実の父親会いたさに7歳児が車を運転。最高時速112キロで30キロ走行。

立たないとブレーキに足が届かない少年が本当に運転して、時速112キロも出せるのか? ナゾが多すぎる気がする。

   

 

A seven-year-old Michigan boy who had to stand up to reach the gas and brake pedals while driving was pulled over by police on Monday morning after traveling more than 20 miles in his stepfather’s car.

ミシガン州の7歳の男子が義理の父親の車を運転し、20マイル走行したところで警察に止められた。 アクセルやブレーキを踏むのに立ち上がらなければならないほどの小さな少年だった。

 

The boy, who lives with his mother and stepfather 100 miles northeast of Detroit, was barefoot and wearing pajamas when police caught up with him, the New York Daily News reported. ニューヨークデイリーニュースによるとこの少年は、デトロイトの北東100マイルに住み、実の母、義理の父親と暮らしていた。警察が車に追いついたとき、裸足でパジャマ姿のままだったという。

 

“He was crying and just kept saying he wanted to go to his dad’s,” Caseville Police Chief Jamie Learman told The Associated Press. “That was pretty much it. He just wanted to go to his dad’s.” 「お父さんに会いたかっただけなの、と少年は言いながら泣き続けていた。それだけのことだった。」ケースビル警察のジェイミーリアマン署長がAP通信に語った。

   

The boy drove the red Pontiac Sunfire as fast as 70 mph, according to the Daily News, and veered onto the shoulder several times.  同紙によると少年は、赤のポンティアックサンファイアを運転し、時速70マイル(112キロ)を出し、数回にわたり路肩に入ったという。

 

The boy’s mother, who works a late shift, was sleeping when the youngster got behind the wheel.  

 車に乗り込んだ時、母親は夜勤明けで眠っていた。

 

The Department of Human Services and the Huron County Prosecutor’s Office have not determined if any charges will be filed, although Tim Rutkowski, the county’s prosecutor, said on Wednesday that there is no evidence that the boy was taught how to drive.米社会福祉省とヒューロン郡検察庁は、公訴を提起するか否かをまだ決めていない。少年が誰かに運転方法を教わった証拠がない、と同庁検察官ティムラトコースキー氏が述べているが。

 

 

シュワちゃん大失態!

タイガーウッズのはるか上をゆく慰謝料を現金で払うハメになったアーノルドシュワルツネッガー元州知事。

しかしこれは氷山の一角にすぎず、まだまだ愛人が存在するとの情報も・・・・

The revelation(暴露) that Arnold Schwarzenegger has an out-of-wedlock(非嫡出子) child with a former employee has sparked (火をつけた)a frenzy(大騒ぎ) on this typically quiet XXXXX. Scores of reporters and photographers converged(集まった) on the area Wednesday as unconfirmed(未確認の) reports surfaced(表面化した) that this Bakersfield community(地域社会) is where the child’s mother lives. There didn’t appear to be anyone at the home but one of her neighbors spoke to the AP about the married woman’s move(引っ越し) into the neighborhood last year. Marilyn Steelman says a real estate agent told her that Schwarzenegger was actually the one who bought the house.  And that it was a for a longtime(長年の) staff member who would be retiring (引退する)soon.  The woman  wasn’t around(外に顔を出さなかった) a lot. And her husband told us that she was still working away from Bakersfield and that she commuted(通勤する) back and forth(行ったり来たり) most of the weekends for a long time until about two and a half months ago. The Los Angeles times which first reported Schwarzenegger had fathered (父として認知していた)a child with a member of his staff, didn’t name the woman(名を出さなかった) in its initial report but it did say that she retired in January after working for the governor and his family for twenty years. The former California governor(カリフォルニア州知事) has said his wife, Maria Shriver, didn’t learn the woman’s child, born more than a decade ago, was his until this year. Back in Bakersfield.  The boy is being described as a ‘neat kid’ who any mother would love. He’s the innocent person here. And it doesn’t matter what Arnold and she did whatever. You know that’s their business. They are adult. And here’s an innocent child being brought into this. He’ll never have the same life again.

The boy’s birth certificate(誕生証明書) shows he was born the same week as Schwarzenegger and Shriver’s youngest son who is 13 years old. Schwarzenegger and his aides(側近) have declined(断った) to release any details about the affair(この件の詳細).  He has only issued a statement apologizing to his family and asking for their privacy.

