英字新聞で読もう！で、NY Times によりますと・・・

A Star Idolized and Haunted, Michael Jackson Dies at 50
（ New York Times ）

For his legions of fans, he was the Peter Pan of pop music: the
little boy who refused to grow up. But on the verge of another
attempted comeback, he is suddenly gone, this time for good.

Michael Jackson, whose quintessentially American tale of celebrity and excess took him from musical boy wonder to global pop superstar to sad figure haunted by lawsuits, paparazzi and failed plastic surgery, was pronounced dead on Thursday afternoon at U.C.L.A. Medical Center after arriving in a coma, a city official said. Mr. Jackson was 50, having spent 40 of those years in the public eye he loved.

As with Elvis Presley or the Beatles, it is impossible to calculate the full effect Mr. Jackson had on the world of music. At the height of his career, he was indisputably the biggest star in the world; he has sold more than 750 million albums. Radio stations across the country reacted to his death with marathon sessions of his songs. MTV, which grew successful in part as a result of Mr. Jackson’s groundbreaking videos, reprised its early days as a music channel by showing his biggest hits.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・idolize　偶像（idol）を崇拝する
・legion　（古代ローマの）軍団、軍、多数
・quintessentially　典型的に、心底から
・plastic surgery　形成外科、美容整形手術
・coma　昏睡
・reprise　反復する、再現する


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me.

私の考えでは、好ましい人とは私を好む人のことだ。
（ベンジャミン・ディズレーリ）


One martini is all right, two is too many, three is not enough.

1杯のマティーニで結構だ。2杯だと多すぎる。3杯だと足りない。
（ジェームズ・サーバー）

注：サーバーさんは正解です。

Alcohol’s Good for You? Some Scientists Doubt It
（ New York Times ）

By now, it is a familiar litany. Study after study suggests that alcohol in moderation may promote heart health and even ward off diabetes and dementia. The evidence is so plentiful that some experts consider moderate drinking ― about one drink a day for women, about two for men ― a central component of a healthy lifestyle.

But what if it’s all a big mistake?

For some scientists, the question will not go away. No study, these critics say, has ever proved a causal relationship between moderate drinking and lower risk of death ― only that the two often go together. It may be that moderate drinking is just something healthy people tend to do, not something that makes people healthy.

“The bottom line is there has not been a single study done on
moderate alcohol consumption and mortality outcomes that is a ‘gold standard’ kind of study ― the kind of randomized controlled clinical trial that we would be required to have in order to approve a new pharmaceutical agent in this country,” said Dr. Tim Naimi, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・ward off〜　〜を避ける、防ぐ
・mortality　死すべき運命、死亡数・率（形容詞：mortal）
・pharmaceutical　製薬（上）の、薬剤の（pharmacy：薬（剤）学、薬局）
・agent　代理人、動因、作因、剤
・epidemiologist　疫学（epidemiology）者


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

Violence Grips Tehran Amid Crackdown
（ New York Times ）

Police officers used sticks and tear gas to force back thousands of demonstrators under plumes of black smoke in the capital on Saturday, a day after Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there would be “bloodshed” if street protests continued over the disputed presidential election.

The violence unfolded on a day of extraordinary tension across Iran. The opposition leader, Mir Hussein Moussavi, appeared at a demonstration in southern Tehran and called for a general strike if he were to be arrested. “I am ready for martyrdom,” he told supporters.

Mr. Moussavi again called for nullifying the election’s results, and opposition protesters swore to continue pressing their claims of a stolen election against Iran’s embattled and increasingly impatient clerical leadership in Iran’s worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・plume　羽毛、羽毛状に立ちのぼるもの
・dispute　議論する、論争する
・embattled　敵に包囲された、絶えず悩まされる
・impatient　短気な、がまんできない
・clerical　聖職者（の）


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

Quitting smoking is easy, I have done it thousands of times.

タバコをやめることは簡単だ。私はこれまで何千回もやめた。
（マーク・トウェイン）


Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

愛国心とは、悪党の最後の隠れ蓑だ。
（サミュエル・ジョンソン）

North Korea’s Heir Apparent Remains a Mystery
（ New York Times ）

There is only one photograph available outside North Korea thought to be that of the man South Korean officials believe will inherit the world’s most unpredictable regime, one that is armed with nuclear weapons. In that picture, the man, Kim Jong-un, a son of the ailing North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, is an 11-year-old.

The question of who will succeed Kim Jong-il has grown in importance since he was reported to have suffered a stroke in August. Last week, South Korean news reports, lawmakers and analysts who have access to intelligence assessments said that Mr. Kim, 67, had decided to hand over the reins to Kim Jong-un while North Korean generals, ruling party officials and diplomats abroad were all pledging fealty to the son.

But the walls of secrecy that surround North Korean leaders make the guessing about who is in and who is out in the succession game notoriously difficult. Indeed, the dearth of information about Kim Jong-un speaks volumes about how little the world knows about North Korea itself.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・regime　体制、政権
・pledge　誓約する
・fealty　忠義、忠誠
・dearth　不足、欠乏


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

Cigarettes Without Smoke, or Regulation
（ New York Times ）

During 34 years of smoking, Carolyn Smeaton has tried countless ways to reduce her three-pack-a-day habit, including a nicotine patch, nicotine gum and a prescription drug. But stop-smoking aids always failed her.

Then, having watched a TV infomercial at her home here, Ms. Smeaton tried an electronic cigarette, which claimed to be a less dangerous way to feed her addiction. The battery-powered device she bought online delivered an odorless dose of nicotine and flavoring without cigarette tar or additives, and produced a vapor mist nearly identical in appearance to tobacco smoke.

The reaction of medical authorities and antismoking groups has ranged from calls for testing to skepticism to outright hostility. Opponents say the safety claims are more rumor than anything else, since the components of e-cigarettes have never been tested for safety.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・dose　（薬の）一服
・additive　付加の、添加物
・vapor　（水）蒸気
・mist　霧
・skepticism　懐疑主義
・hostility　敵意、敵対行為
・Opponent　敵、反対者
・component　要素、成分


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

私は豚が好きだ。犬は我々を尊敬し、猫は我々を軽蔑する。豚は我々を対等に扱ってくれる。
（ウィンストン・チャーチル）


The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois.

民主主義における完全な理想とは、プロレタリアをブルジョアが到達した愚かさのレベルにまで引き上げることだ。
（ギュスターヴ・フローベール）

After Tiananmen and Prison, a Comfortable but Uneasy Life in the New China
（ New York Times ）

When Liu Suli was released from a Beijing prison in 1991, having served 20 months for his role in the pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he pledged to abide by what he called “the three noes.” He would grant no interviews about the protests. He would write no articles. He would accept no donations from sympathizers.

But this week, as the 20th anniversary of the democracy movement’s violent end drew near, Mr. Liu relented. Seated in his Beijing bookstore, interrupted only by countless drags on unfiltered cigarettes and sips of chilled tea, he tried to reconcile Tiananmen then, and China now. He spoke for three hours.

He suffers nonetheless. He is appalled by the notion that China’s success was erected on the bodies of Tiananmen demonstrators. He struggles with the inability of Tiananmen’s ideals to gain more than a toehold in his homeland. And he despairs at the oft-expressed thought that his fellow Chinese have made a devil’s bargain, trading the freedom that he and his fellow protesters sought for a chance at a car and a bigger apartment.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・pledge　誓約する、誓う
・grant　承諾する、許す
・relent　和らぐ、弱まる
・sip　すする（こと）
・appall　驚愕する、狼狽する
・toehold　（岩などの）つま先をかけるわずかな場所、足がかり


● 解説ザブ〜ン！