The Brethrenの一人、元裁判官のBeechが刑に服することになった経緯からの抜粋です。
Then he got sued, two wrongful death cases brought by the families. With no friends willing to step forward, he'd tried to defend himself from prison. But there wasn't much to defend. A judgment of $5 million had been entered against him by the trial court. He appealed from Trumble, lost from Trumble, and appealed again.
In the chair beside him, next to his cigarettes, was an envelope brought earlier by Trevor, the lawyer. The court had rejected his final appeal. The judgment was now written in stone.
判決が "written in stone" とは面白い表現ですね。この表現は "set/carved/engraved in stone" と書かれることもあり、意味は：
・Wiktionary: (idiomatic) permanent; certain; firm The decision won't be set in stone until we release the documents.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Fig. permanent or not subject to change. (Often in the negative.) Now, this isn't carved in stone yet, but this looks like the way it's going to be. Is this policy carved in stone, or can it still be modified?
なるほど。よく考えれば意味は推測できましたね。
CIAのTeddyに担ぎ出され、大統領選挙の候補者になったLakeは選挙キャンペーンに飛び回ります。
When Lake finally appeared, and strode purposefully across the stage, shaking vigorously the hands ofcorporate honchos he'd never see again, the laborers went wild. The music was carefully ratcheted up a couple of notches by a sound consultant who was a member of a sound team Lake's people had hired for $24,000 for the event. Money was of little concern.
Balloons fell like manna. Some were popped by workers who'd been asked to pop them, so for a few seconds the hangar sounded like the first wave of a ground attack. Get ready for it. Get ready for war. Lake Before It's Too Late.
上に出てきた "manna" は以前（3/21/2013）取り上げた単語ですが、例によって忘れている単語です。復習します。
・Oxford English Dictionary:
(In the Bible) the substance miraculously supplied as food to the Israelites in the wilderness (Exod. 16).
An unexpected or gratuitous benefit: the cakes were manna from heaven
Grishamの短編小説Funny Boyの中に覚えたい台詞が出てきました。
Thank you, Doris, Emporia thought but didn't say. Doris was the only person she'd told about inviting Adrian to church. "I invite everyone to worship with us, Reverend. That's what you want. That's what the Bible says."
"Well, this is a little different.
" "Don't worry. He ain't comin'."
"Praise the Lord. The wages of sin is death, Emporia, and this young man is paying for his sins."
"Yes, he is."
"wage" の意味としては賃金の他に "wage a war" とか "wage the peace" の用法を十年前に（6/8/2006）覚えましたが、上の引用文での意味は文脈からすると、報い、応報に違いありません。辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: The result or effect of doing something considered wrong or unwise: the wages of sin is death
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: recompense, reward --usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction: the wages of sin is death -- Romans 6:23 (Revised Standard Version)
元々は聖書にある台詞でした。
The Japan Times OnlineのAugust 24の記事に私が過去にこのブログで取り上げて覚えた三つの単語が次のように出てきました。（単語には過去のブログ記事へのリンクを付けました）
・Only the Philippines has to worry about Duterte
Human rights, the rule of law and the United Nations are getting short shrift in the war on drugs launched by "Duterte Harry."
記事全文： http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/08/23/commentary/world-commentary/philippines-worry-duterte/#.V70hLuQebx8
・Music industry makes united declaration against ticket scalping
記事全文： http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2016/08/23/music/music-industry-makes-united-declaration-ticket-scalping
・Muslim hotel opens at Mount Fuji beauty spot, but so far no bookings
A hotel for Muslim travelers has opened near Lake Kawaguchi, a beauty site at the foot of Mount Fuji. It ticks all the right boxes, but a month after opening it has yet to take any bookings. Syariah Hotel Fujisan, which opened late last month in the Yamanashi Prefecture town of Fujikawaguchiko, has a prayer room and offers halal menus for guests.
記事全文： http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/23/national/muslim-hotel-opens-mount-fuji-beauty-spot-far-no-bookings/#.V70h6OQebx8
Teddy removed a pill from a bottle and swallowed it without the aid of anything liquid. He frowned as if it was bitter. He squeezed the wrinkles in his forehead and said, "York, tell me we're not missing anything on this guy. No skeletons."
"No skeletons, Chief. We've examined his dirty underwear for six months. There's nothing that can hurt us."
"He's not going to marry some fool; is he?"
"No. He dates several women, but nothing serious."
"No sex with his interns?"
"None. He's clean."
この引用箇所の会話に出てくる "skeletons" は以前（9/14/2010）に取り上げた "skeleton in the closet" を意味しているに違いありません。
skeleton in the closet:
・Oxford English Dictionary: A discreditable or embarrassing fact that someone wishes to keep secret.:‘ut she isn't the only one with a skeleton in the closet; Danny is hiding a secret of his own.
これは "skeleton in the cupboard" とも言います。
・Collins Dictionary: a scandalous fact or event in the past that is kept secret
３人の元判事（The Brethren）は刑務所にいながら、外部の弁護士を使った詐欺を始めます。
Pursuing serious criminal activity on the inside was unheard of, until the arrival of Joe Roy Spicer. Before his fall, Spicer had heard stories about the Angola scam, named for the infamous Louisiana state penitentiary. Some inmates there had perfected the gay extortion scheme, and before they were caught they had fleeced their victims of $700,000.
