月別: 2015年12月

マイケル先生はクリスマスにカツカレーを作ったそうで。すごく美味しかったそうだ。^^　なんか嬉しい。

今年の英語はこれで終了。See you next year. でした。

1)   Japan Coast Guard officials say they have observed no lava flows or eruptions from a remote Pacific island volcano in Japan for the first time in two years.

Until recently, explosive eruptions had been taking place from a crater in the island’s center after an underwater eruption two years ago.

2)   Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga told reporters on Friday that the prefecture had to file the lawsuit to protect the pride and dignity of Okinawa residents.

He said the lawsuit is an effective way to stop the landfill work. He noted it’s a significant move showing his determination to block the construction of the airfield in Henoko.

3)   Japan’s top government spokesman says 3 Japanese nationals have been arrested and another detained by the Chinese authorities on suspicion of espionage.

Suga said the Chinese government has informed Japan that the authorities arrested 2 men in September after detaining them separately in the provinces of Zhejiang and Liaoning in May.

4)   The health ministry has decided to order a Japanese drug maker to suspend its operations as early as next month. The company was found to have used unauthorized methods to produce blood products and systematically covered up its misconduct.

Kaketsuken, or the Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Research Institute, based in the western prefecture of Kumamoto, is accused of being engaged in the illicit acts for around 40 years.

The company will be banned from selling all products during this period, except for certain types of blood products and vaccines for which no alternatives are available on the market.

5)   A Japanese freelance journalist is reportedly being held by an armed group in Syria.

Jumpei Yasuda reportedly entered Syria from southern Turkey in late June this year to cover the country’s civil war. He was accompanied by a guide.

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based NGO, said on its website on Tuesday that Yasuda had been kidnapped by an armed group in an area controlled by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front.

6)   A former law professor has been found guilty of leaking questions on this year’s bar exam to one of his former students.

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday handed a one-year sentence, suspended for 5 years, to Koichi Aoyagi, a 67-year-old former professor at Meiji University’s law school in Tokyo.

Aoyagi was one of the experts who prepared questions for this year’s bar exam.

7)  Japan’s Financial Services Agency has imposed a record-high penalty of 7.37 billion yen, or about 61 million dollars, on electronics firm Toshiba for falsifying financial statements.

クリスマスなので「クリスマスキャロル」の教材も作ったよ！というので、じゃあそれで。ということで。すっかりストーリーを忘れていた。この本の出版の後にアメリカのクリスマスが家族のクリスマスになったのだそう。

A mean-spirited man named Ebenezer Scrooge sits in his bank on a cold Christmas Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers in the room because Scrooge refuses to spend money on heating coals for a fire. Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, pays his uncle a visit and invites him to his annual Christmas party. Two gentlemen also drop by and ask Scrooge for money for their charity. Scrooge reacts to the holiday visitors with anger saying an angry “Bah! Humbug!” in response to his nephew’s “Merry Christmas!”

Later that evening, after returning to his dark, cold apartment, Scrooge receives a scary visitation from the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, tells his sad story. As punishment for his greedy and self-serving life his spirit wanders the Earth weighted down with heavy chains. Marley hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. Marley informs Scrooge that three spirits will visit him. After the ghost disappears, Scrooge falls into a deep sleep.

He wakes moments before the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a strange childlike ghost. The spirit takes Scrooge on a journey into the past to previous Christmases from Scrooges earlier years. Invisible to those he watches, Scrooge revisits his childhood school days, his job with a happy merchant named Fezziwig, and his engagement to Belle, a woman who leaves Scrooge because his greed for money is greater than his ability to love another. Scrooge, deeply moved, cries tears of regret before the ghost returns him to his bed.

The Ghost of Christmas Present, a giant in a green fur robe, takes Scrooge through London to show how Christmas as it will happen that year. Scrooge watches the large Cratchit family prepare a small feast in its poor home. He discovers Bob Cratchit’s crippled son, Tiny Tim, a courageous boy whose kindness and humility warms Scrooge’s heart. The ghost then takes Scrooge to his nephew’s to see the Christmas party. Scrooge finds the happy gathering delightful. The ghost vanishes instantly as Scrooge notices a dark, hooded figure coming toward him.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come leads Scrooge through a series of mysterious scenes relating to an unnamed man’s recent death. Scrooge sees businessmen discussing the dead man’s riches, some vagabonds trading his personal effects for cash. Scrooge, anxious to learn the lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name of the dead man. Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone and is shocked to read his own name. He desperately asks the spirit to change his fate, promising to honor Christmas with all his heart. He suddenly finds himself safely in his bed.

Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem himself and grateful that he has been returned to Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his newfound Christmas spirit. He sends a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchit house and attends Fred’s party, to the surprise of the other guests. As the years go by, he holds true to his promise and honors Christmas with all his heart: he treats Tiny Tim as if he were his own child, provides wonderful gifts for the poor, and treats his fellow human beings with kindness, generosity, and warmth.

