unsung

2001 A Space Odyssey、やっと宇宙の話になりました。
A whole generation of research by heroic unsung volunteers had gone into the design of the washroom, and it was now considered to be more or less foolproof. Floyd investigated it soon after free fall had began. He found himself in a little cubicle with all the fittings of an ordinary airline toilet, but illuminated with a red light that was very harsh and unpleasant to the eye.A notice printed in prominest letters announced: MOST INPORTANT FOR YOUR OWIN COMFORT, PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY!
"unsung" は "sing" の過去分詞に否定を意味する接頭詞の "un" がついた単語の様ですが、ここではどんな意味で使われているのでしょうか？
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: not celebrated or praised (as in song or verse): an unsung hero
・Collins Dictionary: not acclaimed or honoured ⇒ unsung deeds: Our heartwarming search for Ireland's unsung
・Vocabulary.com: heroes is coming to an end: not famous or acclaimed: Lord Smith said greening business behaviour was one of the "unsung successes" of environmental regulation.
"sing" から来ていると分かれば直ぐに覚えられる単語ですね。
自分の卓球の試合は散々な目に会いましたが、愛ちゃんと丹羽選手の活躍は素晴らしかった。テニスの錦織も頑張りましたが世界ランク５位には敵いませんでした。来週はラグビーの社会人の決勝が楽しみです。

Smart snacking

Two great white sharks are swimming in the ocean when they spy surfers.
The younger shark licks his lips and makes a beeline for them.
"Just a minute!" says his father, stopping him. "First we swim around them with just the tip of our fins showing"
And they do.
"Now we swim around them a few times with all our fins showing."
And they do.
"Now we eat everybody."
When they are both gorged, the son asks: "Dad, why didn't we just eat them when we first saw them?"
"Because they taste better without all the poop inside."
映画のジョーズとタレントの 'チビル' 大木君を思い出しました。

Rubbish

Marx for BeginnersにはMarx以前のギリシャ時代にさかのぼって、主な哲学者の考え方もおさらいしてくれているので、哲学やら社会学に疎い私にもなるほどと思うことがあります。英国人ジョン・ロックの考えとして次ぎの一節がありました。
Locke had the idea that men were free to think of God in their own way, not as any religion told them to...
このブログで前に、「神が人を創ったのではなく、人が神を創ったのだ」と書いた事を思い出しました。
さて今日はこれから卓球のラージボールのシングルスとダブルスの試合があります。ダブルスは新しいコンビで戦います。少しでも多く勝ちたいと思っています。

winnow

2001 A Space Odysseyを読んでいますがまだ宇宙の話ではありません。
And then the world began to change. In four great waves, with two hundred thousand years between their crests, the Ice Ages swept by, leaving their mark on all the glove. Outside the tropics, the glaciers slew those who had prematurely left their ancestral home; and everywhere they winnowed out the creatures who could not adapt.
ここに出てきた "winnowed" はこれまでに何度か読んだ事のある単語でブログでも扱ったと思いましたが、記録に見あたらないので今回でしっかり覚えたいと思います。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
　a (1) : to remove (as chaff) by a current of air (2) : to get rid of (something undesirable or unwanted) : remove --often used with out: winnow out certain inaccuracies -- Stanley Walker b (1) : separate, sift: an old hand at winnowing what is true and significant -- Oscar Lewis (2) : select
・Cambridge English Dictionary: formal to reduce a large number of people or things to a much smaller number by judging their quality: A list of 12 candidates has been winnowed down to a shortlist of three.: a winnowing process
・Vocabulary.com: To winnow is to blow something away until you are left with what you want, like grain from chaff. If you only want your favorite people at the party, you will need to winnow down the guest list from 300 to 30.
To winnow is to use air to “separate the wheat from the chafe" -- literally or figuratively. If a coach winnows down the top NBA draft picks to his number one choice, then he'll focus his negotiations on that player. Chances are, if you encounter the word winnow on a given day, it is probably not in the literal context of grain.
"window" と関係がありました。

