Pro tip - covet only those things you know how to use. After spotting the car of their dreams, two Houston teens pointed a gun at the owner and made him hand over the keys. One problem - the car had a manual transmission, and neither teen knew how to drive a mannual, which made it a lot easier for the cops to catch them.
(From Reader's Digest Feb., 2016)
私も今ではマニュアル車は乗れないと思う。
野球選手の名前を小説の題にしたCalico Joeを読んでいるので時々分からない野球用語が出て来ます。
Warren Tracy had fanned on three straight pitches to make the final out in the bottom of the seconde so he would not bat again until the fifth inning.
この "fan" も野球用語ですね。
・Oxford English Dictionary:
Baseball (Of a batter) strike out.: He has fanned 26 batters in just 22 innings while allowing only one home run.
Baseball (Of a pitcher) strike out (a batter).: The Steinbach ace faced only 15 batters in the contest, fanning 13 of them.
空振りする場合にも空振りさせる場合にも "fan" が使われるのですね。
John GrishamのCalico Joeを読んでいます。Grishamの書き振りは飽きないので好きです。
I made it home, checked in with Mom, then hurried to bed. I did not want to be awake when he got home, if, in fact, he made it back. His worst drunks were on the nights after he pitched. He wouldn't play again for three days, so why not blow it out and raise some hell?
"checked in" はホテルとか空港のカウンターでのみの事だと思っていたのですが、家に帰った時にも使えるのですね。辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Arrive and register at a hotel or airport: you must check in at least one hour before take-off
・TheFreeDictionary: (with someone) to go to someone and indicate that one has arrived some place. Please check in with the desk clerk.
"Yah, but I just have to check in with the chancellor first!"
やはり普通はホテルと空港のカウンターでのチェックインで使われるようで、家に帰った時の例文は見つかりませんでした。しかし次の辞書に面白い使用例がありました。
・Urban Dictionary: "check in with the chancellor" To act of advising your spouse or significant other about an event in which you wish to participate in that may be frowned upon. This person, "the chancellor" is able to veto the activity if and when they deem necessary, which is usually always.
"You wanna play cards with us tonight?"
やはりどこの家も大蔵大臣に相談しないといけない場合が何かと多いですよね。
John GrishamのCalico Joeを読んでいます。私にとって野球はサッカーと同様に見ていて退屈なスポーツですが、アメリカの文化の大きな部分を占めていることは確かです。もちろん日本でも野球文化が定着しているのは言うまでもありません。野球は退屈ですが、Grishamの小説は面白いはずと期待して読みづづけます。
I realize I am quite hungry. Outside the town of Parkin, I pull in to the gravel lot of a barbecue shack and hope for the best. To avoid potential conversation, I take a portion of my scrapbook to read during lunch. Over a pulled pork sandwich and root beer, I flip through pages of press clippings I have not seen in decades.
"pulled pork sandwich" とはどんなサンドイッチなのでしょうか？ そしてこの "pulled" の意味は何？ 早速辞書を見ます。
・Dictionary.com: of or denoting meat that is cooked until the meat can easily be pulled off the bone, as in pulled pork.: The Cuban sandwich is made with pulled pork shoulder and ham (both from farm hogs, of course), as well as house-made pickles.
"pulled pork" で更に辞書を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Pork cooked slowly over low heat until it is tender enough to be pulled into strips, often prepared with a barbecue sauce.: Some areas cook the entire hog, others just the pork shoulder, some make pulled pork.
・Wikipedia: Pulled pork is a method of cooking pork where what would otherwise be a tough cut of meat is cooked slowly at low temperatures, allowing the meat to become tender enough so that it can be "pulled", or easily broken into individual pieces.
分かりましたが、日本ではこの様なサンドイッチは売っていないですね。
図書館にあったJohn Grishamの子供向のThepdpre Booneシリーズを三冊読みましたが、全て面白かったので同じ著者の大人向けの本も読みたくなり、その手始めにCalico Joeを読むことにしました。本を手に入れたところ、私が興味を持てないスポーツの一つ、野球プレイヤーの話と分かり、少しがっかりしましたが、借りた以上読むことにしました。読み始めると早速野球用語が出て来ました。
With the count at two balls, he ripped a double into the right field corner.
Five for five.
In the top of the third, with the bases loaded, he singled to right and drove in two.
Six for five. In the fifth, with the bases empty, two outs, and the infield back, and from the side, he pushed a bunt toward third. When Mike Schmidt picked it up bare-handed, Joe was flying past first base, and there was no throw. Seven for seven. In the seventh inning, he bounced a fastball off the top of the scoreboard in left center field, and as he rounded the bases, at somewhat slower pace, the Phillies fans offered subdued but prolonged applause. Eight for eight.
...
上に出てきた "Five for five"、"Six for five"、"Eight for eight" ... は野球特有の数値表現であることは確かですが、野球に疎いので日本語の対応する表現が直ぐには思いつきません。
これは辞書で調べても分かりません。仕方が無いので、インターネットで野球関係の記述をあれこれ読んでみたら次の文を見つけました。
In baseball, what does it mean when they say a player was 6 for 7 in a game?
The first number is the number of hits he had that game. The second is the number of at bats (chances to hit) he had in the game. So if a player flies out, singles, grounds out and hits a home run, that's 4 at bats and 2 hits. They would say he went 2 for 4...
