WTO、7年後の崩壊

After 7 Years, Talks on Trade Collapse
（ New York Times ）

World trade talks collapsed here on Tuesday after seven years of
on-again, off-again negotiations, in the latest sign of India’s and China’s growing might on the world stage and the decreasing ability of the United States to impose its will globally.

Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organization, could not bridge differences between a group of newly confident developing nations and established Western economic powers. In the end, too few of the real power brokers proved committed enough to make compromises necessary to deliver a deal.

The failure appeared to end, for the near term at least, any hopes of a global deal to further open markets, cut farm subsidies and strengthen the international trading system.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・collapse　崩壊する、つぶれる
・impose　課する、無理強いする
・confident　確信して（いる）、自信のある
・established　確立した、定着した
・compromise　妥協（案）、歩み寄り
・subsidy　補助金、助成金


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自宅でネイティブから外国語を学ぶ

Learning From a Native Speaker, Without Leaving Home
（ New York Times ）

THE best way to learn a foreign language may be to surround yourself with native speakers. But if you can’t manage a trip abroad the Internet and a broadband computer connection may do the job, too, bringing native speakers within electronic reach for hours of practice.

For those who want to polish their high-school German before a
vacation, or to master snippets of well-intoned Mandarin Chinese to charm a future business host in Shanghai, these sites offer
alternatives to more traditional tools like textbooks and CD-ROMs. LiveMocha (livemocha.com), for example, is a free site where members can tackle 160 hours of beginning or intermediate lessons in French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Hindi or English. There is no charge for tutoring; instead, members tutor one another, drawing on their expertise in their own native language.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・surround　り取囲む、めぐらす
・polish　磨く、光らせる
・snippet　断片、短い抜粋
・intone　詠唱する、（声に）抑揚をつける
・Mandarin Chinese　北京官話、（北京方言に基づく）標準中国語
・intermediate　中間の、中級の


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愛が一番大切だけど・・・

Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too.

愛は世界でいちばん大切なものだけど、野球もかなりいいんだよ。
（グレッグ君、8歳）

・・・どちらのグレッグ君かは存じませんが、いいこと言います。


We Kikuyu say no one escapes from life alive.

私たちキクユ族には、人生から生きて逃れられる者はない、という言葉があります。
（マイクル・クライトン『失われた黄金都市』）

セルビア人大物戦犯の二重生活

The Double Life of an Infamous Serbian Fugitive
（ New York Times ）

The infamous fugitive, long charged with war crimes, was not in a
distant monastery or a dark cave when caught at last, but living in Serbia’s capital. Nor was Radovan Karadzic lurking inconspicuously, but instead giving public lectures on alternative medicine before audiences of hundreds.

He was hiding behind an enormous beard, white ponytailed hair topped with an odd black tuft, and a new life so at odds with his myth as to deflect suspicion.

On a dreary, rainy Tuesday in Belgrade, the day after Mr. Karadzic’s capture, foes and supporters alike were left to marvel at what appeared to be his complete metamorphosis.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・fugitive　逃亡した（者）
・monastery　僧院、修道院
・lurk　ひそむ、潜伏する、こっそり動く;
・inconspicuously　目立たないように
・tuft　（髪・糸などの）房
・myth　神話、作り話
・deflect　そらす、偏向させる
・suspicion　疑念、感づくこと
・dreary　物さびしい、陰気な
・marvel　驚嘆する
・metamorphosis　変形、変態


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野茂投手引退、強烈な印象を残して

Now-retired Nomo made huge impact on baseball
（ Japan Times ）

Hideo Nomo's impact on baseball will be felt for decades to come.

His initial success with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995 made Major League Baseball scouts and general managers see the truth: Nippon Professional Baseball had improved by leaps and bounds in the 30 years since pitcher Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese to play in the majors, left the San Francisco Giants and returned to Japan.

Credit Nomo, who officially retired Thursday, for taking a giant leap of faith -- and being bold at the same time. He broke the
strangle-hold NPB's owners had on their players, retiring from the Kintetsu Buffaloes (smart move, a precursor to the posting system) and embarking on a journey to play in the United States.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・decade　10年（間）
・initial　最初の
・improve　改善する、改良する
・bold　大胆な、無遠慮な
・precursor　先駆（者）


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失敗は人の常だが・・・

To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.

失敗は人の常。但し、大失敗に必要なのはコンピューター。　　　
（マーフィーの法則）


Money is the God of the World.

金は世界に君臨する神である。
（トマス・フラー）

廃れゆく日本の仏教

In Japan, Buddhism May Be Dying Out
（ New York Times ）

The Japanese have long taken an easygoing, buffetlike approach to
religion, ringing out the old year at Buddhist temples and welcoming the new year, several hours later, at Shinto shrines. Weddings hew to Shinto rituals or, just as easily, to Christian ones.

