On the World Health Organization's (WHO) website for "Electromagnetic Fields and Public Health: Mobile Phones," you can read the verdict in black and white: "To date, no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use."
But those first two words may be key.
those first two words が指しているのはTo dateで、「今までのところ」という意味です。
福島原発事故の後で政府関係者が連発していた「ただちに健康に影響を与える数値ではない」という釈明と同義ではないにしても、一種の役人言葉という点においては類似性があるかもしれません。
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Cancer Institute, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and countless other bodies have agreed that cell phones are safe to use. On the World Health Organization's (WHO) website for "Electromagnetic Fields and Public Health: Mobile Phones," you can read the verdict in black and white: "To date, no adverse health effects have been established for mobile phone use."
But those first two words may be key. At the end of May, 31 scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) — the WHO body that does what its name says — spent a week reviewing the latest studies on cancer and cell-phone-radiation exposure. And to the surprise of many cancer experts, IARC classified cell-phone-radiation exposure as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
those first two words とは何を指しているのかおわかりでしょうか？思考時間の目安は５分としてみます。
解説は次回。
Orville and Wilbur studied the records of people who had gone before them. They made gliders and, in 1901, built a wind tunnel to test wings of different shapes and sizes. Then they turned to the real experts. "We got plenty of flying fever watching the birds," Orville said.
Then they turned to the real experts.とは、「それから彼らは本物の専門家に頼った」という意味で、本物の専門家とはthe birdsであるのは前後関係から明らかです。
出典はライト兄弟の初飛行についてのA Century In The Sky というTIMEFORKIDSの記事の末尾から四段落目です。
Orville and Wilbur studied the records of people who had gone before them. They made gliders and, in 1901, built a wind tunnel to test wings of different shapes and sizes. Then they turned to the real experts. "We got plenty of flying fever watching the birds," Orville said.
Then they turned to the real experts.とは具体的にどういうことかおわかりでしょうか？思考時間の目安は３分としてみます。
解説は次回。
President Obama has made it unambiguously clear that he wants Gaddafi to step down. The U.S. is actively seeking his ouster. To have him survive would be a humiliation for Washington at a moment and in a region where its words still have great impact. It would also send a disastrous signal to the other rulers of the region — in Syria, Algeria, Iran — that Mubarak made a mistake and that the way to stay in office is to engage in mass slaughter, scare the U.S. away and wait out the sanctions and isolation.
Mubarak made a mistake とは「ムバラクはヘマをやった」という意味であるのは中学英語でわかります。ムバラクとはエジプトの前大統領です。
ただ、「ヘマの具体的な内容は何か？」と問われると？？？となってしまうケースがなぜか少なくありません。上記の文をわかりやすく説明すると以下のようになります。
President Obama has made it unambiguously clear that he wants Gaddafi to step down. The U.S. is actively seeking his ouster. To have him (Gaddafi)survive would be a humiliation for Washington at a moment and in a region where its(Washingtonすなわち米国政府) words still have great impact. It(To have him survive) would also send a disastrous signal to the other rulers of the region — in Syria, Algeria, Iran — that(a disastrous signalにかかる同格のthat) Mubarak made a mistake and that(a disastrous signalにかかる同格のthat) the way to stay in office is to engage in mass slaughter, scare the U.S. away and wait out the sanctions and isolation.
President Obama has made it unambiguously clear that he wants Gaddafi to step down. The U.S. is actively seeking his ouster. To have him survive would be a humiliation for Washington at a moment and in a region where its words still have great impact. It would also send a disastrous signal to the other rulers of the region — in Syria, Algeria, Iran — that Mubarak made a mistake and that the way to stay in office is to engage in mass slaughter, scare the U.S. away and wait out the sanctions and isolation.
Mubarak made a mistake とは具体的にどういうことかおわかりでしょうか？話の流れが掴めていれば難しくありません。思考時間の目安は５分、全文を読む時間の目安は英英辞典を使いながら１５分としてみます。
解説は次回。
インドで開催される予定のスポーツ大会が国民の激しい批判にさらされていることを報じたLet the Games Not Begin という記事(TIME誌１０月４日号)の四段落目から五段落目にかけて以下のようなくだりがあります。
Nevertheless, Kalmadi has promised that New Delhi's Commonwealth Games will be "better than the Beijing Olympics."
He might be right about that last point, but not in the way he intended.
日本のマスコミならば「賛否両論がある。みんなでよく考えよう」といった書き方もあり得るかもしれません。しかしまともなジャーナリズムにおいてそんな無内容で歯切れの悪いことを書けば、間違いなくボツになるでしょう。この記事の筆者はインドで開催される予定のスポーツ大会に対して、明らかに批判的なスタンスで書いています。
だから、He might be right about that last point, but not in the way he intended.には、一瞬「なぜだ？」という印象を受けました。でも読み進むとうまい捻りがきいていることがわかります。He might be right about that last point, とは、"better than the Beijing Olympics."を指しているのは明らかで、続く第五段落では、北京オリンピックが権力者の思惑通りに進んだことが述べられています。しかし第六段落冒頭では、Exactly the opposite is happening in India.となっています。
インドでは、オズの魔法使いに登場するペテン師のような権力者の思惑通りに進んでいないから"better than the Beijing Olympics."であるという筆者の視点が明示され、記事全体は首尾一貫したものになっています。
The miners' menu — which at first consisted of nothing but nutrient drinks — now includes yogurt, cereal, tea, sandwiches, kiwis and, recently, hot meals like meatballs with rice. Beans were held back for just the reason you'd think when 33 men are living in a confined space — one more way the decorous rules of the surface are being observed below.
二番目の文におけるthe reasonとは狭い場所で豆を食べてfartされては困るからです。
手元にあるオックスフォード新英英辞典でfartとは、to emit wind from the anus.と正確かつ簡潔に定義されています。fartのような単語は６万語レベルの英和辞典の見出し語にもなっているとはいえ、ノンネイティブ英語学習者が一生覚えなくても支障はないし、覚えるにしても後回しにしていい単語です。しかし英英辞典を検索しますと、屁のような単語からもemitという重要単語、そしてemit windのように風雅な英語の言い回しを学ぶことができます。
私の提唱する英語学習法は基本的に「脱暗記」ですけれども、英英辞典の定義文に使われる単語、たとえばThe Longman Defining Vocabularyの大部分は日本語の訳語を暗記するしかないと思います。しかし英英辞典を使いこなせるような基礎語彙と基礎文法が身についた後は、機械的な暗記のような苦役なしでの語彙強化は十分可能です。
たとえばemitのような重要単語をCOBUILD英英辞典CD-ROMで検索しますと、
If something emits heat, light, gas, or a smell, it produces it and sends it out by means of a physical or chemical process. (FORMAL)
The new device emits a powerful circular column of light.
という定義文と例文をたちどころに読めます。重要語彙や表現をたくさん含んだ英英辞典の定義文や例文に日常的に親しんでいれば、語彙力に限らない英語力が伸びないわけはありません。
The miners' menu — which at first consisted of nothing but nutrient drinks — now includes yogurt, cereal, tea, sandwiches, kiwis and, recently, hot meals like meatballs with rice. Beans were held back for just the reason you'd think when 33 men are living in a confined space — one more way the decorous rules of the surface are being observed below.
