2016年3月号–エイゴパス 月刊ニュースレター

英語ニュース Current Internet NEWS!! <新着ネットニュース>
英語のビデオ Video News (Domestic and World Events/国内&世界の動画ニュース)
Business English <ビジネス英語フレーズ>
Grammar Study<今月の文法学習>
TOEICクイズ TOEIC Study Quiz<TOEICテスト>
Monthly Column – <今月のコラム>
 
   
You can read the article below and use it in your lessons to discuss with your teacher. — この記事を読んで先生とレッスンで話し合おう!
World News

Facebook‘s ‘like’ button gets ‘angry’ and ‘sad’ as friends

NEW YORK (AP) – Facebook’s "like" button isn’t going away, but it’s about to get some company.Responding to requests from users, Facebook has been testing alternatives to the iconic "like" in about a half-dozen countries, including Ireland, Spain and Japan.

On Feb. 24, Facebook started making "haha," "angry" and four other responses available worldwide.

When a friend posts that a relative had died, hitting "like" might seem insensitive. Users have long requested a "dislike" button, but that was deemed too negative and problematic. Are you disliking the death or the call for sympathy?

Facebook chose to offer more nuanced reactions — "love," "wow," "sad" and "angry" — alongside "like" — to give users "greater control over their expressivity," said a Facebook official.

Facebook フェイスブック(社)。ソーシャル・ネットワーキング・サービス(SNS)。
(be) about to まさに~しようとしている
company 仲間、友達
alternative(s) 代わりになるもの
iconic 象徴的な
insensitive 思いやりのない、無神経な
(be) deemed ~と見なされた、思われた
nuanced (微妙な)違いのある、繊細な
alongside ~と共に、~と並行して
expressivity 表現力
 

FB、ボタン追加で感情表現が豊かに

フェイスブックの「いいね!」ボタンは、姿を消してしまうどころか、仲間が増えることになる。

利用者の要望をもとに、フェイスブックはおなじみの「いいね!」ボタンに代わるものを、アイルランド、スペイン、日本を含む5~6カ国で試験的に導入してきた。そして同社は2月24日、世界中どこでも利用可能なものとして、「うけるね」「ひどいね」、のほか四つのリアクションボタンの作成を始めた。

友人の「親戚を亡くした」という投稿に対して、「いいね!」を押すというのは、思いやりに欠けるように感じられる。利用者の多くが、以前から「よくないね!」ボタンの追加を要望してきたが、これもかなり否定的で問題があるとみなされた。あなたが嫌がっているのは人の死なのか、同情を求めることなのか、となってしまうからだ。

フェイスブックは、もっと違いのわかるリアクションを提供することにしたー「いいね!」に加え、「超いいね!」「すごいね」「悲しいね」、そして「ひどいね」だ。これらによって、利用者は「より自由な表現力を行使できる」と同社の担当者は話した。

 
 
Japan News:

Economy and yen defuse ‘explosive’ Chinese shopping

Chinese tourists spent less in Tokyo shops during the Lunar New Year holidays compared with a year earlier, retailers said, as a stronger yen and slower economic growth at home discouraged the kind of "explosive buying" that became a buzzword in 2015.

Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings said its stores served around 50 percent more international duty-free shoppers during February 7-13 compared with the holiday week last year due to a spike in customers from mainland China, but each spent 15 percent less than a year ago.

In 2015, visitors from mainland China doubled to five million from 2014. Their shopping binges created a buzzword, "bakugai," or explosive buying, and came as a boon for Japanese retailers.

