VW and Presentation Skills

山中伸弥先生の半生記 "Discovering iPS Cells" を読んでいます。VW and Presentation Skillsの章から引用します。

...there was a catchphrase I learned at the Gladstone that I will never forget: "VW," explained to us by Dr. Robert Mahley, the director of the Gladstone at the time. He had gathered about 10 postdocs working there to stress to us the importance of VW. I knew he'd driven a Volkswagen car for many years and that the abbreviation for Volkswagon is VW, but what did he mean by the abbreviation here?
It turned out that he wasn't going to talk about his favorite car. "The secret to certain success as a researcher is VW. That's the key: V and W is the magic phrase, not only for researchers but also for life. "VW stands for vision (V), having a long-term goal, and hard work (W). Both vision and hard work are essential to success as a researcher and in life in general.
...
Another thing I'm glad I learned while studying in the United States is presentation skills. Researchers don't just have to do research; they also have to write papers, give presentations at conferences and lectures, and wildly communicate the results of their research in a way that is easy to understand. Before coming to the United States, I'd always disliked performing in public, so I decided to take classes on presentation skills and manuscript writing that were offered at UCSF: two 2-hour sessions weekly for about 10 weeks.
なるほど、山中先生がVW and Presentation Skillsを知って実践してきたので今日の先生の業績があるのですね、納得。いまさらですが、私に最も欠けていたのはVです。

dashed

山中伸弥先生の半生記 "Discovering iPS Cells" を読んでいます。Jamanakaの章から引用します。後にノーベル賞を受賞する山中先生がJamanakaと呼ばれていたとは！

A brand-new building stood majestically next to Osaka Castle, fitted throughout with the latest equipment. I began my residency thinking how lucky I was to be able to train at such a wonderful hospital.
But my hopes were dashed shortly after starting at the hospital, when I found out that I had an unexpectedly harsh supervisor. I thought I was used to having intimidating seniors and exacting teachers because I have been in the judo and rugby clubs, where hierarchical relationships are the most clear-cut among sports clubs. However, my supervising doctor was more terrifying than any other person I had ever met in my life He was just like a sergeant-major at the toughest boot camp. He never used my real name, Yamanaka; for the whole 2 years of my training he called me Jamanake, a combination of my name and the Japanese word for someone who's a hindrance. "Hey, Jamanaka! You're so annoying," he kept repeating.

この意味の "dash" は知りませんでしたが、文脈から希望が壊されたと推測できますね。

・Collins Dictionary: If an event or person dashes someone's hopes or expectations, it destroys them by making it impossible that the thing that is hoped for or expected will ever happen.: The announcement dashed hopes of an early end to the crisis.
次の辞書は複数の意味をまとめて説明してくれます。
・Vocabulary.com: When you dash, you run a short distance very quickly. If you forget your lunch in the morning, you might try to dash home, grab it, and dash back to school.
This word can be used in many ways. When your dog chases your cat, they dash around the house — and you can call this sprint itself a dash. When you use the punctuation mark known as a dash, you write a horizontal line ( — ) to mark a pause, a change, or an omitted word. As a verb, dash can also mean to destroy, as when unusually warm weather dashes your hopes of a snowy holiday, or to smash, as when you dash a coconut against a rock to break it open.

私が知っていた意味の "dash" は後の章（The Race to Develop Human iPS Cellsの章）に次の場面に出てきました。

The race to develop human iPS cells started right away.
I had to work fast. On my return flight, I dashed off the paper and immediately submitted it to Cell.

klutz

山中伸弥先生の半生記 "Discovering iPS Cells" を読んでいます。Kobe University School of Medicineの章から引用します。

I once tried to count how many broken bones I've had in my life, but lost count halfway through and gave up. At least ten times in junior high, senior high, and university. In 2011 too, I broke another bone when I dropped a barbell on my little toe at the gym. My toe swelled up to twice its normal size. I must have been a real klutz.

自虐的なエピソードですね。"klutz" を辞書で見ます。

・Collins Dictionary: You can refer to someone who is very clumsy or who seems stupid as a klutz.: He's very gentle and a bit of a klutz.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a person who moves awkwardly and often drops things: Don’t expect Mark to catch the ball – he’s a klutz.
・Vocabulary.com: If you're awkward and clumsy, you can call yourself a klutz. If a klutz is carrying a tray of full glasses across a dining room, you can be sure they'll end up on the floor.
This informal word is perfect for talking about a goofy oaf who trips over his own feet and seems to drop anything he's holding. You might say, "Don't let my brother move your TV — he's such a klutz!" Klutz is the Americanized version of the Yiddish klots, which means "block or lump," and also "clumsy person or blockhead." A related word in German is klotz, "boor, clod, or wooden block."

自分が落としたバーベルで足の骨を折る様なへまをする人にピッタリな単語ですね。

seared into my memory

年末年始は実家に帰っていました。正月気分も抜けたので今日からブログを再開します。
ノーベル賞受賞者の山中伸弥先生の半生を書いた "Discovering iPS Cells" を読むことにしました。この本は (放送大学の講座『英語で「道」を語る』の参考文献に載っていた "Discover Japan" を検索していたら、たまたま見つけました。最初に引用するのは山中先生によるIntroductionからです。

The sight of those rhythmically beating cells--heart cells created from iPS cells that came originally from skin cells--is seared into my memory. They were beating just like natural heart cells, filling me with a sense of wonderment that I still get whenever I see the different kinds of cells that can be made from iPS cells.

"seared into my memory" の意味は文脈からすると記憶に刻まれるの様な意味だと思いますが辞書で確認します。

・Wiktionary: To mark permanently, as if by burning.: The events of that day were seared into her memory.
・Vocabulary.com: To sear something is to quickly cook or burn its surface by applying intense heat. When making beef stew, the color and flavor are usually better if you sear the meat first.
Sear comes from the Old English word searian which meant “dry up” or “wither.” Typically, the verb sear now refers to burning or scorching something with heat, but if you see the phrase “wind-seared,” it means that a place — or something left in that place — has been withered by exposure to the elements. An unpleasant image can be seared into your memory, meaning you can't forget it.

"seared into my memory" は心に焼き付くイメージですね。