get my goat

Miyuki Manabeの「火車」All She Was Worthを読んでいます。
Shoko Sekineの行方を捜しているHonma刑事は弁護士のMizoguchiに会いに行きました。Mizoguchiは借金で個人破産になるのは単に借金をした人間のみが悪い訳ではなく、金融業、法律、金融の仕組みが個人破産に至る人間を生み出していることを説明します。
"Young people are particularly susceptible. And consumer financing businesses are really pushing nowadays to expand into the youth market. They'll say anything to get a new customer. So it's up to us to get smart. As things stand, we have a gaping hole here. This year marks exactly the twentieth since the major city banks first started to issue credit cards to students. But in all those years has any school or university offered instruction on how to use cards properly? This is something we could start doing immediately. In Tokyo public high school, I hear they assemble the girl students before graduation for lessons in using cosmetics. Well, if they've got the time and inclination for that sort of thing, they can darn well teach them the basics for surviving when it comes to money matters!" He slammed his fist down on the table. "I'm not one to blame everything on the people upstairs, but this one really gets my goat. The whole problem falls between the cracks in the bureaucracy. There ought to be one agency in charge of keeping track of the whole consumer credit industry."

"gets my goat" は以前とりあげた覚えがあるのですが、記録にありません。改めて辞書を見ます。
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to irritate someone; to annoy and arouse someone to anger.: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get your goat. Jean got Sally's goat and Sally made quite a fuss about it.
・Farlex Dictionary of Idioms: To annoy or anger someone. That guy just gets my goat every time he opens his mouth.
・The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: To make someone annoyed or angry: “Gavin may seem unflappable, but I know a way to get his goat.” This expression comes from a tradition in horse racing. Thought to have a calming effect on high-strung thoroughbreds, a goat was placed in the horse's stall on the night before the race. Unscrupulous opponents would then steal the goat in an effort to upset the horse and cause it to lose the race.
ヤギがいるとサラブレッドが落ち着くとの語源説は眉唾ですが、子供から気に入っている玩具やヌイグルミを取り上げる事を連想すれば納得ですね。

A bit long in the tooth

先日Cambridge Dictionary(On Line)を使った時に右側にA blog from Cambridge Dictionaryとあり、"A bit long in the tooth: words and phrases for talking about old age" と題された記事へのリンクがあり、興味が湧いたので読んで見ました。

そのブログの抜粋です。
The humorous phrase a bit long in the tooth means that someone is old, usually in the context of being too old to change their ideas or do something new: I’m getting a bit long in the tooth to go back to school. More cruelly, we could talk about someone having one foot in the grave, meaning that they are close to death: He looked like a man with one foot in the grave.
全文は次のＵＲＬにあります。
https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2018/04/18/a-bit-long-in-the-tooth-words-and-phrases-for-talking-about-old-age/
ところで、"one foot in the grave" ですが、日本語では突っ込むのは棺桶ですね。
"long in the tooth" の由来が気になり、ついでに調べてみました。
The Word Detectiveに詳しい説明があり、以下がその抜粋です。
In any case, apparently it’s not all that easy to tell from just looking at a horse just how old the critter is. But when horses age, their gums recede, eventually to the point where the roots of Horsie’s teeth are visible, which makes the teeth themselves appear longer. Thus a horse visibly “long in the tooth” would be judged to be very mature at least, and possibly quite old. So a method of judging the age of a horse, originally of interest only to horse-traders and racing touts, gave us the common expression “long in the tooth,” meaning “over the hill.”
こちらの全文は次のＵＲＬにあります。
http://www.word-detective.com/2014/05/long-in-the-tooth/

the run of the place

Miyuki MiyabeのAll She Was Worthを読んでいます。
The heater in the living room was still warm. Funaki gave himself the run of the place, cutting across the hall to light some incense in front Chizuko's photo. Honma, meanwhile, pulled the documents out of the envelope: Shoko Sekine's canceled register from Utsunomiya and her employment listings.
宮部みゆきの「火車」を英訳したのはAlfred Birnbaumという方ですが、慣用句、熟語を頻繁に使って訳しているようです。今回取り上げるのは "the run of the place" です。辞書を見ます。
次の二つの辞書に "the run of" の項目で説明がありました。

・Oxford English Dictionary: (the run of) Free and unrestricted use of or access to.: her cats were given the run of the house: Better still, give them the run of the house while you stay in the hotel.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: the freedom to go anywhere or do anything one wants in (a place): With his parents gone, he had the run of the house.
便利な表現ですね。

in fits and starts

Miyuki MiyabeのAll She Was Worthを読んでいます。
"You asking me?" he said. He was about to hang up, but Honma sprang another question on him.
"Been to see that matchmaker lately?" At forty-two Funaki was still single and still trying, in fits and starts, to find somebody.
"in fits and starts" に知らない単語はないのに意味が分かりません。これも慣用句に違いありません。

・Wiktionary: Activity which is intermittent, variable in intensity, and prolonged by interruptions.: Progress in this project has come in fits and starts.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: with irregular movement; with much stopping and starting: Somehow, they got the job done in fits and starts. By fits and starts, the old car finally got us to town.

・Dictionary.com: To do something in “fits and starts” is to do it intermittently or sporadically: “Martina has been working on her master's thesis in fits and starts; she needs to work on it consistently.”

