Today’s listening comprehension is from the book “やがて哀しき外国語” (yagate kanashiki gaikokugo) by Murakami Haruki (村上春樹). It is an essay about his experience living in the US as an Associate Researcher and Associate Professor at Princeton University, in the 90’s. I am personally not a fan of Murakami’s novels, but I do like his essays very much. He is witty and his writing is very flowing with a good sense of humor, so it’s relatively easy to read too. I will read excerpts from this book for several audios.
Today, I am reading the opening sentence in the prologue, which announces the content of his essay.
「本の中身を読んでいただければわかるように、僕は一九九一年の初めから、約二年半にわたってアメリカのニュージャージー州プリンストンに住み、そのあと二年間をマサチューセッツ州ケンブリッジに住んでいました。この本は、そのうちのプリンストン時代のことを書いたものです。」
（hon no nakami wo yondeitadakereba wakaruyouni, boku wa sen kyuu hyaku kyuu juu ichinen no hajime kara, yaku ninen han ni watatte amerika no nyuujaajii shuu purinsuton ni sumi, sonoato ninen wo masachuusettsu shuu kengurijji ni sundeimashita. kono hon wa, sonouchi no purinsuton jidai wo kaita monodesu. ）
*** Note that “住み” (sumi) is the equivalent of the te-form 住んで (sunde). It is more formal, and used in texts.