How to study the materials on this blog

I've organized some ideas on how to study the materials I've put on this blog for you. I'll explain this in class.

• Input
  
  • Listen
    • With text (mp4)
    • Without text (mp3)
  • Read
  • Silently and/or analytically (using dictionaries and making notes)
  • Out loud (practice reading smoothly)
• Output
  
  • Listen and repeat
  • With text (mp4)
  • Without text (mp3)
  • Take dictation (write down what you hear)
  • Make your own sentences based on sentences in text

I think that these methods can be used in any order.

December 20th

On December 20th, we will meet in our usual classroom (1233).

1448教室でEnglishCentral

As I said last week, today (December 19) we will meet in Room 1448. In the classroom, please go to my EnglishCentral page and log in. If you log in properly, I will be able to monitor your progress. If you use a name that I cannot recognize, please send your log-in name to me in an e-mail.

By the way, all of Part II of Steve Jobs' speech is now up on this blog. Please download the materials and study them.

Jobs, Part II

Download the audio (right click)
Download the video (right click)
Download the text (right click)

Loading the player ...

Commencement Address by Steve Jobs at the Stanford University, 2005 (Part 2)

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation -- the Macintosh -- a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. And so at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down -- that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me -- I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. And don't settle! As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking! Don't settle!

Join my EnglishCentral class

At the beginning of class today I introduced EnglishCentral. If you join my EnglishCentral class and work hard on it I will be able to raise your grade if you don't do well on the final exam.

Commencement Address by Steve Jobs (Part 1)

Click here to listen to the audio while you read this blog entry. (The audio player should open in another window.)

Download the audio (right click)
Download the video (right click)
Download the text (right click)

Commencement Address by Steve Jobs at the Stanford University, 2005 (Part 1)

I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We've got an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college. This was the start in my life.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path.

Scout and Atticus

Click here to listen to the audio while you read this blog entry. (The audio player should open in another window.)

Download the audio (right click)
Download the video (right click)
Download the text (right click)

Last week we began watching "To Kill a Mockingbird." The movie is narrated by a little girl called "Scout." "Scout" is a nickname, not the girl's real name. I think it's an unusual nickname. I've never met a little girl in the U.S. who was called "Scout." The word "scout" means "to look for something." So, perhaps Scout's father decided to call her "Scout" because she was always looking around for things.

Scout calls her father "Atticus." This is also unusual because "Atticus" is her father's first name and most American children don't call their parents by their first names. Dill, the little boy that Scout and her brother Jem meet early in the movie, wants to know why Scout calls her father "Atticus" because it's so unusual:

Dill: Why do you call you daddy Atticus?
Scout: 'Cause Jem does.
Dill: Why does he?
Scout: I don't know. He just started to ever since he began talking.

On the other hand, I have heard of other children calling their parents by their first names. As a matter of fact, my sister's children called her "Marti," which is her first name. Still, most American children call their parents something like "Mom" or "Dad."

テスト前のQ&A

たくさんの質問がメールで届きました。ここで質問とその回答を示します。

---

質問1

Q: 12 angry menなのですが、101.102にかけて If a doubt is "reasomable" there are reasons for it. この文の最後のitの内容がわかりません(*_*)

A: "If a doubt is 'reasonable' there are reasons for the doubt"と言い換えてもいいです。

---

質問2

Q: 145 The requirement that the decision be unanimous often forces the jurors to talk more than they would if it were only necessary that a majority or the jurors agree.

訳：全会一致で求められるものは、大多数の人や陪審員が同意することが必要であるよりも、陪審員をもっと話し合わせることです。

この文の「if」の使い方、訳の仕方がいまいちわかりません。英次郎も見てみました。「would if」で検索して、例文も見てみましたが、わかりません。「majority」と「jurors」がなぜわざわざ別に書かれているのかがちょっと疑問です。

A: . . . . would if . . . .

I would buy it if I had enough money. この時のwouldは「できないけども」とか「しかないけども」、もし何々の状況が違っていたら、「できる」とか「する」ということになります。

In the movie we saw in class, the jurors would not have talked as much if the decision did not have to be unanimous. 「 授業で見た映画では、全会一致という条件がなければ、そこまで話し続けることはなかった。」

---

質問3

Q: ＯＺからです。プリントの24番の訳のしかた(bitの使い方)がわかりません。教えてください。

A: bitは文脈によってはsmall piece（Longmanには"bits of broken glass"という例文があります）という意味がありますが、ここではbite (かじる)の過去形です。

---

質問4

Q: reasonable doubtのプリントの144番のmore peopleをどう訳せばいいかわかりません… 僕の予想なんですが「複数の人」と訳して良いんですかね？

A: one or more peopleというは「一人、または一人より多い人数」、つまり「一人以上」ということです。英語には「以上」という言葉がないので、例えば「2個以上」をtwo or moreというように言います。

---

質問5

Q: オズの魔法使いのプリントの31番のwhatは「なにで」でいいんですかね？

A: who or what has bitten herについては「だれが、あるいは何が彼女に噛み付いたのか」ということです。人間ならwho、動物ならwhatということです。

