ノーベル賞を受賞したElizabeth Blackburn, PhDのプリゼンテーションをTV番組TEDで見て "telomere" の話に興味を覚えたので、氏が共著者になっているTHE TELOMERE EFFECTを購入し、図書館で借りる本の間に読むことにしました。
THE TELOMERE EFFECTの副題が A Revolutionary Approach To Living Younger, Healthier, Longerとなっているように、"telomere" は人の寿命と密接な関係があります。
Introductionに書かれている "telomere" の説明を引用します。
Telomeres, which shorten with each cell division, help determine how fast your cells age and when they die, depending on how quickly the wear down.
...
The DNA of every chromosome has end regions consisting of DNA strands coated by a dedicated protective sheath of protein. These are shown here as the lighter regions at the end of the chromosome--the telomeres.
蛇足でしょうがWikipediaの "telomere" の項の一部も引用します。
A telomere is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes.
Reader's Digest 6月号の記事 WHY DID THIS INNOCENT MAN PLEAD GUILTY? からの抜粋です。
On Man 16, 2013, the Essex County prosecutor's office ordered investigators to look for the missing rape kit. Just a month later, they hit pay dirt at the New Jerse State Police lab: the original kit, still sealed.
この慣用句 "hit pay dirt" は過去に2度も取り上げていますが（5/24/2016と11/7/2011）、又忘れたので復習です。
・Cambridge Idioms Dictionary: to achieve or discover something important or valuable She finally hit pay dirt with her third novel which quickly became a best seller.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Fig. to discover something of value. (Alludes to discovering valuable ore.): Sally tried a number of different jobs until she hit pay dirt. I tried to borrow money from a lot of different people. They all said no. Then when I went to the bank, I hit pay dirt.
"hit pay dirt" を忘れる様だから宝くじもさっぱり当たらないのだな。
Reader's Digest 6月号の記事You Are Not Aloneからの抜粋です。
She has made a number of close friends, and they've become travel buddies cheerleaders, and confidantes. Last year, when Rowland was considering surgery to alleviate back pain, these friends were her sounding boards, Then they kept her company during her recovery.
"sounding boards" は文脈からすると話し相手かなと思いますが、辞書で確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A person or group whose reactions to suggested ideas are used as a test of their validity or likely success before they are made public.: I considered him mainly as a sounding board for my impressions.
・Collins Dictionary: If you use someone as a sounding board, you discuss your ideas with them in order to get another opinion.: He needed a sounding board rather than thinking alone.
単なる話し相手として聴くだけではなく、親身な相談相手になってくれるのですね。
Raymond ChandlerのThe Big Sleep を読んでいます。
I couldn't do it. I shifted the gun to my left hand and leaned down to scoop up a handful of gravel. I tossed it against the screen of the window. It was a feeble effort. Very little of it reached the glass above the screen, but the loose rattle of that little was like a dam bursting.
I ran back to the car and got on the running board behind it. The house had already gone dark. That was all. I dropped quietly on the running board and waited. No soap. Canino was too cagey.
俗語らしい表現の "No soap" を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Used to convey that there is no chance of something happening or occurring.: They needed a writer with some enthusiasm. No soap.
由来が気になります。長いので引用しませんが、World Wide Wordsに長々しい説明があり、The Big Sleepからの上記場面も引用されていましたが、第一次世界大戦時に兵士への石鹸の供給も滞っていた頃に発生した表現だろうと書かれていました。
Raymond ChandlerのThe Big Sleep を読んでいます。
"No," Harry Jones said. "No hard feelings, Canino."
Fine. Let's dip the bill. Got a glass?" The purring voice was now as false as an usherette's eyelashes and as slippery as a watermelon seed. A drawer was pulled open. Something jarred on wood. A chair squeaked. A scuffing sound on the floor.
"This is bond stuff," the purring voice said.
There was a gurgling sound. "Moths in your ermine, as the ladies say."
Harry Jones said softly: "Success."
I heard a sharp cough. Then a violent retching. There was a small thud on the floor, as if a thick glass had fallen. My fingers curled against my raincoat.
"Got a glass?" とあるので、何か酒を飲みながらの会話の場面であることは分かりますが、色々と知らない単語やら表現が出てきます。
まず、"dip the bill" ですが、これは次の単語集に説明がありました。
Glossary of Hardboiled Slang: Dip the bill: Have a drink
なるほど、これで "Got a glass?" と続くのですね。
お酒を飲む場面なので次に発せられた "This is bond stuff" の "bond" は次の意味ですね。
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: alcohol: a 100-proof straight whiskey aged at least four years under government supervision before being bottled —called also bonded whiskey
次に分からないのが "Moths in your ermine" です。 "ermine" は：
・Macmillan Dictionary: white fur, used especially to decorate formal clothes worn by kings, queens, and judges
と辞書にあるので "moths" はその毛皮を喰う蛾の幼虫もしくは "moth-eaten" の事だと思いますが、なんでこんな話が出てきたのかさっぱり分かりません。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: If clothing or furniture is moth-eaten, it looks old and has holes in it: I found some moth-eaten old sweaters in the back of the wardrobe.
辞書では分かりそうもないのでGoogle検索で調べると次のことが分かりました。
'Moths in your ermine' sounds like a toast, something to drink to. A bit like 'good health', 'down the hatch', or simply 'cheers'. This one is however ironically negative in wishing upon your drinking partner moths in her best fur coat. Another toast with similarly apparently negative connotations is 'here's mud in your eye'.
