English Collection

日頃目に付いた覚えたい英単語、慣用句などの表現についてのメモです。

State Shinto

2022年12月26日 | 英単語
昨日はテレビで大学ラグビー選手権の準決勝2試合を3時間たっぷり見ました。いずれも接戦でラグビーらしい良い試合でした。私が見る気のしないサッカーの試合とは本物のスポーツの戦いですね。
さて、Yuval Noah Harariの "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" を読んでいます。
Lesson 8 (Religion)から引用します。 日本の話が出てきます。

Perhaps the best example for the continuing power and importance of traditional religions in the modern world comes from Japan. In 1853 an American fleet forced Japan to open itself to the modern world. In response, the Japanese state embarked on a rapid and extremely successful process of modernisation. Within a few decades, it became a powerful bureaucratic state relying on science, capitalism and the latest military technology to defeat China and Russia, occupy Taiwan and Korea, and ultimately sink the American fleet at Pearl Harbor and destroy the European empire in the Far East. Yet Japan did not copy blindly the Western blueprint. It was fiercely determined to protect its unique identity, and to ensure that modern Japanese will be loyal to Japan rather than to science, to modernity or to some nebulous global community.

To that end, Japan upheld the native religion of Shinto as the cornerstone Japanese identity. In truth, the Japanese state reinvented Shinto. Traditional Shinto was a hodge-podge of animist beliefs in various deities, spirits and ghosts, and every village and temple had its own favourite spirits and local customs. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, the Japanese state created an official version of Shinto, while discouraging many local traditions. This 'State Shinto' was fused with very modern ideas of nationality and race, which the Japanese elite picked from the European imperialists. Any element in Buddhism, Confucianism and the samurai feudal ethos that could be helpful in cementing loyalty to the state was added to the mix. To top it all, State Shinto enshrined as its supreme principle the worship of the Japanese emperor, who was considered a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, and himself no less than a living god.

現代のほとんどの日本人は神道や天皇制を宗教とは意識していないようですが、少なくとも天皇制は現在の憲法第一条に見事に 'State Shinto' として残っていると言えるでしょう。

明日から旅行でしばらくブログはお休みします。
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Arcadian

2022年12月21日 | 英単語
Yuval Noah Harariの "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" を読んでいます。
Lesson 8 (Religion)から引用します。

Not that there aren't any economic ideas in the Bible, the Quran or the Vedas - it is just that these ideas are not up to date. Mahatma Gandhi's reading of the Vedas caused him to envision independent India as a collection of self-sufficient agrarian communities, each spinning its own khadi cloths, exporting little and importing even less. The most famous photograph of him shows spinning cotton with his own hands, and he made the humble spinning wheel the symbol of the Indian nationalist movement. Yet this Arcadian vision was simply incompatible with the realities of modern economics, and hence not much has remained of it save for Gandhi's radiant image on billions of rupee notes.

"Arcadian" と言う言葉は聞いた/見た覚えがありますが、意味が思い出せません。 辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: of or connected with Arcadia or an idea of perfect country life: Origin: late 16th cent.: from Latin Arcadius, from Greek Arkadia. Arcadia is literally a mountainous district in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. It represents a pastoral paradise in poetic fantasy and is the home of Pan in Greek mythology.
・Collins Dictionary: rustic or bucolic: a life of Arcadian simplicity
・Cambridge English Dictionary: showing or relating to an image or idea of perfect countryside life: His friends flocked to his country house, drawn by the Arcadian atmosphere there.

"Arcadian" はSDGsを連想させますね。
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square with

2022年12月20日 | 英単語
Yuval Noah Harariの "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" を読んでいます。
Lesson 8 (Religion)から引用します。

Just as in the case of rainmaking, so also when it comes to economics, it is the long-honed expertise of religious scholars in reinterpreting texts that makes religion irrelevant. No matter which economic policy Khamenei chooses, he could always square it with the Quran. Hence the Quran is degraded from a source of true knowledge to a source of mere authority.

