waiter

When you wait for the waiter, do you not become the waiter?
確かに、食べ物屋で待たされることってありますね。

BARE HARE

Reader's Digest 4月号に載っていた投稿記事です。
The other day my daughter was watching cartoons on TV and was obviously puzzled by something.
"Mummy," she asked, "Why does Bugs Bunny wear no clothes, but when he goes swiming he puts on a swimming costume?

four biomes

Reader's Digest 4月号のコラムに出てきた単語が気になりました。
Miniscapes
Then cultivating a tiny landscape in a clear glass container - a terrarium - may work for you. Miniscapes features 16 project covering four biomes (desert, forest, carnivorous plants, air plants) and reveals how these miniature worlds can be up and flourishing in little time, with minimal expense and few skills.
"biomes" が気になった単語です。括弧書きからするとここでは４つの環境で育つそれぞれの植物相を指している様ですが、この単語自体は "bio" を含んでいるのでその他の全ての生物も示したいる様ですがどうでしょうか？　辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g., forest or tundra.: Explore earth science by picking and studying a specific biome: tundra, taiga, forest, grassland, or desert.
・Vocabulary.com: A biome is a specific environment that's home to living things suited for that place and climate. A desert biome is great for a lizard, but a koala needs the leafy greens of a forest biome.
A plant or animal makes its home in a specific biome, which is pronounced "BI-ohm." While a biome can range from an arctic tundra to a tropical rain forest, living things need to stay in the biome that's best suited to keeping them alive and growing. Scientists in the field of ecology, the study of the environmental connections between living things, work to understand the effects of climate change and population growth on biomes.

self-raising flour

Reader's Digest 4月号の料理記事にあった単語です。
Ricotta Pancakes with Fresh Fruit
1/2cup(75g) self-raising flour
"self-raising flour" はどんな小麦粉でしょうか？　辞書を見ます。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: US self-rising flour: flour containing a substance that makes cakes swell when they are cooked
なるほどこれなら直ぐに覚えられそうです。

hook, line, and sinker

Reader's Digest 4月号に掲載のジョークです。釣果は何？
Poor old fool, thought the well-dressed gentleman as he watched an old man fish in a puddle outside a pub. So he invited the old man inside for a drink.
As they sipped their whiskies, the gentleman thought he'd humour the old man and asked, "So, how many have you caught today?"
The old man replied, "You're the eighth."
タイトルの "Hook, LIne and Sinker" は以前に取り上げた気がしたのですが、記録になかったので取り上げます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Used to emphasize that someone has been completely deceived or tricked: He fell hook, line, and sinker for this year’s April Fool joke.
・Collins Dictionary: You can use hook, line, and sinker to emphasize that someone is tricked or forced into a situation completely. [emphasis] ⇒ We fell for it hook, line, and sinker. ⇒ I was caught hook, line and sinker. このタイトルにピッタリのジョークでしたね。
"Hook, LIne and Sinker" はすっかり、完全にニュアンスがあります。
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Informal. entirely; completely: He fell for the story—hook, line, and sinker.

flute

John GrishamのThe Racketeerからの最後の引用です。
The first bottle of champagne is poured into four Waterford flutes - Dee Ray has expensive tastes - and we chug it.
シャンペーンが注がれるフルートとは？　楽器で無い事は確かです。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A tall, narrow wine glass: a flute of champagne 知りませんでした。フルートに注がれたシャンペーンが飲みたくなりましたね。

batting

Reader's Digest 4月号の定番記事Smart Animalsからの引用です。
As I stepped down into thw swampy bank of the river and walked towards the fence, the giraffe noticed me and calmly loped over. It stood in front of me, batting its long black eylashed.
この意味の "bat" は5/22/2010に取り上げていますね。

juice

The Japan Times May 8の記事タイトルに以前に(6/10/2011)覚えた単語 "juice" が次の様に使われていました。
Solid-state technology juicing next wave of lithium-ion batteries
To make gadgets and appliances last longer as well as run smaller, thinner devices, Japanese manufacturers are working on what they think is a next-generation power source: solid-state rechargeable batteries.
・Webster's New World College Dictionary: to add power, vigor, energy, etc. or interest, excitement, etc. to: usually with up
ちなみに、3/6/2009に "juice up" も取り上げていました。

strained small talk

The Racketeerを読んでいます。
She is dressed fashionably in a skirt short enough to get attention, and she carries a smart leather attache. Dusty jumps to his feet when she enters his office and offers a chair. A secretary brings in coffee and they manage some strained small talk until the door is closed for good.
"small talk" 自体は普通たわいもない話のはずで、それが何故 "strained" と緊張している様な形容詞が付いているのでしょうか？　辞書を見て見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (Of an appearance or performance) produced by deliberate effort rather than natural impulse; artificial or forced: I put on my strained smile for the next customer.
・Macmillan Dictionary: not natural and produced with some effort: Zoe felt horribly anxious but managed to force a strained smile.
なるほど、ぎこちない、わざとらしい、不自然な会話になっているのですね。

smell the barn

John GrishamのThe Racketeerも終わりに近づいて来ました。
I take a deep breath and feel like crying. This project has been on the drawing board for over two years, and during most of that time the odds of a successful outcome were at least a thousand to one. A series of loosely connected events had to fall perfectly into place. We’re not yet at the finish line, but we are in the homestretch. I can smell the barn.
慣用句らしい "smell the barn" は文脈からすると終わりが見えるの様な意味の様ですが、由来も知りたいので辞書で調べます。
・Wiktionary: To experience heightened anticipation or to act with renewed speed or energy as one approaches a destination, goal, or other desired outcome, like a livestock animal at day's end returning to its barn.
なるほど家畜なら家畜小屋は匂いで分かるのは納得。この表現を説明している他の辞書は見つかりませんでした。