"fleece" は前に（4/19/2012）取り上げた覚えがありますが、復習です。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Obtain a great deal of money from (someone), typically by overcharging or swindling them: money that authorities say he fleeced from well-to-do acquaintances
But Teddy had big plans, and he was anxious to share them. “The New Hampshire primary is two weeks away. We have four Republicans and three Democrats all saying the same thing. Not a single candidate wants to increase defense spending. We have a budget surplus, miracle of all miracles, and everyone has a hundred ideas about how to spend it. A bunch of imbeciles. Just a few years ago we had huge budget deficits, and Congress spent money faster than it could be printed. Now there’s a surplus. They’re gorging themselves on the pork.”
最後に出てきた表現 "gorging themselves on the pork" ですが、文脈から "pork" は "pork barrel" を意味しているに違いないと容易に推測できます。一応辞書で "pork" の項を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: short for pork barrel.: It's funny how your radicalism stops short when it's your own federal pork on the line, isn't it?
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: government funds, jobs, or favors distributed by politicians to gain political advantage
やはり "pork" だけで "pork barrel" の意味で使われることが確認できます。
"pork barrel" の意味は：
・Oxford English Dictionary: The use of government funds for projects designed to please voters or legislators and win votes: political pork barrel for the benefit of their respective sponsors
です。
"gorging themselves on" は連語であることも分かりました。
"gorge oneself on something/gorge oneself with somethingl": ・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to eat something to the point of fullness. Don't gorge yourself on the snacks. Dinner is in ten minutes. You have gorged yourself with cheese! No wonder you're not hungry. Claire gorged herself on the doughnuts that Fred bought.
GrishamのThe Brethrenを読んでいます。刑に服している３人の元判事（The Brethren）は刑務所内のもめ事を調停する裁判も行っています。
Each of the three justices scribbled something on a slip of paper. Deliberations were quick, verdicts instantaneous. Yarber and Beech slid theirs to Spicer, who announced, “By a vote of two to one, we find for the defendant. Case dismissed. Who’s next?”
The vote was actually unanimous, but every verdict was officially two to one. That allowed each of the three a little wiggle room if later confronted.
"wiggle room" は飛行機の窮屈なエコノミー席ではなく、余裕のあるビジネス席を連想させますが、ここでは比喩的な意味で使われているに違いません。辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Capacity or scope for negotiation or operation, especially in order to modify a previous statement or decision: he had precious little wiggle room because of the budget deficit
・Dictionary.com: room to maneuver; latitude.: He was right, in the Overview, to leave himself plenty of wiggle room rather than committing to his own stated deadline.
・Macmillan Dictionary: freedom to change your mind or to try a different method, for example, in making decisions or achieving a goal
John GrishamのThe Brethrenを読み始めました。刑に服している３人の元判事がグルになって(The Brethren)外部の人間を通じて詐欺を働いている話と、並行してCIAのトップが担ぎ出した大統領候補の選挙運動の話しが交互に続きます。いつかこの一見別の二つの話はつながるのでしょう。
“The ValueNow IPO was handled by the investment banking firm of Bakin-Kline, a small outfit in San Francisco. Five million shares were offered. Bakin-Kline basically presold the stock to its preferred customers and friends, so that most big investment firms never had a shot at the stock. Happens all the time.”
The judges and the inmates, even the court jester, hung on every word.
He continued. “It’s silly to think that some disbarred yahoo sitting in prison, reading an old copy of Forbes, can somehow buy a thousand dollars’ worth of ValueNow.”
上の引用箇所に出てきた "yahoo" はかなり前に調べたことがあり、例のYahooが何故この様な言葉を選んだのか意外に思った覚えがあります。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A rude, noisy, or violent person.: The young people, they have no religion, and the yahoos are coming home to roost.
・Vocabulary.com: Have you ever heard people talk insultingly about uneducated, uncultured country folks? They probably referred to them as yahoos.
If someone calls you a yahoo, it's definitely an insult. Yahoos are thought to have very little education and culture. People think of yahoos as folks who were raised in a barn -- maybe literally. A yahoo can also be called a bumpkin, hayseed, hick, rube, yokel, or hillbilly. You can't really be a yahoo if you're from a big city. So if you want to insult someone from New York, you'll need to find a different word.
John Grishamの短編小説集Ford Countyの中のFunny Boyを読んでいます。
"Believe me, Emporia, I'd much rather be here. They didn't want me back in Clanton. For years they paid me to stay away. They disowned me, cut me out of their wills, refused to speak my name. So, I figured I'd upset their lives one last time. Make them suffer a little. Make them spend some money."
引用文に出てきた "disown" は以前（4/21/2011）に取り上げた覚えがあるのですが、意味を忘れてしまったので復習します。
・Vocabulary.com: To disown someone is to reject them. If you disown your brother, you refuse to have anything to do with him: not only do you not speak or have contact, but it's as if he's no longer related to you.
When one person disowns another, it's because of some terrible argument or deep-rooted conflict. Although it's uncommon to disown another person, when it happens it's usually a family member who's cast off. Your mom might threaten to disown you after you drive her car into the mailbox, but she's probably not serious. Disown takes the root word own, meaning "to have or to hold," and adds the Latin prefix dis, "not" or "do the opposite of."
トータル
