水族館のサメが処女懐胎

Scientists: Va. Shark's Pup a 'Virgin Birth'
（ New York Times ）

Scientists have confirmed the second case of a ''virgin birth'' in a shark.

In a study reported Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists said DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female blacktip shark in a Virginia aquarium contained no genetic material from a male.

The first documented case of asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, among sharks involved a pup born to a hammerhead at an Omaha, Neb., zoo.

''This first case was no fluke,'' Demian Chapman, a shark scientist and lead author of the second study, said in a statement. ''It is quite possible that this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion.''


【 まずは準備運動 】

・confirm　強める、堅固にする、確認する
・aquarium　水族館
・asexual　性別（性器）のない、無性の
・reproduction　再生（産）、生殖（作用）


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日本人2人とアメリカ1人にノーベル物理学賞

Japanese duo, American win Nobel in physics
（ Japan Times ）

Two Japanese and an American have won the 2008 Nobel Prize for
discoveries in the world of subatomic physics, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Tuesday.

Japan-born American Yoichiro Nambu of the University of Chicago won half of the prize for discovering the mechanism called spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics.

In its citation, the academy said this "year's Nobel laureates in physics have presented theoretical insights that give us a deeper understanding of what happens far inside the tiniest building blocks of matter."


【 まずは準備運動 】

・royal　国王の、王家の
・prize　賞（金・品）
・spontaneous　自発的な、自然発露の
・citation　引用（文）、召喚（状）
・laureate　受賞者、名誉を受けた人
・insight　洞察（力）


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名優・緒形拳さん、死去

Screen great Ken Ogata dead at 71
（ Japan Times ）

Ken Ogata, known for his energetic performances in numerous films and TV dramas, including the 1983 movie "Narayama Bushiko" ("Ballad of Narayama"), died Sunday, sources close to him said Tuesday. He was 71.

At his final news conference, Ogata said of his role, "People get old not by choice . . . (age) will lead to some disease, and lead to death, whether you like it or not."


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帰ってきた麻生太郎

The Return of Taro Aso
（ New York Times ）

Japan’s new prime minister, Taro Aso, is well known - and not fondly remembered - by Japan’s neighbors as a pugnacious nationalist. As foreign minister from 2005 to 2007, Mr. Aso soured relations with China and South Korea and raised tensions throughout the region, praising the achievements of prewar Japanese colonialism, justifying wartime atrocities and portraying China as a dangerous military threat.

Now, the power brokers in the long-governing Liberal Democratic Party have made him Japan’s fourth prime minister in just two years and rebranded Mr. Aso as a “pragmatist.”

Mr. Aso is expected to focus on stimulating Japan’s stagnant economy. To successfully lead a 21st-century Japan, he will also need to swap nationalism for pragmatism when it comes to foreign relations.Japan’s future depends on cultivating stronger political and economic relations with China - its largest trading partner - South Korea and other rapidly advancing neighbors.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・fondly　愛情を込めて
・neighbor　隣の人、隣国（の人）
・colonialism　植民地主義.
・stimulate　刺激する、激励する
・cultivate　耕す、栽培する


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米下院、救済法案を否決〜次の手は見えない

Defiant House Rejects Huge Bailout; Next Step Is Uncertain
（ New York Times ）

Defying President Bush and the leaders of both parties, rank-and-file lawmakers in the House on Monday rejected a $700 billion economic rescue plan in a revolt that rocked the Capitol, sent markets plunging and left top lawmakers groping for a resolution.

The stunning defeat of the proposal on a 228-205 vote after marathon talks by senior Congressional and Bush administration officials lowered a fog of uncertainty over economies around the globe. Its authors had described the measure as essential to preventing widespread economic calamity.

The markets began to plummet even before the 15-minute voting period expired on the House floor. For 25 more minutes, uncertainty gripped the nation as television showed party leaders trying, and failing, to muster more support. Finally, Representative Ellen Tauscher, Democrat of California, pounded the gavel and it was done.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・defiant　反抗的な、挑戦的な
・the House　議会、（特に）下院
・grope　手探りする
・stun　気絶させる、肝をつぶさせる
・calamity　災難、惨禍
・gavel　小槌


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ハリウッドの巨星墜つ〜ポール・ニューマン氏死去

Paul Newman, a Magnetic Titan of Hollywood, Is Dead at 83
（ New York Times ）

Paul Newman, one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars, died Friday at his home in Westport, Conn. He was 83.

If Marlon Brando and James Dean defined the defiant American male as a sullen rebel, Paul Newman recreated him as a likable renegade, a strikingly handsome figure of animal high spirits and blue-eyed candor whose magnetism was almost impossible to resist, whether the character was Hud, Cool Hand Luke or Butch Cassidy.