これで分かりました。 "Five for five" は５打数５安打ですね。
April 17のThe Japan Times Onlineの記事で使われていた表現です。
Big temblors no surprise to experts
The powerful earthquakes that struck Kumamoto Prefecture over the past three days have shocked the nation and renewed the public’s fear of natural disasters.
But some seismologists were not surprised at all, saying evidence suggested the writing was on the wall, although they didn’t know exactly when it would happen.
この "the writing was on the wall" は、確か、シェークスピアか聖書由来の表現で、悪い事の起きる前兆の意味でしたね。辞書で確認します。
・Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms: the writing on the wall also the handwriting on the wall the likelihood that something bad will happen: Area residents can see the writing on the wall and realize that if they don't cooperate with the police, these crimes will continue. As leaders, they should have seen the handwriting on the wall and come up with an alternative course of action.
シェークスピアではありません。聖書からでした。私の確かはいい加減なものです。
Big temblors no surprise to experts
The powerful earthquakes that struck Kumamoto Prefecture over the past three days have shocked the nation and renewed the public’s fear of natural disasters.
But some seismologists were not surprised at all, saying evidence suggested the writing was on the wall, although they didn’t know exactly when it would happen.
この "the writing was on the wall" は、確か、シェークスピアか聖書由来の表現で、悪い事の起きる前兆の意味でしたね。辞書で確認します。
・Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms: the writing on the wall also the handwriting on the wall the likelihood that something bad will happen: Area residents can see the writing on the wall and realize that if they don't cooperate with the police, these crimes will continue. As leaders, they should have seen the handwriting on the wall and come up with an alternative course of action.
シェークスピアではありません。聖書からでした。私の確かはいい加減なものです。
Reader's Digest ２月号のクイズ、HIDDEN MEANINGをもう一つ紹介します。
それはACTの単語が半分隠れた状態で表記されています。さてこの隠れた意味は何でしょう？
答えはDisappearing actとなっていました。それはその通りですが、この表現には何か特に意味があるのでしょうか？ 辞書でDisappearin actの意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: An instance of someone being impossible to find, especially when they are required to face something unpleasant.: Nobody is questioning he is a quality player, but he has done a couple of disappearing acts in the past.
・Dictionary.com: an instance wherein someone is impossible to find: Oliver understood the disappearing act of Tommy My-Ma, he thought.
"do a disappearing/vanishing act" は慣用句と考えてよさそうです。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to go away, usually because you do not want to do something or meet someone: Tina always does a vanishing act when my mother comes to stay.
日本語の失踪、夜逃げに近いですね。
Reader's Digestには毎月Puzzlesのページがあり、数種類のパズルが掲載されていますが、その中にHIDDEN MEANINGと言う、文字の表記に隠れた意味を持たせたクイズがあります。２月号のクイズから２問を紹介します。
SUGAR
Please
雑誌ではPleaseの字体には少ししゃれたフォントが使われています。さてこの表記の隠れた意味はなんだかわかりますか？
答えを見ると "Pretty please with suger on top." となっていました。
辞書を見ると、pleaseの前にprettyを付ける言い方に次の説明がありました。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Used as an emphatic or wheedling form of request.: ‘Anyone I know reading this, please come with me, pretty please…’
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: an emphasised form of please - Pretty please - I need an answer! Can I have my book back? Pretty please?
日付を記録し忘れましたが、４月の前半のThe Japan Times Onlineに掲載されていた記事の抜粋です。
Closing the tax loopholes
The British government needs to take more effective measures to deal with anonymous shell companies and to control tax havens.
"shell companies" は脱税や犯罪に利用する目的で使われる実態のない会社、ダミー会社を指していると推測しますが、辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: An inactive company used as a vehicle for various financial maneuvers or kept dormant for future use in some other capacity.: He explained that this is only a shell company left over from the restructuring process.
・Collins Dictionary:
1. a near-defunct company, esp one with a stock-exchange listing, used as a vehicle for a thriving company
2. a company that has ceased to trade but retains its registration and is sold for a small sum to enable its new owners to avoid the cost and trouble of registering a new company
Mar 31, 2016、The Japan Times OnlineにHow modularization felled Japan’s electronics titansと書かれた記事タイトルがありました。
"modular" とか "modulation" は工業、産業関係でよく使われている単語ですが、"modularization" の意味は何でしょうか？ 新聞記事の場合は記事を読むとタイトルの意味が分かることが多いので記事を読みます。
Experts say a common enemy of the Japanese manufacturing titans was modularization, an approach that changed the landscape of the global home electronics industry.
Modularization refers to the packaging of multiple digital functions into a single electronic component equipped with standardized interfaces. Using standardized modules makes it easy to assemble them into products with little adjustment or customization. Products built this way now include TVs, computers, DVD players and low-end digital cameras.
なるほど "modularization" はモジュール化することの意味で、この記事の場合、会社の機能をモジュール部品のように分割したことを意味している様です。
"modularization" を辞書で見ると次の説明がありました。
・Dictionary.com: to form or organize into modules, as for flexibility.
原型の "module" の語源をOnline Etymology Dictionaryで見ると、
1580s, "allotted measure," from Middle French module (1540s) or directly from Latin modulus "small measure," diminutive of modus "measure, manner" (see mode (n.1)). Meaning "interchangeable part" first recorded 1955; that of "separate section of a spacecraft" is from 1961.
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