今日の英語ニュース☆2023.09.29☆時事英語・ニュース英語を極める
このnoteの目的は、アメリカのニュース番組が理解出来るようになる方法を伝えることです。その方法とは、英語字幕を読みながら英語ニュースを毎日見続けること。 こんな感じです（サンプルのスクリーンショット）。
使う教材は、上のリンクの動画です。
アメリカの公共放送PBSのニュース番組で、質の高い報道に定評がありますが、残念なことに、字幕に誤りがかなり含まれていることがあります。番組がアメリカで放送されてから約２時間で最終版の字幕がアップロードされますので、時間的制約を考えれば誤りは仕方がないことかもしれません。
しかし、英語学習者の場合、字幕に誤りがあると、変だと思っても、それが本当に間違いなのか分からないことがあると思います。あるいは、間違いに気付かないこともあるかもしれません。ですから、正確な字幕が必要です。
そこで、約１時間の番組ですが、英語音声をすべて聞いて、字幕の明らかな誤りを訂正したものをダウンロードできるようにしています（少し下にあります）。この字幕ファイルと動画をダウンロードして再生ソフトで使ってください（上のスクリーンショット動画のように再生できます。英語が速すぎる場合は、あまりおすすめしませんが、再生速度の調節もできます）。
また、このnoteや字幕ファイルでは、辞書を調べても分からないような英語表現を説明しています（辞書を引けば分かる言葉は、自分で調べてください）。辞書に載ってないような表現、辞書にあっても意味がたくさんありすぎてどれなのか分からない言葉、文脈の中で特殊な使われ方をしている言葉、背景の知識がないと分からない部分、ニュース英語や時事英語の独特な表現、知っていると訳に立ちそうな表現などを説明しています（書き加えた説明は[* ……] ）。
それでは、今日も一緒に英語のニュースを見ていきましょう！
■ 英語字幕ファイルのダウンロード
[PBS NewsHour Sept. 28, 2023] の字幕ファイルのダウンロード
（この字幕ファイルはテキストエディタ（windowsの「メモ帳」など）で開くことも出来ますが、下の「字幕ファイルの使い方」のように再生ソフト（無料）で使うことをおすすめします。こんな感じに表示されます。）ブラウザーによってダウンロードがブロックされる場合ば、下のテキストファイルをダウンロードして拡張子.txtを .lrcに変更して使ってください(例えば、Chromeは、.lrcのようなあまり使われない拡張子のファイルを危険と判断することがあるようです)。
■ 動画サイトへのリンク
・直接動画サイトを見る場合のリンクです(リンク先字幕の誤りは元のまま)
・分からない言葉はこの２つの辞書でたいてい見つかると思います
・上の字幕ファイルには、約１時間の番組の全字幕と語句説明があります
・以下はサンプル程度です
[00:00] Introduction
[02:31]★今日のおすすめ★ Government shutdown imminent as House Republicans reject latest Senate effort
Federal workers were put on notice that a shutdown is imminent and millions of government employees and military members could stop being paid in three days. The Senate has worked in a bipartisan manner to prevent a shutdown, but the hold-up is with House Republicans, some of whom are refusing to support any short-term measure that would buy Congress more time to act. Lisa Desjardins reports.
《連邦政府閉鎖迫る、the shutdown would start for most government agencies Sunday morning at 12:01, just after midnight on Sunday morning; initially, it was about national debt and spending levels; now, Ukraine funding and border security as well; 》
[05:39]★今日のおすすめ★ What happened during the first hearing of the Biden impeachment inquiry
House Republicans held their first impeachment hearing into President Biden. The Republicans argue there is a real concern about the Biden family, but Democrats say it's an attempt to distract from the criminal charges against former President Trump. Amna Nawaz discussed the hearing and the legal basis for the impeachment inquiry with Frank Bowman.
《バイデン大統領に対する弾劾調査の公聴会第一回目、influence peddling; Hunter Biden; James Biden; None of the witnesses handpicked by Republicans said they have seen enough to add up to a crime; there's no evidence to support articles of impeachment; Bruce Dubinsk, forensic accountant; Jonathan Turley, law professor and conservative commentator; Democrats have fired back, charging this as an attempt to distract from the criminal charges now against former President Donald Trump; Democrats' sole witness, law professor Michael Gerhardt; If Trump wins in 2024, he would install loyalists across all the different departments, specifically the Justice Department; autocratic capture; majority of Republicans have remained silent after Trump issued a death threat suggesting that, General Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be executed; Frank Bowman, professor emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Law; the problem is that the Republicans launched this impeachment investigation without any material evidence that President Biden has done anything that's either criminal or impeachable; 》
[06:13] In a 30-page memo released last night, Republicans outlined their accusation, writing they have evidence suggesting that President Biden knew of, participated and profited from his family's international business activities. In other words, the suggestion is influence peddling.