‘explosive’ Chinese shopping 中国人による「爆買い」。
Lunar New Year 春節(中華圏の旧正月)
discourage(d) ~を抑制した
buzzword 流行語
spike in customer(s) 顧客の急増
binge(s) 節度のない道楽の行為
boon for ~にとっての利益、恩恵
 

しぼむ「爆買い」円高が影響

中国人観光客の東京での消費額が、昨年の春節の祝日期間に比べて減少したと、小売業界が発表した。円高と、中国国内の景気減速が影響し、2015年に流行語となった、いわゆる「爆買い」に歯止めがかかった。

三越伊勢丹ホールディングスによると、同社が運営する店舗では、2月7~13日(の1週間)と前年の祝日期間を比べた場合、中国本土からの訪日客が急増したおかげで、免税対象の外国人買い物客はざっと1.5倍になったという。しかし客単価は前年比で、15パーセント落ち込んだ。

15年の中国本土からの訪日客は、前年に比べ2倍の500万人となった。中国人観光客の大量買いは、「爆買い」という流行語を生み、日本の小売業界に恩恵をもたらした。

 
 
 
   
  New! Learning through News Videos
 
 
 
Business English Expression and Phrases <ビジネス英会話フレーズ>
-Learn expressions such as idioms and slang that is unique to culture, age, and business!
新しい英語表現: 文化・時代・ビジネスで使う特有なイディオム表現や俗語を覚えよう!
 
前回の会議の議事録を参照する
I’d like to spend a few minutes going over the minutes from the previous meeting.
  I’d like to spend a few minutes going over the minutes from the previous meeting so that we can continue where we left off.
  前回の続きから始めるために、前回の会議の議事録をさっと見直したいと思います。
 
前回の議論を確認する
Let me remind you of what we talked about last time.
  Let me remind you of what we talked about last time. That way we can avoid some duplication.
前回何を議論したかを確認しましょう。そうすれば、また同じ話をしなくて済みますから。
 
ビシネス英会話 前回の会議の内容を要約する
I’ve summarized the minutes…
  I’ve summarized the minutes from last week’s minutes. Could you take a second to look over them? I think that’ll save us some time.
先週の木々の議事をまとめてみましたので、読んでみていただけますか?時間の節約になると思います。
   
  Could you summarize last week’s meeting?
  George, Could you summarize last week’s meeting? I think that’ll help to make this meeting more efficient.
ジョージ、前回の会議の内容を予約してもらえませんか?そうすれば、会議をより効率的に行うことができると思います. →部下などに要約を頼む場合
 
ビシネス英会話 保留になっている課題を挙げる
  We still have a few issues left…
  We still have a few issues left from our previous meeting, so let’s discuss them first.
前回の会議で持ち越した課題がいくつかありますので、それについて先に話し合いましょう。
   
  There’s one thing that we forgot to talk about…
  There’s one thing that we forgot to talk about at our previous meeting. Let’s take a few minutes to talk about the budget for next year.
前回の会議で議論し忘れたことが1つあります。来年度の予算について少し話し合いましょう。
 

 
–This section will cover a broad range of different grammar rules and explanations to help you understand sentence structure and improve awareness of English grammar.
このコーナーでは文法の規則や英文の構成についてわかりやすく学べます。
Special! TOEIC REVIEW AND STUDY
Check your understanding by selecting the correct answer below: 
Read each of the following of sentences and select the best answer. Print out this lesson plan and ask your teacher to assist you in understanding the grammar rules if you do not understand your mistakes..
 
Part V – Multiple Choice ( Incomplete Sentences )
 
1. The next shipment of office supplies will arrive ______ today or tomorrow.
   
 
A. or
B. either
C. on
D. both
   
6. For our customers’ convenience, a store manager is ______ at the information desk from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
   
A. probable
B. approachable
C. considerable
D. available
   
2. Although the new software was introduced more than a year ago, it ______ has a very small share of the market.
   
 
A. once
B. ever
C. still
D. yet
   
7. Thanks to careful ______, the construction of the new office building in Gadsden will cause very little inconvenience to employees.
   
A. planner
B. planned
C. plan
D. planning
   
3. The floor manager informed us that normal operating hours would be in effect for the ______ of the month.
   
A. remain
B. remainder
C. remained
D. remaining
   
8. The security gate at the hotel operates ______ a radio controlled device on weekends.
   
A. in support of
B. by means of
C. on behalf of
D. with reference to
   
4. HSA Pharmaceutical Company is pleased to announce that all of its workers are ______ for membership at the nearby fitness club.
   