ここでの "square" の意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: to make two ideas, facts or situations agree or combine well with each other; to agree or be consistent with another idea, fact or situation: What she was being asked to do did not square with her political beliefs.
・Collins Dictionary: If you square two different ideas or actions with each other or if they square with each other, they fit or match each other.: He set out to square his dreams with reality.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to match or agree with something, or to think that one thing is acceptable together with another thing: Her story doesn't quite square with the evidence.

この意味・用法では "square with" で覚えた方が良さそうだ。
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vaunted

2022年12月19日 | 英単語
Yuval Noah Harariの "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" を読んでいます。
2nd LessonのWorkから引用します。

In the last few decades research in areas such as neuroscience and behavioural economics allowed scientists to hack humans, and in particular to gain a much better understanding of how humans make decisions. It turned out that our choices of everything from food to mates result not from some mysterious free will, but rather from billions of neurons calculating probabilities within a split second. Vaunted 'human intuition' is in reality 'pattern recognition'.

"Vaunted" の意味が分からないので辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: proudly talked about or praised as being very good, especially when this is not deserved: Their much vaunted reforms did not materialize.
・Collins Dictionary: If you describe something as vaunted or much vaunted, you mean that people praise it more than it deserves.: Its vaunted security procedures hadn't worked.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: praised often in a way that is considered to be more than acceptable or reasonable: His (much) vaunted new plan has been shown to have serious weaknesses.
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hidebound traditions

2022年12月17日 | 英単語
余り楽しめなかった小説が続いたので今度は小説ではなく、以前 Yuval Noah Harariの "Homo Deus A Brief History of Tomorrow" を読んで、その斬新な視点に感銘を覚えましたので、その Harariの "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" を読み始めました。
1st LessonのDisillusionmentから引用します。

The liberal story celebrates the value and power of liberty. It says that for thousands of years humankind lived under oppressive regimes which allowed people few political rights, economic opportunities or personal liberties, and which heavily restricted the movements of individuals, ideas and goods. But people fought for their freedom, and step by step, liberty gained ground. Democratic regimes took the place of brutal dictatorships. Free enterprise overcame economic restrictions. People learned to think for themselves and follow their hearts, instead of blindly obeying bigoted priests and hidebound traditions. Open roads, stout bridges and bustling airports replaced walls, moats and barbed-wire fences.

"hidebound traditions" の "hidebound" は知らない単語ですが、前後の内容からして、時代錯誤あるいは時代遅れの意味と推測できます。辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: having old-fashioned ideas, rather than accepting new ways of thinking: She wanted a life that was less hidebound by rules and conventions.
・Collins Dictionary: If you describe someone or something as hidebound, you are criticizing them for having old-fashioned ideas or ways of doing things and being unwilling or unlikely to change.: The economy was hidebound by public spending and private monopolies.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: having fixed opinions and ways of doing things and not willing to change or be influenced, especially by new or modern ideas: Why should we be hidebound by an ancient custom of this sort?

世界にはアフガニスタンなど、気の毒に "hidebound traditions" を国民に強いている国がまだあるのですよね。
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cursive

2022年12月15日 | 英語の本を読む
Reader's Digest 9月号の 'Quick Crossword' の説明文を引用します。

It's back-to-school season, but not for these subjects and topics, once-standard offerings that are now largely absent from public school curricula:

CIVICS
SEWING
LOGIC
TYPING
GEOGRAPHY
SHOP
LATIN
LIBRARY
COOKING
CURSIVE

LATINが無くなるのは分かりますが、GEOGRAPHYが無くなるとは理解できません。 不思議です。 さて、 "CURSIVE" とはどんな学科でしょうか?