[** influence peddling = The practice of using one's influence with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment (thefreedictionary). ]
[07:26] Forensic accountant Bruce Dubinsky:
[** forensic accountant < Forensic accounting, forensic accountancy or financial forensics is the specialty practice area of accounting that investigates whether firms engage in financial reporting misconduct, or financial misconduct within the workplace by employees, officers or directors of the organization... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_accounting ( Wikipediaの右上のlanguagesに日本語のページへのリンクもあります )]
[10:46] This is -- at this speech in Arizona, President Biden specifically gave his most detailed remarks to date about what he sees as a really present and clear threat from not just Donald Trump, but also from other Republican candidates that are running for the presidential nomination. He focused on the fact that a number of those candidates, including Trump, have said that they want to overhaul the federal agencies, that, if they were to have the presidency, if they were to have the Oval Office, that they want to gut federal agencies, that they want to install loyalists across all the different departments, specifically the Justice Department. And the president said that this is not normal and this is something that Americans need to pay attention to.
[** このような手法を autocratic capture という。以前の番組に詳しい説明があります ]
[14:54] This is something that's been investigated by multiple authorities since 2018. David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware and now special counsel, has been investigating Hunter Biden since then. A Senate committee investigated Biden and Burisma in 2020 and issued a report. The House has been investigating all of this since the beginning of this year. And so far, although we still know that Hunter Biden has been trading on his father's name, they have got no evidence, and none was presented today.
[** Burisma = Burisma Holdings Limited... was a holding company based in Kyiv, Ukraine for a group of energy exploration and production companies. It was registered in Limassol, Cyprus, until being dissolved in 2023... In the 2020 United States presidential election, the re-election campaign of President Donald Trump and his allies promoted allegations of corruption focused on the relationship between Burisma and Hunter Biden. The claims were first stated by an editor of Breitbart News, and subsequently formed the basis of a pressure campaign by Trump and associates to push the Ukrainian government to announce an investigation of the younger Biden's role with Burisma, culminating in Trump's impeachment and acquittal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burisma ]
[19:01] News Wrap
An American soldier who ran away to North Korea has been returned to the U.S., NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged the allies to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems and scientists in Switzerland sounded an alarm on rapidly melting glaciers caused by record-low snowfall and extreme summer heat.
《Private Travis King; トラビス・キング; NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged the allies today to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems; For the second time in less than a month, a major storm is pounding Central Greece; Swiss glaciers have lost 10 percent of their ice volume in the past two years alone. That equals the total melt of the 30 years between 1960 and 1990; Senate now has an official dress code; Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had said members could wear what they want; Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman; Fast-food workers in California will make at least $20 an hour starting next April; minimum wage; 最低賃金、British actor Michael Gambon died following a bout of pneumonia; 》
[23:56] GOP presidential hopefuls try to steal spotlight from Trump during 2nd debate
Wednesday night in Simi Valley, California, seven Republican presidential candidates took the stage for the second primary debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The party's unequivocal transformation since the Reagan Era was on display. White House Correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez reports.
《大統領選挙の共和党予備選討論会２回目、７人参加、トランプ欠席、》
[25:10] Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley landed a blow against businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
[** to land a blow = to be successful in one's attempt to punch someone; to successfully make a point ]
[25:18] LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Not long after, she got into it with Senator Tim Scott over curtains.
[** to get into it = to engage in a verbal or physical altercation with someone ]
[25:31] LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: DeSantis defended Florida's African American studies curriculum, which claims that some enslaved people benefited from slavery.
GOV. RON DESANTIS: These are great Black history scholars, so we need to stop playing these games.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: African American history scholars dispute that, and so did Scott.
SEN. TIM SCOTT: There is not a redeeming quality in slavery.
[** redeeming quality = a positive quality that counteracts a negative quality (wiktionary) ]
[26:29] NIKKI HALEY: Defund sanctuary cities.
LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: On the most frequent topic of the night, immigration,
[** sanctuary city = In the United States and Canada, a city that allows undocumented immigrants to live and work without being arrested and deported by local authorities.(wiktionary) ]
[27:06] Trump again counterprogrammed with his own event, though his opponents were on his mind.
