Reader's Digest Julyの記事、Stuck in an Ice Cave、に出て来た見慣れない単語を取り上げます。
All told, the guys weren't seriously injured, and the incident hasn't diminished their love of spelunking. They even plan to return to the caves this summer.
"spelunking" を辞書で調べます。
・Vocabulary.com: To spelunk is to explore natural caves. Geologists do a lot of spelunking.
This is a weird-looking word, but it has a simple meaning: to explore natural caves. Scientists who study natural formations of the Earth do a lot of spelunking. Through spelunking, you can find evidence of difference(sic) minerals, as well as fossils of various animals. Archaeologists spelunk to find remnants of previous civilizations. Some people spelunk as a hobby: they are spelunkers.
・Urban Dictionary: the exploration of natural caves: Bat researchers usually spelunk many caves to find their information.
Urban Dictionaryから引用したからといって "spelunk" はスラングではありません。例文が載っている辞書が他にはほとんどなかったので引用したのです。ラテン語、古仏語由来の外来語でした。
Reader's Digest Julyの記事、The Golden Rules of FACEBOOKに7 Things to Never Do on FACEBOOKが書かれていて、してはいけない事の一つ、Try to Keep Up With the Jonesesからの抜粋です。
Most people present themselves in a favourable light on Facebook, and there's nothing wrong with that. Like a 21st-century scrapbook, "Facebook is a forum for highlighting your strength and the good things that are happening in your life," says psychologist, Phoenix Deerhawke. When all you see on a friend's page are upbeat posts and happy photos, it can make you feel like your life doesn't measure up.
最後に出てきた "measure up" の意味がぴんときません。辞書で調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Reach the required or expected standard; fulfill expectations: ‘I’m afraid we didn’t measure up to the standards they set.
・Dictionary.com: To meet expectations; to be as good as. It's a passable substitute, but it will never measure up to the original.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to compare well to someone or something. He just doesn't measure up to Sarah in intelligence. This meal doesn't measure up to my expectations.
なるほど、期待や何かの基準に合わないのは比較するから分かるのですね。この項目のタイトルに "Keep Up With the Joneses" が使われているのに対応していますね。
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