月: 2020年8月

安倍晋三首相の突然の引退会見、海外でも報道されたようで、アービン君がスカイプしてきました。

Arvin
Hi, Toshi-san. I was browsing the web and came up with an article about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s determination to resign from his post.
What exactly happened?

Toshi
Well, it was so sudden that we have no idea what was going on behind the scene. But I get the feeling that the main reason is his health.

Arvin
Is there any other reason than that? Such as declining support rates or a possible rebellion by his fellow party members?

Toshi
I don’t think that’s the case this time. There are many tweets thanking his dedication to his duties. Also now is not the time to reshuffle leadership amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Arvin
He had good programs especially during the onset of the coronavirus, right? Yeah, I think. He was able to give aid to many people. That’s good he was able to do those. He was able to express his strong will and initiative, right?

Toshi
Exactly that is correct. However, it is also pointed out that he had this strong ambition to change our constitution. It would allow SDF (Self-Defense Forces) to fight overseas.

Arvin
Do you mean that any military activities are prohibited under the current Constitution?

Toshi
That’s right.

Arvin
Even if it’s just for help or assistance?

Toshi
Basically, yes.

Arvin
What do the Japanese citizen feel about Prime Minister Abe’s intention?

Toshi
They are split into two sides – pros and opposition, almost fifty-fifty.

Arvin
If it was a law that was made a long time ago and now it no longer benefits the people of the current time, I think it’s only good to make some modifications to it.

Toshi
You have a point there. But there are still many people who insist that the law should be kept as it is. They believe any change would bring Japan back to what it used to be before the end of WW2.

Arvin
Toshi-san, there is a proverb, so to speak, the only permanent thing in this world is change. So I guess Japan cannot stay like this forever.

Toshi
Well, let’s see what happens in the future.

某国で法学を学んでいる中国人学生チェン君とスカイプで話しました。
遠い昔、小説か何かで読んだカッコイイ弁護士の話を彼にし、将来そんな風になってほしいと伝えました。

Toshi
Hello, Chen.

Chen
Hello, Toshi-san

Toshi
I understand that you are a law student.

Chen
That’s　right.

Toshi
What gets you interested in law?

Chen
Actually when I was a child I dreamed of becoming a lawyer.
So I’m very glad to achieve that dream.

Toshi
How do you find studying law?

Chen
It’s very challenging as it involves a lot of reading and memorization.
Also you have to have very good English. Not just good, but it has to be very good English.

Toshi
What kind of a lawyer do you want to become? The one who wants to fight for money, or the one who wants to fight for human rights?

Chen
A trial lawyer. The ones who appear in court. Other than that, I’ve never thought about it.

Toshi
When I was younger, I read about a young lawyer who believed his role was to save people from poverty. One day he learned that there’s an old man who was refused a welfare subsidy. And the lawyer appealed to the court that the government was ignoring fundamental human rights. In the end he won the trial and the poor man was able to get the subsidy.

Chen
That’s a very touching story and I actually like how the lawyer helped the poor guy.

Toshi
There is more to the story. The poor old man thanked the lawyer but he had no money to reward him. The attorney said “Oh no worries. I need no compensation from you. It’s enough to see your smiling face.”

Chen
Wow. He’s pretty cool, isn’t he?

Toshi
Well, Chen. You are young. You have a tremendous amount of time ahead of you.
I hope someday you will be able to devote your energy to helping a lot of people who have been less fortunate.

Chen
I will

水泳選手のコーチをしているJennyさんとズームでチャットしました。私の質問があまりに変なので戸惑ったようです。

Jenny
When I was a University student I was an athlete. I was in a swimming team. And I also served as an assistant to our head coach. The experience was so fulfilling that I decided to stay even after graduation.

Toshi
So that’s how you ended up becoming a head coach now.

Jenny
Right.

Toshi
My first question is that if you participate in a swimming race, which would you prefer,
having many spectators or nobody watching you? Which situation can help you make a better performance?

Jenny
Oh, that’s an interesting question. Yes, I think having many spectators would affect me because I feel so nervous and feel conscious that many people are watching. But if there are not so many people, I think I don’t care so much.

Toshi
So you think you can do a better job without people watching you.

Jenny
Maybe. I haven’t thought about it. So I just realized because of your question, Toshi-san, maybe I was more carefree when I swim without a lot of people.

Toshi
The reason I asked you such a strange question is that recently I often feel that sports games are less exciting than before whether it is baseball,football,hocky,or basketball. And my analysis is that spectators are not allowed to sit and watch as freely as they used to be, which makes games boring and less enjoyable.

Jenny
I can agree with you on that. People at the stadium give power to the players and the game itself by yelling and shouting.

Toshi
That’s what I feel nowadays. Stadiums cannot accommodate a crowd of people and they need to have the social distance between every two people. So it’s impossible to have as many spectators as last year. The energy gets low. Players get less motivated.

Jenny
That’s interesting. Actually I can really hear people shouting when I compete in swimming. Other sports like ball games or field sports can be impacted in the same way.

Toshi
Let’s hope that the time will come soon.