He acted in more than 65 movies over more than 50 years, drawing on a physical grace, unassuming intelligence and good humor that made it all seem effortless.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・sullen　不きげんな、むっつりした
・renegade　背教者、脱党者、裏切り者
・strikingly　著しく、目立って.
・grace　優美、優雅、上品


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メールを打つたびに危険が忍び寄る

As Text Messages Fly, Danger Lurks
（ New York Times ）

Senator Barack Obama used one to announce to the world his choice of a running mate. Thousands of Americans have used them to vote for their favorite “American Idol” contestants. Many teenagers prefer them to actually talking. Almost overnight, text messages have become the preferred form of communication for millions.

But even as industry calculations show that Americans are now using mobile phones to send or receive more text messages than phone calls, those messages are coming under increasing fire because of the danger they can pose by distracting users. Though there are no official casualty statistics, there is much anecdotal evidence that the number of fatal accidents stemming from texting while driving, crossing the street or engaging in other activities is on the rise.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・contestant　論争者、競争者
・pose　姿勢（ポーズ）をとる、（問題などを）引き起こす
・stem from　〜から生じる、起る
・engage in　〜に従事する


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ファン集結、さよならヤンキースタジアム

Crowd Gathers to Say Goodbye
（ New York Times ）

The Yankees are known for giving their players more than any other franchise in baseball. But when it comes to souvenirs from the final game at the stadium, the players are being treated like the fans.

On Saturday, the Yankees’ chief operating officer, Lonn A. Trost, sent a one-page memo to the players reminding them they are forbidden from taking anything from the stadium.

“Like the fans, the players were told that they cannot take whatever they would like,” Trost said in a telephone interview on Sunday. “They were told that if they would like something, they can provide us with a list and then we will see if we can sell it to them and they will pay the same price as fans.”


【 まずは準備運動 】

・crowd　群衆
・gather　集まる
・treat　（取）扱う、待遇する
・forbid　禁じる
・provide　供給する、用意する


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世界最高齢の日本人男性、113歳の誕生日

World's oldest man has 113th birthday in Japan
（ New York Times ）

The world's oldest man celebrated his 113th birthday Thursday in southern Japan, telling reporters he wants to live another five years. Tomoji Tanabe, who was born Sept. 18, 1895, received birthday gifts, flowers and $1,000 cash from the mayor of his hometown of Miyakonojo, on Japan's southern island of Kyushu.

The former city land surveyor, who lives with his son and daughter-in-law, is in good health and sticks to the habits that have gotten him this far. He rises early and reads the newspaper each day, drinks milk every afternoon and eats regular meals. He also avoids alcohol and does not smoke.

Japan has one of the world's longest life expectancies, nearly 86 years for women and 79 years for men, which is often attributed to the country's healthy diet rich in fish and rice.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・surveyor　測量技師
・avoid　避ける、逃れる
・expectancy　予期、期待;


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リーマン破綻、メリルリンチ身売り

Lehman Files for Bankruptcy; Merrill Is Sold
（ New York Times ）

In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on Sunday to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy protection and hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer.

The humbling moves, which reshape the landscape of American finance, mark the latest chapter in a tumultuous year in which once-proud financial institutions have been brought to their knees as a result of hundreds of billions of dollars in losses because of bad mortgage finance and real estate investments.

But even as the fates of Lehman and Merrill hung in the balance, another crisis loomed as the insurance giant American International Group appeared to teeter. Staggered by losses stemming from the credit crisis, A.I.G. sought a $40 billion lifeline from the Federal Reserve, without which the company may have only days to survive.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・avert　避ける、防ぐ
・prominent　突き出た、目立つ
・security　安全、（複数形で）証券
・hurtle　突進する
・humble　卑しめる、辱しめる、謙虚にさせる
・tumultuous　騒々しい、荒れ狂う
・teeter　シーソー、動揺する
・stagger　よろけさせる、動揺させる
・stem　生じる、起こる


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ロシア、グルジアからの限定的撤兵に合意

Russia Agrees to Limited Pullout From Georgia
（ New York Times ）

After a tense four-hour meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy of
France, Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, announced Monday
that Russia agreed to withdraw its troops by mid-October from its
positions in Georgia outside the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

He also agreed to allow 200 observers from the European Union to
monitor the conflict, a step that Russia had resisted. But Mr.
Medvedev said Russia would stand by its decision to recognize
the two breakaway regions as independent nations.

