anaphylactic shock

双子の兄弟、CraigとBrentonの間に起こった不思議な現象についての記事、Twin Power（Reader's Digest 6月号）からの抜粋です。
The next day, when Craig and Nicole were out shopping, she pulled him aside to tell him the rash on his back was much worse. Thousands of kikometers to the north, Brenton had reacted to an insecticide in his room, gone into anaphylactic shock and been rushed to hospital.
（NicoleはCraigの奥さんです。）
"anaphylactic shock" はハチなどに刺されて発症するアレルギー性のショックの様ですが、辞書で確認します。
・Collins English Dictionary: extreme sensitivity to an injected antigen, esp a protein, following a previous injection: Exposure to the food can lead to a reaction called anaphylactic shock which causes suffocation - especially in kids
・Wiktionary: "anaphylactic shock": A severe and rapid systemic allergic reaction to an allergen, constricting the trachea and preventing breathing.
・online medical dictionary: Pertaining to anaphylaxis.: An inflammatory reactions produced by an antigen combining with IgE bound to a mast cell that produces degranulation of the mast cell and subsequent release of histamine and histamine like substances.
This can produce a localised or global immune reponse that results in an acute allergic reaction with shortness of breath, rash, wheezing, hypotension.
"anaphylactic shock" はたまにニュースで聞く話ですが、経験はしたくありません。

lop off

Reader's Digest 6月号の記事、The 20 tips health experts beg you not to skip　- ENERGISE YOUR LIFE の中のThe Motivation Expertによる助言、Get results in 20 secondsから引用します。
The difference between having a goal and actually accomplishing it? Just 20 seconds, says positive-psychology guru Shawn Achor. Researchers have learned that if we can lop 20 seconds off the start-up time required for a task, we're much more inclined to follow through.
文脈から考えると "lop 20 seconds off" は20秒を削ることだと思いますが、確認します。
・Collins English Dictionary: tr usually foll by off: 1.to sever (parts) from a tree, body, etc, esp with swift strokes 2.to cut out or eliminate from as excessive: The first section of the line opens next year - if all goes according to plan - and will lop up to 15 minutes off journey times.
・Infoplease Dictionary: to eliminate as unnecessary or excessive: We had to lop off whole pages of the report before presenting it to the committee.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to reduce a price or the amount of time taken to do something by a particular amount: He lopped eight seconds off the record.
そんな訳で今日は確認後のコメントを "lop off" します。

white

Attending a wedding for the first time, Little Susie whispered to her mother,
"Why is the bride dressed in white?"
"Because white is the color of happiness, and today is the happiest day of her life."
Litte Susie thought about this for a moment, then said
"So why is the groom wearing black?"

squeamishness

今日の単語もThe Art of Riceの記事からです。
"Jumping salad is a famous Ilocana dish!" says Buboy, my friend and mentor in the fields. After Visayans and Tagalogs, Ilcanos are the third largest ethnic group in the Philippines. Renowned for their folk songs and food, this famous recipe of theirs calls for live river shrimp, calamansi lime juice, vinegar and salt. The result: tiny shrimp jumping around the bowl in a desperate attempt to escape. Not my cup of tea, but it's a light-hearted momont as the others laugh at my squeamishness.
記事の筆者はジャンプしている小エビを躊躇しながら食べた様子ですが、"squeamishness" or "squeamish" の意味を辞書で確認します。
・Collins English Dictionary: .easily frightened ⇒ squeamish about spiders
・Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary: having an unpleasantly nervous or doubtful feeling: I used to be squeamish about eating raw fish.
・Vocabulary.com: excessively fastidious and easily disgusted: “so squeamish he would only touch the toilet handle with his elbow”
４０年近く前ですが、福岡の室見川で白魚の踊り食いを食べた事を思い出しました。魚やイカの活き作りを食べる日本人はこの記事の筆者の様に "squeamish" にはならないでしょう。しかし、これが生きた虫だとどうでしょうか？　私は子供の頃田舎の信州で生きている蜂の子を食べたことがありますが、青虫を食べろと言われたら "squeamish" になるでしょう。

valiantly

一昨日、昨日と二日連続で腹が痛くなり、持病の腎臓結石が降りてきたのだと思い今日の午前中に医者に行ったのですが、尿の検査で尿路結石に特有な兆候は見られず、今日のところは原因不明です。
さて、Reader's Digest 6月号の記事、The Art of Riceからの抜粋です。
While this seems like an easy job, it's anything but. After half an hour of trying to stick rice seedlings into the paddy, I have nothing but respect for the farmers cultivating rice. My body is even worse for wear after an hour. Trying
valiantly not to step on a seedling, I wobble instead and fall flat on five of them.
今日憶えたいのはこの "valiantly" の意味と用法です。 "valiant" に「勇敢な」の意味があるのは知っていますが、苗を踏まない様にすることは勇気があるないの問題ではありません。辞書で "valiantly" を見ます。
ほとんどの辞書は形容詞の "valiant" でしか意味を説明していません。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: very brave or bravely determined, especially when things are difficult or the situation gives no cause for hope: The company has made a valiant effort/attempt in the last two years to make itself more efficient.
・Oxford English Dictionary: possessing or showing courage or determination: she made a valiant effort to hold her anger in check.: a valiant warrior
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: marked by, exhibiting, or carried out with courage or determination
勇気ではなくても "exhibiting, or carried out with determination" であれば使え、しかもRDの記事の様に失敗する様な場合に使われる事が多いのですね。