三日前の日曜、家でゴロゴロしていたら生徒のSさんからLINEがきた。
「先生、やらかした」
「なんのことだ？」
「英検2次試験」

そうだ、今日は二次試験の日。彼女は準2級をうけていた。

「うまく受け答えできなかったのかい」
「1問目の時に、2問目の答えを言ってしまって」

英検準2級では、1問目は文章から出題され、２問目は絵の人物の行動説明が求められる。

上の問題で例えるなら、温室効果ガスを減らすのに何をしているか？　と聞かれているときに「少年は木の上に巣箱を置いている」と答えたわけだ。

そんなミスをする子ではなかった。何度も練習したから質問の順序はわかっていたはず。本番のプレッシャーに押しつぶされてしまったのか。

「そうか、まあがっかりするのはまだ早い。結果が出るまで希望を持とう。」
「はい。」

うっかりミスか、僕も子供のころ常習者だった。そのたびに父親から制裁をくらっていた。

今回のミスが長い長い彼女の人生の教訓になることを願おう。

長年貿易会社に勤めていたテレサさんとSkypeで話をしました。相変わらず強気の姿勢に閉口しました。

Toshi

Hi, Teresa. It’s been a long time,

Teresa

Yes, it’s so nice to see you again, Toshi-san.

Toshi

Now countries all over the world are facing recession. Many companies are suffering from poor sales because people do not want to spend money. People don’t buy TVs, don’t buy air conditioners, don’t buy new cars, don’t want to go on a sightseeing trip. Actually people want to save money for rainy days.
Because of this, so many companies are unable to keep their businesses active.
Teresa, you have been in the business field in the USA and Europe for a long time. What do you think corporations should do to survive in the fast changing environment？

Teresa
If they have enough capital, they should invest overseas.

Toshi

Invest? Are you saying this is the good time to spend money on something new?

Teresa
Yes, of course. Do you know that Seven Eleven Japan bought the American convenience store named Speedway?

Toshi
Ah, no. I wonder how much money they spent on it .

Teresa
As much as twenty-one billion dollars.

Toshi
Lots of zeros!

Teresa
Yes. It is the biggest corporate acquisition globally since the coronavirus outbreak spread earlier this year.

Toshi
How can they shell out such a huge amount of money when everyone is feeling sluggish and lethargic?

Teresa
Now is the time to expand and invest heavily.

Toshi
You really sound like a woman who made your way in the trading business.

Teresa
Do I ? What makes you think so?

Toshi
Because I can feel this strong spirit from the way you speak, the way you persuade people into taking advantage of bad times to get successful.

Teresa
Hahaha. What about you, Toshi-san? You were in the business world too. How would you deal with this difficult situation if you were still the same.

Toshi
I would choose to stay calm instead of expanding or investing heavily . In this very dark period, you don’t know how things will be like in the in the near future. Investing means less cash available to pay bills.

Teresa
Don’t you feel the way I do? I think this is the time for us to be aggressive because there are many things whose prices are now low, right?

Toshi
I just remembered an old saying which goes “坐して死を待つより出でて活路を見出さん“

Teresa
What does that mean?

Toshi.

This is a proverb that talks about the mindset of the samurai warriors at the brink of death . Should I keep on fighting or should I just sit and wait to die?

Teresa

Which way did he go?

Toshi

He chose to keep on fighting until the very end.

Teresa

Look! Your ancestors ,samurai warriors had that same spirit as I do!

Toshi.

Touché

コロナ収束後どの国へ旅行したいか、アンケートをとった結果、日本と答えた人が1番多かったとネットで読みました。日本人の1人として誇らしく思います。

アーヴィンくんとおしゃべりしました。

Toshi
Good evening , Arvin.

Arvin
Likewise, Toshi-san.

Toshi
I came up with an interesting article while I was browsing through the internet.

Arvin.
What was it?

Toshi
A survey has been taken in some major countries around the world about where they want to travel to after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

Arvin
What was the result?

Toshi
Japan ranked the first.

Arvin
There is no wonder why people would, you know , love Japan.

Toshi
As one of the Japanese citizens, I really feel proud of it.
Yeah, but I wonder, if those millions of travelers come to Japan in the future, it may lead to another wave of infection.

Arvin
Well, that’s funny. Yeah, I understand the fear. It’s not very easy and in the first place , you know crowded places are where they often happen so I understand the trauma.

Toshi
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched a stimulus package called “GO TO TRAVEL CAMPAIGN” which allows Japanese people to travel around Japan half the usual expenses soon after the first wave of pandemic was about to end, which induced the second wave.

Arvin
I understand the fear, Toshi san. But we must have the courage to start anew from nothing. And definitely as you know, it was more difficult in the past. Then it’ll be easier now , right? So no need to worry about that. Definitely there is another way for us to recover once that time comes again. And we shouldn’t be afraid. Japan has advanced technology and I’m confident that you know we’ve been through worse before you’ve been through a recession. So I think there is nothing that Japan cannot withstand.

Toshi
Thank you very much.

高校3年の生徒なつさん(仮名)と最近起こったことについて会話しました。

Natsu

Good evening Nomura Sensei.

Toshi

Hello, Natsu

Natsu

I have a good news and a bad news to share with you. Which do you want first ?

