使える英語表現：Bring it on!!

使える英語表現　

Bring it on! :かかってこい！

英英辞書より　Bring it on= said to show that you are prepared and willing to compete in a competition or to do something difficult.

例文）
（＊A and B are playing ping-pong. A is just about to serve.）
A: Are you ready?
B: Sure, bring it on!

日本語訳
(＊AとBは卓球をしている。Aは今まさにサーブを打とうとしている）
A：用意はいいか？
B:もちろん、かかってこい！

＊Bring it on のitはこれからやろうとしていること（困難など）を指します。

使える表現：knock-off

使える表現　

knock-off　:（名詞）［主にブランド品などの］模造品、コピー商品、偽物

英英辞書より： knock-off＝ a cheap copy of something expensive

例文）My boyfriend gave me this handbag for my birthday. I thought it was a real Gucci but it was just a knock-off made in Korea.

(彼氏が私の誕生日にこのハンドバッグをくれたの。本物のグッチだと思ってたんだけど韓国製の偽物だったわ。）


Synonyms（類義語）

・imitation
・copy
・fake
・phony
・counterfeit （主に貨幣、文書の偽造、ねつ造）
・forgery （偽造、贋作、にせ金）

新聞記事で英語学習：At your service...sometimes

At your service ... sometimes

I WAS trying to get my bag into the overhead　（頭上の） locker of the plane recently when a man lunged forward and put it up for me.

"Thank you so much," I said. "Please don't thank me. I live for moments like these!" he boomed （声高にいう）enthusiastically. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but he scuttled off （急いで逃げ去る）down the plane and I didn't get a chance to talk to him again. I presumed he meant he lived for moments when he could be of service（役立って、貢献して） since he didn't return to chat me up. 

The incident came to mind last week after encounters with two strangers. One was a council man who had come to mow the lawns in my street. Like the man on the plane, this fellow （= a man） couldn't do enough to be of service, helping neighbours with all sorts of things, trimming bushes, carrying rubbish out for us, warmly offering advice. He saved me a great deal of time and effort given（～を考慮すれば=considering) I've only recently moved into the neighbourhood. "It's a pleasure to help," he smiled. 

The second stranger did the opposite. I wanted to do my good deed（よい行い）for the week - for the people whose home I'd moved into. Their mail redirection had run out and I offered to handle it for them, and even to pay a year's redirection, given they were overseas. Grateful for the offer, they emailed me written instructions, entrusting （～に任せる、委ねる）me with the process. 

"No," said the post office man when I turned up with a bagload of mail, the redirection form, and email. "You need written permission from them," he said stiffly.  

"But here is the letter, with their email address, details, licence number and specific instructions." "No!" he said defiantly.  

"But why?" I pleaded.  

"Australia Post has the right to decline all requests at its discretion（＝の思うままに、勝手に）," he said, reading from the small print. "But you're not 'Australia Post', you're you, the local post office man. You know these people. They lived right there - across the road, for 20 years. I've just moved into their house. I have proof." 

Like the comical travel agent woman from TV show Little Britain who thwarts（挫折させる、くじく） all requests ("Computer says, 'Naaaaah'"), he just shrugged, forcing me to post the bundle（束） myself each week - a waste of time and money. 

The late Larry Adler, founder of FAI Insurance, once told me that real power was in the little things, and personal power could never be underestimated. "If a bus driver doesn't stop for you in the rain when your car has broken down, you could catch pneumonia and die." Likewise we too have the power to let - or not let - another driver out of a side street, thus potentially changing their destiny. We don't know the result of our actions. But it feels good to be of service and it's win-win （上手くいくことが確信できる）given the laws of karma（因果応報）. What goes around comes around. True? "Computer says, 'Naaaaah!' " 

( from The Australian online 493 words)

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

見返りを求めずに与え続ける、、、、ふむ、、、精進します。。

一番身近な人にこそ、give and give だ！

使える英語表現☆be stoked

使える英語表現☆

・be stoked (形容詞、スラング）：気分がかき立てられた、ワクワクした

 英英辞書より＝very happy and excited about something good that is happening and that you didn't expected

＊be stoked about ~:～に興奮している、大喜びである

例文）　I won the lottery and I am stoked about it! (宝くじに当たってめっちゃ嬉しい！）

Synonyms ：類義表現

・be exhilarated

・be ecstatic

・be elated

・be overjoyed

・be over the moon

・be on cloud nine

・be in the seventh heaven

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

こんな感じ↑で　

こちらで出会った使えそうな英語表現を

簡単にまとめてアップしていこうとおもいます。

以前書いていたネイティブ英語表現の姉妹版、、的な感じかな。

新聞記事で英語学習！Barack Obama warns of more pain in 2009 before recovery

Barack Obama warns of more pain in 2009 before recovery

 PRESIDENT Obama can detect (=notice, discover)bright "signs of economic progress" on a dark horizon while warning that there was "much more work to be done" before America was safe from the storm that has thrown millions out of jobs and homes.

