oblivious

Reader's　Digest 6月号の記事 "The Teacher Who Wrestled A Cougar" からの引用です。

Now the cougar could see the funny little creatures that had been making all the noise. These were perfect prey: small, wiggly, and oblivious.

ピクニックに来ていた子供達（the funny little creatures）の様子をクーガーがうかがっている場面です。
"oblivious" は "oblivion" と関係がある単語の様ですが、 "oblivion" は忘却としか覚えていないので、ここでの意味が分かりません。辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary:　Not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around one.: she became absorbed, oblivious to the passage of time
・Collins English Dictionary: If you are oblivious to something or oblivious of it, you are not aware of it.: She lay motionless where she was, oblivious to pain.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: not conscious of something, especially what is happening around you: Absorbed in her work, she was totally oblivious of her surroundings.

step up to the plate

Reader's　Digest 6月号で見つけた、英語の慣用句についての興味ある記事です。

Did not realize until now that "step up to the plate" was a baseball idiom.
As a picky eater growing up, I thought it meant showing up to the table and tackling the meal as best you could.

著者は長い間 "step up to the plate" の "plate"　を料理の事だと思っていたが、この "plate"　は野球のhome plateを指していたのにやっと気が付いたとの話です。 "step up to the plate" を辞書で見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: Take action in response to an opportunity or crisis.: The federal authorities need to step up to the plate and face their responsibility.
・Collins English Dictionary: to come forward and take responsibility for something: He's got to step up to the plate and deal with these accusations.

野球での元々の意味は "to move into batting position" (Collins)だったのですね。

conservatory

Yoko Ogawaの小説 "Revenge" を読んでいます。この小説は短編小説集の様ですが、一つ一つの短編が前の話と何かしら関係しているので、音楽の組曲を連想させます。最後の短編 "Poison Plants" から引用します。

The concert was organized by a local banker, a man who had bought a number of my paintings in the past. In the days that followed, I had him arrange a "scholarship" to help this boy with his studies. He had been wasting his time with odd jobs to make ends meet, so we came to an agreement. I would pay for the lessons he needed to preparde for the entrance exam to the conservatory, and he would come every other week on Saturday night to eat dinner with me and to report on his progress.

"conservatory" というと浮かんでくるのは植物を育てる温室ですが、ここの "conservatory" は何か学校の様です。辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: A college for the study of classical music or other arts.: We are the musicians who teach in our home studios, conservatories and colleges, community centers and schools.

・Collins Dictionary: A conservatory is an institution where musicians are trained.: ...the New England Conservatory of Music.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: a school for the teaching of music or sometimes acting or art: His students are found performing in orchestras and teaching at conservatories and universities throughout the world.

何故 "conservatory" が音楽学校の意味を持つようになったのか気になったので更に調べると "
Online Etymology Dictionary" に次の説明がありました。
Meaning "school of music, for performing arts" is recorded from 1805, from Italian conservatorio or French conservatoire, a place of public instruction and training in some branch of science or the arts, especially music, from Medieval Latin conservatorium. Originally an Italian institution, "hospital for foundlings in which musical education was given;" it was picked up by the French after the Revolution. The Italian word is attested in English from 1771.

"foundlings" は9/19/2008に取り上げました。又、"Foundling Wheel" も私が十年以上前(8/21/2007)にブログを始めた頃に取り上げています。

stew in silence

Yoko Ogawaの "The Housekeeper and the Professor" が面白かったので、続けて同じ著者の　"Revenge" を読みます。　英語版への翻訳は "The Housekeeper and the Professor" と同じくStephen Snyder によるものです。

Sitting with her back straight, she studied the menu from top to bottom, though she seemed to have little interest in selecting something to eat. This went on for a while. "Order whatever you like," the man repeated several times, just to break the unbearable tension, but she was intent to make him stew in silence, I ran my finger along the edge of the elaborately folded napkin.

以前 "stew in one's own juice" を取り上げましたが、上の "make him stew in silence" はどんな意味でしょうか？
"stew" は次の様な意味で使っているようです。

・Oxford English Dictionary: informal in singular A state of great anxiety or agitation.: No wonder they're in a stew - we keep occupying their territory.

・Collins Dictionary: If you let a person stew or if you leave them to stew, you deliberately allow them to worry about something for a while, rather than telling them something which would make them feel better.: I'd rather let him stew.

・Cambridge English Dictionary: to be anxious or upset about something: You’re not still stewing over the election results, are you?