Toshi

Give me the bad one first.

Natsu

I failed in the Eiken pre first grade test.

Toshi

Oh no. What a bummer.

But it sounds like you are not discouraged.

Natsu

I’m not, because I got a perfect score on the composition part.

Toshi

So that’s the good news you were going to tell me. Congrats!

Natsu

I’ll think of this as a step forward in my career.

Toshi

You deserve it! I’m proud of you, Natsu.

Natsu

Thank you, Toshi sensei.

Toshi

I remember you took part in the speech contest and got the first prize. How long ago was that?

Natsu

Three years ago. I was in a junior high.

Toshi

Since then I’ve had a feeling that you have this power of inspiring listeners and readers.

Natsu

I’ll take it as a compliment, Sensei. I thank you for your time to talk with me.

常に前向きに捉えることが出来る子。

大きく羽ばたいてほしいです。

Fly to the rising sun!

オンラインレッスンに役立ちそうな新機能をアービン君が教えてくれました。スカイプで話す時、相手の話す英文がほぼ完璧にスクリーン上に現れるというのです。

小学生相手の英会話レッスンで使ってみようと思います。

以下、彼との議事録。

Arvin
You know what, Toshi san? I’ve found a very interesting feature in the SKYPE app.

Toshi
Oh really? Share it with me please. How did you find it?

Arvin
I was chatting with a friend of mine; he was sharing his screen with me. I noticed that while I am talking, it was automatically translating my messages or automatically transcribing my message.

Toshi
How is it done?

Arvin
I’m not sure, but I thought it would be useful if you research about it.

Toshi
Does it appear on the Skype screen?

Arvin
Yes, on the video itself.

Toshi
How come he does it? I want to know. He must be a tech-savvy boy. How old is he?

Arvin
Around 30ish.

Toshi
Just about the age of showing great interest in the new computer software.

Arvin
Right!

Toshi
Well, as I think about it, it’s not so helpful for me because the subtitles appear on the Skype screen as we go on talking, and the previous ones disappear, right? When you talk with someone very talkative, and if your eyes flicker just for a while, you will instantly miss the message.

Arvin
It could be helpful when you have the Filipino teachers online for the elementary school kids. The children will be excited to see it.

Toshi
You have a point there. May I ask you to show me what kind of application I should install to get the real-time captioning of a voice call?

Arvin
Let’s see. I’m gonna find one that’s something useful. Ah! I found one. OK. Alright, so I’m gonna send you a link right now.

Toshi
Thanks. Looks like if I have the newest updated version of Skype, I really don’t need to install anything else.

Arvin
I believe so.

Toshi
Wow, amazing! Thank you Arvin for your help.

Arvin
My pleasure.

英検で準2級や2級に合格するためにはライティングの力を伸ばすことが求められます。

なので当塾ではできるだけたくさんの作文を生徒に書かせるようにしています。

大抵の場合は、何を書いているのかよくわからないことが多いのですが、1人ものすごい文才がいるので本人の了解をもとに紹介することとしました。

学校名や性別、名前などは伏せますが年齢は10代。たった30分程度でこれだけの文章を日本語と英語で書けるのは神業に近いと思います。この豊富な表現力をぜひ将来に発揮してほしいものだと思います。

QUOTE:

ユロナウイルスの流行で、学校に通う回数が減った。
Coronavirus
epidemic has reduced the number of
times to go to school.

そのため、新しい形で授業をうけた。
So , we took classes in a new way.

最初は慣れなかのた。
It was difficult at first.
.

しかし、それが当たり前になった。
But it became so easy.

.
また、新しい生活様式になった。
Also , I have a new lifestyle
,
人と話すときはマスクが必要である。
We need a mask when talking to people.

そして、ソーシャルディスタンスを保たなければならない。
Also , we must maintain social distance.

以上のことより、私は友達と顔を合わせて話せることが幸せなことだと気付いた。
For the reasons above , I found it happy to be able to talk face- to – face with my friends.

家に居る時間が増え、たくさん料理をするようになった。
I　spend a lot more time at home , so I started to cook a lot.

家にいたからできたことである。
It was possible because I was at home.

すべてが否定的なわけではなく、家で出来ることがたくさんあった。
Not everything was negative, there were many things. we could at home.

なので、家ですごす時間も素晴らしいことがわかった。
So, I’ve found that spending time at home is also great.

: UNQUOTE

読めば読むほど味わい深いと思います。

この時期になると隣近所の人や生徒の親からたくさんのきゅうりや茄子をいただきます。

浅漬け以外に調理法を知らない私はさすがに食べ飽きて、どうしようか迷う時があります。

そんな時にアドバイスをくれたのが主婦のKさん。

① きゅうりをピーラーでむき、さっと茹でる。

② 豚肉をお湯に通す。

③ 両方合わせて醤油や砂糖、ごま油などを適当にかけ全体に染み渡るようにする。

その結果出来上がったのがこの作品です。

自分で言うのもなんですがさっぱりして良い味でした。冷たいビールと一緒にいただく・・・短い夏の夜のぜいたくなひとときです。笑笑