ニンニクの効能が明らかに

Unlocking the Benefits of Garlic
( New York Times )

Garlic has long been touted as a health booster, but it’s never been clear why the herb might be good for you. Now new research is beginning to unlock the secrets of the odoriferous bulb.

In a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy ofSciences, researchers show that eating garlic appears to boost our natural supply of hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is actually poisonous at high concentrations ― it’s the same noxious byproduct of oil refining that smells like rotten eggs. But the body makes its own supply of the stuff, which acts as an antioxidant and transmits cellularsignals that relax blood vessels and increase blood flow.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・benefit　利益、恩恵
・tout　しつこく売り込む、求める、大げさに宣伝する
・odoriferous　におい（odor）のある
・bulb　球根、球根植物
・proceeding　進行、議事録、会報
・supply　供給、貯え
・concentration　集中、濃縮、濃度
・noxious　有害（毒）な
・transmit　送る、伝達する
・vessel　体内の管


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

守屋前次官、収賄容疑で逮捕へ

Moriya faces defense-favors bribe charge
( Japan Times )

Tokyo prosecutors are in the final stage of building a bribery case against former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya, who was repeatedly entertained by a trading house executive arrested earlier this month, investigative sources said Tuesday.

The special investigative squad of the Tokyo District Public
Prosecutor's Office believes Motonobu Miyazaki, 69, a former executive of defense equipment trader Yamada Corp. now under arrest for suspected embezzlement, bribed Moriya, 63, with paid golf outings and other entertainment in exchange for favorable business treatment, the sources said.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・bribe　わいろ（を贈る）
・charge　容疑
・entertain　楽しませる、もてなす
・investigative　調査の
・squad　分隊、一組（の人々）
・suspect　疑う、怪しむ
・embezzlement　使い込み、着服
・favorable　都合のよい、有利な


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

ニューヨークで殺人事件減る、見知らぬ者の犯行も

Fewer New York Murders, and Even Fewer by Strangers
( New York Times )

New York City is on track to having fewer than 500 murders in 2007, by far the lowest amount in a 12-month period since reliable Police Department statistics became available in 1963.

But within the city’s official crime statistics is a perhaps even more striking figure: so far, with roughly half the killings analyzed, only 35 were found to be committed by strangers, a microscopic statistic in acity of 8.5 million.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・by far （最上級を強めて）はるかに
・amount　量、総計
・statistic　統計値、統計量
・striking　目立つ、著しい
・microscopic　顕微鏡の、顕微鏡でしか見えない（ほど小さい）


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

米国で、ガルシアさんがジョーンズさんを追い上げる

In U.S. Name Count, Garcias Are Catching Up With Joneses
( New York Times )

Step aside Moore and Taylor. Welcome Garcia and Rodriguez.

Smith remains the most common surname in the United States, according toa new analysis released yesterday by the Census Bureau. But for the first time, two Hispanic surnames ーGarcia and Rodriguez ーare among thetop 10 most common in the nation, and Martinez nearly edged out Wilson for 10th place.

The number of Hispanics living in the United States grew by 58 percent in the 1990s to nearly 13 percent of the total population, and cracking the list of top 10 names suggests just how pervasively the Latino migration has permeated everyday American culture.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・catch up with　追いつく
・common　共通の、一般の
・Census Bureau　（米）国勢調査局
・crack　ピシャリと打つ、割る
・pervasively　行き渡って、普及して
・migration　移住、渡り
・permeate　浸透する、しみ込む


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

受精卵を使わずに万能細胞

Scientists Bypass Need for Embryo to Get Stem Cells
( New York Times )

Two teams of scientists reported yesterday that they had turned human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without having tomake or destroy an embryo ーa feat that could quell the ethical debate troubling the field.

All they had to do, the scientists said, was add four genes. The genes reprogrammed the chromosomes of the skin cells, making the cells into blank slates that should be able to turn into any of the 220 cell types of the human body, be it heart, brain, blood or bone. Until now, the only way to get such human universal cells was to pluck them from a human embryo several days after fertilization, destroying the embryo in the process.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・bypass　迂回する
・stem cell　幹細胞
・feat　偉業、妙技
・quell　（反乱を）抑える、（感情を）静める
・slate　粘板岩、石板
・universal　宇宙の、自在の
・pluck　（鳥の）羽をむしる、（花・果実などを）摘む


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

アフリカの魔女〜魔女として迫害される子供たち〜

African Crucible: Cast as Witches, Then Cast Out
( New York Times )

In parts of Angola, Congo and the Congo Republic, a surprising number of children are accused of being witches, and then are beaten, abused or abandoned. Child advocates estimate that thousands of children living in the streets of Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, have been accusedof witchcraft and cast out by their families, often as a rationale fornot having to feed or care for them.

But officials attribute the surge in persecutions of children to war ― 27 years in Angola, ending in 2002, and near constant strife in Congo. The conflicts orphaned many children, while leaving other families intact but too destitute to feed themselves.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・crucible　るつぼ、厳しい試練.
・advocate　弁護人、擁護者
・feed　食物を与える
・care for　世話をする
・persecution　迫害、虐待
・strife　争い、闘争
・conflict　闘争、矛盾
・intact　損なわれていない、完全な
・destitute　欠乏して、欠いて


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

ベッドの中にアメフト選手が！〜歯ぎしりについて〜

A Lineman in My Bed: Notes on Teeth Grinding
( New York Times )

I grind my teeth at night. Have for years. It’s my secret shame. But now I have the comfort of knowing that at least 8 to 10 percent of theadult population shares my malady.

