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たった今入った映像。多重衝突スリップ事故

 

つい昨日アメリカで放映された映像です。　

異常気象が続く昨今、これはアメリカだけの問題ではなく、日本でも起こりえます。

北海道以外のみなさん、特に坂道の多い地域のみなさん。気を付けてくださいね。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRkZSP_jq5M

 

The more freezing rain is falling right now that’s on top of the half inch of ice that pretty much coats everything around

And across this part of the country, it is proving to be a big danger for drivers.

 

This SUV is spinning in circles. Barreling out of control, downhill, with just one way to stop. Seconds later, it started all over again.Parked cars were like pinball bumpers to this driver. The brakes, no use. The wild rides continued.

A convoy of collisions on this Pittsburgh street, even as crash　victims like these children, were escaping the mounting wreckage.  In Pittsburgh alone, forty-five crashes choked up to ice.  At least seventy people treated in the E.R.(emergency room) for slips and falls.  

The storm packed with sleet and freezing rain moved further, northeast to near Boston, where instead of driving, cars were skating. 

 

The hills. It’s tough on the hills. In New Haven Conneticut, a backwards approach to drive home.  

Parking lots and streets looked like ice links.

 

We just started sliding and stopped, because I didn’t want to hit the car over here. Dropping rain and dropping temperature is not the only problem for this storm. Another ten ionches of snow could fall in parts of northern new England. And other places are suffering too. In Genessee county, Michigan, a dramatic rescue.

 

Look closely under this semi…  There is a car down there. A driver was pinned inside. He had spun out.

The truck driver tried to avoid him, but instead they both wound up in the ditch. Hard to believe judging from this damage, but somehow the driver escaped unhurt.

 

Back here in Conneticut, some seven hundred emergency calls came pouring in to state police yesterday during the morning rush.

 

Robin ther are hoping for a quieter one today.

Look at the background. All the snow still on the streets and piled up high there in Cheshire.

 

 

 

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知らなかったあ～。　走行距離では測れないタイヤの安全性

６年前製造の未使用タイヤと今年製造で１万キロ走ったタイヤ、どっちが安全でしょう？　

この記事を読むまでは、私は前者だと思っていました・・・（汗）

たとえ未使用でも製造から６年以上経っているタイヤは要注意、激安ものを買う際は製造年をチェックしましょう。

方法はカンタン！　左写真の白線で囲んだ４けた数字を見ればいいのです。

最初の２ケタは製造週、後ろの２ケタが製造年を表します。　したがって２６１０ならば２０１０年の第２６週目につくられたもの、となるわけです。　　動画は下記をクリック。

 

 

We are going to turn tonight the world news investigation involving something most of us take for granted. The safety of the tires of cars. It was two years ago our Brian Ross first reported that the tires being sold as new were not and then could put your families at risk. So we wanted to know if anything changed.　Here’s Becky Worley.

 

Imagine driving down the highway having your tire disintegrate. In these test videos , even skilled drivers couldn’t keep control. “I think I’m OK. I think I’m OK”

Many experts agree that tires have a short life, even when they are not driven a single mile, air separates the treads. Robert Moore bought  what he thought were new tires for his son’s car. And just five years later, “***** called me to say that Policeman just came to the house and told me Andy had a car accident  And it was so cracked and he told me he died.”

I got my vehicle made ***** together, and I discovered that the tires that I got were new but actually three years old when I bought them.”

 

Crash investigators said the tread had peeled right off one of the then nine -year-old tires.

I would not drive on tires older than six years. And the problem is tires degrade over time.

Tires have a date code, the DOT stamp followed by a four digit number. The first two letters indicate the week it was made, the second two the year. So our goal: Check the date stamp on tires being sold as new.

 

We took our cameras to tire shops outside New York and San Francisco. Of the five New York tire shops, two had old tires – a couple from 2006 and another with a tire dated 1995.  In California, we went to four tire shops and the last one had a entire set made in 2005 and one tire from 2000. Just days ago, a major rubber supplier urged the US government to beef up labeling standards. And five major car companies recommended replacing six year old tires.

