"I just spent months and months of watching video of him and reading books and just staring at photographs in a very unhealthy manner for just hours on end and trying to imitate and trying to get those mirror neurons working to try to become him,"
a Scottish song that people sing when they celebrate the beginning of the new year at 12 o'clock midnight on December 31st
（マクミラン）
Auld Lang Syne
a Scottish song that people sing at midnight on New Year's Eve, when the new year begins
Cultural note: Auld Lang Syne
CULTURAL
When singing this song, you stand in a circle, cross your arms over, and shake the hands of the people on each side of you. Auld Lang Syne means 'for old time's sake'.
Kindnessをテーマにしたデルタ航空のCMでしたが、この歌の一節でCMを締めていました。
we'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for days of auld lang syne.
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Jesus Visits Martha and Mary
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.
But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
おしゃれ雑誌じゃないお堅い方のHarper'sで、フランス作家のミシェル ウエルベックがトランプを絶賛したエッセーを発表しました。フランス語はHを発音しないのでHarper'sは動画のニュースではアーパーズみたいになっています。In summary, President Trump seems to me to be one of the best American presidents I’ve ever seen.と語っています。
Tension-stirring French writer Michel Houellebecq on Thursday published a defense of US President Donald Trump, calling him "one of the best American presidents I've ever seen."
In the essay printed in Harper's Magazine, a New York-based monthly, Houellebecq praises Trump for his protectionist trade policies, his disdain for the European Union and his willingness to negotiate with iron-handed leaders like Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
数少ない英文メディアの方はarguably the greatest French intellectual of our ageと彼を大作家のように持ち上げています。この記事が簡潔にまとめていますが、ウエルベック自身が軍事介入、多国籍主義に反対の立場なのでトランプを褒めるのは自然な流れになりますね。
Leading French intellectual says President is ‘classy’
Cockburn December 13, 2018
Michel Houellebecq, arguably the greatest French intellectual of our age, has just come out as a Trumpist, of sorts. In a deeply sardonic though sincere article in the latest issue of Harper’s, Houellebecq describes Trump as ‘one of the best American presidents.’
Houellebecq is a longstanding opponent of America’s liberal internationalism and military adventurism. He also dislikes multilateralism, and therefore cheers Trump’s criticism of the EU and NATO. He writes that he admired President Obama for ‘not adding Syria to the long list (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and others I’m no doubt forgetting) of Muslim lands where the West has committed atrocities.’
主なポイントは上記の2つの記事が触れてくれていますし、取り立てて面白い視点があるとは思えませんので特にオススメのエッセーではありません。Yutaが興味深く感じたのは、第二次世界大戦でもアメリカの支援はなくてよかったと言っている点と深入りはしていませんがOne of the constants in Europe’s long history is the struggle against Islamとはっきりとイスラムへの敵対心を顕にしている点でした。
Let’s go back all the way to the United States’s last morally unquestionable and militarily victorious intervention, namely its participation in World War II: What would have happened had the United States not entered the war (an unpleasant alternate history)? Without a doubt, the destiny of Asia would have been greatly altered. The destiny of Europe, too, but probably somewhat less. In any case, Hitler would have lost just the same. What’s most probable is that Stalin’s armies would have reached Cherbourg. Some European countries that were spared the ordeal of communism would have suffered it.
A disagreeable scenario, I admit, but a brief one. Forty years later, the Soviet Union would have collapsed all the same, simply because it rested on an ineffective and bogus ideology. Whatever the circumstances, whatever the culture in which communism has been established, it hasn’t managed to survive for so much as a century—not in any country in the world.
People’s memories aren’t very long. The Hungarians, the Poles, the Czechs of today—do they really remember that they used to be communists? Does the way they envision what’s at stake in Europe differ so much from the Western European viewpoint? It seems extremely unlikely. To adopt for a moment the language of the center-left, the “populist cancer” is not at all limited to the Visegrád Group. Above all, the arguments used in Austria, in Poland, in Italy, and in Sweden are exactly the same. One of the constants in Europe’s long history is the struggle against Islam; today, that struggle has simply returned to the foreground.
次の部分はオバマの非介入主義を評価しているところですが、ここでもthe long list (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and others I’m no doubt forgetting) of Muslim lands where the West has committed atrocitiesとイスラム教の土地であるとしています。イスラム関連の言及はこの程度ですが、イスラムへの反感のようなものを感じとってしまいます。
Enormous progress was made under Obama. Maybe he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a little too soon; but as far as I’m concerned, he truly earned it later, on the day when he refused to back Francois Hollande’s proposed attack on Syria. Obama’s attempts at racial reconciliation were less successful, and I don’t know your country well enough to understand exactly why; all I can do is regret the fact. But at the very least, Obama can be congratulated for not adding Syria to the long list (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and others I’m no doubt forgetting) of Muslim lands where the West has committed atrocities.
Trump is pursuing and amplifying the policy of disengagement initiated by Obama; this is very good news for the rest of the world.
Paris -Having praised Donald Trump last week as "one of the best American presidents", Michel Houellebecq, the ageing bad boy of French letters, may have another shock up his sleeve.
The controversial writer, who made his reputation with bestselling novels about sex tourism, swingers clubs and everyday misogyny, has called his next novel after the "happy chemical" which engenders well-being and happiness.
"Serotonin", which will be published in French on January 4, and then in Italian a week later, comes months after Houellebecq married for a third time, to a Chinese woman some two decades his junior.
