The Temple of the Golden Pavilion（三島由紀夫の金閣寺、英訳はIvan Morris）を読み始めました。英訳版は初めにNancy Wilson Rossの書いたIntroductionがあり、原本を読んだことのない私には参考になりますが、ここは小説を読んだ後に再度読んだ方が良さそうな内容です。今日取り上げる単語はこのIntroductionからです。
These special Zen technique are even utilized for ulterior purposes. So openly is this done by some of Mishima's characters that I was reminded of a criticism once written by Gerald Heard about the dangers inherent in the possible malpractice of Zen tenets: "Zen's anxiety to avoid metaphysics and to be purely empiric can end in the forging of an instrument which may be used by a fiend."
"metaphysics" は通常日本語で形而上学なる訳語があてられていますが、良く考えるとそもそも形而上学がなんたるものか余り意味が分かっていません。そこで英英辞書での説明を見る事にしました。
・Macmillan Dictionary: the part of philosophy that involves the study of ideas about life, existence, and other things that are not part of the physical world: Philosophy:dialectic, metaphysics, ontology...
・Vocabulary.com: Metaphysics is philosophical study of being and knowing. If you have ever contemplated your own existence in the universe, you were dabbling in metaphysics.
Metaphysics comes from the Greek meta ta physika ("the works after the Physics"), which refers those of Aristotle's writings that followed the natural sciences. This field of inquiry was later understood as "the science of things transcending what is physical and natural," like the existence of god or the origin of human knowledge. Metaphysics must therefore rely on philosophical logic, rather than scientific experiments, in exploring these questions.
なるほど、そうすると金閣寺は私には苦手な内容の話になりそうです。
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff…のBreath Before You Speakの章を読んでいます。
We often complete other people's sentences, or say things like, "Yeah, yeah," or "I know" very rapidly, using them to hurry up so that we can have our turn. It seems that talking to one another is sometimes more like sparring back and forth like fighters or Ping-Pong balls than it is enjoying or learning from the conversation.
This harried form of communication encourages us to criticize points of view, overreact, mininterpret meaning, impute false motives, and form opinions, all before our fellow communicator is even finished speaking.
"impute" の意味が分からないので辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Theology Ascribe (righteousness, guilt, etc.) to someone by virtue of a similar quality in another: Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us
・Wiktionary: To attribute (responsibility or fault) to a cause or source. The teacher imputed the student's failure to his nervousness.
・Vocabulary.com: The verb impute can be used to blame someone for doing something bad, give credit for good work, or just tell it like it is, like when you impute your lateness to my not telling you where to meet me.
When you impute something, you name the cause of something that has happened. For example, you might impute your ability to sing well to the thousands of dollars your parents spent in voice lessons. In other words, you name the source. You can also impute a person, like imputing to a teacher your love of learning -- he or she helped you become more interested in school and your classes.
良い事ならいざ知らず、悪い事を人に転嫁してはいけませんね。
先週の日曜日は１年ぶりにハーフマラソンを走りました。８月に足を怪我して練習を控えていたので体重が1kg増えたせいか、15kmを過ぎたところで左足親指の根元が痛くなり、なんとか我慢して完走しましたが、足にまめができていました。記録は当然悪かったのですが、過去を調べると初めてハーフマラソンを走った８年前より速く走っていました。そろそろハーフマラソンは止めようと思っていたのですが、７０歳まで走れそうだと考え直しました。
One Sunday morning, a preacher told his congregation, "Everyone who wants to go to heaven, come down to the front!" The whole church came forward except one member of the congregation.
Thinking that perhaps the man hadn't heard him, the preacher repeated the invitation. Again, the man just sat there.
"Sir," said the preacher, "don't you want to go to heaven when you die?"
The man replied, "Oh, when I die! I thought you were getting a group ready to go right now."
私もまだ天国に行きたくない。
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff…の著者Richard Carlsonが心がけ、実践していることの一つです。
If you want your life to stand for peace and kindness, it's helpful to do kind, peaceful things. One of my farvorit ways to do this is by developing my own helping rituals.
...
"There's some litter, Daddy, stop the car!" And if we have time, we will often pull over and pick it up.
...
Think of something that seems effortless yet helpful. It's fun, personally rewarding, and sets a good example. Everyone wins.
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff…を読んでいます。
Just for Fun, Agree with Criticism Directed Toward Youの章に出てきた単語です。
An incredibly useful exercise is to agree with criticism directed toward you. I'm not talking about turning into a doormat or ruining you self-esteem by believing all negativity that comes in your direction.
