2009-11-15

今日の英単語

ちょっとずつでもマメにやっておかないとと思っています。。

He squinted into the smoldering chamber.
- squint (vi)目を細めて見る、(a)斜視の、目を細めて見る、(n)ちらりと横目で見ること、斜視、ほのめかし
- smoldering (a)(炎を出さずに)くすぶっている、(感情を)押し殺している、(n)くすぶり



Langdon was wary, but he now sensed Vittoria was being overly dramatic.
- wary (a) 警戒している、慎重な、用心深い


Kohler twitched but did not interfere.
- twitch (vi)ピクピク動く、ピクっと動く、ひきつる、(vt)~を急に引っ張る、~をひきつらせる、(n)けいれん


Every trap has a failsafe - a back-up battery in case it is removed from its recharger.
- fail-safe (n) 二重安全装置


The antimatter falls out of suspension, hits the bottom of the trap, and we see an annihilation.
- annihilation (n)全滅、絶滅、壊滅、対消滅(【物理】陽子と反陽子のようにある物質とその反物質が出会い、ともに消滅してエネルギーに変換されること。)

2009-10-18

TOEIC

今は、「出題意図が見える!TOEICテスト990点即解リスニング」(イフ外語学院 編)The Japan Times社版 を解いています。(リンクはamazon.co.jpです。)

知らない単語や表現は聞けない、と言いますが、今日は問題を解いていて、そのことを実感しました。。

<今日の英単語・表現>
・Should I plan on eight of us for dinner then?  8人で

bike :自転車 (バイクと言っても、オートバイだけとは限りません。両方の意味があるので注意が必要です。)

Is there any way you can give that paper?
~していただけますか?[丁寧な依頼]

go out with (人):~と交際する、つきあう

take it (that節):~と思う、理解する
--> I take it that you can have those to me by Friday.

a copy of the paper: 新聞を一部
(そのペーパーを1部、と訳して、ドツボにはまりました・・・)

grate (vt): ~を怒らせる、イライラさせる
--> My voice grated his nerves.

be intent on ~ing: ~することに熱中している
--> So, you're really intent on going to that concert then?
じゃあ君は本当にあのコンサートに行きたいのですね。

auction off ~: ~を競売で売る
--> I auctioned off my T-shirts.

2009-10-01

Green Line B Train

You know Green Line B Train in Boston? That's the metro line which go along the BU campus.

Following the movie is the scene from the B-train. For alumni, this must be exitement. ;D
http://www.bu.edu/today/node/9444

2009-09-26

Today's words and phrases

Followings are words and phrases from Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons."


immaculate (a) しみ一つない、完全な、純潔の

scowl [スカウル] (vi)(不快で、怒って)顔をしかめる(at, on)、にらみつける(at) ; (vt) 顔をしかめて(不快など)を表す

pneumonia [ニューモウニャ](n) 肺炎

rumble (vi)ゴロゴロなる、とどろく、(vt)~を低いとどろくような声でいう(out, forth)

flabergasted (a) 口がきけない、びっくり仰天した

hush (vt) (人)を黙らせる、《俗》を殺す、消す;(vi)(しばしば命令文で)黙る

haunt (vt)~へしばしば行く、~をずっと悩ます 《be haunted by》(考え・思い出などに)~にとりつかれる

terra firma (n) 陸地、大地

thump (vi) (at, onを)強く殴る、ドシンドシンと歩く

collider (n) 粒子加速器
(cf. corridor (n) 回廊)

blankly (adv) ぼんやりと、ぽかんと; きっぱりと

cleft (n) (岩・地面の)裂け目(crack)

subterranean (a) 地下の(underground)、秘密の

smolder (vi) (火・怒りが)くすぶる、内向する、抑えきれない感情を示す

raspy (a) 荒い、すぐ怒る
→Kohler exhaled a raspy, ailing breath. (p.72)

monogamy (n) 一夫一婦制

Reboot

My current goals are both to get full score of Toeic and to bring me to have no difficulty in communication with native speakers.

That's why I've started to pick up words and phrases from blogs or websites native people wrote and to memorize them for my study.

Some words may be so easy for such big goals. Please do not care so much. ;)

make the switch 切り替える、変更する

Drop me a note. ご連絡下さい。

lithe (a) しなやかな、柔軟な
loathe (vt) ~をひどく嫌う

attest (vi)(vt) 証明する※自動詞・他動詞ともに「証明する」だが、他動詞を使わずに、前置詞toを伴って自動詞で用いられることも多い。
(例)My wife can attest to that.

commenter (n) 評者、注解者

study idea (n) ?
※His commenters have some study ideas there too.と用いられていたのですが、調べてもいまひとつ意味が分かりませんでした。study ideaという言葉自体はあるようですが・・・。

2009-07-20

my positive life

In these days, I feel I should bring myself to be more independent, stronger, nicer to friends, brighter, happier or in any way be more positive. After keeping hold a hurt feeling and pondering the meaning of a life, I could get one idea as of now.


People cannot avoid some severe happenings through our lives. As sometimes we cannot do anything against that, we can do only accepting those things as they are.