---

質問6

Q: 12 agree men
139 Longman says that a unanimous
140 desicion ,vote,agreement etc is one in which
141all the people involved
142agree.
訳、ロングマンは全会一致の判決、投票、協定等の場で全ての人の同意を必要とすることと説明している。

12You've had the law read to you and
13 interpreted as it applieses in this case.
訳、あなた方は、この場合に法律がどのようにあてはまるかを説明してもらった。

訳はあってますかね？授業で"to interpret the law" means to "explain the meaning of the law." との説明を聞いたのですが、the law readの部分が良く分からなくて。

A: 質問を引用しながら答えます。

"12 agree men
139 Longman says that a unanimous
140 desicion ,vote,agreement etc is one in which
141all the people involved
142agree.
訳、ロングマンは全会一致の判決、投票、協定等の場で全ての人の同意を必要とすることと説明している。"

私なら「unanimousな判決、投票、合意等と言うのは、その決定にかかわった全ての人が同意したという意味になるとロングマンが説明している」と訳します。まあ、訳は難しいけども、このような意味だと思います。

"12You've had the law read to you and
13 interpreted as it applieses in this case.
訳、あなた方は、この場合に法律がどのようにあてはまるかを説明してもらった。"

基本的にはいいと思います。ただ、法廷ではのcaseは「事件」ということになると思います。

"訳はあってますかね？授業で"to interpret the law" means to "explain the meaning of the law." との説明を聞いたのですが、the law readの部分が良く分からなくて。"

"You've had the law read to you" は「（関連のある）法律文を読み上げてもらった」ということで、and interpreted as it applies in this case は「そして、この事件にどう当てはまるかを説明してもらった」ということです。

---

質問7

Q: 149行目のIt also makes it harder to find the accused guilty.の文で私は、告発された罪を見つけるのは難しいと訳したのですが、makes の訳仕方が分かりません。よかったらアドバイスお願いします。

A: 「より困難にする」という意味です。だから、「被告人に対して有罪判決が出しにくくなる」というようなことです。

---

質問8

Q: 42～45行目
It is the job of the judge to make sure that the jurors have had the relevant
laws read to them and that the laws have been explained properly.

「関連法を陪審員に読み聞かせ、法を正確に説明したことを確認するのが裁判官の仕事
です。」
というような内容なのかとは思いますが、正確に日本語に和訳することができません。
一応の考えた過程は

①文の概要
It is the job of the judge to make sure that ～.
～（that以下）であることを確認することは裁判官の仕事です。

②that以下→裁判官が確認しなければならないこと。
・the jurors have had the relevant laws read to them
陪審員たちは関連する法をthemに読み聞かせさせた
・the laws have been explained properly.
法律は正確に説明された

なのですが、②の上の文章の最初のhaveが現在完了で、hadが使役でいいのでしょうか？
また、themはthe jurorsなのかthe judgesなのかわからず、訳せません。

A: 引用しながら答えます。

"②that以下→裁判官が確認しなければならないこと。
・the jurors have had the relevant laws read to them
陪審員たちは関連する法をthemに読み聞かせさせた"

「陪審員たちは関連する法を読み聞かせてもらった。」

"・the laws have been explained properly.
法律は正確に説明された

なのですが、②の上の文章の最初のhaveが現在完了で、hadが使役でいいのでしょうか？"

この場合の「使役」という言葉の意味がわかりません。

最初のhaveは

The jurors have listened to the testimony.
「陪審員は証言を聞いています」と同じ役割てす。

二つ目のhadは

Have him get it for you.
彼に取ってもらってください。

She had him get it for her.
彼女は彼にとってもらった。

の二つ目のhadと同じです。

"また、themはthe jurorsなのかthe judgesなのかわからず、訳せません。"

the jurorsです。

---

以上です。テスト、頑張ってください。

Find the accused guilty

期末試験に向けて皆さんが勉強しているReasonable doubtの中に次の文があります。

Now if, however, there's no reasonable doubt, then you must, in good conscience, find the accused guilty.

この文にはやや難しい表現がいくつかありますので、ここで改めて解説したいと思います。

まず、now についてですが、ここでは「今」という意味ではありません。Goo 辞書には「さて」という訳語が載っています。別のいい方をするなら、"now"という言葉は「今」という意味とは関係なく、重要なことを言う前に使われることがあります。

Now, in regard to the phrase "in good conscience" . . . （さて、"in good conscience"というフレーズについては）、授業では、プリントの中のこのところの句読点が間違っていたということを伝えました。つまり、"you must in, good conscience, find" が誤りで、"you must, in good conscience, find" が正しいです。ブログ上ではこのあやまりを訂正してあります。"in good conscience"というフレーズの意味を調べるのに英辞郎を見てほしいと思います。英辞郎では"in good conscience"のようなフレーズで検索できるところが特にいいと思います。是非、試してみてください。

