veneer

数年前にマカオに行ったことがありますが、そのマカオの記事がReader's Digest 12月号にありました。
But Macau's veneer of modernism is easily punctured. Venture away from the resort district and air conditioning gives way to incense-filled temples, and skyscrapers are replaced by ornate stonework. Beneath a bustling Chinese skin it is easy to see the skelton of Portuguese colonial buildings, and the blend of traditions the locals still revel in.
"veneer" はベニア板しか思い起こせませんが、上の"veneer" はそのベニアではないでしょう。
・Collins Dictionary: a superficial appearance, esp one that is pleasing ⇒ a veneer of gentility
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:a way of behaving or appearing that gives other people a false idea of your true feelings or situation
・Vocabulary.com: A veneer can be anything that makes something look more elegant or attractive than it is. Originally it was a furniture word, but over time its meaning expanded. If someone smiles at you while making some passive-aggressive remark, like, "Gee, you actually look really nice today," you could say that her inner meanness is showing through her veneer of sweetness.
なるほど "veneer" は板だけではないのですね。
私が見たマカオの "veneer" はカジノと本土からカジノを目指してやってくる大勢の中国人でしたが、ベニアの下には歴史を感じさせる景観や雰囲気がありました。

short-fused

日本語でも怒りが爆発することを切れると言いますが、Reader's Digest 12月号の記事、WHY SO ANGRY? に出てきた英語の表現は日本語の切れると発想は同じです。
Short-fused drivers experience more anger, anxiety and act impulsively.
They are more likely to get in the car angry - perhaps from work or home stress.
"Short-fused" は「切れ易い」、「短気な」の意味だと直ぐに分かりますが、辞書で確認します。
辞書の項目として "Short-fused" は見つかりませんが、名詞の "short fuse" の説明はありました。
・Collins Dictionary: (informal) a quick temper: Ernest had a short fuse and a very nasty temper she was careful not to inflame.
・Wiktionary: (idiomatic) The personality trait of being quick to anger. Be careful of what you say; he has a short fuse.
・Oxford English Dictionary: have (or be on) a short fuse: have a tendency to lose one’s temper quickly: ‘watch your tongue--he’s got a very short fuse’
また動詞的な表現としては "blow a fuse" の慣用句で日本語の「切れる」と同じ使い方になるようです。
・Dictionary.com:
have a short fuse, Informal. to anger easily; have a quick temper.
blow a fuse, Informal. to lose one's temper; become enraged: If I'm late again, they'll blow a fuse.

Thanks a watt

Reader's Digest に毎月掲載のAll in a day's workというコーナーがあり、投稿は実話のようですが、いつもジョークとしか思えない話が載っています。 今日紹介するのは2013年１２月号の投稿記事です。
A customer walked into our store looking for Christmas lights. I showed her our top brand, but - wanting to make sure that each bulb worked - she asked me to take them out of the box and plug them in. I did, and each one lit up.
"Great," she said.
I carefully placed the string of lights back in the box. But as I handed them to her, she looked alarmed.
"I don't want this box," she said abruptly. "It's been opened."
多分米国なら実際にこんな事が起きるのでしょう。

first class

My six-year-old granddaughter, Solara, and her mother were waiting to get on a plane when an announcement invited all first-class passengers to board. Solara promptly got up and walked towards the gate.
"Where are you going!" asked her mother.
"I'm in Grade One, so I am in the first class," Solara said. The flight attendant allowed them to board ahead of the others.
(RD Dec. 2013 As kids see it)
羽生選手金メダルを取りましたね。おめでとう。
まさに薄氷を踏む演技でした。

pod

Reader's Digest 12月号に掲載の、シャークに襲われた女性をシャークと戦って助けた記事、The Shark Wrestler、に今日採り上げる単語が何度も使われていたので覚えたいと思います。
This trip was a special treat for their 24-year-old daughter Megan, visiting from Brisbane. Julie rarely ventured into the water. Today she was content to sit on the deck. She could relax, chat and photograph Trevor and Megan with the pod of dolphins.
"pod" には豆などの鞘や、着脱式の容器の意味があったと思いますが、上の引用文の "pod" は全く違う意味で使われていますね。　この "pod" はこの後にも次ぎの様に出てきます。
As they waited, Frankcom and her colleagues shared exciting news with their passengers: a dolphin in a familial pod had given birth the previous week and they had hopes of seeing the week-old calf.
...
A crew member spotted another small pod: it was two females and a newborn calf that couldn't have been more than a couple of hours old.
こうなると "pod" には群れの意味があるのではと推測できます。辞書で確認します。
・Collins Dictionary: a small group of animals, esp seals, whales, or birds: At Dolphin House, lucky divers might spot a pod of spinner dolphins, their black fins slicing the water.
・Oxford English Dictionary: a small herd or school of marine animals, especially whales: ‘a pod of 500 dolphins frolicking in the bay’