Recent decades have seen a stream of catastrophes around the world - from 9.11 in 2001 to the global financial crisis of 2008, the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, and the list goes on - and many artists have produced works dealing with these tragic events, in an endeavor to inform the wider world of them, and ensure their stories are passed down to future generations. Unlike media coverage, with its emphasis on objectivity, such documenting from a personal perspective presents to us another kind of truth, difficult to discern in the shadow of numerically overwhelming public opinion. Such works may also be designed to expose contradictions and cover-ups in wider society, or express personal loss and grief.
Catastrophe and crisis can drive us to despair, yet it is also true that the energy released as we try to recover can simultaneously spark imagination, and boost creative output. The large cohort of artists from Japan and elsewhere is working for a better society since the 2011 earthquake; attempting to offer new visions, depicting ideals and hopes encompassing wishes for reconstruction and rebirth.
“Catastrophe and the Power of Art” will look at how art deals with the major catastrophes that strike communities, as well as personal tragedies, and the role art can play in our recovery; contemplating - amid today’s mounting crises of war, terrorism, burgeoning refugee numbers, and destruction of the environment - the dynamic “power of art” to turn negative into positive.
During the federal government shutdown, this website will not be updated and may not reflect current conditions. Some national parks may remain accessible to visitors; however, access may change without notice. Some parks are closed completely. Some visitor services may be available when provided by concessioners or other entities. For most parks, there will be no National Park Service-provided visitor services, such as restrooms, trash collection, facilities, or road maintenance. For more information, see www.doi.gov/shutdown and the park website.
Park Closure
Yosemite National Park is open
During the federal government shutdown, Yosemite is open and concessions are operating normally. Roads normally open in winter remain open, conditions permitting. Many National Park Service facilities are closed. If you have an emergency, call 911.
Federal parks are closed and more than 400,000 federal “essential” employees in those agencies will work without pay until the dispute is resolved. Another 380,000 will be “furloughed,” meaning they are put on temporary leave.
The U.S. National Parks will generally remain open with a skeleton staff, though an alert posted on the website of the National Park Service said some parks are closed completely. Republican governors in at least two states were working to make sure public restrooms get cleaned and visitor centers stay open.
Last Updated: 12:01 AM ET, Saturday, December 22, 2018
The lapse in funding for the Federal government may impact your reservation and travel plans.
Be aware that if you have an existing reservation during this lapse of funding period, and the location is not staffed, your reservation may not be honored.
We recommend that you do not make reservations for dates that fall within the lapse in funding timeframe, which begins at 12 am, Saturday, December 22 and extends for an unknown period. Some locations will remain open, while others will close. Contact those local offices to inquire about their status.
In addition, interagency and site-specific passes will not be sold during the lapse in funding period.
Be aware that if you have an existing reservation during this lapse of funding period, and the location is not staffed, your reservation may not be honored.
Please be aware that problems may occur while we change over to the new Web site.
新しいウエブサイトに切り替える間、障害が起こるかもしれないことを留意してください。
公開18年12月
Be aware that the parking lot is very small, so arrive early to get a spot.
駐車場がとても小さいので、早めに来て場所を確保してください。
公開18年12月
please be aware that our published flight times are subject to change as they are dependent on flight crew and aircraft availability, weather conditions, and other factors.
"Any measure that funds the government must include border security. Has to. Not for political purposes but for our country...It is our sacred obligation. We have no choice."
1950年代は「共産主義が世界に広がっていき自由民主主義が脅威にさらされる」という恐怖感があったことをドル紙幣のIn God We Trustという標語を入れた動きがあったことからも伺い知ることができました。ソ連の崩壊は1989年ですから今の20代-30代の若者はそのような脅威も感じられないかもしれません。
Communism is a belief in the power of people to organise their lives as individuals, their social lives, their political and their economic lives, without being managed by a state, and private property is a barrier to the distribution of those resources that we need to not just survive but thrive.
"I'm a critic of the Democratic Party because I'm literally a communist."
Lucy DiavoloJUL 15, 2018 3:06PM EDT
TV: How does being a communist impact your view of the U.S. presidency, whether it's Obama or Trump?
AS: If you've got politics which are left of social democracy, it implies that you've got an understanding that the economic platform used by Obama, which was [also] advocated by Clinton, did dispossess a great many Americans, and this isn't just the "white working class" everyone loves to talk about in relation to Trump.
Those who have suffered the most are working-class Americans of color. To me, having those politics means that you can look at economic problems without making it identity politics in the way that Trump has. Also, being a communist means being a fierce critic of the prison industrial complex and the military industrial complex. The expanded use of drone warfare and the expansive use of deportation under Obama. You can be a vocal critic of all those things, while also looking at how Trump [has done them] because, quite simply, he was able to build on a lot of Obama's legacy, particularly in terms of executive overreach. He's been able to pursue extreme, draconian forms of state violence.
I also think that Obama represented a possibility of change, of weakened forces of racism in America — pretty meaningful. I'm not going to be someone who's going to discredit his legacy entirely.
The political model that’s needed to [deal] with — the idea of surplus disposable population — is fascism. So technology can represent the oncoming of an incredibly authoritarian and violent means of controlling that serf-level population.
Or — and this is the fun communism bit — you say, ‘OK, technology, which Marx calls fixed capital in The Fragment on the Machine, has a contradictory element because on the one hand it makes you more precarious as a worker. On the other hand, it shows what you can be when liberated from work because you've got all this extra time. You can imagine different ways of living. You can pursue your passions. You can live a happy life.’ Why don't we just bring that technology into common ownership? Ownership of the people, not the capitalist class, and distribute the abundance generated by that fixed capital equitably.