It is easier for us to keep devastated from various kinds of sufferings. In my guess people can keep suffering during a long time they want. However, I think that a person shouldn't be there for a long time. God gave us an ability to forget. This ability is so strong that we forget anything, even one that we never want to forget forever. But anyway thanks for that, hurt feeling becomes cured little by little in the course of our everyday life.

I need to be smily, gentle, generous and kind to people around me. Rather than staying depressed and being at loss, I have to be a person who can help my family and friends when they are in hardships and give a happy feeling even a little in such cases.

The person whom I now respect is Reiko Chiba. Although she is famous ex-idle (celebrity) and the president of IT company, in fact she keep suffering from her mental illness and also her son's. Reading her blog several years ago when she was suffered from more severe mental situations, I can feel her hurt feeling from her depression. She was sad, got devastated, I could get that really easily.

However, she, which I think she is great, kept trying to help others even in that situation. She started to do yoga, brushed up yoga techniques or knowledge intensively, and opened yoga studio. People get together around her. This must be from her personality and her firm belief which she want to save someone. There are a clear and pure belief which only a person through harsh experiences can reach, which I always feel and respect. And I want to be such a person who can share someone's hurt feelings and also happiness.

2009-05-17

memento

ダンス・ダンス・ダンス 村上春樹より

「音楽の鳴っている間はとにかく踊り続けるんだ。
おいらの言っている事は分かるかい?踊るんだ。踊り続けるんだ。
何故踊るかなんて考えちゃいけない。意味なんてもともとないんだ。
そんなこと考え出したら足が停まる。
一度足が停まったら、もうおいらには何ともしてあげられなくなってしまう。
あんたの繋がりはもうなにもなくなってしまう。永遠になくなってしまうんだよ。
そうするとあんたはこっちの世界の中でしか生きていけなくなってしまう。
どんどんこっちの世界に引き込まれてしまうんだ。だから足を停めちゃいけない。
きちんとステップを踏んで踊り続けるんだよ。
そして固まってしまったものを少しずつでもいいからほぐしていくんだよ。
まだ手遅れになって いないものもあるはずだ。使えるものは全部使うんだよ。
ベストを尽くすんだよ。怖がることは何もない。あんたは確かに疲れている。
疲れて、脅えている。誰にでもそういう時がある。
何もかもが間違っているように感じられるんだ。だから足が停まってしまう。」

「でも踊るしかないんだよ。」と羊男は続けた。「それもとびっきり上手く踊るんだ。みんなが感心するくらいに。そうすればおいらもあんたのことを手伝ってあげられるかもしれない。だから踊るんだよ。音楽の続く限り」


I don't want to write the following because doing so by itself brings cutting pain to me. In spite of that I feel I need to write, as I don't forget what is sadness.

A friend told me on a story of a housewife who laughed just after her husband died. Why she did so? That's because sorrow is bottomless. If she doesn't laugh, a deep, dark, bottomless depression just takes her. In short, she "had to" laugh.

A person stand on a very fragile floor. Once it broken, just fallen. A person can be fallen deeper and deeper. This is not only one person's story, but everyone has such possibilities as same.

At present actually I do not have any effective prescriptions against sorrowness although I hope I have. I am still in the dark well. Someone says to me that time soothes everything. Another says "just forget everything except for saving yourself." I think both of them are correct.

Everytime I have a free time, sorrow penetrates and torments me chronically. Maybe this continues for a while (admitting this is also a pain.) But, I want to hope strongly I should not be a heroine of a tragedy. I am really happy to have a family and friends, who are so nice to me. And this kind of sadness could happen to everyone, who lives with such sadness together, but they're so strong and bright. I have to be a person who can save others' sadness. In order to be so, I need to know what is sadness, live with them and laugh.

Still I'm at a loss and I can't think anything well. Only I can say is I just have something to do just now. So at the time like this I believe the best way is just dancing, dancing better.

2009-05-12

真冬のランドリエ

This is a farewell song.

2009-04-26

cosmopolitan

2009-04-02

A Little Tired

Here, I can't help admit my tiredness... I know that it would be positive if I could say that I did not care anything about. I know why. I always sit up late at night. I do not like to get asleep.

Recently, my Sundays and Saturdays are filled by going to the cramschool(Tatsumi). I usually take two classes a day, one of which takes about 3 hours and a half. Also sometimes I need to take some English exams or mock exams.

I'm busy with those works, but I know at the same time that is good for me. If I have free time, I might think useless trifles.

Last weekends, I didn't go to the cramschool at all because I had to complete to prepare my reports for my job. This report was supposed to be submitted in May, so I didn't prepare so well. At first, I was upset about that for a while.

The work, however, was not so huge or troublesome. If I can put together pieces of my little knowledge, a report seemed to be finished, and actually that was. On Sunday, I slept almost all day because I suffered from hangover because of cacktails on Friday. And on Saturday I could go to the gym for my favorite Yoga class. I felt that my body recovered at all.

