不朽の健康診断法、腕立て伏せ

An Enduring Measure of Fitness: The Simple Push-Up
( New York Times )

As a symbol of health and wellness, nothing surpasses the simple
push-up.

Practically everyone remembers the actor Jack Palance performing
age-defying push-ups during his Oscar acceptance speech. More recently, Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor whose last lecture became an Internet sensation, did push-ups to prove his fitness despite having pancreatic cancer.

The push-up is the ultimate barometer of fitness. It tests the whole body, engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs. It requires the body to be taut like a plank with toes and palms on the floor. The act of lifting and lowering one’s entire weight is taxing even for the very fit.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・surpass　まさる
・pancreatic　膵臓の
・chest　胸
・abdomen　腹（部）
・taut　ぴんと張った
・plank　厚板
・palm　手の平
・tax　重荷を負わす、税


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砂漠には花を・・・

Man is a complex being: he makes deserts bloom − and lakes die.

人間は複雑な生き物だ。砂漠には花を咲かせるのに、湖は涸らしてしまう。
（ジル・スターン）


There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain.

野球の試合には、一般的に３つの可能性がある。勝つか、負けるか、雨が降るかだ。
（ケーシー・ステンゲル）

東京での開幕戦、レッドソックスがアスレチックスを制す

Red Sox Beat Athletics in Tokyo Opener
( New York Times )

Daisuke Matsuzaka's homecoming was saved by Manny Ramirez. Ramirez hit his second two-run double in the 10th inning, and the Boston Red Sox began their World Series title defense by beating the Oakland Athletics 6-5 in Tuesday night's major league season opener.

In the earliest major league opener, and the third in Japan, Jonathan Papelbon struggled before getting the save. He walked Daric Barton leading off the bottom of the10th and gave up a one-out RBI double to Emil Brown, who was tagged out in a rundown between second and third.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・struggle　もがく、奮闘する
・rundown　挟殺（走者が塁間に挟まれること）


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桜の早咲きは東京・静岡・熊本

Cherry blossom season off to early start in Tokyo, Shizuoka, Kumamoto
( Japan Times )

Cherry blossoms in Tokyo, Shizuoka and Kumamoto prefectures became the first in the nation to bloom this season after they were caught opening at designated observation areas across Japan, the Meteorological Agency announced Saturday.

The Japanese archipelago was enjoying a bout of high atmospheric
pressure on Saturday, which gave rise to sunny weather and mild
temperatures in many areas across the country, the agency said.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・blossom　花、開花期
・bloom　花、咲く
・observation　 観察、注目
・archipelago　群島
・bout　（仕事・発作などの）ひとしきり、ひと続き
・atmospheric　大気の
・temperature　温度


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刃物男の凶行で1人が死亡、7人が負傷

Stabbing spree kills one, injures seven
( Japan Times )

A man wanted by police for murder went on a stabbing spree outside a shopping mall in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Sunday, killing one man and injuring seven other people, police said.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・stab　突刺す


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中国とは・・・

The Chinese have gained achievements in only 20 years which would take many other countries two centuries to accomplish.

中国がわずか20年で達成した偉業を他国が成し遂げようとすれば、たいてい2世紀はかかるだろう。
（ジェームズ・ウォルフェンソーン）


Nature gives you the face you have at 20; it is up to you to merit the face you have at 50.

自然の恵みが20歳の顔、あなた次第が50歳の顔。
（ココ・シャネル）

顔の見方は洋の東西を問う

East and West Part Ways in Test of Facial Expressions
( New York Times )

How do you know how someone is feeling? For people in Western
societies, it is usually easy: look at the person’s face.

But for people from Japan and other Eastern societies, a new study finds, it may be more complex ― having to do not only with evaluating the other person’s face but also with gauging the mood of others who might be around.

The differences may speak to deeply ingrained cultural traits, the authors write, suggesting that Westerners may “see emotions as individual feelings, while Japanese see them as inseparable from the feelings of the group.”


【 まずは準備運動 】

・evaluate　評価する
・gauge　測定する、評価する
・ingrain　（思想・習慣を）深くしみ込ませる
・trait　特色、特徴
・inseparable　分離できない


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チベット騒乱、ダライ・ラマが中国の弾圧を批判

Curbs on Protest in Tibet Lashed by Dalai Lama
( New York Times )

The Dalai Lama accused China on Sunday of waging “cultural genocide” against his followers in Tibet and called for an international inquiry into the suppression of protests there, his strongest defense to date of Tibetan Buddhists who have staged an uprising against Chinese rule.

Speaking at the headquarters of the Tibetan government in exile, the Dalai Lama endorsed the right of his people to press grievances peacefully against the Chinese authorities, and said he would not ask Tibetans to surrender to Chinese military police by midnight on Monday, as Beijing has demanded. He said that he had no moral authority to do so and that Tibetans had beseeched him not to capitulate to that demand.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・curb　拘束、抑制
・lash　むち打つ
・wage　（戦争・闘争を）行う
・inquiry　質問、調査
・suppression　抑制、鎮圧
・stage　演出する、行う
・grievance　苦情、不平
・surrender　降伏する
・beseech　懇願（嘆願）する
・capitulate　降伏する


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無限なるものは・・・

Speak softly and carry a big stick.

