Reader's Digest ９月号の記事 "Fighting Lung Cancer" からの引用です。
Natalie Dubbs, a 23-year-old medical engineer, had the world at her feet. Recently married, she was on holiday with her husband in Japan when she woke up one day feeling something just wasn't right.
慣用句に違いない "had the world at her feet" の意味を調べます。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to be extremely successful and admired by a large number of people: Five years after her debut, the diminutive star of the Royal Ballet has the world at her feet.
・Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms: to be extremely successful and so able to get what you want: This young Broadway actress already has the world at her feet.
Usage notes: also used in the form the world is at your feet: If you get this book published the world will be at your feet.
・Macmillan Dictionary: to have a lot of opportunities to do interesting and exciting things: When you’re young, you have the world at your feet.
なるほど、しかしこの女性は肺癌にかかっていた事がこの後で判明するのです。
1/4/2008に取り上げたthe world is my oysterを連想させる慣用句です。
The photographer was positioning my new husband and me for our wedding photos when he asked, "Have you ever modelled?" My cheeks instantly turned red. "No, I haven't," I said. "But I always thought..." The photographer interrupted me: "I mean him."
Reader's Digest ９月号の記事 "Turning Fruit into Flour" からの抜粋です。
The late afternoon sun was hot and low as banana farmer Rob Watkins steeled himself to dump yet another load of bananas at the local tip.
"steeled himself" の個所はよく分かりませんが、商品にならないバナナを捨てている状況の話です。"steeled himself" の意味を辞書で調べます。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to force yourself to get ready to do something unpleasant or difficult: She steeled herself to jump out of the plane.
・Oxford English Dictionary: Mentally prepare (oneself) to do or face something difficult.: I speak quickly, steeling myself for a mean reply
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to fill with resolution or determination: steeled herself to face the crisis
・Wiktionary: To concentrate in preparation for a rigorous or possibly painful task (e.g. a boxer steeling himself for a match)
せっかく栽培したバナナを廃棄せざるを得なくなった状況のニュアンスが分かりました。
Reader's Digest ９月号の記事 "How To Survive Anything" からの引用です。
Don't dally with the mask
During a loss of cabin pressure, the drop in oxygen can knock you unconscious in as little as 20 seconds. Listen to the safety advice of your flight attendants: always secure your oxygen mask before helping others. You can't help if you can't breathe.
記事のタイトルに出てきた "dally" の意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Act or move slowly.: workers were loafing, dallying, or goofing off
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: to deal lightly: toy: accused him of dallying with a serious problem
"dally" はダラダラとする/行う/扱うと覚えることにします。
Reader's Digest ９月号の記事 "World of Medicine" からの抜粋です。
Spoonful of Medicine Could Be Wrong Dose
When Cornell University researchers asked 195 participants to pour one teaspoon of night-time flu medicine into kitchen spoons of different sizes, they poured an average of 8 per cent too little (using midsize spoons) or 12 per cent too much (using large spoons). Repeat dosing mistakes may make medicen ineffective or even dangerous. Always use a measuring cap, a dropper or dosing spoon.
"dropper" も少量の液体量を量る器具のようですが、どんな物でしょうか？ 辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A short glass tube with a rubber bulb at one end and a tiny hole at the other, for measuring out drops of medicine or other liquids.: Small doses may need to be measured by a special dropper instead of a teaspoon.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a short glass tube fitted with a rubber bulb and used to measure liquids by drops —called also eyedropper, medicine dropper: He put drops in his eyes with a dropper.
目盛りのついたスポイドの事ですね。スポイドは英語と思っていましたが、調べると元はオランダ語のようでした。
The Japan Times Online October 3の米国大統領選挙についての記事 "With Japan in U.S. electoral spotlight, overseas vote could play decisive role" から引用します。
American voters living in Japan are counting down the days as one of the most-watched presidential elections in U.S. history hurtles toward a potentially nail-biting conclusion ― one that could have profound effects for Washington’s ties with Tokyo.
"nail-biting" とは面白い表現ですね。米国では大人でも爪を噛む人が結構いると聞いたことがありますが、爪を噛むのはやはり何かのストレスが原因なのでしょう。"nail-biting" を辞書で確認します。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: A nail-biting situation is very exciting or worrying because you do not know how it will end: Germany won the championship after a nail-biting final.
・Collins Dictionary: If you describe something such as a story or a sports match as nail-biting, you mean that it makes you feel very excited or nervous because you do not know how it is going to end.
確かに、どちらの候補者も人気があるような無いような状況で、どちらら勝つのか分かりませんね。
English Journal: 9月号に掲載のTracy Slaterとのインタビュー記事を読みました。 Slaterはボストン生まれ。ボストン大学で講師を務めた後２００４年に初来日。その後日本人との結婚を機に日本に移住。異文化生活と国際結婚に関する、著者初の著書The Good Shufu: Finding Love, Self, and Home on the Far Side of the Worldが米国で話題を呼ぶ、との解説がありました。その記事からの抜粋です。
Tracy Slayter: I was very ambivalent. I was a lot more ambivalent about Japan than I was about Toru. Uh, there are things about Japan that I absolutely love, and I feel Japan has made my life so much more fascinating than it ever would've been had I stayed in my little bubble in Boston.
私が気になったのは最後の箇所に出てきた "bubble" です。English Journalの記事なので訳文も注もあり、注には「ここでは、comfort zone（安心できる、居心地のいい場所）のような意味合いで使っている」とありました。へえーと思い、英英辞書で確認することにしました。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A place or position that is protected from danger or unpleasant reality.: they are not on tour packages seeing foreign ports from a bubble
・Wiktionary: (figuratively) The emotional and/or physical atmosphere in which the subject is immersed; circumstances, ambience.
English Journalの注に近い意味を掲載しているのは上記の辞書位でした。 "The Good Shufu" を読んでみたいと思いましたが、まだ図書館にはありませんでした。
My father had retorted grumply, "Yes, but I didn't expect to live this long."
（from Reader's Digest September Issue)
Reader's Digest 8月号の記事 "A Hero in the Smoke" の続きです。
He was not calm, not even close. When he felt the infant, he shouted, "Sir, I've got a baby!" Crowley radioed a 10-45, signifying a victim was found.
昔は米国のTVドラマがよく放映されていましたが、その頃に了解を意味するコード「10-4」をパトロールカーの警官が無線連絡の際に使っているのを何度も聞いた覚えがあります。上の引用箇所に出てきた「10-45」の意味は何でしょう？
消防士が使っているコードを調べると、F.D.N.Y. Radio Codesのページ（http://nyfd.com/radio.html）に「10-45」の説明が次のように書かれていました。
10-45: D.O.A. OR SERIOUS INJURY: Transmitted IMMEDIATELY upon the discovery of a fatality or serious injury at a fire or emergency. This shall be followed as soon as possible with the appropriate Code and the number of victims.
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