And there are different ways of distributing that more equitably. That's possible under social democracy through taxation or universal basic income. It's possible under socialism. But communism is the only thing which says all things should be brought into the hands of commons to benefit all people. In the past, you'd call that communism. I think in the future, we'll have to call that common sense.
J'ai quelque chose à vous dire. Comme disent les américains, "In Goude we trust!"
I have something to tell you. As the Americans say, "In Goude we trust!"
別にIn God we trustなんて知らなくても英語力に関係はないんですけど、In God we trustは英和辞典ではカバーしてくれていますが、英英辞典の方にはほとんど載っていないようです。
（ウィズダム）
In God we trust.
我々は神を信じる (!米紙幣の裏や硬貨の表に印刷･刻印されている) .
(Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
In God We Trust
1. a motto appearing on U.S. currency.
2. motto of Florida.
家にあるドル紙幣を確認すると「In God We Trust」と裏面にありました。こういう馴染みの深い言葉は様々なバリエーションが生まれやすいですね。
（アメリカ英語背景辞典）
In God we trust, all others pay cash. 「神様は信用、神様以外はみな現金」
米国の硬貨にはIN GOD WE TRUST「われら神を信ず」と刻まれている。この言葉を茶化したものがIn God we trust, all others pay cash.である。「神様は信用できるからツケでもよいが、神様以外は現金でなければだめ」の意味である。「神様以外」とは「人間」である。ふざけて店頭に貼り出していることがある。
あとIn God we trust, all others bring data.は、PDCA（Plan→ Do→ Check→ Action）サイクルの提唱者と言われるエドワーズ・デミングの言葉だそうです。「神様以外はデータに基づいて主張しなさい」という意味のようです。このバリエーションはIn God we trust, all others we track.とか、In God we trust, all others we verify.とかがあるようです。
"In God We Trust" is the official motto of the United States of America, Nicaragua, and of the U.S. state of Florida. It was adopted as the United States' motto in 1956 as a replacement or alternative to the unofficial motto of E pluribus unum, which was adopted when the Great Seal of the United States was created and adopted in 1782.
Wikipediaにもそのように説明されていますね。
During the Cold War era, the government of the United States sought to distinguish itself from the Soviet Union, which promoted state atheism and thus implemented antireligious legislation.[26] The 84th Congress passed a joint resolution "declaring IN GOD WE TRUST the national motto of the United States". The resolution passed both the House and the Senate unanimously and without debate.[27][28] The law was signed by President Eisenhower on July 30, 1956.[29] The United States Code at 36 U.S.C. § 302, now states: "'In God we trust' is the national motto."
The same day, the President signed into law[30] a requirement that "In God We Trust" be printed on all U.S. currency and coins. On paper currency, it first appeared on the silver certificate in 1957, followed by other certificates. Federal Reserve Notes and United States Notes were circulated with the motto starting from 1964 to 1966, depending on the denomination.[20][31] (Of these, only Federal Reserve Notes are still circulated.)
Representative Charles Edward Bennett of Florida cited the Cold War when he introduced the bill in the House, saying "In these days when imperialistic and materialistic communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, we should continually look for ways to strengthen the foundations of our freedom". [32]
今月初めに終わってしまっていたようですが、ジャポニズムに関した展覧会もやっていたようです。TOEICではMuseum of Impressionist Artが登場したので、JaponismeとかJapanese Artなんかも出て欲しいですね。
Japanese Connections: The Birth of Modern Décor
East meets West in this unique exhibition, which explores the influence of Japanese art on the development of modern décor at the turn of the twentieth century.
For the first time in the Middle East, discover masterpieces from a pioneering group of post-impressionist artists, alongside the prints of the Japanese masters Hiroshige and Hokusai, which inspired them. Presented by Musée d'Orsay
Following the opening up of Japan to the West in the 1850s, artists, designers and makers across Europe became gripped by a new fashion for 'Japonisme'. The exhibition focuses on a pioneering group of Parisian artists who had deep admiration for Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin's innovative art.
On display are beautiful landscapes by the great Japanese masters Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai side by side with dream-like paintings and interior decors by the likes of Pierre Bonnard, Odilon Redon, and Edouard Vuillard. Many of these incredible works have never left France before. Louvre Abu Dhabi brings them together to highlight the importance of cross-cultural influence in the development of the decorative arts.
Admission is included with your museum general admission ticket.
“That's a secret of the firm,” she replied in Russian with a smile, after telling a photographer, with another smile, in English: “Remember, make me young and beautiful.” But she relented in an interview and gave a technical explanation of what she said is now known as the “Beryozka step” in the So viet Union.
“Not even all our dancers can do it,” she said. “You have to move in very small steps on very low half‐toe with the body held in a certain corresponding position.”
The result is the floating effect that has been the trademark of the company, which started as a women's troupe in 1948.
The dance in which this smooth flow is best seen is the ancient Russian round dance known as the khorovod.
“The khorovod is characteristic of all Slavic peoples,” Miss Nadezhdina ex plained. “Its roots go back to pagan times. The circle represented the sun and the khorovod was danced to the god of the sun, Yarila.
“Since then the khorovods have been greatly developed and they are very varied. Perhaps it is immodest on my part, but I think I have contributed to this dance.”
“Beryozka,” the title dance, means “little birch.” As the girls move in this staged khorovod, choreographed by Miss Nadezhdina, they carry birch branches.
The internet is so amazing because with the click of a button, you can take a peek into art, cultures and traditions from around the world. While the type of performance you’re about to see may not be considered as hip or sexy to us Americans, there are other parts of the globe where it’s truly revered.
