| 英字新聞で学ぶ時事英語 Topics for October Oct. 24 皇后美智子様、喜寿を迎えられる The Empress Michiko marks 77th birthday Oct. 21 カダフィー死亡 Gaddafi died of wounds 'Oct. 20 ウォール街を占拠せよ 'Occupy Wall Street' Movement Gains Size, Support Oct. 18 世界最大のウイルス見つかる World' biggest virus found off Chile Oct. 14 マラソン中にバス乗車 Spotted catching a free ride Oct. 7 世界中から弔辞 Global tributes pour in after Jobs' death Oct. 10 緊急時には自転車が決め手 Bikes keep the wheels of progress rolling Oct. 6 スティーブ・ジョブ氏逝く Steve Jobs passed away Oct. 3 法廷にマイケルが響く Jacson's voice echoes through court as doctor's trial opens The Empress Michiko marks 77th birthday The Empress of Japan celebrated her 77th birthday Thursday. As all members of the Imperial family do, Michiko released a statement where she discussed this year's massive earthquake and tsunami, and getting older. I have been blessed with relarively good health until recently. Unpleasant symptoms have started to emerge, perhaps due to advancing age. Most of the time, they are the sort I can bear, but the symptoms could worsen and force me to alter or curtail my schedule. It pains me to see that whenever this happens, it causes anxiety and concern to the people. Although at times both the Emperor and I have to manage the various adversities affecting our bodies, it is also necessary for us to place some burden on our bodies to avoid the precipitous decline of our current fitness. All this makes me realize that we are now entering a slightly more uphill age. 10月６日に喜寿を迎えられた皇后美智子様のお言葉。そのお言葉からは身体に表れる老いの兆候を受け入れながら、その一方でなんとか老いに負けない気力と体力を維持しようとする強い決意が伝わってくる。一人の人間として尊敬できる方だと思いました。 Gaddafi died of wounds "He (Gaddafi) was also hit in his head," National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. "There was a lot of firing against his group and he died." Mlegta told Reuters earlier that Gaddafi, who was in his late 60s, was captured and wounded in both legs at dawn on Thursday as he tried to flee in a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked. He said he had been taken away by an ambulance. There was no independent confirmation of his remarks. An anti-Gaddafi fighter said Gaddafi had been found hiding in a hole in the ground and had said "Don't shoot, don't shoot" to the men who grabbed him. カダフィーが本当にそう言ったのかどうか未確認だとしながらも、隠れていた穴で発見された時、「撃つな、撃つな。」と言ったと報告されている。独裁者としてあれだけやりたい放題のことをして、最後に吐いた言葉が命乞いだとしたら、彼が哀れな人間なのか、人間とはしょせん哀れな生き物なのか、つくづく考えてしまう。 日本の武士は元服の前に切腹の作法を親から教えられたと云うが、「如何に死を迎えるべきか」を、人生のある時期に考えておくことは必要なのかもしれない。 His capture followed within minutes of the fall of Sirte, a development that extinguished the last significant resistance by forces loyal to the deposed leader. The capture of Sirte and the death of Gaddafi means Libya's ruling NTC should now begin the task of forging a new democratic system which it had said it would get under way after the city, built as a showpiece for Gaddafi's rule, had fallen. カダフィー統治のシンボルとして作られた都市シルト陥落後には、新しい民主的システム構築の仕事が始まるとされているが、イラクやアフガニスタンがそうであるように、本当の苦しみは旧体制が倒れた今から始まるのだろう。 'Occupy Wall Street' Movement Gains Size, Support
アメリカで広がる経済格差や失業問題を背景に「ウォール街を占拠せよ」を合言葉にニューヨークのズコッティ公園で始まったデモ。あれから一か月、その運動は全世界へと広がる兆しを見せている。ただ、興味深いことに、そのスローガンは各国の事情によってさまざまだということ。 ローマでは車に火をつけたり、銀行の窓を割ったりと暴徒化し、東京では原発にもその矛先が向けられ、フィリピンでは、アメリカの帝国主義がやり玉に上がった。 Occupy Wall Street media representative Mark Bray says resistance to multinational corporate influence needs a multinational movement. 企業が多国籍化しているため、デモも多国間運動になっているとの指摘もある。 “The problems that we’re facing in all these different countries vary by locality, vary by circumstance," said Mark Bray. "But the resistance to cuts on social spending, the push for real democracy that gets the voices of working people prioritized over the voices of corporations is something that we share in common.” このように国によって事情は様々で、はっきりした指導者もおらず、共通のメッセージもない。だが、その直面している問題−社会保障費の削減、労働者の声を企業に優先させる真の民主主義を求める声−は世界中の人々が共有できるものだ。 The Occupy movement has no apparent leaders or common message. In Sydney, Australia, for example, about 300 demonstrators accused the world’s richest one percent of hoarding wealth. In New York, performance artist Benny Zable, an Australian native, blamed that same one percent for environmental pollution. “The one percent are the very wealthy, who have become wealthy by creaming off at any cost," said Zable. "There’s no morals behind it. They’ll dig up, they’ll contaminate.” オーストラリアでは、１％の人間が世界の富を所有していると訴え、ニューヨークでは、その１％が環境汚染を引き起こしていると非難する。 