It’s called sleep bruxism, and it refers to the grinding or clenchingof teeth. There’s a waking version, too ーan unconscious clenching ofthe teeth, most often owing to stress ーbut the origins are different and the effects are seldom anywhere near as bad as during sleep, when certain of the body’s protective mechanisms are turned off. Left untreated, it can cause damage to the teeth and surrounding tissue, headaches and jaw pain.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・grind　すり合わせる、こする、ぎーぎー鳴らす
・shame　 恥、ひどい事.
・comfort　安楽、気楽、慰め
・malady　病、病弊
・refer　引合いに出す、対象とする
・clench　ぎゅっと締める、握る、（歯を）食いしばる
・owe　借りている、〜のおかげをこうむっている
・untreated　未処置の、治療されていない
・tissue　（細胞の）組織


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

「ローズマリーの赤ちゃん」のアイラ・レヴィン死去

Ira Levin, of ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ Dies at 78
( New York Times )

Ira Levin, a mild-mannered playwright and novelist who liked nothing better than to give people the creeps ーand who did so repeatedly, with best-selling novels like “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Stepford Wives” and “The Boys From Brazil” ーdied on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 78.

No specific cause of death had been determined, but Mr. Levin appearedto have died of natural causes, his son Nicholas said yesterday.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・mannered　行儀・態度が〜の
・specific　特殊・特定の、明確な
・determine　決定する、確定する


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

石油需要の拡大で新たなエネルギー危機

Rising Demand for Oil Provoking a New Energy Crisis
( New York Times )

With oil prices approaching the symbolic threshold of $100 a barrel, the world is headed toward its third energy shock in a generation. Buttoday’s surge is fundamentally different from the previous oil crises,with broad and longer-lasting global implications.

Unlike past oil shocks, which were caused by sudden interruptions in exports from the Middle East, this time prices have been rising steadily as demand for gasoline grows in developed countries, as hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians climb out of poverty and as other developing economies grow at a sizzling pace.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・provoke　刺激する、誘発する
・threshold　敷居、閾、限界
・surge　大波、高まり
・implication　かかわり合い、含蓄
・interruption　妨害、中断


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

グーグル、携帯の世界に参入

Google Enters the Wireless World
( New York Times )

What Apple began with its iPhone, Google is hoping to accelerate, withan ambitious plan to transform the software at the heart of cellphones.

The personal computer is climbing off its desktop perch and hopping into the pockets of millions of people. The resulting merger of computing and communications is likely to
revolutionize the telecommunications industry as thoroughly as the PC changed the computing world in the early 1980s.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・transform　変形させる
・perch　とまり木
・merger　吸収合併、融合
・revolutionize　革命を起こす、大幅に改革する
・telecommunication　遠隔通信、電気通信


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

小沢氏、民主党代表にとどまる

Ozawa to stay on as DPJ president
No more talk of forming a grand coalition with LDP-New Komeito bloc
( Japan Times )

Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa on Tuesday reversed his earlier decision to step down and pledged to remain the leader of the largest opposition force.

DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama, who spent the day cajoling the party's rank and file into uniting behind Ozawa, met with him in the evening to persuade him to stay on.

Emerging from the meeting, Hatoyama quoted Ozawa as telling him, "I feel ashamed to say this, but I would like to do my utmost again" as the party's leader.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・reverse　逆にする、裏返す
・persuade　説き伏せる、説得する
・ashamed　恥じて
・utmost　最大限度、極限


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

日本の野党代表、辞意表明

Japanese Opposition Leader Offers to Resign
( New York Times )

Japan's main opposition leader decided to resign on Sunday over the political turmoil sparked after his party rejected an offer from the prime minister to join a new coalition and end a policy deadlock.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said on Friday that he had suggested a newpolitical framework to Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa to resolvea policy stalemate created when the ruling camp lost a July upper house election.

But the invitation was quickly rejected by Democratic Party executives,raising the specter of more political chaos.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・turmoil　騒動、混乱
・spark　火花を出す、誘発する
・coalition　提携、連立
・deadlock　行き詰まり
・resolve　決心する、解決する
・stalemate　（チェス）手詰まり
・camp　キャンプ、陣営
・chaos　無秩序、混沌


● 解説ザブ〜ン！

NOVA講師、授業料は食事で

Nova teachers offer classes for food
( Japan Times )

A union representing teachers of Nova Corp. said Thursday its ranks will soon launch a "Lesson-for-Food" campaign in which they will offerfree classes to students of the failed foreign-language school chain in exchange for basic food or meals.

The union said in Tokyo that it has also started accepting donations to help Nova teachers who find themselves destitute and face being evicted from their homes, said Bob Tench, president of the Nova branchof the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・launch　（ロケットを）打ち上げる、（船を）進水させる、始める
・fail　失敗する、破産する
・exchange　換えること、交換
・destitute　欠乏して、衣食にこと欠く
・evict　立ち退かせる


● 解説ザブ〜ン！