Prepare to be wowed by a group of Russian folk dancers that go by the name of Berezka. Because of the way these graceful dancers slide and glide on stage, it looks as though they’re on roller skates; there’s barely any movement from the hip down. This kind of dancing takes a lot of concentration and precise movements, so as not to fall out of sync.
After Mary and her lover, bohemian ratbag poet Percy Shelley, run away from Mary’s father—renowned radical philosopher William Godwin (Stephen Dillane)—with Mary’s step sister Claire Clairmont (Bel Powley) in tow, they form the era equivalent of a trio of emo teens living in their first flat; drinking cheap red wine, sleeping with one another, getting pregnant and living off Percy’s allowance – until he is cut off… Naturally, they escape their creditors and decamp to Lord Byron’s (Tom Sturridge) swish Swiss holiday mansion where one stormy evening he issues a literary challenge which sparks the origin of Frankenstein.
こういう単語の扱いは辞書によって差が出ます。ロングマンがあっさりなのに比べて、オックスフォードではemoのファンもさすことを指し、Emos are typically supposed to be emotional and sensitive and full of angst.と踏み込んだ説明をしています。
（ロングマン）
a type of punk music whose song lyrics (=words) are full of emotion
（オックスフォード）
emo
1 [uncountable] a style of rock music that developed from punk, but has more complicated musical arrangements and deals with more emotional subjects
2 [countable] a person who likes emo music and often follows emo fashion, wearing tight jeans and having long black hair. Emos are typically supposed to be emotional and sensitive and full of angst.
高潔さが無用でポピュリストの手法を使えというわけではないのですが、演出家のハイトナーの問題意識をYutaも共有します。特にBut their arrogance is their undoing. Their remoteness from the street blinds them to the fragility of their grip on popular opinion.（彼らの傲慢さが崩壊の始まりだった。一般市民とかけ離れていたので世論の支持が脆いことを見通せなかったのだ）の部分なんかは。
A vain leader bent on absolute power; an elite that ignores the appeal of populism ... after a Trumpian reimagining of Julius Caesar caused outrage in New York, the director explains why he’s bringing Shakespeare’s tragedy to a divided Britain
Nicholas Hytner
Thu 25 Jan 2018 14.57 GMT Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 15.28 GMT
The leaders of the metropolitan elite are terrified that the state could slide at any moment into tyranny. They’re convinced that they’re working for the common good, but they’re equally concerned for their own position in a system that works well for them. Many of them went to school together. Their privilege comes with their class and education.
So they decide to get rid of the tyrant before he gets the chance to abuse his power any further. They suppose the streets will echo to the cry of freedom. They have no doubt that the people will share their fear for the future.
But their arrogance is their undoing. Their remoteness from the street blinds them to the fragility of their grip on popular opinion. The liberal establishment is trounced by a demagogue who appeals to the gut, and tells the stories the mob wants to hear. The masses turn on the liberals. The tyrant is replaced by another, younger and more ruthless. Once the body politic is infected with the virus of authoritarianism, it can’t be eradicated.
Over the years, I’ve staged plays by Shakespeare that seemed to speak about the Iraq war, the 2008 financial crisis, and the power of the surveillance state, among many other contemporary preoccupations. I’ve never before staged a play that has said so much about our present, or warned of such a terrible future. It addresses directly the failure of dismayed liberals (count me as one of them) to understand and overcome the appeal of populism. It exposes the manipulative half-truths and outright falsehoods that are the populists’ stock in trade. It is unsentimental about the gullibility of the multitude: if Caesar had stabbed their mothers, says one of the establishment, they would have forgiven him. Seventy-five drachmas, £350 million per week, whatever it takes.
In Julius Caesar, once the populist genie is out of the bottle, there is nothing to stop the slide into violence, and a contemporary Julius Caesar does not need to travel far to suggest civil war on the streets of a great city. We may hope to avoid that dystopia in London, but the tragic destiny of a society that has succumbed to mutual incomprehension and loathing may be harder to escape.
With characteristic clear-sightedness, Hytner manages to split Shakespeare’s play into an analysis of the political system: leaders, political elites and people. By playing it in promenade, he doesn’t merely turn us into the crowd — those “friends, Romans, countrymen” David Morrissey’s gruff and emotive Mark Antony calls upon — it’s that we play along. We sing along with the band (Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”), chant Caesar’s name as one and wave posters when prompted. All the while, pushed this way and that by burly stagehands, we’re completely aware of our own manipulation — and, indeed, our willing submission
The winner of the international prize for Arabic fiction reimagines Mary Shelley’s classic in war-torn Iraq
Alexander Larman Sun 18 Feb 2018
It seems appropriate that the first English translation of Saadawi’s work should appear two centuries after Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein first shocked the world. Comparisons between the two books are prompted by the titles, but those expecting Romantic dialogues on the nature of humanity and man’s immortal soul will be disappointed. While Shelley’s creature waxed lyrical about Paradise Lost, Saadawi’s knows all too well that it inhabits a world that has never been paradisal in the slightest. Its rampage, which is funny and disturbing in equal measure, ultimately amounts to little when life is cheap and death has become the common currency of the frightened, fragile people who populate this remarkable book.
Their more meritocratic, diverse and secular successors rule us neither as wisely nor as well.
By Ross Douthat Opinion Columnist Dec. 5, 2018
Put simply, Americans miss Bush because we miss the WASPs — because we feel, at some level, that their more meritocratic and diverse and secular successors rule us neither as wisely nor as well.
noblesse oblige and personal austerity and pietyやcosmopolitanismなどWASPの価値観を挙げているのは次のところです。
Those virtues included a spirit of noblesse oblige and personal austerity and piety that went beyond the thank-you notes and boat shoes and prep school chapel going — a spirit that trained the most privileged children for service, not just success, that sent men like Bush into combat alongside the sons of farmers and mechanics in the same way that it sent missionaries and diplomats abroad in the service of their churches and their country.
