Sentence 1

放課後、あやは学校のうさぎの世話をするために飼育小屋へ行きました。

After school, Aya went to the animal hutch in order to take care of the school rabbits.

Sentence 2

今日はゆいもいっしょで、二人で当番をします。

Today Yui is with her too, and the two of them will do the duty together.

Sentence 3

小屋の前に着くと、白いうさぎがすぐに近くへ来ました。

When they arrived in front of the hutch, a white rabbit came close right away.

Sentence 4

あやは「おなかがすいているのかな」と言って、にんじんの箱を開けました。

Aya said, “I wonder if it is hungry,” and opened the box of carrots.

Sentence 5

まず水入れを見たら、水が少ししかありませんでした。

First, when she looked at the water dish, there was only a little water.

Sentence 6

ゆいは新しい水をくみに行って、あやはその間にえさを皿に入れました。

Yui went to get fresh water, and in the meantime Aya put the feed into the dish.

Sentence 7

茶色いうさぎは元気でしたが、白いうさぎは少し静かでした。

The brown rabbit was lively, but the white rabbit was a little quiet.

Sentence 8

あやは心配になって、先生に見てもらったほうがいいと思いました。

Aya became worried and thought it would be better to have the teacher look at it.

Sentence 9

ちょうど近くを通った田中先生に声をかけると、先生はすぐに小屋の中を見ました。

When she called out to Tanaka-sensei, who was just passing nearby, the teacher looked inside the hutch at once.

Sentence 10

先生は「たぶん昼にあまり食べなかっただけですよ」と言いました。

The teacher said, “It probably just did not eat very much at noon.”

Sentence 11

それを聞いて、あやは少し安心しました。

Hearing that, Aya felt a little relieved.

Sentence 12

でも、小屋の床はかなり汚れていたので、二人はそうじもすることにしました。

But because the floor of the hutch was quite dirty, the two of them decided to clean it too.

Sentence 13

ほうきで古い草を集めて、新聞紙も新しいものに取りかえました。

They gathered the old grass with a broom and also changed the newspaper to fresh sheets.

Sentence 14

ゆいが外でごみ袋を開けているあいだ、あやは木の箱をふいていました。

While Yui was holding open the garbage bag outside, Aya was wiping the wooden box.

Sentence 15

仕事は思ったより多かったですが、一つずつやるとだんだん終わりが見えてきました。

The work was more than they had expected, but when they did it one thing at a time, the end gradually came into view.

Sentence 16

白いうさぎはそのころになると、にんじんを少しずつ食べ始めました。

By about that time, the white rabbit began to eat the carrot little by little.

Sentence 17

あやは「よかった。元気になってきたね」と小さい声で話しかけました。

Aya said softly, “That is good. You have started to get better, haven’t you?”

Sentence 18

そうじのあとで、小屋の戸をしっかり閉めたかどうか二人で確かめました。

After cleaning, the two of them checked together whether they had shut the hutch door properly or not.

Sentence 19

前に戸が開いたままになっていて、先生に注意されたことがあったからです。

That was because before, the door had been left open and they had been warned by the teacher.

Sentence 20

今日は最後まで気をつけたので、忘れ物もありませんでした。

Today they were careful until the end, so there was nothing forgotten either.

Sentence 21

作業が終わるころ、空が少し赤くなっていました。

By the time the work was finishing, the sky had become a little red.

Sentence 22

ゆいは「毎日は大変だけど、うさぎの顔を見ると疲れがへるね」と笑いました。

Yui laughed and said, “Every day is hard, but when I look at the rabbits’ faces, my tiredness goes down.”

Sentence 23

あやも同じ気持ちで、「次の当番の人にも分かりやすいように、メモをのこそう」と言いました。

Feeling the same way, Aya also said, “So that it will be easy for the next person on duty to understand too, let’s leave a memo.”

Sentence 24

二人はえさの量と気づいたことをノートに書いてから、職員室へかぎを返しに行きました。

The two of them wrote in a notebook the amount of feed and the things they had noticed, and then went to return the key to the staff room.

Sentence 25

帰る前にもう一度小屋を見ると、二匹のうさぎは静かに並んで休んでいました。

When they looked at the hutch one more time before going home, the two rabbits were resting quietly side by side.