ここでの "doormat" 意味は何を言われても、されてもドアマットの様に何も逆らわない人の事を指していることは容易に分かりますが、この比喩的な意味が著者の比喩か一般的なものか、辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A submissive person who allows others to dominate them: to put up with such treatment you must be either a saint or a doormat
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a person who accepts being treated badly and does not complain: He may be selfish and insensitive, but she is a doormat.
一般的に使われることが確認できました。
Richard Carlson著のDon't Sweat the Small Stuff… and It's All Small Stuffを読むことにしました。図書館のWeb上の説明では人生訓の本となっていました。人生訓で思い出すのは、大学３年生の時に内定した就職先の顧問にDale Carnegie著のHow To Win Friends and Influence Peopleを入社までに読むことを勧められ、それが私としては初めて読んだ英語の原書でした。このHow To Win Friends...程説得力のある本は後にも先にも読んだことがありません。しかしながら、このSurrender to the Fact...からも何かしら得る事があるでしょう。
非常に分かり易い本で、難しい単語、慣用句もほとんど出て来ませんが、Surrender to the Fact that Life Isn't Fairの章に知らない単語が出て来ました。
One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It's not and it won't. When we make this mistake we tend to spend a lot of time wallowing and/or complaining about what's wrong with life.
"wallowing" が知らない単語なので辞書を見ます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: showing disapproval to spend a lot of time feeling a negative emotion, especially because you want sympathy from other people: wallow in: George still seems determined to wallow in self-pity.
・Wiktionary: To immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with, metaphorically.: She wallowed in her misery.
例によって。丁寧な説明のある次の辞書も見ます。
・Vocabulary.com: To wallow is to roll about in something, as a pig wallows in mud or a billionaire wallows in money.
Wallow can be used to describe a physical action or an emotional state. If you cry "Woe is me!" one too many times, you might be accused of wallowing in self-pity. Because of its association with the much-maligned pig, wallow often has a negative, insulting tone. So, rather than wallowing in that pile of money once you've won the lottery, try bathing or wading in it instead.
"wallowing in money" なら一度経験して見たい気がします。
The Japan Times Nov.21の次のタイトルで使われていた表現は中々面白いと思いました。
Motor-mouthed comedian returns; nursing drama; CM of the week: Taisho Pharmaceutical "Motor-mouthed" が気になった単語です。記事を読みます。
Last year, TBS cancelled “Karakuri TV,” hosted by motor-mouthed comedian Sanma Akashiya. “Karakuri” lasted 22 years and was considered the progenitor of the talk-based variety ...
なるほど、明石家サンマを知っているので "motor-mouthed" の意味が分かりました。
一応辞書で確認します。ほとんどの辞書はハイフンの無い一語の "motormouth" を掲載しています。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a person who talks excessively: I had to listen to the motormouth's cell phone conversations for the entire commute.
・Dictionary.com: any person who talks non-stop and quite fast, esp. about inconsequential topics; also, the incessant chatter of this type of person: The 11-year-old is a motormouth about Pokemon.
Japan Times Nov.15の文化面に "Acidclank knows when to look up from its shoes on ‘Inner’" と書かれた、意味が良く分からないタイトルがありました。気になったので記事を読むことにしました。次の個所はその冒頭からの引用です。
Japan has always had a surplus of shoegazers, and it’s easy for any young artist, reared on My Bloody Valentine, to become smitten with feedback. “Inner,” the debut album from Acidclank, knows when to break from the genre.
Acidclankはバンド名で、Innerがデビューアルバムの様です。しかし、記事タイトルでは靴から見上げていたので、この冒頭の文にはその反対の "shoegazers" が出て来ます。一体 "shoegazer" とは何者なのか辞書を見ました。
・Urban Dictionary: A style of rock music that emerged in England in the late 80s that featured blisteringly loud and dreamily reverberated feedback. Recently revived by electronic bands like M83 and Ulrich Schnauss.: Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive are good shoegazer bands.
・The Word Spy: v. To play an instrument, especially a guitar, with one’s head down, as though gazing at one’s shoes.
They half-jokingly defended their sound against pigeonholing, pointing out they are not trying to emulate the shoegaze of yesteryear.
Notes: When the term shoegaze first appeared, it referred to a style of music popular in Britain in the early 90s (and also called bliss-rock and dream-pop). But the verb now has a wider currency, as seen in the second citation.
なるほど、 "shoegazing" については、Wikipediaに詳しい説明があり、途中まで読みましたが、オタクでない限り全部読む気にはなれないでしょう。ロックやポピュラー好きと話すことがない限り私には不要の単語でしょう。
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