最後に、"find the accused guilty"のfindですが、ここでは「探す」や「見つける」というような意味ではありません。Longmanの中のfindの10番目の定義は "to make an official decision in a court of law"です。つまり、法廷ではfindが「決める」、つまり「判断を下す」という意味になります。これはもともとのfindの意味である「探す」や「見つける」からずいぶん離れた使い方だと思いますが、日本語で言う「答えが見つかった」というような発想に近いだろうと思います。

期末試験

期末試験には二種類の問題があります。

1. 英語のプリントに関するもの（配点：80%）
   
   問題の形式は今までのquizと同じで、音声を聞いて空欄を埋めてから和訳する形式です。
   
   英語のプリントというのは「Reasonable doubt」と「What do you mean?」です。
   
   
2. 映画の内容に関するもの（配点：20%）
   
   形式は日本語の自由記述で、授業で話してきたような内容まだは映画に関する感想などになります。

なお、わからない点なとに関するメールが多ければ多いほどいいです。試験の素点がやや低くても、メールで質問をまめに送ってくれていれば成績を上げようと思っています。

What do you mean?

Download the audio (right click)
Download the video (right click)
Download the text (right click)

Today, I'd like to talk about three ways in which the word "mean" can be used. The first way is to talk about the meaning of a particular word. For example, if you are reading a book and you find an English word that your don't understand, you might point to the word and ask, "What does this word mean?" I strongly recommend that you ask questions like this about words that you don't understand. It's a great way to learn.

The other two ways both come up in The Wizard of OZ several times. Here's a conversation between Miss Gulch and Uncle Henry that is an example of the second way in which the word "mean" can be used:

Gulch: I want to see you and your wife right away about Dorothy.
Henry: Dorothy? Well, what has Dorothy done?
Gulch: What's she done? I'm all but lame from the bite on my leg!
Henry: You mean she bit you?
Gulch: No, her dog!
Henry: Oh, she bit her dog, eh?
Gulch: No!

It is clear from what Miss Gulch said that she has been bitten on her leg but she did not say who or what has bitten her. Since Miss Gulch began by saying that she came to talk about Dorothy, Uncle Henry asks if Miss Gulch is trying to say that Dorothy bit her. It's difficult to hear all of the words but he is saying "You mean she bit you?"

This is the second way in which the word "mean" can be used -- to talk about what someone is trying to say or talk about.

Here's a another example from the movie of this way of using the word "mean." Dorothy is talking with Professor Marvel:

Dorothy: Oh, please, Professor, why can't we go with you and see all the Crowned Heads of Europe?
Professor: Do you know any? Oh, you mean the thing . . . Yes, well, I -- I never do anything without consulting my crystal first.

Dorothy asks about going to see the "Crowned Heads of Europe" (that is, kings and queens in Europe) because she saw the sign on Professor Marvel's wagon. For a moment, Professor Marvel does not know what Dorothy is talking about but then he remembers his sign and says "Oh, you mean the thing" written on my wagon. So, in this case "Oh, you mean the thing" means "Oh, you are talking about the sign."

Finally, here's an example of the third way in which the word "mean" can be used:

Please, Aunt Em, Toto didn't mean to. He didn't know he was doing anything wrong.

Dorothy is telling Aunt Em that Toto didn't intend to doing anything wrong to Miss Gulch. Here's another example:

Witch: Who killed my sister? Who killed the Witch of the East? Was it you?
Dorothy: No, no. It was an accident! I didn't mean to kill anybody!

Dorothy uses the word "mean" in the same way after she kills the Wicked Witch of the West:

Guard: She's dead. You've killed her.
Dorothy: I didn't mean to kill her, really I didn't. It's just that he was on fire!

Here, too, Dorothy is saying that she didn't intend to kill anyone.

To review, the first way in which the word "mean" can be used is to talk about the meaning of a particular word, as in the sentence, "What does this word mean?" The second way is to talk about about what someone is trying to say or talk about, as in the sentence, "Do you mean that Dorothy bit you?" Finally, the third way is to use the word "mean" to talk about what someone did or did not intend to do, as in, "I didn't mean to do it. It was an accident."

Excellent comments

I received this excellent e-mail.  I would like to talk about this comments in class today.

感想

●裁判員制度について

私は裁判員制度についてきちんと調べたことがなく、新聞やニュースなどで知ったことしかわかりません。
主観なのですが、思うことはいくつかあります。

・犯罪や裁判についての意識や関心は高まると思う
・裁判に国民感覚が反映されるとよく言われる
→一般人である裁判員に冷静な判断、客観性のある感情移入のない判断ができるか疑問に思う。また６人全員が意見を言えるか。流されたり、上手く表現できない人がいるのではないかと思う。
・専門的知識がない裁判員による判決に不安を覚える。
→検察官や弁護士は専門用語を使わない説明、ビデオや写真を使ったわかり易い説明をすると言ってるが、事実の誤認や専門性の欠如などがないかなど。
・他人の運命を一般人の裁判員６人の責任で決めるのは責任が重く感じ、義務だが自分ではあまりしたくないと思う(特に死刑判決)
・裁判に関する情報には守秘義務があるので、一生それを守らなければならない責任が重く感じると思う。
・証拠として挙げられるビデオや写真などのトラウマ。