無事でよかったなあ、おい。

 

このビデオを見たとき、思わずそう叫んでしまいました。

左写真矢印の男の子、停車中の白い車の前を走って渡ろうとして、別の車にはねられます。

しかし運よく、かすり傷だけで済みました。

コロラド州デンバーで起こったこの事故、どう見ても男の子の不注意が原因。ドライバーがかわいそうですよね。

ただ、道路わきに停車している白い車は当然ドライバーから見えています。 陰から子供が飛び出す可能性を考慮して減速できたはず・・・じゃないかなあ。

動画サイトは下記へ。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMiWXI1e1s8

A fourth grader from Denver, Colorado, is miraculously OK after a hit- and- run.  That accident was caught on video. The accident happened Friday. You see Eric Aguilar attempting to run across the street outside his hous, when a car hits him. The driver keeps going. Aguilar remembers exactly what happened.

 I was running to over here, and then, the car just hit me right here, and I landed right here.

They make me sick to my stomach just to see the impact of Eric hitting the car then hitting the mirror.

Aguilar has several scrapes and he’s got bruises. He’s expected to be OK.

 

Police are still still trying to track down the driver.  Aguilar says from now on he promises to look both ways before crossing the streets. 

 

I was surprised that his mother spanked him.  Right.

Look both ways kids.

He’s got spanking now.  He will.

 

英作文チャレンジコーナー (はいはい道新)

道北を巡るバスツアーに参加した時のこと。出発時刻になっても姿を現さない人がいました。添乗員があちこち連絡を取っていたら、定刻から20分ほど過ぎてから男女二人が乗車してきました。 おかげで出発が遅れたのですが、謝りもせず悪びれたそぶりもなし。出発後今度は車内で女性グループがお菓子などを食べながら大声でおしゃべり。添乗員の観光案内の声も聞こえず迷惑です。団体行動です。気持ちのいい旅のためにマナーを守ってください。
 (道新 2011年5月16日号)
 
This is a story when I was on a bus tour to Dohoku area (Northern Hokkaido).
Somebody failed to show up in time for the departure time. The tour guide got in touch with some places to find this missing person.
Finally  came on board a man and a woman with no word of apology or self reflection.   and the bus started moving about twenty minutes behind schedule. And then, there was a group of girls chatting loudly while eating snacks. So I couldn’t hear the tour guide’s explanation clearly, which was quite annoying.
I want to say to those people that group tour members must obey rules to make their tour comfortable.

アメリカのTV CMでリスニングにチャレンジしよう!(結婚式場編)

結婚、出産、新居など、お祝い時に送るグリーティングカードを専門に扱う会社がアメリカにあります。

社名はホールマーク社(Hallmark)といい、すでに100年の歴史を誇る老舗なのだそうです。 競争激しいアメリカ社会で一企業が100年生き抜くのは容易ではありません。 もらってうれしくなるようなカードを作るため、常に開発に力を入れてきた、ということなのでしょう。かわいいキャラクター、斬新なデザイン、そして心を打つメッセージ。どれをとっても頷けます。

そんな会社がつくるCMですから中途半端なわけがありません。 長さなんと2分の大作。

主人公は妹の結婚式に出席している兄貴。 この男、いつも一言多いので親戚や友人からうとんじられている。  このCMの前半は、そんな彼のようすが描かれます。

一人目の女性に対しては、You look like you’ve lost a ton of weight. 「おもいきりやせたね」 

二人目の男性には、Do you see that girl over there with the brown hair? Really high-maintenance. (あそこにいる茶髪のコ、いいよな) → しかし彼女はその男のフィアンセだった。
 
三人目のおばさんには、名前を間違えて呼びかけ、不快にさせる。

そんなヘマばかりやらかす主人公が、披露宴の途中いきなり立ち上がり、スピーチを申し出る。

「また始まった」前出の三人がみな眉をひそめる。新婦の妹さえもオロオロする。初老の男性客も小声で不安を口にする。

そんななか、主人公が取り出したのは、ホールマーク社製のお祝いメッセージカードだった。

そこに書かれた文章を一生懸命に話す兄、その文章の素晴らしさに表情を変える聴衆。

終えた後、「この文章は僕が作ったものではありませんが、僕の気持ちそのものです。」と兄。

万雷の拍手。

感動した妹が兄に抱きつき、ありがとうと言う。

ここで終われば最高なのに、兄貴は最後にまた余計なことをいう。「さあみなさん、ケーキを食べて。二千ドルもしたんだから」

動画は下記をクリック願います。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J1RFSL7fEE

Sara, long time no see.
 
