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　　　　　　英字新聞で学ぶ時事英語
Topics for 2011 January

19 Prayers for rain
　　雨乞い
12 Slaying suspect kills self in cruiser
　　容疑者自殺
9 Defaulting, Outsourcing
　　債務不履行、外注
1 Time flies
　　残された時間

Prayers for rain
　朝日新聞の天声人語で、日本人の感性満載のコラムを読んだ。これをどのように英訳するのか興味深く英語版と比較してみたが、見事な英訳だった。いつになったら、こんな英訳ができるようになるのだろうか。
　全文を引用すると著作権に関わるので、ほんの一部だけ紹介する。

　季節外れをお許し願い、幸田文（こうだ・あや）の随筆を引く。「多少の歩きにくさや、袖裾（そですそ）のよごれなどはあるにしても、一年に一度の、梅雨（ばいう）期という大きなうるおいの中に、ずっぷりと身を漬けたいという気になる」

　「青さも潤沢、水も潤沢な六月の旅が私は好き」とつづった和装の雨は、読むだけで心が潤う。
　
　そうでもしたいほど、首都圏はカラカラだ。東京の乾燥注意報は３３日連続、きょうもなら観測史上の３位に並ぶという。「ずっぷり」なんて欲はかくまい。ぱらりとでも一雨ほしい。

Allow me to quote the following passage from an essay by Aya Koda (1904-1990), although it is out of season: “While it is somewhat difficult to walk and the hems and sleeves easily get dirty, I find myself wanting to immerse myself in great dampness called the rainy season once a year.”

“I love to travel in June, when greenery and water are both abundant,” goes the passage, which describes what it is like for people wearing kimono when it rains. Just reading it makes me feel pleasantly moist.

The Tokyo area is so dry that I almost wish I could get immersed in rain. A dry air advisory has been issued in Tokyo for 33 straight days. If it is also issued Jan. 18, the spell of dry weather would be the third longest on record. Perhaps getting “immersed” is asking too much. I wish it would rain even if it is a light drizzle.

Slaying suspect kills self in cruiser
　A 30-year-old Taiwanese man wanted on suspicion of fatally stabbing two female students from Taiwan at their apartment in Tokyo's Taito Ward on Thursday has committed suicide in Nagoya.
　このwantedが過去分詞だとすぐに分かるようであれば、英文をスムーズに読むことができるだろう。

　次の英文の構造が分かるだろうか?
　A student at the same Japanese-language school as the two women, the suspect had told his roommate he was going to Osaka.
　二つの文が存在するのだから、分詞構文と考えて、文頭にBeingを補う。

Defaulting, Outsourcing
　ウインランゲージのレッスンで使っているテキストから、いくつか紹介します。
　The possibility of the U.S. defaulting on it debt obligations had prompted global investors to sell its dollar assets, leading to a sharp decline in the value of the U.S. currency.
　アメリカ債務不履行と経済破綻のメカニズムが良く分かる一文だと思います。

　Hitachi came to the decision due to deteriorating earnings, stemming from intense price competition, especially from South Korean makers. Hitachi also expects sales for TVs to decline because in Japan most comsumers have replaced their TV sets in time for the switch to digital broadcasting in July.
　この文からは、大手電機メーカーの日立がどのような経緯でアウトソーシングにシフトしたかが良く分かります。
Time flies
　a passage from "Hon no Okibasho" (Where books are kept), an essay by Shotaro Yasuoka. It goes: "When I have too many books, what distresses me is not only that they eat up my home's floor space, but that they make me wonder how much time I have left to read them all."
　自分の部屋に山積みにされた本を見ると、同じ思いをするようになる。そして、50を越える頃から自分に残された時間も意識するようになる。

　Yasuoka was in his 50s when he wrote this. As he is 91 now, it turned out he still had many years left.
　But I can well understand the restlessness felt by people over 50. Time just flies. "Orange," a song written and sung by Mariko Takahashi, goes: "Spring is fleeting, summer is fleeting, autumn is fleeting, winter is fleeting."
　高橋真梨子の歌にこんなのあったかなあと思うが、確かに「あっという間に過ぎてしまう季節」というのは、春だけではない。

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