"Times are still tough," Mr Obama said. "But from where we stand, for the very first time, we are beginning to see glimmers（わずかなしるし） of hope." 

His speech to Georgetown University in Washington was designed to show that the economy remains the administration's priority even as he prepares to head to Mexico and Trinidad tomorrow. 

Rejecting criticism that he had been spending with "reckless abandon"( in a careless way), Mr Obama said: "History has shown repeatedly that when nations do not take early and aggressive action to get credit flowing again, they have crises that last years and years instead of months and months - years of low growth, years of low job creation, years of low investment, all of which cost these nations far more than a course of bold, upfront action." 

He insisted that his $US787 billion stimulus plan and efforts to strengthen the banking system and rescue the car industry were bearing fruit (実を結ぶ=succeed)with an increase in mortgage refinancing and more lending by small businesses. 

Despite this, Mr Obama said, 2009 would continue to be a difficult year with "more job loss, more foreclosures (差押さえ)and more pain before it ends". 

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, also offered a "fundamentally optimistic" assessment yesterday, using a speech in Atlanta to highlight recent data on home sales and consumer spending as " tentative (=not definite or certain) signs that the sharp decline in economic activity may be slowing". 

The need for caution, however, was emphasised by new figures showing that US retail sales fell by 1.1 per cent last month while purchases of cars and other vehicles declined by 2.3 per cent. Overall spending remains 10 per cent down from a peak last June.  

US bank shares slumped, dragging down the New York stock market, which grew jittery(= anxious or nervous) over a spate of ( = a large number of~)impending results from leading American financial institutions over the next two weeks. The markets were nervous despite Goldman Sachs reporting a strong first quarter and announcing a surprise promise to repay its $10 billion government loan. 

Mr Obama said the task was to ensure that this "crisis never happens again". Invoking Christ's Sermon on the Mount, he said that the economy could not be rebuilt on a "pile of sand" but on investment in clean energy, education and healthcare.  

"We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity: a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest," he said. "We will not finish it in one year, we will not finish it in many," he added, "but if we persist and persevere (= continue to try to do something)against the disappointments and setbacks that will surely lie ahead, then I have no doubt that this house will stand." (550 words)

お久しぶりです！仕事に行く前にちょこっと勉強！

では　いってきます～～！

新聞記事で英語学習！：alcopopの酒税、値上げになるか？？

Alcopops makers want $290m raised from tax spent on education

 ALCOPOPS （果汁や炭酸の入った低アルコール飲料）manufacturers have written to health groups asking for advice on how to spend the $290 million raised by the tax hike　（値上げ） on ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages.

The tax seems likely to fail at a final vote in the Senate today after exasperated　（very annoyed and upset） crossbenchers (無所属議員) said last night they could not support the tax unless more of the proceeds go to alcohol education. 

The tax increase was announced in April last year. It must be formally approved before parliament rises　（閉会する） at the end of the week for the autumn recess or the funds already collected will have to be returned. 

The Distilled Spirits Industry Council has called on （～を要求する）all money raised to be invested in alcohol education. 

"DSCIA strongly believes that a 70 per cent excise（酒税） increase on pre-mixed drinks simply won't achieve what its supporters say it will," executive director Gordon Broderick said in a letter to health groups today. 

"We strongly believe that the funds should be directed to community-based programmes aimed at genuinely addressing the abuse of alcohol in Australia. 

"As such, we would be interested in your detailed views or proposals as to（～に関して） how those refunded（返済する） monies could be allocated（割り当てる）." 

The Senate could vote down （否決する）the tax increase but validate （～を法的に有効にする）the collection of the money already received and place（～を投資する） it in a fund. 

There is a precedent （前例）for such a move stemming from（coming from） a successful challenge to the tax treatment of beer after the introduction of the GST. 

Crossbench senators say they are still open to further negotiations on the measure (法案＝bill). 

But they told The Australian Online this morning they had been angered by the Government's attitude in the negotiations.  

The bad blood (悪感情) comes as the Government tries to reach a compromise with（～に歩み寄る）Family First Senator Steve Fielding and Independent Nick Xenophon on a far more significant piece of legislation（法律） - the workplace relations changes of the Fair Work Bill. 　　　（322　words）

From The Australian online  

Total articles :3

Total words :2065 words

＊＊＊＊＊

alcopop ってalcohol (アルコール）とpop（炭酸飲料）を合わせた造語なんだそう。

日本でいうチューハイ系のお酒って感じですかね！

ちなみに私はお酒は飲めません（＾＾；）

飲むと具合わる～～くなっちゃうんです（悲）

新聞記事で英語学習：知的で天才な子を授かる方法？？

IF your IQ isn't up to brain surgery or a Nobel Prize, blame your ageing dad.