・Oxford English Dictionary: (of handwriting) with the letters joined together
・Collins Dictionary: (adjective) of or relating to handwriting in which letters are formed and joined in a rapid flowing style; (noun) a cursive letter or printing type; a manuscript written in cursive letters:
・Cambridge English Dictionary: Cursive writing is written with rounded letters that are joined together.: The inscriptions are short and written in cursive handwritings.

なるほど、筆記体ですか。 PCの普及で手書き文がなくなって来た証ですね。 日本語でも筆記体、特に昔の人の書いた文字はさっぱりですね。
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finagle

2022年12月14日 | 英単語
Reader's Digest 9月号の単語クイズ 'WORD POWER' からの引用です。

質問の単語は "gerrymander" でこの単語は以前()取り上げていますが、解答の解説文 "finagle voting districts: The city council denies trying to gerrymander key downtown districts to sway the election results." の冒頭に出てきた "finagle" の意味を調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: to behave dishonestly or to obtain something dishonestly: He finagled some tickets for tonight's big game.
・Collins Dictionary: to get or achieve by trickery, craftiness, or persuasion; wangle: The agency finagled free media exposure from print media and broadcast networks including spots during prime time.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to use tricks and dishonest methods to get what you want: He somehow finagled his way into the army as a lieutenant.

日本で選挙票の格差が地区により数倍の差があるのも "gerrymander" の一種ではないかと思っています。
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Sea Legs

2022年12月13日 | 英単語
Reader's Digest 9月号の単語クイズ 'WORD POWER' の説明文を引用します。

Ahoy, mateys! In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a silly but real holiday celebrated every September 19, these words include three r's (as in "Arrr," the utterance that in 1955 inspired two friends to invent the day). Once you find your sea legs, follow the current to the next page for the answers.

「海賊のように話す日」があるなんて知りませんでした。 ところで、"sea legs" の意味は何でしょう? 辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: the ability to walk easily on a moving ship and not to feel sick at sea: It won't take you long to find your sea legs.
・Collins Dictionary: 1. the ability to maintain one's balance on board ship, esp in rough weather 2. the ability to resist seasickness, esp in rough weather: And most pleased too that you've found your - what sailors call - sea legs.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a person's ability to keep their balance while walking on a moving ship and to not be ill: Most passengers initially got sea-sick and had a miserable time before getting their sea legs.
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boba

2022年12月12日 | 英単語
Reader's Digest 9月号の記事 'Bubble Tea Blows Up' からの引用です。

Classic bubble tea is black tea brewed with milk and sugar, then poured over ice and tapioca pearl (also known as balls or boba; bubble tea is often called boba), and served with an oversized straw so you can slurp up a pearl or two with each sip.

"bubble tea" は "boba" ともいわれるとありますが、辞書に "boba" の説明があるか見て見ます。

・Collins Dictionary: a variety of tea containing balls of pearl tapioca, originating in Taiwan in the 1980s:
・Wikipedia: Bubble tea (also known as pearl milk tea, bubble milk tea, tapioca milk tea, boba tea, or boba; is a tea-based drink that originated in Taiwan in the early 1980s....Bubble tea most commonly consists of tea accompanied by chewy tapioca balls ("boba" or "pearls"), but it can be made with other toppings as well, such as grass jelly, aloe vera, or red bean. It has many varieties and flavors, but the two most popular varieties are black pearl milk tea and green pearl milk tea ("pearl" signifies the tapioca balls at the bottom).

タピオカティーとかタピオカミルクティーは名前を聞いたことがあります。 まだ飲んだことはありませんが。
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Three out of Ten Commandments

2022年12月11日 | 英単語
Reader's Digest 10月号の記事 'All in a Day's WORK' からの引用です。


When I arrived at church one Sunday morning, I bumped into our pastor.
"How are things at work?" he asked.
"Father," I said, "I'm so busy that every morning I make a list of five things that I have to do that day. If I make it to number three, it's a good day."
The pastor nodded knowingly. "I'm the same way with the Ten Commandments."

正直な牧師さんですね。
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