And today, I am feeling tired again. Last night I went to bed at 3 am. I know I need, no, must get good deep sleep, but I can't although I don't know why. But anyway I am now tired, so I hope I can sleep tonight...

2009-03-15

Doblog 2...

At this time, I really should give up Doblog... Doblog seems to be totally abandoned without repairs...

It is easy to change my blog into Blogger. But one thing I was worried about is that I cannot leave the message about my moving because I can't post any articles on doblog... So I really hope that Doblog will recover the service of posting as soon as possible. One posting is ok for me now...

Let me change the story. Today I went to take the Toefl exam. Actually I can say that I have got used to this test. I, however, do not get used to speaking section.

Today's speaking exam was really hard for me. At the first question, I wanted to have many coughs, and as a result I couldn't answer with any satisfaction. Also at the following question, I couldn't come up with good expressions and felt suffered.

I have little idea on how I can speak what I want to say more frequently. I can express what I want through writing like this blog, but not through speaking. Maybe this owes that I rarely speak English in recent situations, and I need to go to anywhere I can speak English such as some kind of school or so.

I felt overwhelmed by today's speaking test and lost my confidence, which is originally really little...

I actually feel dumped because I can't stop my idea that I can do nothing even if I try various things. Recently, I can't stop feeling that I am the bad person who has no ability.

Kept suffering from such ideas, I barely found a stream of light that today's experience make me remember that I need to try again. And I believe that keeping efforts should make me better than doing nothing. I have no alternatives but do keep my efforts. And keeping efforts definitely will support mentally.

As my last goal, I hope that I can enjoy my efforts. I know that for this goal I need to recover my mental state for the time of being. But, anyhow, it is a kind of ideal if I can enjoy a process toward my dream. And anyway now, I'm keeping telling myself that happiness will come by itself if I keep doing what I decide on I should do. And keeping efforts make me forget a lot of hardships in everyday life, and will save me eventually.

2009-03-09

Peepo-kun of the metropolitan police



He's soooo cute, don't you think so?

Doblog...

Doblog keeps out-of-service for several weeks, which is enough long to make me change the blog ("yuina") into the other service...

And I guess that also NTTData (the administrator) is now thinking the same thing. The company has just started to offer the exporting tool for users to move out.

Doblog is my first blog. And I've been feeling something warm to Doblog. Even if Doblog stopped its service many times, I kept using it and stuck to it...

Anyway, it may be a time that I should change my main blog...into Blogger. Blogger offers the import tool, which is just like a saviour for not only me but Doblog.

In moving the blog, I am now considering how well the characteristics of each my three blogs (yuina / That's the way of my life / to be a lawyer) should be positioned.

It'll be good that "To be a lawyer" should be a diary for my goal to be a lawyer in both US & Japan. Then, this blog "That's the way of my life" will be my English blog, which I can write anything freely in English. The main purpose of this blog is improvement of my writing skills. At the last, "yuina" will keep my main blog in Japanese. So yuina keeps more general than other two blogs.

http://lawyer-buswell.blogspot.com/

2009-03-06

hay fever

Also I am suffering from hay fever... Maybe it will keep annoying me until the beginning of this summer. This allergy makes me feel so bad by itchy nose and uncountable sneezes.

A day before yesterday, I watched several stories of the American TV series "Pepper Denis," called by "Koi-suru Anchor Woman" in Japanese. This drama is about the female reporter of TV news of the station in Chicago. She dreams to be an anchor woman of WEiE News, has many experiences through the job of a reporter, and have a secret crush on the co-worker.

I've watched the drama with English caption. And I felt again that I have so many words or expessions naturally used in common situations I don't know. It is right that if I do not know such expressions, at the same time I would not be able to listen to them correctly. This kind of natural expressions are still so many...

2009-02-26

Movie "SATC"

Two days ago, I watched the movie of "Sex and the City (SATC)." Maybe this movie divides two type of people who like SATC and who do not. I'm the former. Since I watched it at the first time, I've been a huge fan of the drama.

Why do I like it? Because I didn't know the kind of other drama like SATC, which features what women in 30s or more are feeling and thinking. I could easily be grossed in the feelings of Carrie, Miranda, Charotte, and maybe Samantha (laugh.. but I like Samanatha's presonality best among them).

Watching the one scene, I could feel some reality for women at the generation. That scene was that at the wedding Carrie smashed her bouquet at Mr. Big who could not enter the site of the ceremony. Until their engagement, she was betrayed by him repeatedly, but despite such events, she thought second and kept her love. Her love, however, was betrayed again at the most important time for women. I felt really sorry with her. Women want to believe a man, but always betrayed...

In the movie, I could find some worthy and impressive words. One is, Miranda said to Steve, "you criticize me?" That's the word I also want to say (laugh).

Also, I was impressed by the word "Miranda never looked back..." This mean, after decision to reconcile with Steve, Miranda decided not to see her backwards. I like this kind of words. I also want not to look back my bad memories, instead to see only futures or new possibilities.

This movie is really good! I would like recommend men and women in thirties, forties, and also more than that who wants to know what is love. We are always the existance who have some complications, but for us it is very important to keep following my own happiness...