Intellectual whizzes（やり手、達人）, on the other hand, can thank their older mums.

The surprising conclusions come from an Australian and US team led by neuroscientist John McGrath of the University of Queensland's Brisbane-based Queensland Brain Institute.

In their study of 17,148 boys born in the US between 1959 and 1965, they found that children conceived （受胎する）by older fathers performed less well on a range of thinking tests given at eight months, four years and seven years than those born to younger dads.

They took into account （～を考慮に入れる）other possible factors such as education, mental health and income, with the same result.

"While we didn't find a clean threshold（分かれ目） above or below which there is a risk (of lower IQ), the risk increased steadily the older the dads were," Professor McGrath said yesterday.

Writing in the US journal Public Library of Science Medicine, his team said their results contrasted sharply with earlier studies showing that the older the mother at conception, the smarter the child.

According to Professor McGrath and his colleagues, the difference may lie in the male and female reproductive（生殖の） systems. A woman is born with a fixed number of eggs that have undergone 22 cell divisions in the womb. But sperm cells divide every 16 days after a boy reaches puberty（思春期）. By age 20, the original sperm cells have divided roughly 150 times; by age 50, 840 times. The more cell divisions, the more mutations（突然変異）; the more mutations, the greater the chance a child will be born with physical or neurological abnormalities.

Until recently, studies of the risks of later conception focused on women. It's well known, for instance, that as women age, the likelihood increases of their having a child with the developmental and intellectual disorder Down syndrome.

In a review of the team's paper, also in PLOS Medicine, psychiatrist Mary Cannon of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland wrote that evidence was accumulating that advanced paternal age was a risk factor for neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and autism, as well as physical problems such as cleft lip and palate, childhood cancers and congenital （生まれつきの）heart defects.

"The body of evidence implicating paternal age as a risk factor for a range of adverse（not favorable） offspring outcomes should not be ignored," she concluded.

To tease out （（情報）を得る）precisely why older dads sire（〈子〉を作る） youngsters with IQ scores up to three points lower than younger fathers, Professor McGrath's group has begun investigating a group of 7000 babies born in Brisbane in the 1980s.

They are also studying the phenomenon in mice to identify the mechanism or mechanisms involved.

"Age is something to factor in （～を含めて考慮する）when planning a family," Professor McGrath said.

(543 words)

From The Australian online  

Total articles :2

Total words :1743 words

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

知的な子供をもつのに越したことはないけれど

年取ってから子供を持つのは大変そう（＾＾；）

それにしてもこのolder mumって

何歳ぐらいのママを示唆してるんでしょうかね！？

３０の私は

もうこのolder mumの範囲に入ってるのかしら（＾＾；）

（・・子供いないけど、ってか結婚すらまだだし。。。（＾＾；））

今流行のクーガーカップル（中年女性と若い男性のカップル）だと

スンバらしい子供が生まれる、、のかなぁ～。

新聞記事で英語学習！（The Australian)

Today's basketcase （無力な）parents should look to the good old days

I HOPE my regular readers will not be disappointed to know that although I have managed to have nine children, and am now the hands-on(直接関わっている) grandmother of three, I have never read a baby book. In fact, I used to wonder why my American friends with grumpy babies kept mentioning Spock（有名な育児書の名前）. Perhaps they were propping themselves up　(sitting up) late at night in front of old episodes of Star Trek? Personally, I went for the gripe water（小児用腹痛止め水薬）; for the baby, that is.

So the huge fuss over a program shown on ABC1 called Bringing up Baby left me somewhat nonplussed（途方にくれる）. I wondered why so many parents watched the show and were so personally affronted（ｏｆｆｅｎｄｅｄ）. They should have obtained a decent DVD and a bottle of plonk (ブドウ酒)and got into a mood for the type of entertaining evening my colleague Bettina Arndt would approve of.

But no, they tortured themselves with this bad program. Unfortunately, we live in a world of so-called experts although I always thought that when it came to rearing one's children, parents were the experts. The reaction to this program indicated just how appallingly（恐ろしいほど） lacking in confidence most Australian parents are.

My research has uncovered 926 book titles available in Australia under the heading of parenting and child care, and that does not include the magazines and associated DVDs. The size of the market is astonishing when one compares it with the popular self-help categories of diet and weight loss. There are only 79 and 33 titles respectively in print in those categories. Are women who are used to control over their working lives incapable of listening to their instincts when they have a baby? Hence, instead of seeing it as a normal, natural part of life, it becomes a huge upheaval　(big change). Instead of listening and learning from our own and other mothers, we formularise (定式化する)infant care and think we can learn it like we learned our maths times table. We can't.

