provenance

ASJ 12月の例会の講演はフィンランド大使館で開かれ、演題は印籠についてでした。講師のクレス氏は１２月１９日に始まり、来年の３月１０日まで九州国立博物館で開かれている夫妻の印籠コレクションの展示会（http://www.kyuhaku.jp/exhibition/exhibition_pre93.html）の為に来日された様です。それにしても日本人も余り目にした事のない印籠についてフィンランドの方が余りにも詳しいので、ASJの講演にはいつもながら驚かされます。当日頂いた資料から一部を引用します。
It was made to order for a daimyo and hence unique, but several inro resembling this one are offered at auction every year, and hundreds of them are documented in our archives. An inro like this, but without its exceptional provenance, would not be remarkable. It would not even fetch a high price.
"exceptional provenance" の個所が分かりません。"provenance" の意味を調べます。
・Collins Dictionary: a place of origin, esp that of a work of art or archaeological specimen: Appearance, condition, and provenance - they're the three great selling points in horses, cattle, bloodstock.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
1: origin, source: The artifact is of unknown provenance.
2: the history of ownership of a valued object or work of art or literature: Has anyone traced the provenances of these paintings?
実物の印籠も初めて手にとって見ることができました。印鑑だけではなく、薬なども持ち歩く時に使える容器でした。
では皆様良いお年をお迎え下さい。

Double demise

Wanda and Sylvia are talking in heaven. "Hi, Sylvia, how did you die?" asks Wanda. "I froze to death," replied Sylvia.
"How horrible!" says Wanda.
"Oh, it wasn't so bad," says Sylvia.
"After I quit shaking from the cold I began to get warm and sleepy, and finally died a peaceful death. What about you?"
"I died of a massive heart attack," says Wanda. "I suspected my husband was cheating, so I came home early to catch him in the act. But he was all by himself watching TV in the den."
"So what happened?"
"Well, I was so sure there was another woman that I started running all over the house looking. I ran up into the attic, down into the basement, went through every closet and checked under all the beds. I kept this up until I'd looked everywhere, and finally I became so exhausted that I just keeled over with a heart attack and died."
"Wow," says Sylvia. "Too bad you didn't look in the freezer, we'd both still be alive."

line one's pockets

昨日は何故かインターネット接続の調子が悪く、プログの書き込みを諦めました。
さてDec. 6のJapan Timesの見出しからです。
AIJ founder admits fraud, denies greed
AIJ Investment Advisors President Kazuhiko Asakawa pleads guilty to defrauding pension fund clients out of 24.8 billion but denies intending to line his own pockets.
"line his own pockets" は慣用句の様です。私服を肥やすような意味だと思いますが、辞書で確認します。
・Random House Dictionary: line one's pockets, to profit, especially at the expense of others: While millions were fighting and dying, the profiteers were lining their pockets.
・Collins Dictionary: to make money, esp by dishonesty when in a position of trust
今日から１月の６日まで仕事は休みです。会社の昼休みと通勤の行き帰りに英語の本を読む時間がなくなるので、ブログの更新は毎日はできないでしょう。家ではインターネットで英字新聞を読む事はありますが、本を読む事はほとんどありません。代わりにジョギングを毎日したいとは思っているのですが、寒さと天気の具合でめげそうです。
P.S. "line one's pockets" は昨年既に一度取り上げていました。

Flowers for Algernon

Ｆｌｏｗｅｒｓ ｆｏｒ Ａｌｇｅｒｎｏｎの主人公、Charlie、はＩＱが普通の人よりはるかに高い天才になりますが、その状態は続かず徐々に衰えていきます。同じ手術を受けたネズミのＡｌｇｅｒｎｏｎの観察から自分もまた元の知恵遅れになって死んで行くことを完全に自覚しているCharlieです。父、母そして妹にそれぞれ会いますが、Charlieを自分の息子と認識できない父の話は悲しい事です。母は息子のCharlieである事に気が付きますが、自身が認知症なので、優しくなったと思うと、急に昔Charlieを施設に入れた時と同じ態度に変ります。再開した妹との会話には感動的な場面があります。
推理小説ではないのでネタをばらしても余り非難を受けないとの前提で、この話の最後の文を引用します。

P.S. please if you get a chanse put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard.(sic)

英語のスペルの間違いも小説の始めの頃のCharlieと同じになっていますが、小説の題名の由来が良く分かります。

pass at

Ｆｌｏｗｅｒｓ ｆｏｒ Ａｌｇｅｒｎｏｎの主人公、Charlie、のアパートの隣の住人、Fay、は大のダンス好きで、今日はダンスの後に男と帰ってきた。隣の部屋からFayの叫ぶ声が聞こえてしばらくしてからの個所です。
Then, a few minutes afterward, I heard a tapping on my living room window. It was open, and Fay slipped in and sat on the ledge, a black silk kimono revealing lovely legs.
"Hi," she whispered, "got a cigareet(sic)?"
I handed her one and she slipped down from the window ledge to the couch. "Whew!" she sighed, "I can usually take care of myself, but there's one type that's so hungry it's all you can do to hold them off."
"Oh," I said, "you brought him up here to hold him off."
She caught my tone and looked up sharply. "You don't approve?"
"Who am I to disapprove? But if you pick up a guy in a public dance hall you've got to expect advances. He had the right to make a pass at you."
この "make a pass at" がこの手のことに疎い私はちょっと分からない。もちろん単純に "make love" なら分かりますが、そんな単純なものではない様だ。
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to flirt with or suggest sexual activity with someone. Can you believe it? Larry made a pass at me! No one ever makes a pass at me.
・Cambridge Idioms Dictionary: to speak to or touch someone in a way that shows you would like to start a sexual relationship with them He made a pass at her at Simon's party.
なるほど、納得です。