私個人の意見を言えば、義務でなければ参加はしたくないです。
自分勝手な言い分ですが、他人の運命を決めるたり、一生秘密を抱えたりするなんて重い責任は負いたくないです。
なければいいか、あったほうがいいか聞かれても多分私は即答はできません。
ディベートなどで仮の立場が決まっているなら、意見を言えますが…。

スティーヴィー・ワンダーの曲はノリで聞くことばかりで、歌詞も日本語訳くらいしか見てませんでした。
歌詞をきちんと見て聞いたのはこの講義が初めてでした。
私は英語の聞き取りのために聞く曲はカーペンターズのものが多いです。
ゆったりとしたテンポだし、発音の良し悪しはわかりませんが、あまり耳が英語に慣れていない私でも聞き取ることができます。

What we did in class

In our last class we did the following things:

1. We studied the lyrics to Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke." I explained why songs are sometimes difficult to study.
2. We talked about the phrase "make sure that the jurors have had the relevant laws read to them."
3. We talked about parts of the movie that were somewhat difficult for some of you to understand.  In particular, we talked about why the last juror changed his vote to "not guilty."
4. We began to watch a video about the 裁判員 system in Japan.

Next week we will do the following:

1. Finish watching the video that we started to watch last time.
2. Begin watching the movie "Wizard of Oz."

Good question

Here's a good question I received:

日本語訳をしてみたのですが、合っているのか自信がありません！
先生に添削してもらおうと思い、メールしました！

42 It is the job of the judge to
43 make sure that the jurors have had the
44 relevant laws read to them and that the laws
45 have been explained properly.

陪審員に適切な法を理解してもらい、法が正しく説明されるのを確かめることが裁判員の仕事である。

have had the relevant laws read to them の部分が、適切な法を彼らに理解してもらう、で合っているでしょうか？
よろしくお願いします！！

Here's my answer:

I think your translation is good (but "陪審員の仕事" should be "裁判官の仕事").

Let's think about "have had the relevant laws read to them" using other sentences.

In the following sentences, Joe is the father, Sally is Joe's five-year-old daughter, and Mary is Joe's ten-year-old daughter.

Bedtime stories

Joe had Mary read Sally a bedtime story.
(Joe to Sally): Have Mary read you a bedtime story.
(Joe to Sally): Make sure you have Mary read you a bedtime story.
Joe made sure that Sally had a bedtime story read to her each night.
Each night before he goes to bed, Joe makes sure that Sally has had a bedtime story read to her.
Each night before he went to bed, Joe made sure that Sally had had a bedtime story read to her.

Brushing your teeth

Joe had Sally brush her teeth each night before bed.
(Joe to Sally): Have you brushed your teeth?
(Joe to Mary): Make sure you have Sally brush her teeth before she goes to bed.
(Joe to Mary): Have you had Sally brush her teeth tonight?

Finishing "12 Angry Men"

先日の授業で"12 Angry Men"の最後の部分を見ました。次回の授業で次のこうをしようと考えています。

• いくつかの重要な場面の解説
• 裁判員・陪審員制度に関するビデオを見せて、制度の意義およびアメリカ文化との関係について考える
• Reasonable doubtのテキスト解説の続き（最終回）

なお、はっきりと覚えていませんが、今週の授業の後に、２週間前の授業で「次回はquizなし」と言ったのに、そのことを忘れてしまい、quizをしたのでは、ということが気になりました。次回はこのことについても皆さんと少し話したいと思います。

English Lounge

課題ではありませんが、受講生の皆さんにEnglish Loungeの利用をお勧めします。

How to study

Last semester, we talked about how to use this blog to study. Please click here to look at that page.

Interpret

Here's one of the lines that we are studying in this movie:

You've had the law read to you and interpreted as it applies in this case.

In this situation, "to interpret the law" means to "explain the meaning of the law." I'll talk about this in class.

I can tell by . . .

Last week I introduced part of a couple of songs that have the phrase "I can tell by . . ." in the lyrics.   I put the video on YouTube so you can all watch it whenever you want.



Also, you can download an mp4 version of the video (for your iPods and other mobile devices) by right-clicking here.

Make sure you understand the expression that I explained in class. I may test you on them.

VLC

If you are using a Windows machine, it might be necessary to download iTunes or another program in order to play the mp4 files I put on my blog.  Here's the address for VLC, which I think is a very useful program:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

VLC is free and can play almost any kind of video or audio file.

Technical information

Some of you are having trouble putting the audio and video files I have made into your smart phones and portable listening devices.  These web sites should help with two problems I have heard about.

• Using an iPod with more than one computer
• Playing mp4 files on an Android smart phone

Reasonable doubt

Download the audio (right click)
Download the video (right click)
Download the text (right click)

The first movie we will study in this class is called "12 Angry Men." It came out in 1957 and shows how 12 men decide whether or not a 17 year old boy is guilty of the crime of murder.

I'd like to begin by talking about the some of the judge's instructions to the jury at the beginning of the movie.