[** to counterprogram = To schedule (a broadcast on radio or television) to compete or contrast with a program broadcast simultaneously on another station. By extension, to engage in similar competitive posturing or scheduling in any comparable situation (wiktionary)]
[28:07]★今日のおすすめ★ More than half of Nagorno-Karabakh's population flees after Azerbaijan takeover of region
The government of Nagorno-Karabakh said Thursday it would dissolve, formally ending more than 30 years of separatist rule. As Ali Rogin reports, this comes after Azerbaijan launched a lightning offensive last week that has triggered a massive humanitarian crisis with more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh's population fleeing to neighboring Armenia.
《ナゴルノ・カラバフの政府が解散、ナゴルノ・カラバフ「共和国」消滅 the government of Nagorno-Karabakh said it would dissolve, formally ending more than 30 years of separatist rule for the ethnically Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan; more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh's population fleeing to neighboring Armenia; Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev; Richard Kauzlarich, former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan; Samantha Power, USAID Administrator; Lachin corridor, the only road connecting the enclave with Armenia, has been blocked by Azerbaijan for 10 months; Luis Moreno-Ocampo was chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court; When the Soviet Union collapsed, the enclave was seized by Armenian separatist forces backed by the Armenian military in a war that ended in 1994. Then, in 2020, Azerbaijan launched a brutal 44-day war and regained most of its previously lost territory; Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to create a land corridor between Turkey and Azerbaijan through Armenia; Gubad Ibadoghlu, world-renowned Azerbaijani academic facing up to 12 years in prison; he investigated corruption inside the Azerbaijani government; 》
[36:04] West Maui residents ask to delay reopening as officials look to restart tourist economy
Children will return to schools in Lahaina, Hawaii, starting next month and tourists will also be allowed back into parts of western Maui nearly two months after the devastating fires there. Officials are trying to help restart an economy that ground to a halt on parts of the island. William Brangham is in Maui and has been talking with residents about these plans.
《マウイ島山火事その後、現地リポート、学校、観光、経済復興; West Maui residents ask to delay reopening; 住民は観光再開延期を希望、》
[41:07] Sports tribunal to hear evidence in Olympic figure skating doping scandal
Nineteen months after the Winter Olympics ended in Beijing, one medal ceremony for the U.S. figure skating team has still not been held. It all goes back to a doping scandal involving Russian Kamila Valieva that erupted during the 2022 games. Since then, it’s been tied up in a long appeals process and is the subject of a hearing this week. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Christine Brennan.
《2022年北京オリンピックから１９ヵ月、いまだに行われていないフィギュアスケートのメダル授与式、U.S. figure skating team; doping scandal involving Russian Kamila Valieva; Russia won gold, the U.S. won silver and Japan won bronze; Valieva had tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing heart medication months earlier; a hearing this week in Switzerland by an international sports tribunal; Christine Brennan, USA Today; the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is the Supreme Court, so to speak, for international sports; スポーツ仲裁裁判所; スポーツ調停裁判所》
[47:17] Musician Nat Myers on the healing power of the blues
The blues guitar legend Buddy Guy once wrote, “Funny thing about the blues. You play ‘em cause you got ‘em. But when you play ‘em, you lose ‘em. The blues chase the blues away.” That's especially true for 32-year-old Kentuckian Nat Myers. Special correspondent Tom Casciato has the story for our arts and culture series, CANVAS. A warning: some racial slurs Myers was called are named in this piece.
《Nat Myers; blues; ブルース》
[47:48] TOM CASCIATO: "Everywhere I have been, somebody's been abused," sings Nat Myers in his song "Yellow Peril." "Never going to win, some of us are born to lose. The song has what NPR Music deemed a swagger that leaps out of the speaker. It's Nat Myers' reaction to the racism, particularly the anti-Asian hate crimes, that he observed during the pandemic lockdown.
[** ここでは曲名だが、もともとの意味は… yellow peril = The alleged threat to Western nations by East Asians, especially Chinese or Japanese people, due to their vast population, non-Western cultures, or supposed antagonism to the West. (wikionary) ]
[49:13] NAT MYERS: I didn't have a very happy childhood. I got picked on a lot, you know what I mean? I don't want to use the terminology, but, like, but maybe I should, being called chinky, being called gookie, people pressing their eyes at you, buck-teething at you. It's all real, you know what I mean?
[** < Chink = (offensive, ethnic slur) Chinese ]
[** < gook = (derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) a person from East Asia or Vietnam ]
[52:05] NAT MYERS: I got this random e-mail one day. It was like: Hello, this is Easy Eye Sound, the record label owned by Dan Auerbach.
[** random = lacking context; unexpected; out of nowhere ]
[53:11] And when I'm out on the road, life gets so simple. You are just trying to get from A to B in one piece.
[** in one piece = (informal) not hurt or harmed (especially after being in danger or in an accident). 無事に ]