fling

Ｆｌｏｗｅｒｓ ｆｏｒ Ａｌｇｅｒｎｏｎの主人公、Charlie、のアパートの隣の住人、Fay、は若い女性で、その女性の部屋にCharlieは入りました。
The place was a shambles. There were dozens of little folding snack-tables, all covered with twisted tubes of paint, most of them crusted dry like shriveled snakes, but some of them alive and oozing ribbons of color. Tubes, brushes, cans, rags, and parts of frames and canvas were strewn everywhere. The place was thick with the ordor compounded of paint, linseed oil, and turpentine--and after a few moments the subtle aroma of stale beer. Three overstuffed chairs and a mangy green couch were piled high with discarded clothing, and on the floor lay shoes, stockings and underthings, as if she were in the habit of undressing as she walked and flinging her clothes as she went.
実に乱雑な部屋の様子が良く分かります。今日覚えたい単語は "flinging" です。　状況からして、服を歩きながら脱いで "flinging" となると、「投げ捨てる」の意味だと思いますが、辞書で確かめます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: to throw something carelessly or with a lot of force: fling something over/across/onto etc.: She flung a book across the room at me: His coat had been flung over the back of a chair.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to throw forcefully, impetuously, or casually: flung herself down on the sofa: clothes were flung on the floor
Vocabulary.comの丁寧な説明も詠んで見ましょう
To fling is to throw something with force. You'll start a food fight in the cafeteria if you fling your vegetables at the kid across the table.
The act of throwing something recklessly or with force can also be called a fling. Your mail sorting ritual might be putting bills in one pile and personal letters in another, then giving junk mail a fling into the recycling bin. A brief period of revelry or indulgence is another kind of fling. You and your friends could plan a weekend fling in New York, staying in a hotel, eating out, and shopping without worrying about how much money you spend.
服を投げ散らかすのは感心しませんが、毎週とは言いませんが "a yearend fling" 位は楽しみたいですね。

beauty mark

ＮＹのアパートで自分の部屋に鍵を置き忘れて出てしまい、ロックアウトされたCharlieは隣の部屋のベランダから自分の部屋に戻ろうと隣の部屋を訪ねると、そこは小説らしく、若い女性が出て来ました。
"Beer or ale? Nothing else in the place right now except cooking sherry. You don't want cooking sherry, do you?"
"I can't stay," I said, getting hold of myself and fixing my gaze at the beauty mark on the left side of her chin.
"beauty mark" はホクロか笑窪のどちらかだと思いますが、知らないので辞書で確認します。
・Macmillan Dictionary: a small dark spot on the skin. The British word is beauty spot.
.・Wiktionary: (idiomatic) A single, circular, dark spot, especially on one side of a woman's face below the forehead, produced either naturally (as by a mole) or artificially using cosmetics.
下記はWikipediaからの抜粋です。
A beauty mark or beauty spot is a euphemism for a type of dark facial mole, so named because such birthmarks are sometimes considered an attractive feature. Medically, such "beauty marks" are generally melanocytic nevus, more specifically the compound variant. Moles of this type may also be located elsewhere on the body, and may also be considered beauty marks if located on the shoulder, neck or breast.
False beauty marks are sometimes applied to the face as a form of make-up. Beauty marks were particularly highly regarded during the eighteenth century and creating false ones became common, often in fanciful shapes such as hearts or stars. They could be purchased as silk or velvet patches known as "mouches" (flies).

Make it Pax

Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobeを読んでいたら大分前にEnglish Collectionで取り上げた "Pax" が次ぎの様に出て来ました。
"I say, Lu! I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I see now you were right all along. Do come out. Make it Pax."
"Pax" は平和を意味しているのでこの "Make it Pax" は「仲直りしよう」の意味でしょう。日本を含め世界中で近隣諸国ともめている国が多くありますが、簡単に "Make it Pax" と言えると良いのですが、現実は中々難しいですね。

In a nutsshell

A friend of mine works in an aged care home, and last Chrismas an elderly gentleman presented her with a large bag of brazil nuts.
Upon thanking him, the gift giver replied, "That's OK, I've already sucked all of the chocolate off."
私はチョコレートは余り好きではないので、多分歳をとってもこんなことはしないと思いますが、昔は食べれなかった饅頭を最近は食べれるようになったので、十年後にはどうなるやら？　まだ当分はスポーツも英語の勉強も楽しめそうです。
May your holidays be filled with many happy Clauses!

bearings

ＮＹに着いたＦｌｏｗｅｒｓ ｆｏｒ Ａｌｇｅｒｎｏｎの主人公、Charlieはアパートを探します。
Fortunately, as a precaution, I withdrew my savings from the bank as soon as I arrived in New York. Eight hundred and eighty-six dollars won't last long, but it will give me time to get my bearings.
"bearings" に "direction" の意味がある事は３年前に取り上げましたが、ここでの意味は地理的な方向の意味ではありませんが、生活の方向、基盤の様な意味でしょうか？
・Collins Dictionary: usually plural a sense of one's relative position or situation; orientation (esp in the phrases lose, get, or take one's bearings)
適当な例文は見つけられませんでしたが、解釈はそんなに外れていないと思うので深追いは止めときます。（翻訳者でなくて良かった。）