 

But the rubber manufacturers association disagrees. “There’s no scientific information that can point to when a tire should be removed because of age” After ABC news investigation in 2008, The National Highway Traffic Safety Association issued a consumer advisory about tire age. But since then, “Unfortunately there have been actually no changes in legislation, and no changes by the tire manufacturers.”  Becky Worley, ABC News, San Francisco.

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英作文チャレンジコーナー（はいはい道新） Hokkaido Newspaper “Readers’ voice column”

雪が遅いせいか、今年はやけに枯れ葉が目立ちます。　風の吹き具合によるのでしょうか。　わが家にはそこかしこから枯れ葉が集まってくるのです。先日の強風のときは大変でした。塀や玄関は言うに及ばす、奥まった所にある車庫の前には、多くの枯れ葉に交じって発泡スチロールや空のペットボトルが吹き寄せられていました。枯れ葉は数袋に分け、ゴミ収集にだしましたが、これも有料です。風が相手じゃ、文句も言えませんもんね。
 
  
There are an awful lot of dead leaves seen this winter,  probably because we have less snowfall than usual.
 Many of them , blown from here and there, gather  around my house.  I wonder if this is done by wind-related factos.
 The recent heavy storm was so terrible that it left me drifts of such leaves, styrene foam particles, and empty PET bottles  –  in front of my garage far from the road, as well as my fence and my entrance.
I had to put those leaves in a several bags and place them out for collection service.
Of course it costs me money. But there’s no point in blaming the wind.
 
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英作文チャレンジコーナー（はいはい道新） Hokkaido Newspaper “Readers’ voice column”

昼食のために会社近くの地下飲食街に行きました。どの店も混んでいましたが、たまたますいている店が目につき飛びこみました。見渡すと店内が煙草の煙で煙っています。店前に「全面禁煙」の掲示があったはず、と思って再度見たらなんと「全席喫煙」。　煙草は好きではないのですが、他の店を探す時間もなかったので食事しました。　禁煙の店は年々増えていますが、逆に全面的に喫煙を打ち出した店を見るのは初めてです。驚きました。（１２月７日）
 
 
 
I was looking for somewhere to take a lunch in the underground food court  near my office.
Every restaurant I walked by seemed crowded, but I happened to find one that was less crowded so I dashed  in there.
 
Looking around, I saw a lot of cigarette smoke wafting throughout the room.
 
I took a second look at the signboard at the entrance, thinking to myself that it said “ALL NON SMOKING SEATS”.
 
Actually it was opposite – “ALL SMOKING SEATS”!  My jaw almost dropped,
 
 
 I didn’t want to inhale  smoke while eating my lunch,  but I  took the table because I didn’t have enough time to find another restaurant.
 
Non smoking places are on the increase year by year.  And it was my first time to see a restaurant where smoking is totally allowed.
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GOOGLE　WAVEに関するCNNの記事

昨日の時事英語研究会例会で取り上げた記事です。　今までで一番難しい気がします。　試訳を載せますのでご意見をたまわりたく。
原文はこちらをクリックしてください。
 

Google this week abandoned “Wave,” its much-hyped social collaboration tool. Wave was perhaps the prototypical Google product: Technically advanced, incredibly ambitious and near-impossible to use.
 
グーグルは今週、大々的に宣伝してきた社会的なコラボツールの「ウエーブ」を断念した。
「ウエーブ」はおそらく同社の先駆者的な製品であった。　技術的に高度で、驚くほど野心に満ち溢れ、しかしほとんど使えない。
 

Its demise is the canary in the coal mine for Google’s social networking plans: Facebook is destined to build the Web’s next wave, as Google continues to tread water.　グーグル社の社会ネットワーキング計画にとり、ウエーブの終焉は鉱山のカナリアそのものである。　ウエブの次世代を築く運命にあるのはFACEBOOKだ、というのもグーグル社が努力の割には成果を見ていないからだ。

Wave was a testament to Google’s technical prowess: A real-time communication platform that combined elements of instant messaging, e-mail and collaboration software. 「ウエーブ」はグーグル社技術が大胆な行動に出たことを裏付ける証しだった。IMや電子メール、コラボソフトの各要素を組み合わせたリアルタイムの通信環境ちなるはずだったからだ。

The only problem: With its many dials and switches, mastering Wave was the web equivalent of programming your VCR.