トランプ氏はアメリカでも嫌われているはずなのになぜ支持率が高いのかということを説明してくれた。

オバマさんもクリントンさんを含む他の候補も結局が大企業がお金を出してあげているので彼らの操り人形でトランプ候補は自分のお金でやっているから本当のことが言える。彼が言っていることは多くのアメリカ人たちが思っている本当の気持ちだ。

ということだそう。大企業がスポンサーの新聞がどんなに彼のことや発言を歪曲して悪く取り上げてもだから彼を支持する人は多いということだそう。なるほどね。

1)   French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says he expects countries participating in the UN climate change conference, or COP21, to reach a final agreement on Saturday

2)   Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Saturday. Abe hopes to strengthen cooperative ties in a wide range of areas, including defense and security.

He announced plans to set up a financial scheme totaling about 12.3 billion dollars to help Japanese firms do business in India.

3)   Tokyo police say a South Korean man arrested in connection with an explosion at Yasukuni Shrine was carrying what appeared to be gunpowder when he returned to Japan earlier this week.

4)   Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui will be returning to Earth on Friday after completing his 5-month mission at the International Space Station.

Yui, a former Air Self-Defense Force pilot, has been on the ISS since July of this year. In August, he played a key role in docking the Japanese unmanned cargo craft Kounotori 5, using a robot arm. Yui is the 10th Japanese astronaut.

5)   Japanese researchers warn that if global warming continues at current rates, Japan could experience frequent extreme rainfall and storm surges by the end of this century.

The Meteorological Agency, the University of Tokyo, and Kyoto University jointly ran weather simulations on a supercomputer called the Earth Simulator.

6)   A former university law professor has admitted to leaking questions on this year’s national bar examination to one of his former students.

Koichi Aoyagi, a former professor at Meiji University’s law school in Tokyo has been charged with giving away some questions from the exam to a woman student in her 20s.

On Thursday, Aoyagi admitted to the charges at the Tokyo District Court. He said the woman had been his girlfriend, and that he wanted to help her after she’d failed the exam last year.

7)   Tokyo (AFP) – A conservation group slammed Japan Thursday for fuelling illegal ivory trading and smuggling by poor law enforcement.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) ran an undercover probe. Its findings said: “Japan is clearly being targeted by ivory trafficking syndicates purchasing illegal tusks including via the internet, and arranging illegal export to China without any apparent interference from Japanese authorities.”

自分メモ

http://www.ted.com/playlists/309/talks_on_how_to_make_love_last?utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=playlist&utm_term=social-science

ロケットのラウンチがあるのでマイケルといっしょに待ったのだけど、なんかしらのトラブルがあって中止。

その後再開するようだったけれど、時間切れ。残念。無事発射されたのかな？来週聞いてみよう。^^

1)   Japan’s infrastructure ministry has found that more than 500 of the country’s bridges have poorly welded supports. The devices are supposed to keep the bridges from collapsing during major earthquakes.
The ministry surveyed government-managed bridges after learning in August that metal supports retrofitted to a bridge in Kyoto had poorly welded components.

Ministry inspectors checked all bridges fitted with such supports made by Hisatomi Sangyo based in Fukui, central Japan. They also spot-checked other makers’ products.

2)   A survey has found that Japanese manufacturers operating in China have become less willing to expand business there as the economy slows and labor costs rise.

3)   Japanese police say a man caught on security camera just before an explosion at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo last month was a South Korean who has since returned home.

The blast was heard from a restroom near the shrine’s south gate on November 23rd. The explosion triggered a small fire but no one was injured.

4)   A Japanese philanthropic organization says a failure to address child poverty in Japan will likely cost the country’s economy about 33 billion dollars.

The Nippon Foundation says its estimate focuses on about 180,000 children aged 15 in needy households, such as those with single parents or on welfare.

5)   Tokyo police will refer reports on 7 people, including a former Self-Defense Forces official, to prosecutors on Friday. They are suspected of leaking defense-related documents to Russia.

Police say an SDF official  handed an internal manual on personnel training to the Russian officer at a Tokyo hotel in May 2013. Izumi’s former subordinate and 4 others were allegedly involved in acquiring the manual.

6)   Officials at Japan’s Honda Motor say they hope to begin selling electric vehicles around 2020.

Automakers around the world are competing to develop eco-friendly models. They predict that stricter environmental standards in the United States, Europe and China will help to fuel an expanding market.

7)   The tax panel of Japan’s ruling coalition has agreed that tax breaks granted for solar power suppliers should end at the end of March next year. The current incentive is aimed at promoting solar power generation.

The panel of the Liberal Democratic and Komeito parties decided to abolish the tax break at the end of fiscal 2015 because the incentive is no longer needed now that solar power is widely used in the country.