great tit

Richard DawkinsのThe Selfish Geneを読んでいます。5章、Agression: stabilith and the selfish machineからの引用です。
We have been thinking of contests between members of the same species. What about inter-specific contests? As we saw earlier, members of different species are less direct competitors than members of the same species. For this reason we should expect fewer disputes between them over resources, and our expectation is borne out. For instance, robins defend territories against other robins, but not against great tits. One can draw a map of the territories of different individual robins in a wood and one can superimpose a map of the territories of individual great tits.
"great tits" がどんな鳥か気になるので調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A tit (songbird) with a black head and white cheeks, occurring in many different races from western Europe to eastern Asia.: Passerines include great tits, blue tits, warblers, and sparrows.

次の辞書には写真も掲載されていました。
・Wiktionary: A bird in the Paridae family, Parus major.

もちろんWikipediaには写真と共に詳しいせつめいがあります。
どちらの写真も日本のシジューカラを連想させますが、"great tits" の腹部が黄色がかっているのに対し、日本のシジューカラの腹の色は白い印象があります。
Wikipediaに次の記述があり、その "Japanese tit" がシジューカラを指している様です。

DNA studies have shown these other subspecies to be distinctive from the great tit and these have now been separated as two distinct species, the cinereous tit of southern Asia, and the Japanese tit of East Asia.
Wikipedia英語版のJapanese titから日本語版のWikipediaに飛ぶとシジューカラの説明がありました。

restive

The Japan Times Mar.18, 2019の記事から引用します。
Authorities in China have arrested almost 13,000 “terrorists” in the restive far western region of Xinjiang since 2014, the government said Monday, in a lengthy policy paper again defending its controversial Islamic de-radicalization measures.
海外から人権侵害と批判されている中国の新疆ウィグル自治区の話題ですが、記事内の "restive" の意味が分からないので辞書を引きます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (of a person) unable to keep still or silent and becoming increasingly difficult to control, especially because of impatience, dissatisfaction, or boredom.: The Filipinos were restive under the Spanish, and this long period was marked by numerous uprisings.

・Collins Dictionary: impatient of control or authority: The Tory ranks became increasingly restive.

impression

Reader's Digest 2月号の記事 'All in a Day's Work' から引用します。
As the dentist labored over my teeth, he tried to make small talk.
"What do you do?" he asked.
"I'm a comedian," I answered.
"Interesting."
After a pause, he said, "Let's get an impression--"

"It's more observational humor, actually," I interrupted. "I don't do impressions."
The dentist continued, "--of your teeth."
"impression" だと直ぐに印象の意味を連想しますが、職業により "impression" で連想する意味が異なる事例ですね。
・Oxford English Dictionary: An imitation of a person or thing, especially one done to entertain.: he did an impression of Frank Sinatra

・Oxford English Dictionary: Dentistry A negative copy of the teeth or mouth made by pressing them into a soft substance.: Your dentist will take impressions of your teeth using a kind of putty and send these to a laboratory where the splint is made.

The apprentice did just as he was told

Reader's Digest 2月号の記事 'Laughter The Best Medicine' から引用します。
The village blacksmith finally found an apprentice willing to work long, hard hours.
The blacksmith instructed the boy, "When I take the shoe out of fire, I'll lay it on the anvil, and when I nod my head, you hit it with this hammer."
The apprentice did just as he was told.
Now he's the village blacksmith.
Blacksmithの話だけにブラックユーモアですね。

V/R,

私の勤め先は特殊な機器を輸入販売しているので日頃メーカーと電子メールでやり取りしていますが、つい最近次のメールが入って来ました。
Hello,

I am trying to get a quote for a repair and calibration for a 9211A current shunt. Range is from .00001 Amps to 300 Amps. Your assistance in this matter is greatly appricated.

V/R,

X X X, TSgt, USAF
TMDE K1/K8 Section Supervisor

これはメーカーからのメールではなく、日本の米軍基地に勤めている方からのメールでした。気になったのは初めて見るクロージングの表現 "V/R" です。ビジネスでのメールで締めの言葉として使われるのは "(Best/Kind) Regards, Thank You, Thanks" がほとんで、 "V/R" は初めてです。何の略語か辞書を引きました。
・Urban Dictionary: "Very Respectfully" - as a complimentary close used in informal correspondance, like emails or bulletin board messages.
他の普通の辞書には説明が見当たらないのでWebで調べると次の解説を見つけました。
Professionalism in Today's Navy - Navy Medicine: Begin and end your correspondence appropriately. Be respectful and watchful of your wording. Be careful not to appear overly aggressive or demanding in your message. Remember your audience and gauge your tone. Read and re-read your message! You are guaranteed to make a poor impression by sending a message filled with grammatical errors. Additionally, learn the art of using and when to appropriately use V/R (Very Respectfully) and R/ (Respectfully) in your signature line. In the military close your emails with V/R, for ranks above your own and R/, for ranks below yours. However, when in doubt or for simplicity sake, use V/R, in your premade signature. You can never be too courteous!
なるほど、軍関係の人達が使う表現なのですね。

secret of your longevity

Reader's Digest 2月号の記事 'Quotable Quotes' からの引用です。
I keep getting asked,
"What's the secret of your longevity?"
I say, "I haven't died."
Billy Joel
今年の5月でやっと７０歳になるBilly Joelですから、質問の意図は長生きの秘訣を尋ねている訳ではないですが、それを分かった上でユーモアのある返事をしましたね。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Long existence or service.: The reason for the longevity of some players is in part due to their ability to adapt quickly to the changing business environment.

nose job / olfactory

Reader's Digest 2月号の記事 'Life in These United States' から引用します。
The topic of conversation was nose jobs.
My slightly confused young daughter asked, "Where does the doctor get the noses to replace the old ones?"
"They have a place that manufactures them," I answered. "It's called the 'olfactory,'"
"nose jobs" は十年前に、"olfactory" は8年前にこのブログで取り上げましたが、子供をからかうのは余り良くないですね。子供にとっては甚だ迷惑なことです。

reductio ad absurdum / reduction to the absurd

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkinsを読むことにしました。江戸川区の図書館にあるRichard Dawkinsの本は4冊ありますが、これで全て読むことになります。
It is all very well for me to argue by reducio ad absurdum, and to point to the difficulties of the group-selection theory, but the apparent existence of individual altruism still has to be explained.
最初に取り上げるのは多分ラテン語の表現だと思いますが、"reducio ad absurdum" で、文中に説明が無いので、欧米人には常識の表現なのでしょう。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Origin: Latin, literally‘reduction to the absurd’.A method of proving the falsity of a premise by showing that its logical consequence is absurd or contradictory.: Indeed, this is going to be something of a reductio ad absurdum.
・Vocabulary.com: a disproof by showing that the consequences of the proposition are absurd; or a proof of a proposition by showing that its negation leads to a contradiction
"reduction to the absurd" を思いつければ分かりますね。

clean slate

Are You Smart Enough to Work at Googleからの引用です。
Microsoft has, of course, recruited many of the world's best coders and computer scientists. But it has baggage--legacy products, legacy users, and a corporate culture forged in the 1980s. Google entered the new millennium with a clean slate.
引用文の最後に出てきた "clean slate" はGoogleをMicrosoftと比較しているので、Microsoftは荷物を抱えているのに対し、Googleは何も負担なしで参入したの意味の様です。 "clean slate" を辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: An absence of existing restraints or commitments.: no government starts with a clean slate

・Urban Dictionary: Starting anew, with a fresh approach. A clean slate begins with the action of 'wiping the slate clean'.
黒板/白板を綺麗に拭いた後の状態を連想すれば良いのですね。