spaying

今日採り上げるのはJapan Times Online、Dec. 31の記事です。
In Fukushima, abandoned pets are multiplying
With authorities' hands tied, NPO takes up challenge of spaying, neutering cats and dogs.
It isn’t only humans that are suffering in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Scores of feral animals are eking out a precarious existence in the surrounding areas, including cats and dogs that were once somebody’s pets.
"spaying" は知らない単語ですが、その後に "neutering" とあるので、その同意語と思いますが、辞書で確認します。
・Collins Dictionary: (transitive) to remove the ovaries, and usually the uterus, from (a female animal): The animal-rights advocate has already managed to halt a New Delhi program to spay and neuter stray dogs, saying it was cruel.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to remove the sex organs of (a female animal) : to make (a female animal) unable to have babies: Our cat has been spayed.
"neuter" との違いが気になるので今度は "neuter" も辞書で再確認します。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to remove the sex organs from (an animal): She had her dog neutered by the veterinarian.
・Macmillan Dictionary: to perform an operation on an animal's sexual organs so that it cannot have babies. You can also say that you spay a female animal or castrate a male animal.
なるほど、"spay" はメスに、 "castrate" はオスに、"neuter" はどちらにも使える言葉ですね。"spay" 以外の単語は知ってはいましたが、うろ覚えでした。

willow switch

小説WILDERNESSの主人公夫婦はなんとかAdolph Karlを殺して家に戻れましたが、二人の刑事が家に来て、刑事が推測した殺人計画とその実行を語ります。
"Now say this guy has a friend who's a real hard-ass, excuse me, ma'am. Guy's been in the Rangers and he's had a lot of combat and he's tough enough anyway to hurt bear with a willow switch. Suppose this guy goes to his hard-ass friend and explains his problem and his friend says, hell, let's do them in, I'll help.
"willow switch" の "willow" は柳で、"switch" の方は電気のスイッチとか、切り替えの意味しか知りませんが、ここでの "willow switch" はどんな意味になるのでしょう？　辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: a flexible rod or twig, used esp for punishment
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a slender flexible whip, rod, or twig: a riding switch
・Vocabulary.com: Switch can be a noun or verb, and in most cases it has the meaning of change. You can switch classes, political parties, or the radio station. Sometimes if you switch something with someone, they take yours and you take theirs - as in an exchange or trade.
However, there is one unrelated and frightening meaning for the word. In the olden days, a form of punishment was to be hit with a thin, flexible, piece of wood called a switch.
"switch" にこんな意味もあるのですね。
さて刑事の推測は主人公夫婦が実際に実行した、信じられない様な殺人計画そのものでした。二人の刑事は主人公のNewmanにこの推測についてどう思うか訊ねると、Newmanはこう答えました。
"Bizarre"
これで主人公夫婦は無罪放免となり、この小説は終わるのです。
自己防衛としての銃や暴力は許されるとの考えを賛美するようね話でした。米国で銃の規制が厳しくならない理由が分かりますね。

zonk

WILDERNESSから採り上げる今日の単語は俗語の様に思えますが、できたら覚えたい。
She said, "I'll get it for you, but take a shower first. You smell like a porcupine."
"How the hell do you know what a porcupine smells like?"
She giggled. "It smells just like you," she said. "That's how I know."
"For crisssake," he said, "You're half zonked." There was pleasure in his voice.
早速この "zonk" を辞書で見ます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
(transitive verb) stun, stupefy; also: strike, zap - often used with out
(intransitive verb) to pass out from or as if from alcohol or a drug - often used with out
・Oxford English Dictionary: fall or cause to fall suddenly and heavily asleep or lose consciousness:
[no object]: ‘I always just zonk out and sleep straight through’
[with object]: ‘I go rowing because it zonks me out’
やはり俗語でした。擬声語の様でもあるので直ぐに覚えられそうです。

skittish canoe

WILDERNESSの主人公夫婦は計画通りAKを倒し帰途のために無人島からカヌーで離れます。 They left the paddles in the bottom of the canoe when they docked. His arm hurt when he had to put weight on it to climb from the skittish canoe.
"skittish canoe" の "skittish" が分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: difficult to handle or predict: A masterful touch brought the skittish machine to heel; Gareth had lost only about a metre of foothold.
・Vocabulary.com: If you're skittish, you're unpredictable and excitable. You've probably seen skittish horses in parades - the loud noises and crowds of people make them very nervous and jumpy.
The adjective skittish isn't just for animals - humans can be skittish too. If you're sleeping in a haunted house, for example, you're likely to be skittish, jumping at every moving shadow. Skittish can also mean flighty in thought - like your boss who's skittish about giving you a raise and avoids discussing it. The word is thought to have come from the Scandinavian word skyt, meaning "very lively, frivolous."
元々御しがたい馬の形容に使った言葉の様です。
昨日は何十年ぶりに雪かきをしました。翌日は筋肉痛がでるかと思いましたが、毎日腕立て伏せをしているせいか身体のどこにも痛みはありません。これなら今日の仕事に支障はありません。

Lost in translation

I was working as an interpreter at a hospital when I found myself in the middle of an odd conversation
. The doctor warned his patient, "By drinking and somoking as much as you do, you're killing yourself slowly."
The patient just nodded. "That's fine. I'm not in any hurry."