On Sunday, President Barack Obama acknowledged the movement by invoking the name of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Mr. Obama spoke in Washington at the dedication of the monument to slain American civil rights leader. "If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there," said President Obama. World' biggest virus found off Chile A virus found in the sea off Chile is the biggest in the world, harboring more than 1,000 genes, surprised scientists reported Monday. The genome of Megavirus chilensis is 6.5 percent bigger than the DNA code of the previous virus record-holder, Mimivirus, isolated in 2003. Viruses differ from bacteria in that they are usually far smaller and cannot reproduce in their own, needing to penetrate an host cell in which to replicate. 1,000以上の遺伝子を有する世界最大のウイルスが見つかったと言うニュース。これまでのものより、6.5％大きいそうだ。そもそも、ウイルスとは？バクテリアよりはるかに小さく、複製するために宿主細胞に侵入する必要があるため、自ら繁殖できない。 It was taken from seawater sampled close to the shore of Las Cruces, Chile. Its host organism is unknown. このウイルスは、チリのラス・クルシーズ海岸近くで採取された海水から見つかった。 Spotted catching a free ride Rob Sloan was spotted catching a free ride at about the 20-mile (32km) mark of Sunday's Kielder Marathon in Northumberland before jumping off just before the finish, hiding behind a tree and rejoining the race. After being confronted by fellow competitors, he initially denied cheating but later owned up. Event director Steve Cram told the Sunderland Echo: "Mr Sloan made a mistake and has apologised to us for the confusion it has caused." The runner who thought he had finished third said he was stunned to be told he had finished fourth behind Sloan. I asked him if he had finished third and he said 'yes'. I then asked him where he had passed me and he said he'd done so after the 15-mile mark, which was impossible because at the point I had opened up a five-minute gap.  Global tributes pour in after Jobs' deathWe are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. ジョブズ氏の聡明さと情熱とエネルギーのおかげで、我々はこれまでにない快適な生活を享受できるようになった。 The digital age has lost its leading light, but Steve's innovation and creativity will inspire dreamers and thinkers for generations. スティーブの革新性と創造力は、今後何世代にもわたって夢を持ち、創造し続ける人々を勇気づけることだろう。 He was a genius of our time who combined art with technology. People hundreds of years from now may equate him to Leonardo da Vinci. 彼は、芸術と技術を融合させた天才だ。何百年後かの人々は、彼をダビンチと並べ賞賛することだろう。 The way we compute today wouldn't be what it is without Steve Jobs. スティーブ・ジョブ氏がいなかったら、コンピュータが今日のように使われることはないだろう。 While Apple wasn't the first to come up with smartphones or tablet computers, Jobs was a master at tailoring products to resonate with consumers. He also had such potent marketing magic that people camp out in the streets to be the first to get their hands on Apple's new gadgets. ジョブズ氏の秀でた点は、消費者の心に響く製品を生み出したことだ。アップルの新製品が出るたびに、最初に手に入れたいと道路にキャンプを張って並ぶのも頷ける。  Bikes keep the wheels of progress rollingWith the onslaught of super typhoon No.15 on Sept. 21-22, for the second time in a little over six months Tokyo’s public transport network was snarled by a natural disaster. Several hundreds of thousands of hapless commuters found themselves stranded for hours as Kitaku nanmin( refugees unable to return home). With train runs delayed during the peak rush hour, crowds of commuters flowed out of rail stations, jamming buses and attempting, mostly unsuccessfully to flag down a vacant taxi. “This time we were just lucky that flooding in the greater Tokyo area was not more extensive.” Both the government and private corporations have yet to learn the lessons of March 11, largely leaving the marooned masses to fend for themselves. In action perhaps best described as doronawa-shiki(braiding the rope after the thief has already been caught; i.e., too little, too late.  Steve Jobs passed awayあまりに若すぎる死だった。天才と呼ばれ、雲の上の存在であるはずなのに、その死を身近に感じるのは、氏が私よりわずか１歳年上の56歳だったせいもあるのだろう。また、世界中の多くの人々があの有名なスタンフォード大学の卒業式でのスピーチを思い出したことだろう。今日は、今一度そのスピーチを聴いて、自分の人生を振り返ってみたい。 明日の英語の授業は、スピーチを聴かせよう。英語と日本語の原稿も用意しておこう。 人生で大切なこと。 I was lucky ? I found what I loved to do early in life. 死とは？ No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. 自分の人生を生きるとは? "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. 若者に伝えたいこと Stay hungry. Stay foolish. 氏の訃報を受け、多くの著名人が哀悼の意を表しているが、その人となりを表すのに、visionary(先見の明のある)という言葉が使われていた。 Jacson's voice echoes through court as doctor's trial opens First, prosecutors showed a photo of Michael Jackson's pale and lifeless body lying on a gurney. Then, they played a recording of his voice, just weeks before his death. Slow and slurred, his words echoed Tuesday through a Los Angeles courtroom at the start of the trial of the doctor accused of killing him. Prosecutors played the audio for the first time during opening statements as they portrayed Dr. Conrad Murray, 58, as an incompetent physician who used a dangerous anesthetic without adequate safegurds and whose neglect left the superstar abandoned as he lay dying. マイケル・ジャクソンの主治医の裁判で、検察側の冒頭陳述では初めて音楽が流された。最初に、ストレッチャーに乗せられた生気の無いマイケルの遺体写真とマイケルの声が披露された。続いて、マイケルの音楽をＢＧＭとして、主治医の医者としての不適性が述べられた。適切な安全措置を講じることなく麻酔を投与し、死にかけているマイケルを放置したと訴えた。 |