The WASP virtues also included a cosmopolitanism that was often more authentic than our own performative variety — a cosmopolitanism that coexisted with white man’s burden racism but also sometimes transcended it, because for every Brahmin bigot there was an Arabist or China hand or Hispanophile who understood the non-American world better than some of today’s shallow multiculturalists.
If at this point you think I am painting a fantasy of a world that never existed, let me give you a vivid example. On the Titanic’s maiden voyage, its first-class cabins were filled with the Forbes 400 of the age. As the ship began to sink and it became clear there were not enough lifeboats for everyone, something striking took place. As Wyn Wade recounts, the men let the women and children board the boats. In first class, about 95 percent of the women and children were saved, compared with only about 30 percent of the men. While, of course, first-class passengers had easier access to the boats, the point remains that some of the world’s most powerful men followed an unwritten code of conduct, even though it meant certain death for them.
Today’s elites are chosen in a much more open, democratic manner, largely through education. Those who do well on tests get into good colleges, then good graduate schools, then get the best jobs and so on. But their power flows from this treadmill of achievement, so they are constantly moving, looking out for their own survival and success. Their perspective is narrower, their horizon shorter-term, their actions more self-interested.
****
Let me be clear. I — of all people — am not calling for a revival of the WASP establishment. I am asking, can we learn something from its virtues? Today’s elites should be more aware of their privilege and at least live by one simple old-fashioned, universal idea — rich or poor, talented or not, educated or uneducated, every human being has equal moral worth.
Ross Douthatのコラムは反響が大きすぎたようで、弁明のようなコラムを書いていました。現在のエリートが自己中心的になっているというのはZakariaと同じ問題意識です。
But I think that same upper class was unwise to abandon an aristocratic self-conception in favor of a meritocratic one. On the evidence we have, the meritocratic ideal ends up being just as undemocratic as the old emphasis on inheritance and tradition, and it forges an elite that has an aristocracy’s vices (privilege, insularity, arrogance) without the sense of duty, self-restraint and noblesse oblige that WASPs at their best displayed.
現在は行き過ぎた能力主義になっていないかと問題点を挙げています。
This was meritocracy, the system that we now take for granted. And for several reasons it didn’t work as planned.
First, meritocracy segregates talent rather than dispersing it. By plucking the highest achievers from all over the country and encouraging them to cluster together in the same few cities, it robs localities of their potential leaders — so that instead of an Eastern establishment negotiating with overlapping groups of regional elites (or with working-class or ethnic leaders), you have a mass upper class segregated from demoralized peripheries.
Second, the meritocratic elite inevitably tends back toward aristocracy, because any definition of “merit” you choose will be easier for the children of these self-segregated meritocrats to achieve.
批判的な反響としては次のVICEなんかはYutaには説得力があります。the problem was that so many elites turned out to be corrupt, incompetent, or bothとWASPに問題がありありだったことを指摘しています。具体的にニクソンやレーガン、ブッシュの時代の問題点を挙げています。
The Watergate scandal, a signature postwar sign that powerful people weren't especially competent or moral, was arguably handled by the establishment about as well as could be expected. Bush, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee at the time, defended Richard Nixon until deep into the saga, though he eventually urged the president to resign. But even if the post-Watergate era featured a host of campaign finance and pro-transparency reforms, elites didn't stop trying to hide unethical behavior. More than a decade later, the Reagan administration sold arms to the Iranian regime (in violation of an explicit Congressional ban) and funneled the profits to right-wing guerrillas in Nicaragua. The Iran-Contra scandal, as it was known, led to a years-long investigation that only ended when Bush, in arguably one of his worst moments, pardoned six officials caught up in it just before he left the White House. (The question of how closely Bush himself was involved in the affair may never be answered.)
The Reagan era provided Americans with more reasons to regard the ruling class with suspicion. Thanks in part to the anti-labor policies of Republicans, real wages were stagnant, and have mostly remained so since. The country's WASP leadership often ignored problems facing people who didn't look or act like them, as the Bush administration did when it continued Ronald Reagan's legacy of not reacting quickly or strongly enough to the AIDS epidemic. The war on drugs, endorsed by leaders of both parties, sent people of color to prison en masse—Bush accelerated it, calling for “more jails, more prisons, more courts, and more prosecutors.” And neither party came out of the 90s looking especially virtuous—Bill Clinton lied about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, his chief antagonist, was carrying on an affair while going after Clinton with puritan indignation.
Jon MeachamのThe Soul of Americaを読みたいと思いつつ読めてなかったので、彼がEulogyを述べるのを聴きました。ブッシュの伝記の著者でもあり故人を讃える素晴らしいスピーチになっています。スクリプトは以下のサイトで読めますし、話す速度もゆっくり目なので英語学習にも活用できます。
The story was almost over even before it had fully begun.という印象的な文で、スピーチは従軍中の父島で撃墜されたエピソードから始まります。
The story was almost over even before it had fully begun. Shortly after dawn on Saturday, September 2, 1944, Lieutenant Junior Grade George Herbert Walker Bush, joined by two crew mates, took off from the USS San Jacinto to attack a radio tower on Chichijima. As they approached the target, the air was heavy with flack. The plane was hit. Smoke filled the cockpit; flames raced across the wings. "My god," Lieutenant Bush thought, "this thing's gonna go down." Yet he kept the plane in its 35-degree dive, dropped his bombs, and then roared off out to sea, telling his crew mates to hit the silk. Following protocol, Lieutenant Bush turned the plane so they could bail out.