Hi! Your sister looked beautiful.
 
Oh, thanks! You too. You know, you look like you’ve lost a ton of weight.
 
Do you see that girl over there with the brown hair?
 
Really high-maintenance.
 
That’s my fiancée.
 
Hey, Aunt Kay!
 
Hey, it’s Barbara.
 
Oh, right. Sorry. Yeah, Kay was my Uncle Bill’s second wife.
 
Yes, I know that.
 
Sorry.
 
Can I have your attention? Can I have everyone’s attention, please?
 
I’d like to say a few words about my sister.
 
Oh, no.
 
Well, I’m not really very good at this kind of thing but here it goes.
 
Oh, this is gonna be good.
 
Angie, you’ve been blessed to find someone you can move through this life with.
 
Together, you’ve learned that love doesn’t just happen.
 
You have to create it, craft it, and nurture it.
 
It can be even better when it’s been held in the palm of the hand…
 
…and cradled for a while.
 
You’ve grown a love that is enduring,…
 
…stunning in its beauty.
 
Congratulations on your wedding and continuing to create your lives together.
 
I didn’t actually write those words…
 
…but I do mean them.
 
I love you, Angie.
 
That was beautiful, Chris.
 
Now, eat up everyone, my mom paid like two grand for that cake.

英作チャレンジコーナー(日経) なんと女性の1/4が彼氏より高年収!

この記事を見てため息が出た私は、ふるーい人間なのでござんしょうかねえ。

仕事を持つ20~39歳の女性を対象にしたアンケート調査で、現代女性の恋愛事情が浮き彫りになった。自分と恋人を比較した際、「恋人より年収が高い」と答えた女性は26%と、ほぼ4人に1人。
年収以外に彼氏を上回る学歴やキャリアの女性も少なくないようだ。「恋人より学歴が高い」と答えた女性は3分の1に迫る31%にのぼり、「恋人より役職が高い」と答えた女性も7%いた。(日経 2011年4月19日)
 
 
As many as 26%, or one out of every four  responded  they earn higher income than their boyfriends.  The questionnaire taken on women aged 20-39 has shown a new aspect of circumstances surrounding people who are in love. It also indicated that women surpass men in other fields as well, such as education and career. ABout one third, or 31 percent answered they have higher education than their male counterparts, and seven percent , higher positions.
 
 

あまりにも惨い犯行。人間じゃないよこいつは。

ある朝5時、開店準備をしていたドーナツ屋の店員に残虐な運命が待ち受けていました。現金強奪だけでなく、犯人は液体石鹸を2本も飲ませたのです。目的は金庫の場所やダイヤル番号を白状させることでした。あまりのむごさに言葉が見つかりません。
 
  
  
  
The donut shop on the Miramer road has been across the street from the Marine base for more than thirty years. (ミラマー通りのドーナツショップは、30年以上にわたり海軍基地の向かい側に在った。)
  
Just after five a.m. a man  in a hooded sweatshirt walked in the back door as the lone employee had emptied the  trash.(午前5時を過ぎたころ、フード付きのトレーナーを着た男が裏口から侵入、そのとき店員はひとりしかおらず、ゴミ箱を空にしたところだった。)
 
 The gunman and the employee head for the register where the gunman orders the employee to empty it, even the coins.(銃を持った男と店員は現金機のところへ行き、中にあるものすべて渡すように命令。 コインさえもすべて。)
 
Then he makes the employee to take out his wallet and give him everything in it as well.
(それから店員が所持する財布をださせ、同じように中身を渡せと強要。)
 
 Now both head to the back of the store, where the gunman points a weapon at the victim’s head and makes him drink liquid sorp in an effort to reveal the combination to the store safe.(さて二人は店の裏側へまわり、被害者の頭に銃を突きつけ、液体石鹸を無理やり飲ませた。金庫の番号を白状させるためだった。)
 
 
 Watch as he repeated, puts the weapon at his head and forced him to drink the liquid soap.
(犯人は再度同じことを繰り返す。)
 
Finally convinced he didn’t know the combination or that there is even was a safe, the gunman leaves, as the employee locks the door behind him, calls his employer, who then called the police.(店員はダイヤル番号を本当に知らない、いやそもそも金庫があるのかどうかさえも知らない、ということにやっと気付いた犯人は、店をでる。店員はすぐにドアに施錠し、知らせを受けた店主が警察へ通報した。
 