You've listened to the testimony. You've had the law read to you and interpreted as it applies in this case. It's now your duty to sit down and try and separate the facts from the fancy.

Now, let's look at each sentence.

You've listened to the testimony.

"You've listened to the testimony." The judge is not speaking very clearly here. He sounds a little bored. I think he must be saying "You've listened to the testimony" but I can't hear him say "you've." The Longman English Dictionary says that the word "testimony" means "a formal statement that something is true." When people speak in a court of law about what happened in a case like this one, their speech is called "testimony." One important job of a juror is to listen to testimony.

You've had the law read to you and interpreted as it applies in this case.

"You've had the law read to you and interpreted as it applies in this case." Ordinary people become jurors. Unlike judges and lawyers, they are not experts on the law but they must make very important decisions based on the law. It is the job of the judge to make sure that the jurors have had the relevant laws read to them and that the laws have been explained properly. The jury system is based on the idea that, in a democracy, ordinary citizens are smart enough to understand the laws. In other words, ordinary citizens may not have broad knowledge of the law but they have the ability to understand the laws if they are explained properly.

It's now your duty to sit down and try and separate the facts from the fancy.

"It's now your duty to sit down and try and separate the facts from the fancy." A duty is something that someone must do. Longman says that it is "something that you have to do because it is morally or legally right." "Fancy" is something that is imagined but is not true. Longman says that fancy means "an idea or opinion that is not based on fact." So, in other words, the jurors must sit down and decide what is true and what is not true.

Now, let's listen to this part of the judge's instructions again.

You've listened to the testimony. You've had the law read to you and interpreted as it applies in this case. It's now your duty to sit down and try and separate the facts from the fancy.

Soon after this the judge tells the jurors that they must make their decision on the basis of "reasonable doubt."

If there's a reasonable doubt in your minds as to the guilt of the accused -- a reasonable doubt -- then you must bring me a verdict of not guilty. Now if, however, there's no reasonable doubt, then you must in, good conscience, find the accused guilty.

"If there's a reasonable doubt in your minds as to the guilt of the accused -- a reasonable doubt -- then you must bring me a verdict of not guilty." Longman says that "doubt" is "a feeling of being not sure whether something is true or right." The phrase "not sure" is important. Even if we think that it is likely that something happened, we may still have some doubts about it. It is also important to think about why we do not feel sure. The judge uses the phrase "reasonable doubt." "Reasonable" is based on the word "reason." If a doubt is "reasonable" there are reasons for it. It is possible to doubt anything. We might doubt, for example, that the sun will come up again tomorrow. However, if we don't have a reason to doubt that the sun will come up, our doubt is not a reasonable one. When the judge says "If there's a reasonable doubt . . . you must bring me a verdict of not guilty" he is saying that the jurors must consider whether or not there is a good reason to think that the boy might not be guilty. This is very different from considering whether or not the boy is probably guilty. This idea of "reasonable doubt" is at the heart of the jury system and this movie. Let's listen to the judge talk about reasonable doubt one more time.

If there's a reasonable doubt in your minds as to the guilt of the accused -- a reasonable doubt -- then you must bring me a verdict of not guilty. If, however, there's no reasonable doubt, then you must in good conscience find the accused guilty.

The "verdict" is the decision that the jurors make. They will either say "guilty" or "not guilty." "The accused" is the boy. He has been accused of murder so he is called "the accused."

Then, the judge tells the jurors that their decision must be unanimous.

However you decide, your verdict must be unanimous.

"However you decide, your verdict must be unanimous." Longman says that "a unanimous decision, vote, agreement etc is one in which all the people involved agree." Everyone must agree. This, too, is a very important idea in the American jury system and in this movie. If one or more people on the jury do not agree with the other jurors they must talk more. The requirement that the decision be unanimous often forces the jurors to talk more than they would if it were only necessary that a majority or the jurors agree. It also makes it harder to find the accused guilty. In order to find the accused guilty, all twelve jurors must agree that there is not a reasonable doubt about the guilt of the accused.

Women jurors

I received this question in an e-mail:

審員の１２人は全員男性でしたが、あれは当時のアメリカの風潮のようなものなのか(男性優位のような)、脚本上の理由なのかが気になって仕方がありません。

Good question!  Here's a simple answer that I found on Answers.com:

Q: Why is the jury all men in 12 Angry men?
A: Because the times dictated that women were not included in juries. Women did not start playing a role in juries until the late 60's.

The movie was made in 1957, before women began to serve on juries.  For more detail about women on juries in America, click here.

Room change

We will meet in Room 1231 next week.

How things work

About Podcastsの最初の文に関する質問がありました。

In this video I try to help you understand what podcasts are and how they work.

この文は２つの内容を一緒にまとめています。

1. In this video I try to help you understand what podcasts are.
2. In this video I try to help you understand how podcasts work.

この投稿では２つ目のworkについて考えてみたいと思います。これは「労働する」という意味ではなく、私のバソコンにある『プログレッシブ英和辞典』で調べると

〈機械器官などが〉働く, 作動する, 有効に作用する［働く］, うまくいく
My stomach is working badly today.｜きょうは胃の調子がよくない
The machine will not work.｜機械がどうしても動かない
This TV works by remote control.｜このテレビはリモコンで操作する.