物語は終わりかけていました。まだ始まってもいなかったのに。夜が明けたばかりの1944年9月2日土曜日、中尉であるGeorge Herbert Walker Bushは、2名の乗組員とともに、空母サン・ジャシントを飛び立ち、父島の無線塔を攻撃に向かいました。目標に近づくと上空は対空砲が激しく、戦闘機は撃墜されました。煙がコクピットに充満し、翼には火が回っていました。「なんてことだ」ブッシュ中尉は思いました、「これだと墜落するな」。それでも飛行機を35度の降下姿勢に保ち、爆撃してから、ごう音を立てながら海に向かい、乗組員にパラシュート降下を言い渡しました。手順に従い、ブッシュ中尉は飛行機の向きを変え、乗組員が脱出できるようにしました。
Only then did Bush parachute from the cockpit. The wind propelled him backward, and he gashed his head on the tail of the plane as he flew through the sky. He plunged deep into the ocean, bobbed to the surface, and flopped onto a tiny raft. His head bleeding, his eyes burning, his mouth and throat raw from salt water, the future 41st President of the United States was alone. Sensing that his men had not made it, he was overcome. He felt the weight of responsibility as a nearly physical burden. And he wept. Then, at four minutes shy of noon, a submarine emerged to rescue the downed pilot. George Herbert Walker Bush was safe. The story, his story and ours, would go on by God's grace.
それから初めてブッシュはコクピットからパラシュートを開きました。風によって押し戻され、機尾で頭部を負傷し、空を降りて行きました。着水時に深く潜り、海面に飛び出てから、小さなゴムボートに乗り込みました。頭部から出血し、目は腫れ上がり、口や喉は海水でひりひりと痛みました。これから米国第41代大統領となる人物は一人でした。他の乗組員はうまくいかなったことがわかり、うろたえました。責任感の重みが実際の重荷として感じるほどで、泣き悲しみました。その後、あと4分ほどで正午になるところで、潜水艦が浮上して、落ち込んでいるパイロットを救助しました。George Herbert Walker Bushは無事でした。この物語、彼の物語でもあり、我々のものである物語は神の恩寵でさらに続くことになります。
Through the ensuing decades, President Bush would frequently ask, nearly daily, he'd ask himself, "why me? Why was I spared?" And in a sense, the rest of his life was a perennial effort to prove himself worthy of his salvation on that distant morning. To him, his life was no longer his own. There were always more missions to undertake, more lives to touch, and more love to give. And what a headlong race he made of it all. He never slowed down.
On the primary campaign trail in New Hampshire once, he grabbed the hand of a department store mannequin, asking for votes. When he realized his mistake, he said, "Never know. Gotta ask." You can hear the voice, can't you? As Dana Carvey said, the key to a Bush 41 impersonation is Mr. Rogers trying to be John Wayne.
George Herbert Walker Bush was America's last great soldier-statesman, a 20th century founding father. He governed with virtues that most closely resemble those of Washington and of Adams, of TR and of FDR, of Truman and of Eisenhower, of men who believed in causes larger than themselves. Six-foot-two, handsome, dominant in person, President Bush spoke with those big strong hands, making fists to underscore points.
George Herbert Walker Bushはアメリカ最後の第二次大戦の従軍経験のある政治家です。20世紀の建国の父たちの一人です。彼の政治家としての美徳はワシントンやジョン・アダムズ、シオドア・ルーズベルト、フランクリン・デラノ・ルーズベルト、トルーマン、アイゼンハワーなどと大変似通っており、自分よりも大きな大義を信じている人物の美徳です。身長6フィート2インチ（約188cm）で、ハンサム、自らの力を頼りにブッシュ大統領は話をする時、大げさに手を動かして、拳を作ってポイントを強調しました。
（脇道ですが）話をして難しいのは相手がジョークを語っているかどうかでしょう。これはYutaの勝手な推測なんですが、President Bush spoke with those big strong hands, making fists to underscore pointsの部分はDana Carveyが茶化して演じた大統領を念頭に置いていると思ってそちらに寄せて訳しました。Dana Carveyの動画を見てもらえればわかると思います。ここで笑いを取るつもりだったのかもしれませんが、あまり受けていませんね。。。Dana Carveyは当時のブッシュ大統領の真似が話題を呼んだ人物で今のトランプを演じるアレック・ボールドウィンのようなものでしょう。
Mr. Rogersとは次の見出語の人物でWikipediaでは「彼の心優しく、礼儀正しいソフトな語り口調と視聴者への実直な態度で人気を博した」とあります。
（オックスフォード）
Mr Rogers' Neighborhood
a popular US television series on PBS for young children which began in 1966. It was presented by Fred Rogers (1928-2003), who always told children, ‘You are special. I like you just the way you are.’
これはまさにブッシュ大統領の人柄も表してもいます。TIMEではブッシュ大統領が目指したものは“It’s ‘kinder and gentler’ all over the place.”とありました。Mr Rogerにも通じるものがありますね。でもだからこそ「弱虫」イメージがつきまとったので強気なところを見せる必要があったのでしょう。日本のツイッターでバズっていたブロッコリーがらみのネタも含まれていますが、次の動画では「弱虫」な人物では全くなかったとフォローをして追悼していました。
George H.W. Bush was not a president largely in the tradition of the soldier-statesman Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said that his goal was to take America “down the middle of the road between the unfettered power of concentrated wealth . . . and the unbridled power of statism or partisan interests.”
