinationシリーズという、やたらと複雑かつグロテスクな方法で人が死ぬスプラッタ・コメディ(?)があったのですが、その死に方がWikipediaで詳細に解説されていました。

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Destination#Deaths
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Destination_2#Deaths
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Destination_3#Deaths

で、映画の内容はどうでもよいのですが、あまりにも死に方が複雑なので、これらの文章が英文読解の練習問題になるのではないかと思った。

例題１（初級）：Tod Waggnerさんの死亡過程

First, a gust of wind blows through an open window and shuts the door to the bathroom while Tod is in it, so as to minimize intervention. Water leaks out of a poorly screwed pipe in the back of his toilet, creating a puddle that he does not notice while grooming himself in the bathroom and is listening to the radio. He then walks over to the tub and slips on the puddle, causing him to fall on a clothesline cord, which snaps off the wall and, pulled by the velocity of Tod's fall, wraps around his neck in a hanging form and strangles him in the tub, while he struggles to stand up, but only manages to kick over bottles of shampoo and soap, spilling them inside the tub and making it slippery and preventing him from getting to his feet.

例題２（上級）：Ashlyner HalperinさんとAshley Freundさんの死亡過程

Ashley and Ashlyn decide to get a tan at Phoenix Tanning Salon to look their best at graduation. When they arrive, the owner of the salon (Yuri) is talking on his cell phone. Yuri allows the girls to manage the tanning beds themselves. Ashley sneaks her Slurpee in to the tanning room (Yuri forbids drinks near the tanning beds) and places it on a shelf above the control box of the tanning beds. Ashlyn decides that the room is "chilly" and decides to raise the temperature by a few degrees. Due to the fact that Ashlyn had risen the temperature, the Slurpee begins to drip. A bit of water from Ashley's Slurpee drips in to the control box resulting in a spark which leads to the temperature of the room to increase and the heat of the tanning beds to intensify without the duo's knowledge. Ashley leans over a shelf to get some music but unknowingly loosens a few screws attaching the shelf to the wall. Ashley and Ashlyn get undressed and get in to their tanning beds. Ashlyn decides that the tanning beds are getting a little too warm, but Ashley continues to listen to her music. Wendy attempts to warn them of the danger via Ashley's cell phone. This causes the phone to vibrate in Ashley's coat pocket, causing the coat to wobble slightly. Due to the rising temperature of the room, the air conditioner kicks in and knocks the rack over, creating a domino effect. The rack crashes into a Palm Tree which topples onto the loose shelf. This knocks the shelf off the wall and on to Ashley's bed. Both the girls attempt to get out of their beds, but the shelf slides off of Ashley's bed and jams into Ashlyn's bed handle, locking it shut. It then does the same to Ashley's bed. Both the girls attempt to open the beds, but are unsuccessful. Ashley begins to struggle violently and desperately to get out, while Ashlyn screams and tries to get out from above her head, where a fan is blocking the way. Yuri hears the screaming, but realizes that the sun tan lotion container he was using as a door stopper had lodged under the door, locking him from going in. He then goes around to the front entrance, but the door is also locked shut (by Ashley and Ashlyn, who didn't want anyone to come in and see them naked). During this time, the bulbs on top of Ashley's bed explode and the hot glass shatters all over her, as they both continue struggling, while their skin becomes blistered and burned. Due to Ashley's violent struggling to get out, the glass shatters underneath her and she falls in to electrical wires. An electrical wave causes Ashley's sun bed to erupt in flames, engulfing her in an instant, just as the glass above Ashlyn breaks and fire erupts from the bulbs. Ashley and Ashlyn both end up burning to death.

…引用長っ！