quietus

テニスの伊達選手の活躍は素晴らしい。私の卓球相手は５０才～７０才代と高年者ですが、テニスは３０～４０才代の若い女性が主な練習相手で、私より上手く、中々敵いません。
さて、2001 A Space Odyssey、話はまだ原始時代です。
It was not a very effective or corodinated attack; by the time the wretched beast had been given its quietus the light had almost gone--and the jackals were regaining their courage. Moon-Watcher, torn between fear and hunger, slowly realized that all this effort might have been in vain. It was too dangerous to stey here any longer.
"quietus" は初めて見る単語です。"quiet" と関係はあるのでしょうか？
・Wiktionary: A stillness or pause; something that quiets or represses; removal from activity; especially: death.: The constant rain and the cold have combined to put a quietus on outdoor activities.
・Dictionary.com:
1. a finishing stroke; anything that effectually ends or settles: Having given a quietus to the argument, she left.
2. discharge or release from life.
3. a period of retirement or inactivity.
・Vocabulary.com: Use the noun quietus to mean death, especially when it's seen as a relief.
Quietus is a poetic, old-fashioned word for death. It's a way of viewing death as an "eternal rest," or as a release from the turmoil of life, and also a delicate way to refer to the fact that someone has died. Shakespeare used the word quietus in his "to be or not to be" soliloquy in "Hamlet," although there is disagreement among scholars about whether Hamlet was talking about suicide or the settling of debts.
"quiet" と関係がありましたね。

presumption

2001 A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarkeを読み始めました。著者は有名なＳ．Ｆ．作家である事は知っていますが、作品は全く読んだ事がありません。2001 A Space Odysseyは映画用の台本が先に創られ、小説版はその後に書かれたとありました。２００１年は十年以上前の事ですが、小説が出版されたのは1968年なのでその当時から見ると３０年以上の未来の話になります。 しかし、実際に読み始めると、舞台は未来どころかはるか原始時代の話から始まります。
The two babies were already whimpering for food, but became silent when Moon-Watcher snarled at them. One of the mothers, defending the infant she could not properly feed, gave him an angry growl in return; he lacked the energy even to cuff her for her presumption.
上の引用個所の最後に出てきた "presumption" の意味が分かりません。 "presume" は知っていますが、その名詞形の意味では上の状況には合いません。 "presume" に私の知らない意味もあるに違いありません。辞書で確認します。
・Vocabulary.com: a kind of discourtesy in the form of an act of presuming: “his presumption was intolerable”
・Cambridge English Dictionary: A person who is presumptuous shows little respect for others by doing things they have no right to do: It would be presumptuous of me to comment on the matter.
・Macmillan Dictionary: behavior that annoys people because it shows too much confidence and not enough respect
なるほど、 "presumption" にはこの様な用法があるのですね。

standard

昨日は祝日でしたが東京でも初雪が降り外出するには大変でした。しかし今日は朝から晴れていて出勤には問題ありません。私が今勤めている会社は特殊な測定器の他に、標準抵抗、標準キャパシターとか標準塩水などを取り扱っていて、その様な標準器や標準サンプルは皆 "standard" ですが、The Chronicles of Narniaの次に示す文に標準の意味ではない "standard" が出て来ました。
There was also a unicorn, and a bull with the head of a man, and a pelican, and an eagle, and a great Dog. And next to Aslan stood two leopards of whom one carried his crown and the other his standard.
辞書で "standard" を調べます。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
1: a conspicuous object (as a banner) formerly carried at the top of a pole and used to mark a rallying point especially in battle or to serve as an emblem
2a : a long narrow tapering flag that is personal to an individual or corporation and bears heraldic devices b : the personal flag of the head of a state or of a member of a royal family c : an organization flag carried by a mounted or motorized military unit
・Collins Dictionary:
4.any distinctive flag, device, etc, as of a nation, sovereign, or special cause
5. a.any of a variety of naval or military flags; b.the colours of a cavalry regiment
6.a flag or emblem formerly used to show the central or rallying point of an army in battle
7.a large tapering flag ending in two points, originally borne by a sovereign or high-ranking noble
なるほど、そうなるとこの旗の意味の方が標準や基準より前にあった意味の気がします。語源辞典も見てみます。
Etymology.com: mid-12c., "flag or other conspicuous object to serve as a rallying point for a military force," from O.Fr. estandart, probably from Frankish *standhard, lit. "stand fast or firm," a compound of words similar to Gothic standan "to stand" (see stand) and hardus "hard" (see hard). So called because the flag was fixed to a pole or spear and stuck in the ground to stand upright.
The other theory connects the Old French word to estendre "to stretch out," from L. extendere (see extend). Meaning "unit of measure" is early 14c., from Anglo-French, where it was used 13c., and is perhaps metaphoric, the royal standard coming to stand for royal authority in matters like setting weights and measures. Hence the meaning "authoritative or recognized exemplar of quality or correctness" (late 15c.).
やはりそうでしたね。私はどちらかと言うとシンボルの旗などどうでもいいと考える方ですが、シンボルは大事なのですね。米国は国旗や国歌を大事に扱いますが、日本ももう少し国旗や国歌を大事にする必要があるのかな。でも君が世は歌詞もメロディーも余り好きになれません。