airborne wasabi

数年前に IgNobel Prizeを取り上げた記憶がありますが、Reader's Digest 6月号に最近（２０１１）の受賞内容についての記事があり、下記はその中の化学賞の説明です。
Chemistry: for the invention of the Wasabi Alarm, inspired upon the discovery of the ideal density of airborne wasabi required to awaken sleeping people during a fire or other emergency.
"airborne wasabi" とあるので、またまた日本人の受賞かと思いましたが、IgNobel PrizeのWebsiteで確認すると、日本人の受賞者名（複数による研究）が掲載されていて、米国の特許も申請しているようです。
一応ここでの "airborne" の意味をおさらいします。
・Macmillan Dictionary: carried in the air: airborne germs/dust/particles
・Vocabulary.com: moved or conveyed by or through air: Reverse genetics will be needed to identify which of the five to nine amino acid substitutions in this virus are essential to confer airborne transmission.
"airborne wasabi" が実用化するとは思えませんが、IgNobel Prize受賞はとにかくおめでたい話です。

cipher

Reader's Digest 6月号の記事、England Prepares to Crown a Queenにあったこの単語は知らない単語ではありませんが、ここでの意味が分かりません。
Since Victoria's reign, the fashion is to buy a pottery mug or plate. In the Staffordshire district of England, firms are turning out some of the 12 million pieces that will bear the Queen's profile or crown or cipher.
"cipher" と言うと暗号、特にコンピュータ関係ではセキュリティーのために使われますが、上の文ではその様な暗号は関係がなさそうです。　辞書を見ます。
・Collins English Dictionary: .a design consisting of interwoven letters; monogram
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a combination of symbolic letters; especially : the interwoven initials of a name
・Wiktionary: A design of interlacing initials: a decorative design consisting of a set of interlaced initials.
なるほど、WikipediaにRoyal Cypherの項目があり、そこに "The Royal Cypher of Queen Elizabeth II, surmounted by the St Edward's Crown"の画像がありましたが、引用文の "cipher" はその事ですね。（cipher/cypherのどちらのスペルも使われているようだ）
英語を読むのは私にとっては暗号を解く（ "decipher" ）ようなものです。 "cipher" には "a person or group of people without power, but used by others for their own purposes, or someone who is not important: The interim government is a mere cipher for military rule." の意味もあると辞書にありますが、 "decipher" だとどうなのでしょうか？

bunting

今日の単語もReader's Digest 6月号の特集の中のEngland Prepares to Crown a Queenからです。
Thoroughfares such as Piccadelly and Bond Street will be covered with plaster or plastic arches supporting crowns 30 feet high -- blazing with multicolored lights. One store is spending $20,000 on facade decorations alone. A flagmaker has doubled his staff to bring out 750,000 flags and 500 miles of bunting.
旗屋が旗を作るのは当たり前ですが、"500 miles of bunting" は何でしょう。"bunting" を辞書で見ます。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: rows of brightly coloured little flags that are hung across roads or above a stage as decoration for special occasions
・Macmillan Dictionary: a line of small flags on a string, used for decorating buildings and streets for special occasions
・American Heritage Dictionary:
1. A light cotton or woolen cloth used for making flags.
2. Flags considered as a group.
3. Strips of cloth or material usually in the colors of the national flag, used especially as drapery or streamers for festive decoration.
なるほど。祭り、運動会、催事で必需品ですね。

solitaire

英国エリザベス女王の在位60年を記念したReader's Digest 5月号の特集にEngland Prepares to Crown a Queenと題した記事があり、その中に気になる単語がありました。
Coronation Week is a time when private detectives work overtime and insurance men go gray. Diadems and tiaras, necklaces and dazzling solitaires emerge from strongboxes all over England, but no individual can expect to top the favulous crown jewls.
"solitaire" はMS Windowsにも付属でついていますが、トランプのゲームだとはゲームに関心の全く無い私でも知っています。しかし、上記の "solitaire" はゲームとは関係はなく何かの装飾品の様です。　辞書を見ます。
ありますね、上の文での意味が。
・Collins English Dictionary: .a gem, esp a diamond, set alone in a ring: Hewitt proposed to Clijsters aboard a Sydney Harbour cruise last year, presenting her with an impressive diamond solitaire ring.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a single jewel (= precious stone) which is part of a piece of jewellery, especially a ring, or the ring itself: a solitaire diamond
語源辞典(Online Etymology Dictionary)を見ると次ぎの様に書かれていました。
1716, "solitary person, recluse," from Fr. solitaire, from L. solitarius (see solitary). Sense of "a precious stone set by itself" is from 1727. Meaning "card game played by one person" is first attested 1746.
なるほど、トランプのゲームとも "solitary" で繋がっているのですね。
私は知りませんでしたが、女性なら常識かな。

shirt

One day my housework-challenged husband decided to wash his Sweat-shirt.
Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to me,
"What setting do I use on the washing machine?"
"It depends," I replied. "What does it say on your shirt?"
He yelled back, "Wait…yeah, University of Oklahoma."