私の英語の勉強は会社の昼休みと夜寝る前のほんの一寸の時間ですが、先日読み終えた "Psychology, Made Simple" の次に就寝前に読む本として "A History of Western Society" を読み始めました。 就寝前にベッドの上で読むので短いと５分、長くても３０分の時間で、しかも月刊誌のEnglish Journalが借りれた時はそちらを優先するので "A History of Western Society" を読み終えるには恐らく半年以上かかるでしょう。"A History of Western Society" と言ってもこの本はシリーズのＣ巻で1775年のヨーロッパ革命の時代から現代の歴史についての本です。 最初に取り上げるのは次ぎの個所です。
Reformers like Chadwick were seriously handicapped by the prevailing miasmatic theory of disease--the belief that people contract disease when they breathe the bad odors of decay and putrefying excrement; in short, the theory that smells cause disease. The miasmatic theory was a reasonable deduction from empirical observations: cleaning up filth did produce laudable results. Yet the theory was very incomplete.
知らない単語が二つありますが "miasmatic" は文中に説明があるので後回しにして、"putrefying" を調べます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: become putrid; decay with an offensive smell
・Dictionary.com: to render putrid; cause to rot or decay with an offensive odor.
"miasmatic" は原形の "miasma" を辞書で確認します。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: 1. unhealthy vapors rising from the ground or other sources ("The miasma of the marshes") 2. an unwholesome atmosphere ("The novel spun a miasma of death and decay")
・American Heritage Dictionary: 1.A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease. 2. A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.
タバコの煙が嫌いな私としてはタバコの煙も "miasma" は納得できるし、 "miasma" も覚えられる気がします。
Reformers like Chadwick were seriously handicapped by the prevailing miasmatic theory of disease--the belief that people contract disease when they breathe the bad odors of decay and putrefying excrement; in short, the theory that smells cause disease. The miasmatic theory was a reasonable deduction from empirical observations: cleaning up filth did produce laudable results. Yet the theory was very incomplete.
知らない単語が二つありますが "miasmatic" は文中に説明があるので後回しにして、"putrefying" を調べます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: become putrid; decay with an offensive smell
・Dictionary.com: to render putrid; cause to rot or decay with an offensive odor.
"miasmatic" は原形の "miasma" を辞書で確認します。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: 1. unhealthy vapors rising from the ground or other sources ("The miasma of the marshes") 2. an unwholesome atmosphere ("The novel spun a miasma of death and decay")
・American Heritage Dictionary: 1.A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease. 2. A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.
タバコの煙が嫌いな私としてはタバコの煙も "miasma" は納得できるし、 "miasma" も覚えられる気がします。
トータル
