今日の英語ニュース☆2023.09.15☆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. 14, 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★ Catastrophic flooding sparks renewed scrutiny of Libya's divided government
In Libya, deep fears are becoming a horrific reality as the death toll from the devastating floods there has spiked to more than 11,000. Thousands are still missing, submerged in the muddy mire or washed out to sea. Stephanie Sy reports.
《Libya flooding; Morocco earthquake; リビア洪水、モロッコ地震; failure of two dams upstream doomed Derna; ダム決壊》
[03:47] STEPHANIE SY: The driving rain was bad enough, but it was the failure of two dams upstream that doomed Derna, an unstoppable torrent barreling towards sleeping communities, sweeping everything and everyone in its path all the way out to the sea.
[** driving rain = rain propelled by a driving wind // driving wind = wind strong enough to push (i.e., drive) substantial objects around // driving = That drives forcefully; strong; forceful; violent (wiktionary)]
[07:15]★今日のおすすめ★ What led to Hunter Biden's indictment on firearms charges and the legal battle ahead
Hunter Biden was indicted Thursday on gun charges, setting up a high-profile legal battle ahead of his father's reelection campaign. The indictment comes days after House Republicans opened an impeachment inquiry into the president and his family’s business dealings. A plea deal for Hunter Biden collapsed in federal court in July. Amna Nawaz discussed the latest developments with Devlin Barrett.
《ハンター・バイデン起訴; Hunter Biden indicted on gun charges; plea deal (司法取引) collapsed in federal court this July; David Weiss, special counsel; 特別検察官; Devlin Barrett, The Washington Post 》
[08:35] Because it's Hunter Biden and because it's obviously become a bit of a political hot potato, even within the Justice Department, it's everything around it that's very complicated.
[** hot potato = a controversial question or issue that involves unpleasant or dangerous consequences for anyone dealing with it ]
[08:48] DEVLIN BARRETT: So his [* = Hunter Biden's] lawyer has said he will fight this case. And his lawyer has argued that, because they agreed to the terms of a plea and diversion deal, that this indictment should never have been brought, and that essentially the conditions of that deal should still be in effect.
[** < plea deal + diversion deal // diversion = A diversion program, also known as a pretrial diversion program or pretrial intervention program, in the criminal justice system is a form of pretrial sentencing that helps remedy behavior leading to the arrest. Administered by the judicial or law enforcement systems, they often allow the offender to avoid conviction and include a rehabilitation program to avoid future criminal acts… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversion_program ]
[09:46] And, basically, what the judge decided was that this is just too cute by half, and it's not a proper use of the guilty plea system.
[** too cute by half = excessively sneaky or cute ]
[12:03] News Wrap
The U.S. auto industry neared a historic strike as the United Auto Workers union and the Detroit Big Three continue bargaining, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy dared a hard-right Republican faction today to oust him or stop using the threat and a judge in Georgia ruled that former President Trump and 16 others will be tried separately from two co-defendants.
《UAW(自動車労働者組合)スト間近; ストライキ; Congress has nine working days to pass the necessary spending bills or a short-term measure to avoid a shutdown; government shutdown; Hurricane Lee; 》
[12:25] House Speaker Kevin McCarthy dared a hard-right Republican faction today to try to oust him or stop using the threat. McCarthy was quoted as saying, "If somebody wants to file a motion, file the effing motion", as he met with party members behind closed doors.
[** motion = (この文脈では) motion to vacate = 以前の番組に説明があります // effing = fucking ]
[16:21]★今日のおすすめ★ 'Tyranny of the Minority' writers say Constitution not strong enough to protect democracy
America’s democracy is in an uncharted and fragile place, according to two Harvard government professors. In their new book, “Tyranny of the Minority,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt say politicians are welcoming anti-democratic extremists into their party ranks and part of the problem lies in the Constitution. Laura Barron-Lopez spoke with the writers about how the country got to this point.
《Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Harvard government professors; 新刊本『Tyranny of the Minority』; 少数派による独裁; semi-loyal democrats; 不完全民主主義者; 》
[16:33] LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: One of America's two major political parties has turned away from democracy, warn Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. One key accomplice to the backsliding, they say, are politicians called semi-loyalists, who, rather than expel antidemocratic extremists from their party ranks, accept and make room for them.
[** semi-loyalists = (この文脈では)semi-loyal democrats 不完全民主主義者 (あとで詳しい説明があります) ]
[18:53] To be a party committed to democracy, you have to do three very simple things. Number one, you have to accept election losses, win or lose. Number two, you have to not use violence to gain or to hold onto power. And then, number three, most critically, in some sense, for mainstream political parties is, you have to distance yourself and be explicit and open about condemning anybody who's an ally of your party that commits any of those first two types of acts. To be a party committed to democracy, in order for democracy to survive, the political parties in a political system have to ascribe to all three of those principles. This applies to parties of the right and of the left.
[** to ascribe to = (nonstandard) to believe in or agree with; subscribe to (wiktionary) ]
[19:51] LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, Steve, when you're talking about semi-loyal small-D democrats, who exactly do you see as those actors that are eroding democracy?
[** = 部分的に忠実な民主主義者、不完全な民主主義者、不完全民主主義者 // semi-loyal = partially loyal // small-D democrats = 小文字から始まるdemocrats = (民主党員の意味ではなく)民主主義者、民主主義信奉者 ]
[20:02] STEVEN LEVITSKY: [** semi-loyal democrats (不完全民主主義者) とは何かを説明している部分 ] So, semi-loyal democrats are tricky, because they look like regular politicians. They look like mainstream politicians. They are, in fact, mainstream politicians. They are in the halls of Congress. They are wearing suits. They look and talk and act like regular small-D democrats. But the key difference is their willingness to tolerate, to condone, to justify, sometimes to protect antidemocratic extremists. And we have seen throughout history that when mainstream politicians of the left or the right tolerate, condone, protect extremists on the right or the left, democracies get into trouble. And so who are we talking about in the Republican Party today? Mainstream Republican Party leaders, Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, leading senators, leading governors.
