in profile

東野圭吾の "JOURNEY UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN" を読んでいます。

'What time did you get back?' Makoto asked, standing in the entrance to the kitchen.
'About an hour ago. I came home early to make dinner.'
'OK.'
'Hang on, it's almost ready.'
'It's funny,' he said, watching Yukiho in profile as she made her salad. 'I met an ofd friend today.'
'Really? Someone I know?'

"profile" は最近日本語でも使われるようになった単語ですが、ここでの意味は何でしょうか？　辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: the outline of a person’s face when you look from the side, not the front: She presented her best profile to the camera.
・Collins Dictionary: If you see someone in profile, you see them from the side.: This picture shows the girl in profile.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a side view of a person's face: Drawing profiles is somehow easier than drawing the full face.

なるほど、顔を横から見るのですね。

the next shoe to drop

東野圭吾の "JOURNEY UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN" を読んでいます。

Ryo must have thought this was funny because he gave a rare belly laugh. 'There's nothig secure about these things at all. Those guys at the bank go on and on about how you have to keep your bank book safe and not share any personal information, but get one of these ATM cards and you might as well have the keys to the safe.'
'And the banks don't know about this?'
'Oh, I'm sure a few people know they've got a disaster on their hands. But it's too late to do anything about it now, so they're keeping it to themselves. They're just waiting for the next shoe to drop,' said Ryo. He laughed out loud again.

"waiting for the next shoe to drop" とはユニークな表現ですが、どんな意味なのでしょうか？　辞書に出ているか見ます。

・Wiktionary: To await a seemingly inevitable event, especially one that is not desirable.: After the tournament, Player admitted that all through the final round he had been nervously waiting for more trouble. "It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop."
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to do the deed that completes something; to do the expected remaining part of something.: Mr. Franklin has left his wife. Soon he'll drop the other shoe and divorce her.
・Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary: If someone drops the other shoe, they complete a task by doing the second and final part of it.: Time Warner Inc. dropped the other shoe in its two-step $13.86 billion acquisition of Warner Communications Inc.

なるほど、何故この様な意味になるのか更に調べると、World Wide Wordsの 'Waiting for the other shoe to drop' に説明がありました。

Its source would seem to be the following story. A man comes in late at night to a lodging house, rather the worse for wear. He sits on his bed, drags one shoe off and drops it on the floor. Guiltily remembering everyone around him trying to sleep, he takes the other one off much more carefully and quietly puts in on the floor. He then finishes undressing and gets into bed. Just as he is drifting off to sleep, a shout comes from the man in the room below: “Well, drop the other one then! I can’t sleep, waiting for you to drop the other shoe!”.

the rumour mill

東野圭吾の "JOURNEY UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN" を読んでいます。

Miyako Fujimura had been her classmate in second year. She was a good student with cheerful personality, a natural leader in class. She wasn't Eriko's favourite person, however. Miyako had a tenderly to lash out whenever she felt her pride was being injured, which was often. She also never thought twice about saying bad things about people. There were others who felt the same way about her. Eriko was sure. If they heard about what had happened, they would be right up there in front, leading the rumour mill.

"the rumour mill" の意味は辞書を見なくても分かりますが、この場合 "mill" が使われるのですね。

・Collins Dictionary: You can refer to the people in a particular place or profession who spread rumours as the rumour mill.: The Washington rumour mill suggests that the President secured his narrow majority only by promising all sorts of concessions.
・Wiktionary: (American spelling, idiomatic) A process in which a group or network of persons originate or promulgate gossip and other unsubstantiated claims.: Unofficial results instead traveled through the rumor mill, passed along on mobile phones from one part of the country to another.

現代の最大の "the rumour mill" はSNSでしょうね。

take the cake

東野圭吾の "JOURNEY UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN" を読んでいます。

The mood couldn't have been father from a pleasant afternoon tea. As soon as Kazunari started talking, Yasuharu's mouth twisted into a scowl where it stayed while he, together with Sasagaki, began telling the story of Yukiho Nishimoto. They told it all, every little event they had managed to pieces together. Ryo's name came up several times.
Halfway through, Yasuharu slammed the table with his hands and stood. 'Ridiculous,' he scoffed. 'I wondered what you were going to say, but this - this takes the cake, Kazunari.'
'Please, hear us out.'

