But we were naive.
大修館書店が今春、同社の英語教科書を採用した高校に使わなくなった大量の問題集を無償提供していた問題でルールに違反していたと謝罪しました。
Publisher gave study materials to schools opting to use its textbooks
TOKYO ―
Taishukan Publishing Co distributed study materials to public and private high schools that decided to use its English textbooks from last spring in clear violation of industry rules, the publishing company and the education ministry said Friday.
Tokyo-based Taishukan said employees decided to provide the materials, costing 290 yen each, at their own discretion, denying it had ordered them to do so. About 1,500 materials in total were distributed.
中略
The 14 schools all selected Taishukan’s English textbooks last summer, which have been used from last spring.
One of the workers was quoted as telling the company during an in-house investigation, “We wanted to help the schools that chose our textbooks. But we were naive.”
“But we were naive.”を取り上げます。『ジーニアス英和辞典』によると語源はフランス語で「単純な, 世間知らずの」という意味がありました。LDOCEでは"not having much experience of how complicated life is, so that you trust people too much and believe that good things will always happen"と定義されていました。
日本語で「ナイーブ」と使うことがありますが、日本語の意味とはまた別の意味になります。
物品（問題集）を提供してはいけないというルールを知らなかったのかと疑問に思いますが、上司に相談せずに営業の方々が行ったことなども含め世間知らずであったということなのかと思いました。(lua)
ご指名質問the element of a naive young girl in a foreign country - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から