[21:34] What's so striking, though, because we have a federal system, that there are states in the United States where there are assaults on voting rights taking place, where there's effort at extreme levels of gerrymandering, so that it makes it possible for a party that doesn't win the most votes to actually win control of state legislatures, where courts are then packed at the local -- at the state level as well. So what we see across the United States is increasingly a divide between states where you continue to have voting rights and democracy and states where democracy is really under assault.
[** < to pack the court = "Packing the court" means adding more court justices and increasing the current limit… https://ja.hinative.com/questions/17465959 // 判事の数をただ増やすだけではなく、(この文脈では)州議会の多数派が、自分たちと政治思想が近い判事を増やすという意味。]
[23:47] New drone technology could make it easier to clear unexploded bombs, mines in Ukraine
Among the horrors of war, landmines and unexploded ordnances linger and kill for years afterward. Ukraine is littered with landmines and bombs from both sides. Clearing those explosives is a massive and complicated task, but two young Americans are working on a technological advancement that could make it easier. Special correspondent Jack Hewson reports with the support of the Pulitzer Center.
《new technology to clear land mines and unexploded ordnance; 地雷除去、不発弾、 mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) ; Jack Hewson, special correspondent; Special State Transportation Service, or SSTS, tasked with much of the clearance of Ukraine's civilian areas; Spotlight, demining web application; Jasper Bauer and Gabriel Steinberg, developers of Spotlight; ウクライナ戦争 》
[24:33] In this liberated territory, these military engineers, or sapper, are practicing mine clearance the old-fashioned way.
[** = a soldier who specializes in the disposal of bombs, mines, etc. (thefreedictionary)]
[30:49] JACK HEWSON: Since this successful test, Spotlight has been used to clear its first active minefield in Ukraine and is ready for deployment, pending approval from the Ukrainian authorities. Perhaps this app, dreamed up and tested on the American Great Plains, will save the lives and limbs of Ukrainian civilians.
[** to dream up = to invent or imagine something ]
[32:16] Walter Isaacson on his Elon Musk biography and what motivates the controversial tech CEO
Elon Musk is one of the most famous people on the planet and one of the wealthiest. But Musk is also among the most controversial public figures because of his behavior, including the spread of misinformation, racist and sexist remarks and his political ideas. Now, the highly-anticipated biography of the tech mogul is on bookshelves. Amna Nawaz discussed the book with author Walter Isaacson.
《新刊本『Elon Musk』; Walter Isaacson, author; biography; 》
[33:36] And so it's somewhat surprising, given his populist tendencies, that he would open up.
[** = To reveal oneself; to share personal information about oneself; to become communicative.]
[34:03] And you have had to walk back a pretty explosive part in one portion.
[** to walk back = to withdraw or backpedal on a statement ]
[37:37] WALTER ISAACSON: Well, I think he's very mercurial. I mean, just this week, he's with Chuck Schumer and Chris Coons and other Democrats. And there are times he'd be talking during the day, and he'd be telling me: I really am for centrist candidates. I want to bring people together. I was supported by and I supported Obama. And then there are times he's mercurial. He will get dark, and he will be upset about certain things, and he will send out tweets that are more pro-Republican. I think that's one of the problems, especially when he goes on social media, is that he is mercurial. And he does have variable moods, and that's not actually pretty if you're doing it all in public all hours of the day.
[** = characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood ]
[40:09] He has very good instincts on engineering, how to make the Raptor engine, as you have read in the book, or how you do the -- also manufacturing, like, how are we going to get to the era of electric vehicles?
[** = The Raptor is a family of full-flow staged-combustion-cycle rocket engines developed and manufactured by SpaceX for use on the SpaceX Starship. ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Raptor ( Wikipediaの右上のlanguagesに日本語のページへのリンクもあります ) ]
[40:53] A look at the regional theaters fighting to save their historic art form
Regional theater has been a glory of the American cultural scene for many decades, bringing great plays and musicals to audiences in cities all across the country. But the pandemic and a host of other societal shifts have led to cutbacks, cancellations and closures of theaters. Jeffrey Brown has a look for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.
《regional theater; 》
[41:09] What if, to tweak "Hamlet" a bit, the play is no longer the thing?
[** the thing = the latest fad or fashion ]
[43:32] She and Padron spoke to us at another of the company's new pop-up spaces, New Haven's public Stetson Library.
[** = temporary; operating or existing for a brief period only. 期間限定の。仮設の ]
[49:28] What led to the rat population boom and how cities are responding
Rats, the furry nuisance that once was a sometimes issue, have become a bigger problem over the pandemic years. Courtney Norris and Dorothy Hastings explore what led to the rise in the rat population.
《ネズミの増加、鼠; Courtney Norris; 》
[50:24] COURTNEY NORRIS: Last fall, the pest control company Orkin ranked Washington, D.C., as fourth on its list of America's most rat-infested cities, behind Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. That makes Washington, D.C., the second rattiest city on the East Coast. Renowned urban rodentologist Bobby Corrigan says many cities are dealing with a similar issue. Are we experiencing a rat boom?
[** < rodentology = The study or science of rodents. ]