納得です。

on the spur of the moment

Miyuki MiyabeのAll She Was Worthを読んでいます。
The chair in the store was small and its legs were wobbly. Not one other customer came in while he waited. It was too drafty and cold just to sit there. On the spur of the moment, he stepped outside and went to a public phone down the street where he dialed Mizoguchi's number. A woman answered. Must have been that literary Ms. Sawagi.
馬に乗ったことはありませんが "spur" に「拍車をかける」意味があるのは知っています。しかし、"on the spur of the moment" の意味が分かりません。慣用句として使われている様だ。辞書を引きます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: On impulse; without planning in advance.: I don't generally do things on the spur of the moment.
・Collins Dictionary: If you do something on the spur of the moment, you do it suddenly, without planning it beforehand.: It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. We discussed it in detail beforehand.

・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: suddenly; spontaneously. We decided to go on the spur of the moment. I had to leave town on the spur of the moment.
拍車をかけたように突然何かを始めた時に使うのですね。

Could I get more water, please?

Reader's Digest 2月号の記事 'Life in these United States' からの引用です。
AFTER OUR MEAL at the pancake house, the waitress asked if we needed anything else.
"Yes," I said. "Could I get more water, please?"
"Sure," she said. And with that, she picked up my friend's glass of water, poured half into mine, and then walked away.
アメリカではこんな事が本当にあるの？

proposition

宮部みゆきのAll She Was Worth（火車）を読んでいます。
Honma smiled. "If that's the case, she's completely transformed. Or, rather, just gone back to her old self. Admittedly, men used to proposition her all the time. But, from talking to Jun and the people at Imai Office Machines, she comes across as smart but not flashy at all."
名詞の "proposition" は大体知っていますが、上の "proposition" は動詞です。提案するではおかしいですね。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Make a suggestion of sexual intercourse to (someone with whom one is not sexually involved), especially in an unsubtle or offensive way.: she had been propositioned at the party by an accountant
・Collins Dictionary: If someone who you do not know very well propositions you, they suggest that you have sex with them.: He had allegedly tried to proposition a colleague.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to ask someone who you are not in a relationship with if they would like to have sex with you: I was propositioned by a complete stranger.
そうゆう提案ですか。つい最近辞任した政府高官も、この "proposition" をしたのでしょうね、否定していますが。

into another flap

何かで宮部みゆきの小説を褒める記事を見たので、読むことにしました。地元の図書館に英訳本が4作品あったので、そのリストの最初にあったAll She Was Worthをまず読みます。この作品の日本語の題名は「火車」で、Wikipediaによると英訳版は登場人物名も何人かは変えられているとありました。
怪我の為に休職中の刑事Honmaは亡くなった妻の親戚で銀行員のJun Kurisakaから失踪した婚約者Shoko Sekineを探し出すことを頼まれ、捜査を開始します。
When she went to work for Imai Office Machines, she'd have shown it to Imai. Then he or, more likely, Shoko herself would have taken it down to the New Application window at the Shinjku Public Employment office.
Honma rose again, went back to the phone, and dialed. Mitchie answered. Honma explained the situation, sending, her straight into another flap. She had a few quick, muffled exchanges with her boss, then reported back. "Hello? I found her registration form."
"sending, her straight into another flap"の個所の "flap" の意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A state of agitation; a panic.: they're in a flap over who's going to take Henry's lectures
・Collins Dictionary: Someone who is in a flap is in a state of great excitement, worry, or panic. : Why did people get in a flap over nuclear energy?
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a state of nervous excitement: She's in a flap because her parents are coming to visit.
小説では "into another flap" となっていますが、単に "flap" ではなく "in a flap" で覚えるべき表現のようです。
以前、11/28/2011 に "unflappable"
(composed and able to remain calm when facing difficult situations)を取り上げたのを思い出しました。

crib

Reader's Digest三月号 'Dear Readers by Editor-in-chief' の記事からの引用です。
My hyper-ebullience continues over coffee. I've had type 1 diabetes for almost 40 years, and it has been largely humbling. But thanks to a new way of eating cribbed from our daughter, Rachel, I'm off grains and dairy. It's working so well for my blood sugar, I'm convinced I could live another 40 years.
ベビーベッドの意味での "crib" は何度か見たことがありますが、動詞として使われているのは覚えがありません。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Copy (another person's work) illicitly or without acknowledgment.: he often cribbed from other researchers

・Collins Dictionary: If you crib, you copy something that someone else has written and pretend that it is your own work.: He had been caught cribbing in an exam.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: to copy or take someone else's work: I sometimes wonder what TV show he cribbed that line from.
前者二つの辞書の定義では "a new way of eating cribbed from our daughter" の意味としてはちょっと大げさな言い方に思いましたが、最後に引用した辞書の "copy" ならおかしくはないと思いました。

Wuthering Heights

Emily BronteのWuthering Heightsを読みました。と云ってもオリジナルではなく、多読のブックコーナーにあったPenguin Readers Level 5のRetold by Evelyn Attwood版です。
英国の田園地方を背景としたのどかな話のイメージを持っていたのですが、ところがどっこい、児童虐待、暴力、憎しみ、復讐で構成されている悲劇の本でした。
易しい英語に書き換えられているので辞書でひくような単語や慣用句は全くでてこないので直ぐに読み終わると思ったのですが、登場人物の関係が直ぐに分からなくなり思ったより読み終えるのに時間がかかりました。
いずれにせよ私には原文版を読む気にはならない話でした。