以前(9/15/2015)に "If that don't beat all!" を取り上げた時に、その言い換えとして: "That surpasses everything!", "That is amazing!" と "That takes the cake"! がありましたが、上記の文中の "takes the cake" の意味はちょっと違うようなので再度辞書を見ます。

・Collins Dictionary: If someone has done something very stupid, rude, or selfish, you can say that they take the cake or that what they have done takes the cake, to emphasize your surprise at their behaviour.; in BRIT, use take the biscuit: His arrogance takes the cake.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to be especially annoying, surprising, etc. or to be the worst or best of its kind: And you say she's opening your letters now? Oh, that takes the cake!

なるほど、「あきれる」の意味で使われている様です。

cross to bear

東野圭吾の "JOURNEY UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN" を読んでいます。

Their beer bottles drained, Koga ordered some sake. Sasagaki started on his stew. The miso flavouring was a Tokyo thing, but he found it pretty good all the same.
The sake arrived and Koga poured some into Sasagaki's cup, saying, 'So, still on about that old case?'
'It's my cross to bear.'
'Why this one? There are other unsolved cases out there. And this one stands a good chance of actually being unsoluvable. What if that guy who died in the traffic accident was the killer? That seemed to be the prevailing opinion in the department.'

"The miso flavouring was a Tokyo thing" とこの様に "thing" を使えるのですね。　しかし、今日取り上げるのは "cross to bear" の方です。　"cross to bear" の項目で説明している辞書もありました。

・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a problem that causes trouble or worry for someone over a long period of time: The loss was a heavy cross for her to bear.
・Wiktionary: (idiomatic) A problem, or unpleasant or painful situation or person that you have to accept and deal with, although you find it very difficult, or it causes trouble or worry for you over a long period of time.: We all have our crosses to bear.

キリスト教信者ではありませんが、"We all have our crosses to bear." には残念ながら同意せざるを得ません。

goby and shrimp

昨日の明治と早稲田の試合、明治の方が動きが良かったですね。ラグビーはサッカーと違って実力がはっきりとスコアに反映されますね。
さて、東野圭吾の "JOURNEY UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN" を読んでいます。
'I would, if I had anything to charge him with. And besides, I know the one place he's most likely to show up - one you're well acquainted with.'
'Where's that?'
'Near Yukiho Karasawa.' Sasagaki wet his lips.' 'Ever heard about the goby and shrimp?'
'Sorry? Shrimp?' Kazunari blinked.
'Never mind. Suffice it to say, Yukiho Karasawa and Ryo Kirihara have what biologists call a symbiotic relationship. One can't live without the other. They're a pair for life.'

"goby and shrimp" の関係は小説内でも説明されているので特に調べる必要はありませんが、ネットを見るとこの "symbiotic relationship" についての紹介は幾つもあります。　その内の一つ、Scuba.comの記事 'The Fascinating Symbiotic Relationship Between Gobies and Shrimp' から引用します。

Before we answer this question, let’s first define what a symbiotic relationship is. Symbiosis is scientifically defined as the interaction between two different organisms that live in close physical association, usually to the advantage (though not always) of both parties.

A symbiotic relationship falls into three main categories:
Mutualism (both organisms benefit from the relationship),
Commensalism (only one organism benefits while the other neither benefits nor gets harmed), and
Parasitism (only one organism benefits at the expense of the other).
The symbiotic relationship between goby fish and snapping shrimp is described as being mutually beneficial. Studies have revealed that about 130 species of gobies are associated with about 20 species of pistol shrimp, the majority of which are found in the Indo-Pacific and nearby regions.

YukihoとRyoの関係は "symbiotic relationship" (共生関係)だと刑事のSasagakiは睨んでいます。私が　"Symbiosis" で連想したのは為政者と宗教です。

Why did you eat me?

Reader's Digest ９月号の記事 'AH, THE JOYS OF PARENTHOOD' からの引用です。

Me: Yes, you were in my belly.
My three-year-old, with tears in her eyes: Why...why did you eat me?

三歳の子供に説明するのは難しすぎるかな？

stakeout

東野圭吾の "JOURNEY UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN" を読んでいます。
A month had passed without any progress. Whereas before the detectives had been spending their nights either on stakeouts or sleeping under desks, now they had started to go home, and Sasagaki went home for the first real bath he had taken in weeks.

"stakeouts" 探偵小説には必須の単語ですね。４年前に取り上げたのを忘れていました。