という定義や例文がhow podcasts workという使い方に一番近いと思います。しかし、近いことは近いけども「how podcasts work」は「podcastの作動」などと言ってもちょっとピンと来ないし、英語のニュアンスと違うと思いますので、Longmanの定義を見てみたいと思います。

 "if a machine or piece of equipment works, it does what it is supposed to do"

この説明を日本語で表現するなら、

機械などがworkする場合には、その機械が「やるべきことをやっている」ということになります

「How 何々works」というのは、どのようにして、その「やるべきことをやる」か、ということです。言い換えれば、「how 何々 works」 というのはその仕組みです。「how podcasts work」を説明することは「podcastの仕組み」を説明することになります。

私のバソコンにある『プログレッシブ英和辞典』には「仕組み」という訳語はworkの項目にありませんし、gooにもworkの訳語として「仕組み」は出てきません。しかし、英辞郎には次のような例文をはじめとして、workを仕組みと訳す例がたくさんあります。

how things work
物事の仕組み

How does the Internet work?
インターネットというのは、どういう仕組みになっているのですか。

英辞郎と通常の簡単な英和事典を比較するなら、英辞郎が断然いいと思います。しかし、「要領のよさ」で言うなら、やはりLongmanの英英辞典だと思います。日本語と英語はまるっきり違う言語なので、１つの英単語でも、状況によっては実にさまざまな日本語に訳されることになります。その関係で、英辞郎には実に多くの訳語が載っています。しかし、基本的な発想・概念で言うなら、そこまで多くはありません。ものなどがworkするというのは「やるべきことをやる」という発想だというのがわかれば、事前にたくさんの和訳を暗記しなくともいいと思います。発想がわかれば、自分で日本の表現を考えれば良いわけです。このような意味で、英英辞典を使うのはたいへんなようですが、実は長い目で見て「楽」だと思います。是非、英英辞典を使うように心がけてほしいと思います。

最後に、このworkの使い方をよりわかりするだめに、The New Way Things Workという本（日本語版は『道具と機械の本』）を紹介したいと思います。

次のようなわかりやすい図でさまざまなものの仕組みを説明する本です。

If you read this book, you will learn how many different things work.

受信／拒否設定

p1nkではじまるメールアドレスからの質問が届きましたが、返信しようとするとメールが戻ってきます。私は携帯でメールのやり取りをしませんので、この学生にどうしたら連絡ができるかがわかりません。私のメールを受信できるように設定を変更してから改めてメールを送ってほしいと思います。なお、ドコモの利用者なら、受信／拒否設定というページが多少参考になるかと思います。

Nothin' at all

Q: フォレストガンプのA4サイズプリント16行目の got nothin' in all のnothin'はnothingの短縮形でしょうか?

A: I made a mistake. I should have written "got nothin' at all". "nothin'" is the same as "nothing" but Forrest didn't pronounce the "g" so it's written "nothin'."

私の打ち間違いがあり、最初は「nothin' in all」と打ってしまいましたが、正しくは「nothin' at all」です。ブログとpdfで訂正しましたが、mp4はまだ訂正できていません。すみません。

nothin'はnothingの"g"の発音がないことを示しています。もちろんnothingが正しいですが、nothin' と言う人がいます。「そうですか」を「そーっすか」と発音するようなことです。

He just started to

次の質問がメールで届きました。

最初の対話のScoutの言葉です。
He just started to ever since he began talking.
の文をどのように訳していいのかわかりません。
後半は「彼が話始めてから」と訳したのですが前半がいまいちうまく訳が出来ませんでした。どのように訳したらよいか教えて下さい。

"He just started to 何々" と "He started to 何々" の違いは、後者は「彼が何々をし始めて」のに対して、justが入ると「何となく」とか「特に理由がなく」とか「ただ単にそうした」ということになります。

だがら、He just started to ever since he began talking を「ただ単に、言葉を話しはじめたころからそう呼んできただけなんだ」というようなことだと思います。

ちなみに、文脈から判断すると、「He just started to (call our father "Atticus") ever since he began talking」という主旨の文で「call our father "Atticus"」が省略されているだけなので、上の訳では「呼んできた」という表現にしました。テストは直訳より、このように意味を示す意訳がいいと思います。

What does "like" mean?

次の質問が届きました。

フォーレストガンプの4行目にある、We were the first Americans to visit the land of China in, like, a million years or something like that.
一つ目のlikeがよくわからないため、うまく訳できません。どのように訳したらいいですか？

この場合のlikeは「好き」だとか、「似ている」などのような具体的な意味がなく、「ええと」とか「なんと言うかな」とか「あのー」のように、どう表現したらいいかがよくわからないときに、時間稼ぎのために使う言葉です。次にどう表現したらいいのかがはっきりかわからないので、少し考える時間が必要になります。考えている間の空白を「埋める」という意味合いでこういう言葉はfiller wordsと言われます。例えば、ネットに次の例があります。

Cut Out Your Filler Words
Filler words include "um," "ah," and words such as "like," "so," and "ok," which are used as a verbal bridge to the next word.

