語学の勉強

verb + "up" の意味は大きく3つのカテゴリーに分けられます。 1. increase ・speak up … 大声で話す、はっきり話す Could you please speak up? もっと大きな声で話していただけますか？ ・turn up … （音量などを）大きくする Turn up the TV a little. テレビの音量をもう少し上げて。 ・blow up … （風船などを）膨らませる、爆発させる Because of too much taking care of others, I feel like I could blow up. 他人に気を遣いすぎて、もう爆発しそう。 ・cheer up … 元気づける、励ます Thanks for trying to cheer me up. 励ましてくれてありがとう。 ・grow up … 成長する What do you want to be when you grow up? 大きくなったら何になりたい？ 2. move ・bring up … 持ち出す、育てる Don't bring up that story. そんな話を持ち出さないでくれ。 ・catch up … 追い付く Go ahead. I'll catch up with you soon. 先に行ってください。すぐ追いつきますから。 ・sit up … 起き上がる、きちんと座る Sit up straight. It's rude to sit like that. 背筋を伸ばして座りなさい。そんなふうに座るのは失礼ですよ。 3. complete ・fill up … 満たす、いっぱいにする Please fill up the tank when you return the car. 車を返すときはガソリンを満タンにしてください。 ・finish up … 仕上げる、終わらせる I have to finish up my homework tomorrow. 明日までに宿題を終わらせなければいけない。 ・wrap up … 仕上げる、終わらせる L...

In my last English lesson, my teacher told me to choose the most important thing for my happiness from several choices. I chose "not wanting more than you've got". The teacher asked me why I thought so. It was a bit difficult for me to explain the reason in English. I said something like the following. - The more we get, the more we want. - We can't be satisfied no matter how much we get. - We can't get everything. - We should live within our limits. However I'm not sure whether my answers were to the point. [ source ]

I went to see the movie "Godzilla" this morning. It was certainly a fun movie. However I felt the storyline was a bit shallow, though this could be said for all Godzilla movies. The movie was screened in two versions: 2D and 3D. The 2D version had English audio and Japanese subtitles. The 3D version was Japanese-dubbed. To be honest, I prefered the English audio version. But I actually chose the 3D version because I wanted to see how much the 3D effects provided realistic vision. My result was, to my disappointment, I didn't feel the movie took advantage of the 3D effects effectively. I thought it might have been unnecessary for the movie to be 3D. I should have seen the 2D version with English audio and Japanese subtitles. [ source ]

aptitude (n.) ... natural ability to do something I work with a lot of freelance translators. My job is checking translated documents for mistakes. Most translators are very competent. However, to my disappointment, there are some translators who I think lack an aptitude for translation work. predicament (n.) ... a difficult or unpleasant situation in which you don't know what to do Benesse is one of the largest correspondence education companies in Japan. One of the staff was arrested for hacking the personal information of several million customers. Benesse is in a predicament where it has completely lost its customers' trust. [ source ]

I've read in a web article that, in Australia, people celebrate Christmas in July as well as in December. According to the article, Christmas in December is in the hot season in Australia. Therefore people want to have a Christmas party in the cold season as people in the northern hemisphere do. I wonder how common celebrating Christmas in July is among Australian people. [ source ]

pang (noun) ... a sudden strong feeling of physical or emotional pain In my childhood, I accidentally broke my younger brother's plastic model while we were fighting. He picked up the plastic model and wept over it silently. I felt a great pang of guilt at the sight of his grief. [ source ]

出典： CBS News RINGWOOD, N.J. - A frightened bear cub got its head stuck in an oversized cookie jar while rummaging through some trash and had to be rescued from a tree in New Jersey. ニュージャージー州リングウッド ― ゴミをあさっていた子熊が特大のクッキー瓶に頭を突っ込んで抜けなくなり、木の上で身動きが取れなくなっていたところを救助されました。 rummage through … ～の中をかき回して捜す Environmental Protection Department spokesman Larry Ragonese says the 6-month-old cub apparently found the animal crackers jar Friday night in Ringwood, near the New York border. 環境保護局の広報担当者ラリー・ラゴネス氏によると、生後6か月のこの子熊は、金曜日の夜にニューヨーク州境に近いリングウッドでアニマルクラッカーの瓶を見つけたようです。 As the 28-pound animal tried to eat what remained in the jar, the cub apparently pulled the container over its head and it got stuck. 体重28ポンドの子熊が瓶に残っていたものを食べようとした際、瓶を頭からかぶってしまい、抜けなくなってしまいました。 pull ～ over one's head … ～を頭からかぶる The cub became spooked when approached and went up a tree, but got wedged about 40 feet up. 人が近づくと子熊は驚いて木に登ってしまいましたが、約40フィートの高さで身動きが取れなくなりました。 spook … 驚かす、驚く get wedged … 動きがとれなくなる ...