英字新聞で読もう！で、NY Times によりますと・・・

Obama Becomes Japan’s English Teacher
（ New York Times ）

When Utako Sakai was changing the background music in her beauty parlor recently, she did not opt for the classical piano pieces she usually chose.

Instead, she picked her favorite CD: “President Obama’s Inaugural Address,” released by Asahi Press, a Japanese publisher of language books. She says the speech lifts her spirits and helps her to learn English all at once.

Most Japanese people, including those studying English, would have difficulty comprehending a speech given by a native English speaker. But “Mr. Obama’s English is easy to understand because he pronounces words clearly and speaks at a relatively slow clip,” said Professor Tadaharu Nikaido, a communication specialist here. “Movies tend to be the most difficult for Japanese, especially when actors mumble their words.”

But there are probably a large number of buyers who do not really possess the basic English skills to understand his speech, said Yuzo Yamamoto, an editor at Asahi Press. Since the sales took off, he has received postcards from readers saying they had been touched by Mr. Obama’s speeches, but “those same people have said they were moved even though they didn’t understand English well,” he said. “Some even said the only phrase they caught was, ‘Yes, we can.’ They said they were in tears nonetheless.”


【 まずは準備運動 】

・piece　一片、断片、一遍の作品
・comprehend　理解する
・mumble　もぐもぐ（ぶつぶつ、ぼそぼそ）言う
・nonetheless　それでもなお、それにもかかわらず


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

Obama, in Japan, Says
U.S. Will Study Status of a Marine Base on Okinawa
（ New York Times ）

President Obama, seeking to mend fences with Japan, America’s most important Asian ally, announced Friday that he would establish a high-level working group on the contentious issue of the continuing presence of a Marine base on Okinawa.

The decision, announced at a news conference with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama just hours after he touched down in Tokyo to begin his first presidential trip to Asia, appears to represent a concession by the Obama administration to at least consider Japan’s concerns about the base, which is unpopular on Okinawa and which the new Japanese government had promised to try to move off the island.

Mr. Obama was, in effect, making a political gift to Mr. Hatoyama: seeming to reopen a door Mr. Gates had shut, even though Japan policy experts indicated that the establishment of the working group was most likely only a face-saving way for the new prime minister to show the Japanese public that he was keeping a campaign promise.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・ally　同盟国
・establish　設置する、設立する、（制度・法律など）制定する
・indicate　指し示す、示す、表わす


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.

アメリカは、小さな部屋にいる大きくて人なつっこい犬だ。尻尾を振るたびに、椅子をひっくり返す。

（アーノルド・J・トィンビー）


When I first started out professionally in Japan, I had a number in mind, maybe 500, 600 or 700, ... but not anymore.

日本でプロとしてスタートしたときには、数字が頭にありました。500、600、あるいは700。でも、今はもうありません。
（松井秀喜）


※この数字はホームラン数のことでしょう。

Matsui Goes Wild, and So Do His Fans in Japan
（ New York Times ）

For many Japanese, Hideki Matsui is a man of contradictions ―
a towering hulk with a sensitive heart, a player of fierce
self-discipline known for lewd jokes and a national hero who refuses to play for his country at international tournaments, much to the chagrin of his home fans.

For this baseball-loving nation, Matsui’s performance at the World Series on Wednesday ― hitting a home run, tying a World Series record with six runs batted in and being named the most valuable player ― sent a clear message. It put a Japanese player and the Japanese game on the American baseball map more firmly than any compatriot’s performance did.

“Matsui’s one-man show!” an early headline proclaimed after the New York Yankees’ victory. “Unstoppable Matsui goes wild on the field,” another read.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・contradiction　矛盾、否定
・hulk　廃船の船体、図体の大きいもの・人
・lewd　みだらな、わいせつな
・compatriot　同国人、同胞（の）
・proclaim　宣言する、公布する


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

Suspect Was ‘Mortified’ About Deployment
（ New York Times ）

Born and reared in Virginia, the son of immigrant parents from a small Palestinian town near Jerusalem, he joined the Army right out of high school, against his parents’ wishes. The Army, in turn, put him through college and then medical school, where he trained to be a psychiatrist.

But Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the 39-year-old man accused of
Thursday’s mass shooting at Fort Hood, Tex., began having second thoughts about a military career a few years ago after other soldiers harassed him for being a Muslim, he told relatives in Virginia.

He had also more recently expressed deep concerns about being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. Having counseled scores of returning soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, first at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and more recently at Fort Hood, he knew all too well the terrifying realities of war, said a cousin, Nader Hasan.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・deployment　（部隊・兵力などを）展開する、配置する
・psychiatrist　精神科医
・terrify　恐れさせる


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

There is no reciprocity. Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters.

相互関係はない。男は女を愛し、女は子供を愛し、子供はハムスターを愛する。
（アリス・トーマス・エリス）


News is the first rough draft of history.

ニュースは歴史の最初の草稿である。
（ベンジャミン・ブラッドリー）

European Union Reform Moves Ahead
（ New York Times ）

A landmark agreement aimed at giving the European Union a global stature on par with major powers like the United States and China cleared its last major hurdle on Tuesday.

The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klauswas, was the last European Union leader to approve the so-called Treaty of Lisbon, which will try to increase Europe’s clout on foreign policy issues and will streamline the organization’s decision-making. The treaty required ratification by all 27 member states.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・stature　身長、（到達した）名声、地位
・par　同等、同価値、パー（ゴルフの基準打数）
・approve　承認する、良いと認める


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

Now Clear Away the Rubble of the Wall
（ New York Times ）

The year 1989 was a turning point for Europe and for the world, a time when history went into high gear. This acceleration was
symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the velvet revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe. Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes were exiting the stage of history.

Those events, and their peaceful unfolding, were made possible by changes that began in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s. We initiated them because they were overdue. We were responding to the demands of the people, who resented living without freedom, isolated from the rest of the world.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・totalitarian　全体主義（totalitarianism）の
・initiate　始める、起こす（initial：最初の、イニシャル）
・resent　憤る、憤慨する


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

For Some Parents, Shouting Is the New Spanking
（ New York Times ）

“This is ridiculous! I’ve been doing things all day for you!”

Many in today’s pregnancy-flaunting, soccer-cheering, organic-snack-proffering generation of parents would never spank their children. We congratulate our toddlers for blowing their nose (“Good job!”), we friend our teenagers (literally and virtually), we spend hours teaching our elementary-school offspring how to understand their feelings. But, incongruously and with regularity, this is a generation that yells.

“I’ve worked with thousands of parents and I can tell you, without question, that screaming is the new spanking,” said Amy McCready, the founder of Positive Parenting Solutions, which teaches parenting skills in classes, individual coaching sessions and an online course. “This is so the issue right now. As parents understand that it’s not socially acceptable to spank children, they are at a loss for what they can do. They resort to reminding, nagging, timeout, counting 1-2-3 and quickly realize that those strategies don’t work to change behavior. In the absence of tools that really work, they
feel frustrated and angry and raise their voice. They feel guilty afterward, and the whole cycle begins again.”


【 まずは準備運動 】

・proffer　差し出す、申し出る、提供する
・literally　文字通りに、逐語的に
・virtually　事実上、実質的には
・offspring　(人・動物の)子、子孫
・absence　不足、欠如、不在
・guilty　有罪の、罪の意識がある


● 解説ザブ〜ン！