smithereens

土曜日に行われたラグビーのフランスとのテストマッチ、前半は互角で良かったのですが、後半になったら立て続けにトライを取られ、完敗。後半は50年程前に秩父宮で見たフランスとの試合と余り変わっていませんでした。

さて、Cixin Liuの "The Three-Body Problem" を読んでいます。Operation Guzhengの章からです。

Without waiting for a translation, Da Shi jumped up. "'Pao--Li-Si'--I heard that word twice. What? You look down on the police? If you're talking about dropping some bombs and turning that ship into smithereens, yeah, you military are the experts. But if you're talking about retrieving something out of it without damage, I don't care how many stars are on your shoulder, you aren't even as good as a thief.

"smithereens" の意味を辞書で調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Small pieces.: a grenade blew him to smithereens
・Collins Dictionary: If something is smashed or blown to smithereens, it breaks into very small pieces.: She dropped the vase and smashed it to smithereens.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a lot of very small broken pieces: The city was bombed to smithereens during the war.

"The Three-Body Problem" を読み終わりました。SFは余り好みではなく、しかも全く興味のないゲームの話も出てきたので、私には残念ながら面白くない作品でした。

singlet

５月１９日のThe Japan Times Online記事 'Russian gymnast banned for one year for pro-war 'Z' symbol' の冒頭個所から引用します。
A Russian gymnast who sported an insignia linked to his country’s invasion of Ukraine on a medal podium has been banned for one year, a disciplinary panel said.
Ivan Kuliak’s singlet had the letter “Z” prominently placed as he stood next to Ukraine’s Kovtun Illia, the gold medalist at a World Cup event in Doha in March.
The Z has been seen daubed on Russian tanks and vehicles in Ukraine and has come to symbolize support for the invasion.

"singlet" はこのロシアの選手が身に着けた何か、あるいは衣服だと思いますが、初めて見る単語なので辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: mainly British A sleeveless garment worn under or instead of a shirt.: ‘Equally as beautiful as his womenswear, this featured plain white singlets studded with gold sequins, low-slung cream trousers and kimono print shirts.’
・Collins Dictionary: A singlet is a sleeveless sports shirt worn by athletes and boxers.: ...a grubby running singlet.
いわゆるランニングシャツですね。