So what help is there for the well-meaning （善意の）modern parent? And what about the methods displayed in the TV program?

I have to confess the only method I knew of was Truby King's, the one supposedly used by the horror nanny Verity.

However, sadly, both in the program and the reaction to it, King's methods are badly misrepresented （誤り伝える）and his enormous positive legacy totally ignored. So, for example in a popular parenting blog, I read this: "Apparently the Truby King method arises from King's vet days where he noticed regular feeding times and plenty of fresh air resulted in happy healthy calves. Yes, calves. Baby cows. Hmmm."

The author, Felicity Moore, using the de rigueur（流行の） "it is all so crazy" vein( kind, style) of parental humour, describes herself as a Brisbane mother of three who "divides her time between looking for her sanity and looking for her waistline. She hopes parenthood doesn't send her to an early grave." Very droll(amazing). But what a pity she apparently knows nothing about one of the greatest figures (important person)in the history of maternal and child health, credited（～と評価する） for almost single-handedly（独力で） cutting the infant mortality rate in New Zealand from 88 per thousand in 1907 to 32 per thousand during the next 30 years. He pioneered（～の先駆者となる） the postnatal home-nurse system, which we had almost abandoned and are only beginning to rediscover. And he was never a vet.

King set up the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society, whose methods were exported to Australia and Canada via the Karitane movement that runs postnatal hospitals and outreach centres （福祉活動センター）in Sydney and other large cities and forms the basis for all modern postnatal mothercraft（育児法） institutions. Contrary to the cliched （ありきたりな）bloggers, King's was not a 1950s method, the '50s being a shorthand like Stone Age. In fact he formulated his ideas at the turn of the 20th century, but some methods were still used in the '50s. Yes, he was adamant （断固とした）that babies needed routine regular feeds and sleep, and mothers needed rest. Also part of that routine was strict hygiene, and in the time before routine immunisation it was truly vital, as was daily exposure to sunlight. He had been a doctor in Glasgow and he had seen rickets（くる病）. He was not against breastfeeding but, quite radically for the time, he insisted that the protein content of artificial feeds should mimic breast milk.

Mary Kirk, director of nursing and executive officer of the Queen Elizabeth II Family Centre in Canberra, is quite happy to give King his due （～を正当に評価する） but points out that modern methods of infant care have evolved and are much more responsive to babies' development. Nor has she anything against Benjamin Spock, the one who sold 50 million copies of his book, although he himself acknowledged that, judging by the more selfish members of generations X and Y, his child-centred methods didn't always work. But Kirk, a hands-on nurse with a long career in child and maternal health who sees 1600 families a year in Canberra, has no doubt about what is plaguing（～を困らせる） modern parenting. It goes beyond which technique of infant management is used. It is fear.

"Today's parents' instincts are paralysed（～を麻痺させる） by fear. They cannot read infants' cues （合図）and don't know whether to respond or not. So they become hyper-vigilant（用心深い）, responding to everything, resulting in the modern phenomenon of 'helicopter' parenting. And because so many parents cannot identify the difference between wants and needs themselves, they fail to identify that in their infants and then older children," Kirk says.

"Parents really need to look at their own values and distinguish between wants and needs, to be secure in those and then set boundaries for the child. It is actually very stressful for children not to have developmentally appropriate boundaries."

The mothering instinct can be smothered and parents are simply not prepared for the change in their controlled life, particularly if they have spent years childless and focused on themselves, investing their identity in a career. But when we have children we really find out who we are, not what we do.

Of course so much of the problem with modern parenting is modern families. Aside from the increasing number of pathologies（病理学）, such as alcoholism and drug taking, even relatively healthy families are fragmented（バラバラにする）. People live all over the place, families are small and grandmothers are almost too old by the time they have grandchildren to advise, help and do all the other grandmotherly things.

Worse, in the future, as first-time mothering is pushed further and further back there is a distinct possibility that some children will grow up without any grandparents.

It might also help to realise that once we didn't have conveniently gender-neutral parents, we had mothers and fathers. How odd that we make a fuss about infant management techniques but are willing to subject our children to （～を（辛い目）に合わせる）bizarre social experiments such as same-sex parenting and serial step-parents or father figures that will be much more harmful than any infant management technique could be.

Men and women are complementary（相補的な）. Fathers are lifelong learners but it is the mother who has the guiding instinct. So having children as early as possible with a loving father who is a willing learner makes for better mothering and better fathering.

From The Australian online (1,203 words)

Total articles: 1

Total words:1,203