A. permissible
B. allowable
C. dependable
D. eligible
   
9. In the event of employment, false or misleading information ______ in this job application may result in dismissal.
   
A. was given
B. given
C. had given
D. gave
   
5. If the local government reduces the legal work week to thirty-five hours, many small firms ______ bankrupt.
   
A. will go
B. have gone
C. went
D. goes
   
10. If Mr. O’Brian encounters a problem with a client, he always tries to address it ______ before asking for managerial assistance.
   
A. oneself
B. yourself
C. himself
D. themselves
   
 
Check your answers!
 
 
 
TOEIC対策(読解&リスニング問題編)Eメールとユーザネームの入力でテストの結果がメールで受け取れます。
 
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[kml_flashembed publishmethod=”static” fversion=”8.0.0″ movie=”https://www.members.eigopass.com/flashquiz/TOEIC850/quiz30audio/quiz.swf” width=”636″ height=”480″ targetclass=”flashmovie”] [/kml_flashembed]
 
 
NEW! – Advice Column from a Foreigner’s Point of View (Relationship, Life, Work, and Everything Under the Sun)

(Mikako: early 40s Japanese): English Version translated from Japanese

The prefecture of Miyagi has prohibited all of their public school teachers and students from contacting each other through email and instant messaging apps. As a mother of a son and daughter, who are 15 and 13 years old, respectively, I’m in full support of this ban. I think that it’s a good idea as I personally don’t think it’s necessary for teachers and students to communicate with each other outside school. I was wondering what kinds of protocols the schools in the U.S. have pertaining to such issue and if you think such ban by the prefecture of Miyagi is the right way to go about it.

(James: mid-30s American):

First and foremost, I’m glad that I grew up in a much simpler time in which such issue didn’t really exist. Since I’m in my mid-30s and only had access to email from my freshman year in college, I was already technically an adult and fairly capable of exercising good judgment in using it. Although digital communications like email and instant messaging apps have made our lives more convenient by making ubiquitous communication possible on one hand, it has also raised many questions on how we should responsibly utilize them and if children are mature enough to use them.

I personally have been removed from school for a long time and don’t have any children of my own, so I honestly have no idea on the kinds of protocols the schools in the U.S. have regarding this issue. I’m sure that each school has set its own protocol in place in the past few years, but I’m not aware of any. I do think such digital communications like email and instant messaging are useful and sometimes even necessary for teachers and students to exchange information outside school. So, instead of putting a complete ban on them, I think that all parties such as the teachers, school officials, students and their parents should discuss and figure out how to effectively implement and utilize the technology while being wary of its pitfalls.

Regarding emails, I think that this is already the case for most schools in the U.S. but teachers should only be able to communicate with their students through a school-designated email address that is frequently monitored by school officials. Also, it should only be used by the teachers to make announcements or send reminders like sudden school closure notices and project deadline reminders to the whole class. In no case do I think that a teacher should be able to contact a single student via email concerning anything. For the students, I think that they should be able to email the teachers directly without cc’ing anyone else to notify certain time sensitive matters like how they may not be able to turn a specific homework on time due to some valid reason.

My position on instant messaging apps would be exactly the same as for email. However, I don’t think that there’s much need for schools to set up a school-designated instant messaging account as there are less students who have access to these compared to email. Having it may actually cause more trouble as some students without smartphones and access to these apps may find themselves out of the loop and feel left out. If the school does in fact have such account, it should only be used for relaying time sensitive information and emergency notices to those who have opted to be in a group chat with the school account.

Looking back at my college days, I realize how useful and integral email was in contacting and communicating with my professors outside of class. Since that time, the functions and accessibility of the email have vastly improved, and the increased prevalence of instant messaging apps in the past few years have changed how people communicate with each other. I think that it has made communication more convenient and ubiquitous, but maybe too close for comfort that it has become even invading in some sense. Just as how teachers and students shouldn’t cross their relationship in the physical classroom, they shouldn’t do so even in their digital communications. Furthermore, to safeguard both teachers and students from crossing that line, the school officials and parents should devise and enforce plausible and sensible policies that don’t completely ban such communications between teachers and students.