冒頭に、軍人出身の政治家Dwight D. Eisenhowerの伝統に大きく従った大統領では「ない」とnotがありますよね。スピーチ内容を踏まえても、ブッシュの従軍経験を踏まえても「おやっ違うぞ」と首を傾げたくなります。ちなみに紙版の方ではこのnotがなかったです。内容からいって紙版の方が正しいはずです。
It must be said that for a keenly intelligent statesman of stirring, almost unparalleled, private eloquence, public speaking was not exactly a strong suit. "Fluency in English," President Bush once remarked, "is something that I'm often not accused of." Looking ahead to the '88 election, he observed inarguably, "it's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or the other." And late in his presidency, he allowed that "we are enjoying sluggish times, but we are not enjoying them very much."
His tongue may have run amuck at moments, but his heart was steadfast. His life code, as he said, was "Tell the truth. Don't blame people. Be strong. Do your best. Try hard. Forgive. Stay the course." And that was and is the most American of creeds. Abraham Lincoln's "better angels of our nature" and George H.W. Bush's "thousand points of light" are companion verses in America's national hymn. For Lincoln and Bush both called on us to choose the right over the convenient, to hope rather than to fear, and to heed not our worst impulses, but our best instincts.
今回のタイトルにさせてもらったWhy me? Why was I spared? （どうして私なのか。どうして私が助かったのか）は終戦を迎えて日本でも同じように思いを抱えて復興に取り組んだ方々たくさんいそうです。
That was the real George H.W. Bush, a loving man with a big, vibrant, all-enveloping heart. And so we ask, as we commend his soul to God, and as he did, "Why him? Why was he spared?" The workings of providence are mysterious, but this much is clear: that George Herbert Walker Bush, who survived that fiery fall into the waters of the Pacific three quarters of a century ago, made our lives and the lives of nations freer, better, warmer, and nobler.
これこそが本当のGeorge H.W. Bushで、優しい男で大きな血の通った全てを包み込む心を持っているのです。ですから、我々が問うのは神に彼の魂を委ね、彼がしてきたように「どうして彼なのか。どうして彼が助かったのか」です。神の摂理は人知を越えていますが、これはほぼ明らかです。George Herbert Walker Bushが炎上して撃墜され太平洋の海上で生き延びたのが4分の３世紀前、その後、我々の生活を、様々な国の人々の生活をより自由に、より思いやりのあるものに、より気高いものにしました。
That was his mission. That was his heart beat. And if we listen closely enough, we can hear that heartbeat even now. For it's the heartbeat of a lion, a lion who not only led us, but who loved us. That's why him. That's why he was spared.
Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
勝利を得る者は、これらのものを受け継ぐ。わたしはその者の神になり、その者はわたしの子となる。
Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (General Instruction of the Roman Missal)
After the collect, all sit. The priest may, very briefly, introduce the faithful to the Liturgy of the Word. Then the lector goes to the ambo and, from the Lectionary already placed there before Mass, proclaims the first reading, to which all listen. At the end, the lector says the acclamation, Verbum Domini (The word of the Lord), and all respond, Deo gratias (Thanks be to God).
実は先週 A Private Warを見る機会があったのですが、これも感想は後ほど（焦らすわけではなく、なんかまとめるのに時間がかかるので。。。）マシュー・ハイネマン監督はドキュメンタリー『ラッカは静かに虐殺されている』を撮っていた人なんですね。英語版のタイトルがCity of Ghostsだったので気づかなかったです。。。
Marie Colvinはスリランカで攻撃を受けて片目の視力を失うんですが、予告編にある襲撃場面で“I’m not armed! Journalist.”と自ら訴えて身を守ろうとしています。武装集団にそんなことをしても無駄なのにと彼女の行動は不可解だったのですが、文民保護規定というのがあったのですね。次のTIMEの記事で知りました。
Marie Colvin was marked to die. She was targeted by dictator Bashar al-Assad as surely as the shadowy powers in the royal court of Saudi Arabia plotted the murder and dismemberment of the critic Jamal Khashoggi. He was dead from the moment he walked into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to collect a wedding license. She was dead from the moment al-Assad’s artillery picked up the signal of her satellite broadcast in February 2012.
She had hunched her way two-and-a-half miles through a drainage tunnel only four-and-a-half feet high to reach the besieged remnants of Homs, where 28,000 starving families with no electricity sheltered from daily shelling. It was her second visit in a week, her first report bannered by The Sunday Times (U.K.). Assad was more straightforward about her death than the Saudi’s absurd concoctions. “It’s war and she came illegally to Syria. She worked with terrorists, and because she came illegally, she’s been responsible for everything that befalls her.”
Foreign correspondents reporting armed conflicts, like Marie Colvin and her photographer Paul Conroy, who was injured in the attack, are targeted for murder, detained or kidnapped. International humanitarian law prescribes protections in Protocol 77 to the Geneva Convention. Some 174 nations have signed and ratified. America has signed but is one of only five yet to ratify.
Article 79 -- Measures of protection for journalists
1. Journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians within the meaning of Article 50, paragraph 1.
2. They shall be protected as such under the Conventions and this Protocol, provided that they take no action adversely affecting their status as civilians, and without prejudice to the right of war correspondents accredited to the armed forces to the status provided for in Article 4 A (4) of the Third Convention.
3. They may obtain an identity card similar to the model in Annex II of this Protocol. This card, which shall be issued by the government of the State of which the journalist is a national or in whose territory he resides or in which the news medium employing him is located, shall attest to his status as a journalist.