The man taken in the robbery was not revealed,  the gunman is desctibed as a black man of 5.7 and 160 pounds.(強盗に係わった男の正体はわかっていないが、身長約5.7フィート、体重約160ポンドと言われている。

女優エリザベステイラー、79年の生涯に幕

映画好きだった父からよく聞いた名前でした。

今回、この特集追悼番組をディクテーションして、彼女の偉大さ、破天荒さにあらためて敬意を表したい気分です。

聞き取った文章は、いつものとおり下に載せますが、全訳はやめときます。(体力が続かないので。) 

その前に、気になった表現などを2,3紹介させてください。

1.the woman who broke the rules and the pay barriers for women in film. ルールをぶち破り、映画女優の報酬の上限をもぶち破った女性。

2.I’ve had a lot of tragedy in my life. I’ve had the lowest valleys, the highest highs. 私の人生、多くの悲劇があった。どん底も最高も経験した。

3.She was the first actress to earn a million dollars for a movie (一本の映画で百万ドルを稼ぎ出した最初の女優だった)

4.But Elizabeth,the actress was often eclipsed by Elizabeth, the woman.女優としてのエリザベスが、一人の女としてのエリザベスによって侵されることがしばしばあった。

5.She married eight times to seven men, 7人の男性と8度の結婚。(つまり2度結婚した男がいた。)

  

いやはや読めば読むほどすごい人だ・・・・では本編をどうぞ。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3MLgGdVDCY

The last of the legendary superstars has died. A superstar from an era when American movies were so powerful, the whole globe feasted on our celluloid dreams and her face. Elizabeth Taylor died of heart failure today at 79 and every generation of Americans knew her and followed her turbulent life. The girl with the violet eyes, the woman who broke the rules and the pay barriers for women in film. And in some ways, she created this frenzy of tabloid celebrity we all live amidst still today. But she was also a woman who was never tougher than when looking at her own choices.

 

I’ve had a lot of tragedy in my life. I’ve had the lowest valleys, the highest highs. I’ve had extreme happiness. I’ve had addictions. I’m like a living example of what people can go through and survive.

 

Have you ever thought of what you wanted on your tombstone?  Here lies Elizabeth.

She hated being called Liz. But she lived.

 

And boy. Did Elizabeth Taylor live. The last icon and first global superstar. She once told me that she couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t famous.

Famous for her acting, illnesses, jewelry, friends, marriages and divorces.

Above all, for her stunning beauty , whether glamorously thin, or later unhappily heavy, time never dimmed her legendary violet eyes. She was born with a double set of lashes.

And she was so rapturously beautiful little girl that you couldn’t believe it and full of composure.

 Every day, I pray to God to give me horses. Pushed by her mother, Elizabeth was a movie star at 12 years old.  How do you do?  Her career spanned 70 years of more than fifty films.  I feel all the time like a cat on a hot tin roof.

 

Opposite the screen’s greatest leading men.

 I love you.

She was the first actress to earn a million dollars for a movie.  Elizabeth Taylor.

And won two oscars, her last for this sheering 1966  performance.,  Maybe George  Bowie  didn’t have the stuff. That maybe he didn’t have it in him.

But Elizabeth,the actress was often eclipsed by Elizabeth, the woman.

Married eight times to seven men, she married Richard Burton twice, the public and paparazzi  consumed her every romance. She said there were two great loves in her life.

Director Mike Todd, who tragically died after one year of marriage, and Richard Burton, who in 1962, she met on the set a Cleopatra.   We both tried very hard to resist, it was just like, boom!

And the rest, as they say is –  is  in  history. Both were married at the time.

And their very public affair, condemned by the Vatican, became an international scandal. Unquestionably, their torrid relationship was one of the last century’s great romances. Richard Burton was a great actor.

 And also a hunk.

Throughout the ’60s, The Burtons were the most celebrated couple on the planet , superstars before there was such a word.

Lovers and friends all showered her with jewelry, a collection considered one of the finest in the world.

 Don’t get your fingerprints on it. Look at that.

In later years, Taylor successfully transformed herself into a businesswoman, selling perfume.

But her humanitarian work may be her greatest legacy.

Using her fame, she raised millions for aids research, bravely standing by actor Rock Hudson, one of its first victims, when others shunned him.

To the public, she may have been the last great movie star.

But for those who knew her, she was also a loving mother and loyal friend.

 There have been so many lessons, life and death lessons, emotional lessons.  I don’t believe in regrets.