glade

The Chronicles of Narniaを読んでいます。 "glade" が続けて３度下記の文中に出て来ました。これは覚えなくてはいけない単語ですね。
・Coming suddenly round a corner into a glade of silver birch trees Edmund saw the ground covered in all directions with little yellow flowers - celandines.
・The sky became bluer and bluer, and now there were white clouds hurrying across it from time to time. In the wide glades there were primroses.
・They walked on in silence drinking it all in, passing through patches of warm sunlight into cool, green thickets and out again into wide mossy glades where tall elms raised the leafy roof far overhead, and then into dense masses of flowering currant and among hawthorn bushes where the sweet smell was almost overpowering.
森の中を移動している場面ですが、木もありますが、草花や苔もある様な場所の様です。辞書で意味を確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: an open space in a wood or forest: a forest glade: glades of birch
・Wiktionary: An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. ?
・Wiktionary: an open space in a forest. The resort's centerpiece is an open-air slate hot tub overlooking the ocean, situated in a glade surrounded by trees.
子供が知っている単語なので知らないと恥ずかしい。

The game they play in heaven

今日はラグビーの大学選手権決勝のＴＶ中継があります。午後はコンサートを聴きに出かけるので忘れずに録画しなくちゃ。高校生の時にラグビーを始め、社会人になり、結婚して子供ができてもラグビーを続けたのですが、３５才で米国に転勤となってからラグビーが出来なくなりました。定年退職したら老人のラグビーをしたいと思っていたのですが、結局叶えられず今は毎日卓球をしています。そんなラグビー好きだった私の為の様なジョークに出会いました。
Two 90-year-old men, Mike and Nicholas, have been friends all their lives. When it's clear that Nicholas is dying. Mike visits him every day. One day Mike says, "Nicholas, we both loved rugby and played together for so many years. Please do me one favour: when you get to heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's rugby there." Nicholas agrees, then shortly after, he passes away.
A few nights later, Mike is awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out, "Mike - it's me, Nicholas."
"Nicholas!" exlaims Mike. "Where are you?"
"I'm in heaven. I have some really good news, and a little bad news."
"Tell me the good news first," says Mike.
"The good news is that there IS rugby in heaven. Better yet, all our old friends are here, we're all young again, it's always springtime, it never rains and we never get tired."
"That's fantastic!" says Mike. "So what's the bad news?"
"You're rostered on for Saturday."
いよいよお陀仏になりそうな時にこのジョークを思い出すことにしよう。

vermin

EdmundからLucy達の居場所を聞きつけたWitch Queenは手下を連れてそこに駆けつけますが、途中で楽しそうに食事をしているリス達のグループを見掛けます。
The father squirrel stopped eating with his fork halfway to his mouth and one of the satyrs stopped with its fork actually in its mouth, and the baby sqirrels with terror.
"What is the meaning of this?" asked the Witch Queen. Nobody answered.
"Speak, vermin!" she said again.
この "vermin" は知らない単語なので調べます。
・Collins Dictionary:
1.functioning as plural small animals collectively, esp insects and rodents, that are troublesome to man, domestic animals, etc: In a day it will go green, and in three it seethes with slimy vermin.
2.(plural) -min. an unpleasant, obnoxious, or dangerous person: For all along the roadside the rubbish tips were crawling with people: the cinder-sifters, a kind of human vermin.
・Vocabulary.com: Vermin is a catch-all term that can be used for any small animals or insects that we think of as pests. The cockroaches you found in your bathroom were the grossest vermin you'd ever seen.
The word vermin originally came from the Anglo-French word of the same spelling, meaning "noxious animals" ? definitely a negative term. Rats, mice, cockroaches, along with pests to farmers and the animals they raise, like coyotes and weasels, are vermin. Annoying people who cause problems are also sometimes called vermin, like the vermin who bully others.
害虫やネズミなどを "vermin" と呼ぶのは人間から見た人間の都合で、害虫やネズミは人間に悪意があって生きているのではないのですが、 "vermin" と呼ばれる人間には絶対なりたくないですね。でも新聞を見ると毎日多くの "vermin" がいる事を知り残念です。