Mr. Sarkozy’s task is harder because the European Union has been
bitterly divided over how to manage its relationship with Russia.
Some member nations, like France, have struggled to safeguard
Europe’s economic interests in Russia, while formerly Communist
countries like Poland want the bloc to punish Russia for failing to uphold human rights and respect democratic norms.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・tense　ぴんと張った、緊張した
・withdraw　引っ込める、引取る
・breakaway　分離した
・stand by　そばにいる、支持する、固守する
・struggle　もがく、奮闘する
・uphold　持ち上げる、支える、是認する
・norm　典型、規準、規範（前回出てきましたね）


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世界の貧困のさらなる拡大

An Even Poorer World
（ New York Times ）

There is a lot more poverty in the world than previously thought. The World Bank reported in August that in 2005, there were 1.4 billion people living below the poverty line - that is, living on less than $1.25 a day.

That is more than a quarter of the developing world’s population and 430 million more people living in extreme poverty than previously estimated. The World Bank warned that the number is unlikely to drop below one billion before 2015.

The poverty estimate soared after a careful study of the prices
people in developing countries pay for goods and services revealed that the World Bank had been grossly underestimating the cost of living in the poorest nations for decades. As a result, it was grossly overestimating the ability of people to buy things. And the new research doesn’t account for the soaring prices of energy and food in the past two years.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・poverty　貧乏、貧弱;
・quarter　4分の1
・estimate　見積る、概算する、推定する
・extreme　一番端の、極度の
・soar　舞い上がる、急上昇する
・grossly　ひどく、はなはだしく


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日本、リーダーシップの不在

In Japan, a Leadership Vacuum
（ New York Times ）

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s abrupt resignation, the second by a Japanese premier in under a year, underscores the chronic leadership vacuum plaguing the world’s second-largest economy, even as it threatens to slip into recession.

Indeed, a string of unpopular, colorless leaders has actually been the political norm in Japan, which has gone through 13 prime
ministers in the last two decades. For generations, political
decisions here have been made by consensus, usually in back rooms
among the various factions of the Liberal Democratic Party, which
has enjoyed nearly unbroken rule for 50 years. Strong leaders capable of putting a personal imprint on policy, such as former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a Liberal Democrat who resigned two years ago, have been the rare exception.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・abrupt　突然の、ぶっきらぼうな
・chronic　長引く、慢性の
・recession　退場、（景気などの一時的）後退
・faction　党派、派閥
・imprint　押印、痕跡
・rare　珍しい、まれな


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ハリケーンに備えて200万人が避難

2 Million Flee Storm; G.O.P. Cuts Back
（ New York Times ）

Nearly two million people from Texas to Alabama fled the Gulf Coast on Sunday ahead of Hurricane Gustav, anticipating a storm that could rival Hurricane Katrina in its destructive power.

New Orleans was largely emptied of its residents after a mandatory evacuation order, and interstate highways across the region were jammed bumper to bumper in one of the largest evacuations in American history.

With memories of the shaky response to Hurricane Katrina fresh,
officials from President Bush on down were on high alert; Mr. Bush himself described the preparations and warned residents to get out of the storm’s way.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・anticipate　予期する、予想する
・mandatory　命令の、義務の
・evacuation　避難
・jam　押しつぶす、ふさぐ、いっぱいにする
・warn　警告する


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危険を嗅ぎ分ける鼻

How the Nose Sniffs Danger in the Air
（ New York Times ）

The next time someone says, “I smell danger in the air,” that might literally be true ー and the odor might be coming from you.

At the tip of the noses of mammals, including humans, is a ball of nerve cells known as the Grueneberg ganglion, named after Hans
Grueneberg, the scientist who described the structure in mice in 1973.

All sorts of organisms, including plants, insects and mammals,
release “alarm pheromones” when they sense danger; the pheromones waft through the air to warn others. Very little is known about the alarm pheromones of mammals other than that they exist. Scientists have not identified the compounds; they do not know where in the body the pheromones are produced. Nonetheless, the Lausanne scientists could collect the pheromones by simply stressing mice and sucking up the air around them.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・sniff　くんくん嗅ぐ
・mammal　哺乳動物.
・describe　記述する、描写する
・structure　 構造、構成
・organism　有機体、生物;
・insect　昆虫
・compound　合成、混合（物）、化合物
・suck　吸う、吸込む


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壮大な五輪のショーに、声のまやかし

In Grand Olympic Show, Some Sleight of Voice
（ New York Times ）

Pigtailed and smiling, Lin Miaoke, age 9, stood in a red dress and white shoes during Friday’s Olympic opening ceremonies and performed “Ode to the Motherland” in what would become one of the evening’s most indelible images: a lone child, fireworks blazing overhead, singing a patriotic ballad before an estimated one billion viewers.