「Something like that」という投稿で同じ文について解説していますので、それも読んでほしいと思います。結論としてはin, like, a million years or something like that. は結局 in a very long time. という意味ですので、日本語で基本的な意味を表現するなら「かなり久しぶりに」というような表現でいいと思います。テストでは直訳する必要がまったくなく、このように基本的な意味だけ書けばいいです。

ちなみに、そもそもどうしてlikeというれっきとした言葉が「あのー」のようなfiller言葉として使われるようになったについて確かなことはわかりませんが、私なりの仮説を述べたいと思います。likeという言葉をたとえる時に使うことがあります。

It was like an earthquake.
地震のようだった。

いいたとえを考えることに時間がかかることがよくありますので、実際に話をする際には

It was like . . . (考えている時間) an earthquake.

という具合に、likeの後に少し考える時間が入ることがあります。そこから、考える時間が必要、あるいはどう表現したらいいかについて自信がないときにはlikeという言葉が使われるようになってのではないかと思います。

このlikeの使い方は「みたいな」と同様、若者が使いすぎるとことで、アメリカ社会ではあまりよくない使い方とされていますが、実は非常に多いです。授業でも話しましたが、皆さんもこうしたfiller wordsが使えるようになるといいと思います。I was ええっと in a hurryと、英語の中に日本語のfiller wordsを入れると不自然な感じがしますが、I was, like, in a hurryと言うのは若者の口語として結構いい、みたいな。

What's a podcast "show"?

次の文に関する質問が来ました:

If you click on this "Settings" button, you can change how iTunes checks for new shows (or "episodes") and what you want iTunes to do when it finds a new show in a podcast that you have subscribed to.

質問は次のとおり:

六段落目の最後の文なのですが、「この設定ボタンをクリックしたら、新しいショーを同意したポッドキャストで見つけるとき、アイチューンズが何回か新しいショー（またはエピソード）とアイチューンに望むものを変えることができます。」と訳したのですが、ちょっとおかしな文になってしまったので適切な訳を教 えていただきたいです。特に「show」はそのまま「ショー」と訳していいのでしょうか。

この質問の仕方はたいへんいいと思います。いいと思っている理由の一つは訳して見ているからです。また、特に理解できない単語（この場合はshowですが）を示してくれている点もいいと思います。皆さんにこういう質問の仕方を勧めたいと思います。

さて、肝心な内容ですが、この場合は動画の説明ですが、その動画の中に、言葉で説明しているものなどを実際に見せているので、動画を見ながら勉強するといいと思います。例えば、最初の If you click on this "Settings" button のところで次のように"Settings" buttonを見せています。

次に"show" または "episode"（いずれも同じことを指している言葉）の意味ですが、動画でも説明しているようにpodcastというのはシリーズとなっているものです。下記の画像でいうとGaba G Style Englishがたくさんの番組からなるシリーズ名、つまりpodcast名ですね。

次の映像には、Gaba G Style Englishというポッドキャストのそれぞれのshowやepisode（つまり、一つ一つの「番組」）のリストが見えます。

Podcastの場合には、新しい「番組」(show) ができた後に、そのshowをダウンロードして聞いたり見たりする訳ですが、新しい番組が出たかどうかをいつ、どのようにチェックをするかということを決めないといけません。そこで 「このSettingsというボタンをクリックすれば」you can change how iTunes checks for new shows (or "episodes")ですが、このhow iTunes checksの意味は次の映像で明らかになると思います。

"Every hour" （「1時間に一回」）、"Every day" （「1日に一回」）、"Every week"（「1週間に一回」）、そして "Manually"（「手動」、つまり、「気が向いたときに自分でやる」ということ） という言葉が見えると思いますね。iTunesに自動的に、定期的にダウンロードできる新しい番組ができたかどうかをチェックしてもらってもいいし、自分で、手動で気になったときチェックしてもいいです。

さて、このまで説明したら、おそらく訳はできると思います。今回の訳について特に強調したいのは、動画を見ながら、言葉だけでなく、映像も参考にしながら意味について考えてもらえれば「ああ、そういうことだったのか」というのが見えてくるのではないかと思います。意味が見えてきた後に「日本語でどのように表現しようかな」と考えるといいと思います。今回は、「まず日本語に置き換えてみよう」としたのではないかと思いますが、そもそもpodcastの基本的な概念をまだあまりよくつかめていなかったので、英語を理解できなかったのではないかと思います。「木を見て森を見ず」というような現象ではなかったかと思います。

いきなり英語を日本語に置き換えようとしないで、じっくりと、繰り返し映像を見ながら英語を聞きながら考えるとより深く、より正確に理解できるのではないかと思います。

If there's anything you need . . .