ほんのちょっとの場面ですが、意味が分かるのに苦労しました。
Raymond ChandlerのThe Big Sleep を読んでいます。
He grunted something and the girl's body jerked hard, as though he had jammed a gun into her back. She came on again and drew near the lightless car. I could see him behind her now, his hat, a side of his face, the bulk of his shoulder. The girl stopped rigid and screamed. A beautiful thin tearing scream that rocked me like a left hook.
一昨日 "jammed the car" を取り上げましたが、又 "jam" が出てきました。
文脈からすると "jammed a gun into her back" は拳銃を背中に押し付けた意味と推測できますが、辞書でこの用法を確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Push (something) roughly and forcibly into position or a space.: he jammed his hat on
・Collins Dictionary: If you jam something somewhere, you push or put it there roughly.: He picked his cap up off the ground and jammed it on his head.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to push something forcefully or with difficulty into something else: He jammed the boxes into the back of the car.
本当に "jam" は色々な意味で使われますね。
Raymond ChandlerのThe Big Sleep を読んでいます。
Fate stage-managed the whole thing. Beyond Realito, just about a mile beyond, the highway xxxx a curve and the rain fooled me and I went too close to the shoulder. My right front tire let go with an angry hiss. Before I could stop the right rear went with it. I jammed the car to a stop, half on the pavement, half on the shoulder, got out and flashed a spotlight around. I had two flats and one spare. The flat butt of a heavy galvanized tack stared at me from the front tire.
状況からして "jammed the car to a stop" は急ブレーキをかけて車を止めた意味だと推測できますが、"jam" にその様な用法があるか辞書で確認します。
・YourDictionary: To activate or apply (a brake) suddenly. Often used with on: jammed the brakes on.
・Collins Dictionary: to activate suddenly (esp in the phrase jam on the brakes)
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to use the brakes of a road vehicle suddenly and forcefully: A motorbike appeared from nowhere and I had to jam on the brakes.
どの辞書を見ても急ブレーキをかける意味の場合は普通 "jam on the brakes" と言うようですが、Chandlerが表現している "jammed the car to a stop" も同じ意味でしょう。
追記： 上の引用文中の "xxxx" は "took" の代わりです。何故か（goo blogのバグと確信しています）"took" とすると、「不正な書式云々」のエラーメッセージが表示され投稿できませんでした。原因は "took" と判明したので代わりに "xxxx" とタイプして投稿したのです。
You ought to understand how any copper would feel about a cover-up like this, he said. You'll have to make statements of all of it-at least for the files. I think it may be possible to keep the two killings separate and to keep General Sternwood's name out of both of them. Do you know why I'm not tearing your ear off?
No. I expected to get both ears torn off.
What are you getting for it all?
Twenty-five dollars a day and expenses.
That would make fifty dollars and a little gasoline so far.
About that.
He put his head on one side and rubbed the back of his left little finger along the lower edge of his chin.
And for that amount of money you're willing to get yourself in Dutch with half the law enforcement of this county?
"get yourself in Dutch" は慣用句に違いありません。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: In trouble.: he's been getting in Dutch at school
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: in trouble with someone. (*Typically: be ~; get ~.) I'm in Dutch with my parents for my low grades. You're in Dutch quite often, it seems.
ChandlerのThe Big Sleep を読んでいます。
There's a couple more deaths involved, Ohls said, pinching the soft flesh at the end of his chin.
Cronjager stiffened visibly. His surly eyes became points of steely light.
Ohls said: You heard about a car being lifted out of the Pacific Ocean off Lido pier this a.m. with a dead guy in it?
Cronjager said: No, and kept on looking nasty.
The dead guy in the car was chauffeur to a rich family, Ohls said. The family was being blackmailed on account of one of the daughters. Mr. Wilde recommended Marlowe to the family, through me. Marlowe played it kind of close to the vest.
I love private dicks that play murders close to the vest, Cronjager snarled. You don't have to be so goddamned coy about it.
"played it kind of close to the vest" の個所が分かりません。慣用句が使われている様です。辞書で調べます。 二つの辞書に次の説明がありました。
play (it) close to the vest:
・Webster’s New World College Dictionary: to be reserved, secretive, etc.; keep (one's plans, thoughts, etc.) to oneself
close to:
・Urban Dictionay: keep something secret, to hold something close so no one else can see it: Though it was just a friendly game of Go-Fish, Henry kept his cards close to the vest, not letting anyone else see which cards he held.
ChandlerのThe Big Sleep を読んでいます。
Don't kid me, son. The fag gave you one. You've got a nice clean manly little room in there. He shooed you out and locked it up when he had lady visitors. He was like Caesar, a husband to women and a wife to men. Think I can't figure people like him and you out?
I still held his automatic more or less pointed at him, but he swung on me just the same. It caught me flush on the chin. I backstepped fast enough to keep from falling, but I took plenty of the punch. It was meant to be a hard one, but a pansy has no iron in his bones, whatever he looks like.
I threw the gun down at the kid's feet and said: Maybe you need this.
上の引用文には興味深い記述があります。
まず "like Caesar, a husband to women and a wife to men" の個所です。かのシーザーがホモでもあったとは聞いたことがなかったのでWikipediaでCaesarの事を調べると、確かにRumors of homosexualityの項目がありました。興味のある方はWikipediaを見て下さい。
次は "a pansy has no iron in his bones" ですが、その前に ""fag の意味を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A male homosexual (Origin 1920s: short for faggot)
・Collins Dictionary: a male homosexual (a term of contempt and hostility)
なるほど "a pansy has no iron in his bones" とは作家らしい比喩ですね。
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