Except that her proud father, Lin Hui, noticed “that the voice was a little different from hers.” On Tuesday, Mr. Lin said in a
telephone interview that he had assumed “the difference might be
caused by the acoustics.”

Acoustics had nothing to do with it. Under pressure from the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party to find the perfect face and voice, the ceremonies’ production team concluded that the best solution was to use two girls instead of one.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・sleight　策略、手くだ
・pigtail　おさげ髪
・ode　オード、頌歌
・indelible　消し得ない
・blaze　火炎、燃える
・patriotic　愛国の
・acoustics　音響学、音響効果


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北島康介、100メートル平泳ぎを世界新で制す

Kitajima Wins Gold, Sets Record in 100-Meter Breaststroke
（ New York Times ）

One of swimming’s finest rivalries is now looking lopsided. For the last four years, Kosuke Kitajima of Japan and Brendan Hansen of the United States have pushed each in the breaststroke, developing mutual respect and lower numbers in the breast stroke.

But Kitajima is the man firmly in command at these Olympics, and on Monday he roared back on the second lap of the 100 breaststroke to win the gold medal in 58.91 seconds, taking Hansen’s world record of 59.13 seconds along the way.

Hansen, who has struggled leading up to these Games and failed to
qualify in the 200 breaststroke, finished fourth in 59.57 seconds.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・breaststroke　平泳ぎ
・mutual　相互の、共通の
・struggle　もがく、奮闘する


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北京五輪、中国は世界を脅かさない

China’s Leaders Try to Impress and Reassure World
（ New York Times ）

An ecstatic China finally got its Olympic moment on Friday night. And if the astonishing opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games lavished grand tribute on Chinese civilization and sought to stir an ancient nation’s pride, there was also a message for an uncertain outside world: Do not worry. We mean no harm.

Usually, that message is delivered by the dour-faced leaders of the ruling Communist Party, who dutifully, if sometimes unconvincingly, regurgitate the phrase “harmonious society” coined by President Hu Jintao. But in the nimble cinematic hands of Zhang Yimou, the filmmaker who directed the opening ceremonies, the politics of harmony were conveyed in a visual extravaganza.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・reassure　安心させる
・astonish　驚かす
・stir　かき混ぜる、掻き立てる
・dour　むっつりした、気むずかしい、陰気な
・dutifully　（義務に）忠実に
・unconvincing　説得力のない
・nimble　すばしこい、分かりの早い、利口な
・extravaganza　派手なショー、華やかな祭典


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ソビエトと戦った文豪、89歳で死す

Solzhenitsyn, Literary Giant Who Defied Soviets, Dies at 89
（ New York Times ）

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose stubborn, lonely and combative literary struggles gained the force of prophecy as he revealed the heavy afflictions of Soviet Communism in some of the most powerful works of the 20th century, died late on Sunday at the age of 89 in Moscow.

Mr. Solzhenitsyn outlived by nearly 17 years the Soviet state and
system he had battled through years of imprisonment, ostracism and exile.

Mr. Solzhenitsyn had been an obscure, middle-aged, unpublished high school science teacher in a provincial Russian town when he burst onto the literary stage in 1962 with “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” The book, a mold-breaking novel about a prison camp inmate, was a sensation. Suddenly he was being compared to giants of Russian literature like Tolstoy, Dostoyevski and Chekhov.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・prophecy　予言
・imprisonment　投獄、監禁
・ostracism　排斥、村八分
・exile　国外追放、亡命、日本で人気のあるヴォーカル＆ダンスグループ
・provincial　地方の、田舎の
・prison camp　捕虜収容所
・inmate　（病院・刑務所などの）収容者


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福田内閣改造と党3役刷新

Fukuda reshuffles Cabinet, LDP leaders
（ Japan Times ）

To boost his acutely low popularity, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda
reshuffled his Cabinet and Liberal Democratic Party executives
Friday, replacing 13 of his 17 ministers.

Former Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who last year vied against Fukuda for the LDP presidency, and thus the prime ministership, was again named party secretary general, a post he briefly held under Fukuda's predecessor.

But whether Fukuda's bid will succeed still remains a question mark, because many Cabinet members are old-timers with experience and competence but may have little voter appeal.

Fukuda said his new team will concentrate on pushing policies forward, denying once again the possibility of holding a general election in the near future.


【 まずは準備運動 】

・boost　押し上げる、高める
・acutely　鋭く、激しく
・predecessor　前任者
・competence　能力、資格
・deny　否定する、否認する


● 解説ザブ〜ン！