Here's a question I received:

66行目の If there's anything you need, I won't be far awayの文は、「何か必要な物があれば、私を呼んで」 という訳でも良いですか？I won't be far away が、うまく訳できません。

Thanks for this good question! Here's how I answered:

Your translation is good. I won't be far away というのは「近くにいますから」ということです。

「何か必要な物 [または『こと』] があれば、私を呼んで。近くにいますから。」 を死者に対して言うのは変な感じがしますね。でも、Forrestはそういうことを言っています。アメリカ人にとって普通のことではなく、ForrestならではのJennyに対する愛情表現ではないかと思います。生きている人に語りかけるようにJennyに語りかけているからそういうことになっただろうと思います。

こういう質問は非常にいいと思います。どんどん送ってください。

If there's anything you need, just send me an e-mail! I won't be far away.

EnglishCentral

Several students are working hard on EnglishCentral. This will help them get a good grade in this class. How about you?

Something like that

Here's another question:

４，５行目の～land of China in, like, a million years or something like that. このsomething like that　は「100年かそれぐらいぶりに中国を訪れた～」みたいな訳でいいでしょうか？

Here's the whole sentence:

We were the first Americans to visit the land of China in, like, a million years or something like that.

And here's my answer:

Your translation is very good, except Forrest does not say 100 years. "In a million years" is "1,000,000年ぶり". Children use "a million" to mean "a lot." Forrest Gump sometimes talks like a child.

"something like that"というのは、「正確ではないかも知れませんが、だいたいそんなもんだ」という意味です。"a million years or something like that"は「1,000,000年ぐらい」というよりも「かなり長い間行っていなかった」とか「かなり久しぶりに行った」などのような訳でいいだろうと思います。

こういう質問はたいへんいいと思います。どんどん送ってください。

I happen to believe . . .

次の質問をもらいました。

４５行目のI happen to believe you make your own destiny.　のbelieve以降の訳は分かりますがhappen to はたまたま～するとか偶然～するなどしっくりくる訳が分かりません。

たいへんいい質問だと思います。次のように答えました。

「happen to」 は通常は「たまたま」という意味で使われますが、ここでは厳密に「たまたま」という意味を伝える目的で使われているのではなく、むしろ、なんとなく雰囲気を和らげるための語句だと思います。文の基本的な意味は「I believe you make your own destiny.」ですが、happen toを入れることで多少やわらかくなったように思います。訳す際に、"happen to" を無視して、I believe you make your own destinyを訳すだけでいいと思います。

こういう質問をどんどん送ってもらいたいと思います。

Studying for the final exam

Here are the blog posts that you need to study for the exam:

1. About Podcasts
2. Scout and Atticus
3. The Beginning of "Forrest Gump"
4. The End of "Forrest Gump"

Please send me e-mail to ask questions about anything that you don't understand.

The end of "Forrest Gump"

Click here to listen to the audio while you read this blog entry. (The audio player should open in another window.)
Download the audio (right click)
Download the video (right click)
Download the text for print out (right click)

Please study these dialogues from the end of "Forrest Gump."

(Talking about his ping-pong playing)

Gump: I was so good that some years later, the Army decided I should be on the All-American ping-pong team. We were the first Americans to visit the land of China in, like, a million years or something like that. Somebody said world peace was in our hands, but all I did was play ping-pong. When I got home, I was a national celebrity, famouser even than Captain Kangaroo.
Dick Cavett: Here he is, Forrest Gump. Right here. Forrest Gump, John Lennon.
Lennon: Welcome home!
Cavett: You had quite a trip. Can you tell us, um . . . What was China like?
Gump: In the land of China, people hardly got nothin’ at all.
Lennon: No possessions?
Gump: And in China, they never go to church.
Lennon: No religion, too?
Cavett: Hard to imagine.
Lennon: Well, it’s easy if you try, Dick.
Gump: Some years later, that nice young man from England was on his way home to see his little boy and was signing some autographs. For no particular reason at all, somebody shot him.

(Gump visit's his mother after he hears that she is sick.)

Gump: Where’s Mama?
Woman: She’s upstairs.
Mama: Hi, Forrest!
Doctor: I’ll see you tomorrow.
Mama: All right.
Doctor: Sure got you straightened out, didn’t we, boy?
Gump: What’s the matter, Mama?
Mama: I’m dying, Forrest. Come on in. Sit down over here.
Gump: Why are you dying, Mama?
Mama: It’s my time. It’s just my time. Now, don’t you be afraid, sweetheart. Death is just a part of life. Something we’re all destined to do. I didn’t know it, but I was destined to be your mama. I did the best I could.
Gump: You did good, Mama.
Mama: Well, I happen to believe you make your own destiny. You have to do the best with what God gave you.
Gump: What’s my destiny, Mama?
Mama: You’re going to have to figure that out for yourself. Life is a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you’re going to get.
Gump: Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.
Mama: I will miss you, Forrest.
Gump: She had got the cancer and died on a Tuesday. I bought her a new hat with little flowers on it. And that’s all I have to say about that.

(At Jenny's grave)

Gump: Jenny, I don’t know if Mama was right or if it’s Lieutenant Dan. I don’t know if we each have a . . . destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze. But I think maybe it’s both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. But I miss you, Jenny. If there’s anything you need, I won’t be far away.