When it comes to funerals, though, the Japanese have traditionally been inflexibly Buddhist -- so much so that Buddhism in Japan is often called “funeral Buddhism,” a reference to the religion’s former near-monopoly on the elaborate, and lucrative, ceremonies surrounding deaths and memorial services.

But that expression also describes a religion that, by appearing to cater more to the needs of the dead than to those of the living, is losing its standing in Japanese society.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・religion　宗教
・temple　神殿、寺院
・shrine　聖堂、神社
・hew to　従う、固守する
・ritual　儀式
・funeral　葬式
・monopoly　独占（権）
・describe　記述する、描写する


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小さなディスプレイに際立つ個性

On a Small Screen, Just the Salient Stuff
（ New York Times ）

WHEN Steven P. Jobs introduced the Apple iPhone 18 months ago, he
contended that viewing the Web on it was comparable to browsing on a desktop personal computer.

As it turns out, Mr. Jobs may well have understated the quality of the iPhone Web experience. Visiting Web sites that have been
redesigned for the iPhone is often a quicker and more pleasing
experience than it is on those increasingly cinema-style desktop
displays, which routinely have 20-inch or larger screens.

It seems counterintuitive, but small really is beautiful.

The experience is not limited to special-purpose applications -- say, to public transit sites like Nextbus, which are ideally suited for viewing on a smartphone. Evening commuters impatiently waiting for their rides home obviously are not going to race back to the office to check the schedule on their PCs -- but they can find it easily on their hand-held devices.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・salient　顕著な、突出した
・purpose　目的、意図、用途
・transit　通過、運送、輸送（機関）
・suite　適合させる、適する
・impatiently　我慢できず、いらいらと
・race　競走する、全速力で走る
・device　計画、工夫、装置


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健康を保つ唯一の方法は・・・

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want,
drink what you don't like and do what you'd rather not.

健康を保つ唯一の方法は、食べたくないものを食べ、飲みたくないものを飲み、したくないことをすることだ。
（マーク・トウェイン）


Love conquers all things except poverty and toothache.

愛はあらゆるものに打ち勝つ、但し、貧乏と歯痛を除いて。
（メエ・ウェスト）

人為の飢餓

Man-Made Hunger
（ New York Times ）

Thirty countries have already seen food riots this year. The ever
higher cost of food could push tens of millions of people into abject poverty and starvation.

To a large degree, this crisis is man-made -- the result of misguided energy and farm policies. When President Bush and other heads of state of the Group of 8 leading industrial nations meet in Japan this week, they must accept their full share of responsibility and lay out clearly what they will do to address this crisis.

As Mr. Zoellick wrote, the food crisis is a test of the world’s
willingness to help the most vulnerable. The leaders gathered in
Japan must rise to the challenge.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・riot　暴動, 騒動
・abject　落ちぶれた, 悲惨な
・industrial　産業の、工業の
・share　分け前、分担、割り当て、シェア
・responsibility　責任、責務
・lay out　広げる、設計する、レイアウトする


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あながた口にしない11の最高の食べ物

The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating
（ New York Times ）

Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of
healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.

1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because
they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters. How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・nutritionist　栄養士
・grocery　食料雑貨店、食料品店
・spinach　ホウレンソウ
・pigment　顔料、（生物）色素
・grate　（おろし金で）おろす、すり砕く
・antioxidant　抗酸化作用のある


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人間が人間なのは・・・

A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons.

人間が人間なのは、他者を人間だと見なすからなのだ。
（デズモンド・ツツ）


A telephone survey says that 51 percent of college students drink
until they pass out at least once a month. The other 49 percent
didn't answer the phone.

ある電話調査によると、大学生の51％が月に一度は酔いつぶれるまで飲む。残りの49％は電話に出なかった。
（クレイグ・キルボーン）

ガンのケータイ原因説、再び

Experts Revive Debate Over Cellphones and Cancer
（ New York Times ）

What do brain surgeons know about cellphone safety that the rest of us don’t?

Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer
Larry King that they did not hold cellphones next to their ears.
“I think the safe practice,” said Dr. Keith Black, a surgeon at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, “is to use an earpiece so you keep the microwave antenna away from your brain.”

That supposed link has been largely dismissed by many experts,
including the American Cancer Society. The theory that cellphones
cause brain tumors “defies credulity,” said Dr. Eugene Flamm,
chairman of neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center.

But researchers who have raised concerns say that just because
science can’t explain the mechanism doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. Concerns have focused on the heat generated by cellphones and the fact that the radio frequencies are absorbed mostly by the head and neck. In recent studies that suggest a risk, the tumors tend to occur on the same side of the head where the patient typically holds the phone.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・prominent　突き出た、目立つ、顕著な
・practice　実施、実行、習慣,
・dismiss　去らせる、退ける
・tumor　腫瘍
・concern　関心、心配
・absorb　吸収する、併合する


● 解説ザブ〜ン！