ここ、難しいなあ。VCR（ビデオ機器）という言葉を用いてCNNが伝えたい意図は何なんだろう？

唯一の問題点それは、ダイヤルやスイッチがたくさんあるのにもかかわらず、「ウエーブ」をマスターして得られることはたかが知れている。ビデオ録画をウエブ上でやる程度のことでしかないのである。

Few users took the time to understand the product, and mainstream adoption proved unattainable.

時間をかけてこの製品（ウエーブ）を理解しようとするユーザーはほとんどいなかった。大衆が利用するようなものには到底なれないことが証明されたわけだ。

It’s the same fate that awaited Google’s other recent foray into the social realm: Google Buzz. （グーグル社はこのほかにもソーシャルネットワーク領域への進出を図ったことがあった。「グーグルバズ」がそれだ。　「ウエーブ」は「グーグルバズ」と同じ運命をたどることとなった。　This Twitter-like service seemed smart in theory, but Google’s inability to build simple and compelling social tools meant the service was perceived as a nuisance rather than a breakthrough.このツイッターに似たサービスは、理論上は有能に見えた。　だがグーグル社がこれを分かりやすくて心をつかむようなツールに出来なかった。そのためこのサービスは、飛躍的な前進という見方をされずに迷惑なものとしての印象を持たれてしまった。

All of which must have Mark Zuckerberg rubbing his hands together in glee. これらの事で、Facebook創始者マークザッカーバーグ氏は大いに喜んでいることだろう。

While Google is one of the few companies large enough to build a significant social network, Google Wave’s demise is further proof that these efforts (rumored to be called “Google Me“) are destined to fail.　グーグルは重要なソーシャルネットワークを構築するできる数少ない会社の一社であるけれども、　「ウエーブ」の終焉はかれらの努力（グーグルミーと呼ばれているそうだ）が失敗する運命にあることをさらに示す証拠となった。

Like Wave, Google Me will likely be a work of technical wizardry too advanced for us mere mortals to understand.　ウエーブ同様、グーグルミーも、我々素人には難しすぎて理解できないハイテク製品になるだろう。

Google’s failure to develop engaging social services is more disastrous than it might seem at first.ソーシャルネットワークへのサービス展開にグーグル社が失敗したことは、当初そう思えた時よりもいっそう壊滅的になっている。

Social networking is no longer just a time-waster for young people — it now reaches all demographics and encompasses personalized search, highly targeted advertising and the red-hot social gaming trend.　（ソーシャルネットワークはもはや若い人のヒマつぶしではなく、すべての年齢層に行き渡り、特定個人検索や高度に的を絞った宣伝広告、熱狂的な社会ゲームの傾向をすべて網羅したものとなっている。）

As Facebook builds a user base of more than 500 million people, it also stockpiles the personal information required to provide more comprehensive ad targeting — and a more personalized search engine — than Google could ever hope to engineer through algorithms alone.

フェースブックは５億人を超えるユーザーの基盤を築き、多くの個人情報を蓄えている。その個人情報は、グーグルが算法だけで開発しうるものより包括的な宣伝広告や特定個人検索エンジンを提供するのに必要なものとなる。　

Google isn’t unaware of this predicament: The company is throwing its resources behind a plan to escape its social networking slump. But short of a miracle — an acquisition of Facebook nemesis Twitter, perhaps — Google won’t become a socialite anytime soon.

グーグル社はこの苦境を知らないわけではない。　ソ－シャルネットワーク事業の不振から脱却するための計画を掲げる裏で資産の売却をおこなっている。

だが、フェースブックや到底かなわない敵であるツイッターを買収するというような奇跡にはおよばないだろう。　グーグル社が社交界の名士になれるのはまだ先のことだ。