この51条にはThe civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. （文民たる住民及び個々の文民は、軍事行動から生ずる危険からの一般的保護を受ける。）と文民は保護されることとなっているんですね。
ジュリアス・シーザーを見に行くことができたのですが、演劇そのものの感想はまた別の機会で。シェイクスピア劇のあるあるは、ことわざ表現が登場することです。というか、シェイクスピア劇が初出のケースなのでシェイクスピアが本家なのですが。。。ジュリアスシーザーで登場したのはGreek to meでした。
BBCの動画が丁寧に説明してくれています。
(Wikipedia)
Origins
It may have been a direct translation of a similar phrase in Latin: "Graecum est; non legitur" ("it is Greek, [therefore] it cannot be read"). This phrase was increasingly used by monk scribes in the Middle Ages, as knowledge of the Greek alphabet and language was dwindling among those who were copying manuscripts in monastic libraries.[citation needed]
Recorded usage of the metaphor in English traces back to the early modern period. It appears in 1599 in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, as spoken by Servilius Casca to Cassius after a festival in which Caesar was offered a crown:
CASSIUS: Did Cicero say any thing?
CASCA: Ay, he spoke Greek.
CASSIUS: To what effect?
CASCA: Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it.
3月15日を警戒せよ〘Julius Caesarが暗殺前に受けていた警告(Shakespeare作, Julius Caesarより); 凶事の警告〙.
（ロングマン）
Ides of March, the
March 15th, famous for being the day on which Julius Caesar was killed by a group of his former friends because they thought he had too much power. Caesar is supposed to have been warned by a fortune-teller to ‘beware the Ides of March’. People sometimes use this expression when giving a warning.
It's all greek to meに関しては今でも使えるイディオムですが、面白いのは各言語によって難しい言語というのは変わること。Wikipediaは言語ごとの類似表現を紹介してくれていました。中でも中国語が標的になることが多いようです。
In an article published by Arnold L. Rosenberg in the language journal Lingvisticæ Investigationes, he claimed that there was a popular "consensus" that Chinese was the "hardest" language, since various non-English languages most frequently used the Chinese language in their equivalent expression to the English idiom "it's all Greek to me".[1] Also, David Moser of the University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies made the same claim as Arnold L. Rosenberg.
Whether Ghosn hid income or not, it's now quite plain that his ouster was orchestrated because other powerful people within Nissan wanted him gone and had grown tired of the Renault alliance. Nissan needed a pretext for getting rid of Ghosn, even if it meant a public and messy parting, and now they are wasting little time stepping into the power vacuum to begin chipping away at the alliance.
Et tu, Saikawa?
I suspect Ghosn probably was trying to shield income from taxes. Whether it was legal or not is the question. That said, if if comes out some months from now that Ghosn didn't actually break any tax laws with his income, but that this all originated with leaks from high within Nissan aimed at ousting Ghosn, I wouldn't be at all surprised.
有名なのはその後のアントニーの民衆を扇動するスピーチのようです。言葉では an honourable manと言っていても、実はそうじゃない人物だとスピーチで持っていくので役者の腕の見せ所かもしれません。
"Read my lips: no new taxes" is a phrase spoken by then-American presidential candidate George H. W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention as he accepted the nomination on August 18. Written by speechwriter Peggy Noonan, the line was the most prominent sound bite from the speech. The pledge not to tax the American people further had been a consistent part of Bush's 1988 election platform, and its prominent inclusion in his speech cemented it in the public consciousness. The impact of the election promise was considerable, and many supporters of Bush believe it helped Bush win the 1988 presidential election.
The line later hurt Bush politically. Although he did oppose the creation of new taxes as president, the Democratic-controlled Congress proposed increases of existing taxes as a way to reduce the national budget deficit. Bush negotiated with Congress for a budget that met his pledge, but was unable to make a deal with a Senate and House that was controlled by the opposing Democrats. Bush agreed to a compromise, which increased several existing taxes as part of a 1990 budget agreement.[1]
Yutaがブッシュ大統領で印象に残っているのはNew World Orderという言葉。冷戦終結の時に青年だったYutaとしてはフランシス・フクヤマの歴史の終わりなどとともにより良い世界が実現すると素朴に信じることができた頃でした。
(Wikipedia)
この用語が陰謀史観のコミュニティだけではなく一般にも広く知られるようになったのは、1988年12月7日に時のソビエト連邦共産党書記長ミハイル・ゴルバチョフが、全世界に向けて行った国連演説がきっかけである。また1990年9月11日に時のアメリカ大統領ジョージ・H・W・ブッシュが湾岸戦争前に連邦議会で行った『新世界秩序へ向けて（Toward a New World Order）』というスピーチでアメリカでも有名になった。下記は1991年3月6日の『新世界秩序（New World Order）』というスピーチの一部の抜粋。
Until now, the world we’ve known has been a world divided—a world of barbed wire and concrete block, conflict and cold war. Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order. In the words of Winston Churchill, a "world order" in which "the principles of justice and fair play ... protect the weak against the strong ..." A world where the United Nations, freed from cold war stalemate, is poised to fulfill the historic vision of its founders. A world in which freedom and respect for human rights find a home among all nations.
DALLAS, TEXAS – "Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died. George H. W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41’s life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens."
朝日新聞の「息子、娘にとっては最高に頼れる父親でした」はthe best dad a son or daughter could ask forを訳したものでしょう。共同の外電をオリジナルの英文を確認もせずに書いたのではと思ったのですが、共同通信は「望みうる最良の父だった」と英文に忠実に訳していました。疑ってしまってごめんなさい。
During the current fiscal year our focus will primarily be on further broadening our line of footwear, and on incorporating more features that customers have asked for.