口は穏やかに、だが手には棍棒を。
（セオドア・ルーズベルトが好んだことわざ）


Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

無限なるものはただ二つしかない。それは宇宙と人間の愚かさだが、前者についてはよく分からない。
（アルベルト・アインシュタイン）

エンデバー、日本の実験施設を乗せて宇宙へ

Space Shuttle Endeavour Launches With Japanese Lab
( New York Times )

The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour blasted off from a seaside Florida launch pad on Tuesday to deliver part of a long-awaited Japanese space laboratory and a Canadian-built robotic system to the International Space Station.

Piercing the still of night with a thunderous boom and a flash of
white-hot flame, the spaceship lifted off from the Kennedy Space
Center at 2:28 a.m. EDT and disappeared swiftly into clouds to begin a 16-day flight.

"We'd like to say konnichiwa, domo arigato and banzai (hello, thank you and banzai)," commander Dominic Gorie said shortly before liftoff, speaking some Japanese in a nod to that country's important role in the mission.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・endeavo(u)r　努力
・pierce　刺し通す、突き刺さる、突き破る
・boom　ブーン（ドカーン）と鳴る音
・flame　炎、火炎
・EDT（Eastern Daylight (Saving) Time） （米）東部夏時間
・mission　任務、使命


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ブッシュ大統領、遺産のために拒否権発動

Bush Uses Veto on C.I.A. Tactics to Affirm Legacy
( New York Times )

President Bush on Saturday further cemented his legacy of fighting for strong executive powers, using his veto to shut down a Congressional effort to limit the Central Intelligence Agency’s latitude to subject terrorism suspects to harsh interrogation techniques.

Mr. Bush vetoed a bill that would have explicitly prohibited the
agency from using interrogation methods like waterboarding,
a technique in which restrained prisoners are threatened with drowning and that has been the subject of intense criticism at home and abroad. Many such techniques are prohibited by the military and law enforcement agencies.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・tactic　戦術、方策
・affirm　断言する、肯定する
・latitude　緯度、自由
・harsh　粗い、厳しい
・interrogation　尋問
・explicitly　はっきりと
・prohibit　禁止する
・restrain　抑制する、拘束する


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ロシアとは・・・

Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

ロシアとは、謎の中の謎に包まれた謎の国である。
（ウィンストン・チャーチル）


There is no love sincerer than the love of food.

食べ物に対する愛情よりも誠実な愛情はない。
（ジョージ・バーナード・ショウ）

ミシュランの星印に東京は冷ややか

Michelin Gives Stars, but Tokyo Turns Up Nose
( New York Times )

The Michelin guide recently ventured into Asia for the first time in its 108-year history to research and publish a Japanese-language guide to Tokyo restaurants. To gain credibility, it hired Japanese restaurant judges to work with its European experts and adapted its standards to the nation’s special culinary culture.

Many prominent figures of the Tokyo food world, however, are saying to Michelin, in effect, thanks for all the attention (which we deserve), but you still do not know us or our cuisine.

Food critics, magazines and even the governor of Tokyo have questioned the guide’s choice of restaurants and ratings. A handful of chefs proudly proclaimed that they had turned down chances to be listed. One, Toshiya Kadowaki, said his nouveau Japonais dishes, including a French-inspired rice with truffles, did not need a Gallic seal of approval.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・credibility　信頼性
・culinary　料理（用）の
・prominent突き出た、目立つ
・deserve　（賞・罰を）受けるに足る
・cuisine　料理（法）
・proclaim　宣言する、公表する
・turn down　断る、拒否する
・Gallic　ゴール（人）の、フランス（人）の


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プーチン大統領の腹心、約束された勝利

Putin Aide Secures His Assured Victory in Russian Vote
( New York Times Japan Times )

His election choreographed by the Kremlin, Dmitri A. Medvedev secured a predictably commanding victory on Sunday to become Russia’s next president.

Still, though the results were never in doubt, Mr. Medvedev’s future role very much is, given that the man who anointed him, President Vladimir V. Putin, intends to remain in the government.

Mr. Medvedev, an unassuming aide to Mr. Putin who has never before held elected office, portrayed himself during a relatively listless campaign as something of a reformer, vowing to crack down on endemic corruption and promote the rule of law.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・secure　安全・確実にする、獲得する
・intend　意図する、〜するつもりである
・unassuming　謙遜した、気取らない
・portray　描く、〜の肖像を描く
・listless　ものうげな、気乗りしない
・crack down　厳しく取り締まる
・endemic　風土的な（病気など）、特有・固有の
・corruption　汚職、腐敗


● 解説ザブ〜ン！