And I have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow, no one does.

 And Barbara Walters is here now.

We were saying earlier, we don’t think of her as a pioneer, but her sheer fearlessness about her own choices in life changed things in this country.

Absolutely.

By the way, she never wrote her autobiography.

This, all the different clips that people will see, that’s her autobiography.

She was gutsy and salty and funny.

And look at the things we’ve talked about , married eight times. She wanted to get married, she married them. She wanted to divorce them, she divorced them.

She championed aids when nobody did.

She stood by people who were rejected.

Michael Jackson adored her. Rock Hudson.

And everything she did was bigger, maybe not better, but pronounced and different.

 

 

被災地の農家のみなさん。負けないで。

今日スーパーで悲しい思いをしました。例の放射能の影響を受けている茨城県や近隣でとれた野菜のことなのです。キャベツとかサツマイモ、他の野菜もみんな見切り品価格で売られていました。変な話です。だって禁止されたのはホウレンソウと牛乳だけなのに。みんな過剰反応しているのでしょう。農家の人、可哀想です。なんの罪もないのに。

  I felt sad at the grocery store today. It’s about vegetables produced in Ibaraki and neighboring prefectures that are currently affected by the radiation. Cabbages, sweet potatoes, and all other greens were sold at clearance prices. This is strange. It’s only spinach and milk that have been banned. People are overreacting too much. …That’s why. 
I feel sorry for the farmers. They are innocent victims.

たった2セント不足しただけなのに・・・

 

その事件は、コロラド州デンバーの夫婦に突然起こった。 

夫がガンで入院。 

莫大な治療費が重くのしかかる。 

こんな時のためにと入っていたガン保険。 奥さんは請求手続きを取った。 

しかしなんと保険金支払いは途中で中断。 原因は奥さんが当月の保険金を誤って少なく振り込んだこと。その差額たったの2セント。(日本円で1円66銭)  

「ひどい、あんまりだ。」絶望感に打ちひしがれる夫婦。 

やってられないなあ、こんな目にあったら。 せめて定期引き落としだったらこんなことにはならなかっただろうに。 

だが、救いの神はちゃんといた。 TV局側が徹底追求した結果、保険会社側が折れたのである。

おかげで保険金支払いは再開され、夫は移植手術を受けられることに。

めでたしめでたし。

それにしてもこの保険会社のしらばっくれた応対には腹が立つ。このようなケースは今回が初めてではなく、過去にもあったものと感じさせる。泣き寝入りした顧客もいたのではないか? そう思うとやるせなさに襲われる。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiaoRGDHHZY

本文

Imagine this. A vietnam veteran has cancer and is awaiting  a stemcell transplant, when suddenly the insurance company revoked his coverage, revoked because his premium payment was two cents, two cents short. We learned of  this story from our Denver station KMGH.
David Muir picked up a phone to get answers and got results.
It’s doctor’s appointment they’ll never forget. Ronald Flanagan,fighting cancer, multiple myeloma,  was just moments away from getting a bone biopsy when his wife, in the lobby, heard this.
They told me, well, you know, you don’t have no insurance.
The couple was stunned. Especially because Ron was soon to get a stem cell transplant. Doctors had found a match. But their Cobra insurance coverage they were paying for after his wife was laid off, had suddenly been cut off. All because of a two-cent discrepancy. The last bill, $328.69, Francis paid $328.67.- two cents less by accident. Everybody is very surprised that two cents is enough to do this. And now we’re just pulling teeth and trying to figure out what’s the next step.  Today,we called up that Cobra provider, Ceridian.
It’s David Muir at ABC world news in New York. First put on hold,then told by another worker we’d get a call back. And this afternoon, we heard from Ceridian. Could this possibly be true that they wdre dropped over two cents? WE’ve reviewed the situation throughly and to establish facts and we’re pleased to say that we’ve been able to work with the employer and Mr. Flanagan’s Cobra coverage was reinstated. I just got off the phone with his wife and they have not been told that yet.  We are n the process of communicating with them. The Flanagan’s confirmed after so much worry over that two-cent error. It’s finally over. What would you say to mr. Flanagan tonight? Would you offer an apology?  For what, specifically?
Knowing that ,they were dropped because of a two-cent discrepancy as he waits for a stem cell transplant? We followed the normal processes, which are in complete compliance with the law and the regulations. Mr.Flanagan tells us he’s already been back on the phone with the transplant coordinator telling him he has his insurance back now, trying to get back on that schedule. Diane?