Were Congress to do nothing and let the Bush tax cuts expire and return rates to what *they were during the Clinton era, that would generate an estimated $3.6 trillion in tax revenue over the next decade, largely solving the short-term deficit problem.
*印をつけたtheyが何を指しているのはrates, ここの文脈では税率です。Were Congress to do nothing and let the Bush tax cuts expire and return rates to what *they were during the Clinton era,はifのない仮定法です。
第七段落には以下のようなくだりがあります。
And yet the two parties seem stuck in adolescent fantasies, one ruling out tax increases, the other ruling out any serious cuts in entitlement spending.
oneはruling out tax increasesですからおおむね富裕層に支持基盤を持つ共和党、the otherはruling out any serious cuts in entitlement spendingですので民主党です。
それほど難しい英文ではなく、つかみ所のない日本の新聞の社説あたりと比較しますとはるかに明瞭に主張が展開されています。こういった英文を日常的に読めば政治経済や国語の力も伸ばせるはずで、単熟語の暗記にウエイトを置くような英語学習よりも楽しいと思います。
実用英検の二次試験も終わり合格発表待ちの時期でしょう。落ちるよりは受かった方がいいのは言うまでもありません。ただ、たとえ最難関の１級に合格しても語彙分野で点を稼いだ合格者よりも読解分野で点を稼いだ合格者の方が、辞書を使える状況でははるかに英語運用能力が高いです。 知識がなければ英語は使えないとはいえ、知識だけでも使い物になりません。バランスの取れた英語力を養成するには、語彙偏重の学習は避けて良質な英文を高い精度でたくさん読むのがおすすめです。
精度を維持して読むためには、この代名詞は何か、この単語は具体的に何を指しているのかしっかり把握する必要があります。 Debt Woes: Could America Go the Way of Greece? という、ギリシアとアメリカの赤字について論じたTIME誌の記事の第六段落に以下のようなくだりがありました。
Were Congress to do nothing and let the Bush tax cuts expire and return rates to what *they were during the Clinton era, that would generate an estimated $3.6 trillion in tax revenue over the next decade, largely solving the short-term deficit problem.
*印をつけたtheyが何を指しているかおわかりでしょうか？
そして第七段落には以下のようなくだりがあります。
And yet the two parties seem stuck in adolescent fantasies, one ruling out tax increases, the other ruling out any serious cuts in entitlement spending.
Turn Down the Volume! という、大きすぎるＣＭの音量を非合法化するアメリカでの動きについて報じた、TIMEFORKIDSの記事に以下のようなくだりがありました。
①On Thursday, Congress passed the CALM Act, which calls for regulations that will lower the volume on television commercials that sound louder than the shows *they interrupt.
②"Consumers have been asking for a solution to this problem for decades, and today they finally have *it," Representative Eshoo said.
③The act calls for the FCC to come up with regulations for commercials so that *they cannot be louder than the average sound level of the accompanying television shows.
この代名詞は何か、この単語は具体的に何を指しているのか、わからないケースは意外に多く、それでは正確な英文読解は不可能です。
逆に、要所の理解がきちんとできていれば、全文訳のような野暮を抜きにした効率的英語学習は可能です。 Turn Down the Volume! という、大きすぎるＣＭの音量を非合法化するアメリカでの動きについて報じた、TIMEFORKIDSの記事に以下のようなくだりがありました。
①On Thursday, Congress passed the CALM Act, which calls for regulations that will lower the volume on television commercials that sound louder than the shows *they interrupt.
②"Consumers have been asking for a solution to this problem for decades, and today they finally have *it," Representative Eshoo said.
③The act calls for the FCC to come up with regulations for commercials so that *they cannot be louder than the average sound level of the accompanying television shows.
How China Is like 19th Century Americaという現在の中国と１９世紀のアメリカとの類似性について論じた記事に以下のようなくだりがありました。
U.S. commentators complain that China's success has been predicated on chicanery (like the manipulation of the yuan), dubious business practices and wanton disregard for copyrights. In doing so, they echo things that British commentators once said about America's rise, back when New England factories used reverse engineering to mimic the latest Lancashire technological breakthroughs and Dickens complained of making no money from the pirated copies of his novels sold in the country.
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. New England is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada, and the State of New York.
この代名詞は何か、この単語は具体的に何を指しているのか、わからないケースは意外に多く、それでは正確な英文読解は不可能です。 How China Is like 19th Century America と現在の中国と１９世紀のアメリカとの類似性について論じた記事に以下のようなくだりがありました。
U.S. commentators complain that China's success has been predicated on chicanery (like the manipulation of the yuan), dubious business practices and wanton disregard for copyrights. In doing so, they echo things that British commentators once said about America's rise, back when New England factories used reverse engineering to mimic the latest Lancashire technological breakthroughs and Dickens complained of making no money from the pirated copies of his novels sold in the country.
The government justifies the ban on the Brotherhood by arguing that religion has no role in Egyptian politics. Increasingly, however, Egyptians are starting to wonder if the Brotherhood's popularity is less a threat to Egyptian society than *it is to the ruling party's grip on power.
（中略）
General Fouad Allam, a former chief of Egypt's internal security services who spent decades monitoring the Brotherhood, says it is similar in scope to the international communist movement but "more organized and more engaged." He hints at international funding of the group and raises the specter of an Islamist takeover of *a key U.S. ally."Egypt would regress 100 years if the Brotherhood came to power," he says,
＊をつけたitが指しているのはthe Brotherhood's popularity 、a key U.S. allyがとはEgyptです。そう考えれば文脈に合いますし、それ以外には考えられません。もし何か別の可能性があればコメント欄にお願いします。
この代名詞は何か、この単語は具体的に何を指しているのか、わからないケースは意外に多く、それでは正確な英文読解は不可能です。 What's So Scary About Egypt's Islamists? というイスラム政党Muslim Brotherhoodがエジプトで受けてきた弾圧と抵抗についての記事に以下のようなくだりがありました。
The government justifies the ban on the Brotherhood by arguing that religion has no role in Egyptian politics. Increasingly, however, Egyptians are starting to wonder if the Brotherhood's popularity is less a threat to Egyptian society than *it is to the ruling party's grip on power.
（中略）
General Fouad Allam, a former chief of Egypt's internal security services who spent decades monitoring the Brotherhood, says it is similar in scope to the international communist movement but "more organized and more engaged." He hints at international funding of the group and raises the specter of an Islamist takeover of *a key U.S. ally."Egypt would regress 100 years if the Brotherhood came to power," he says,
