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5/23(月)の放送の英文記事と英単語：夏至、消耗、アラビア数字

The Heat Across Much of the Country Is Not Normal for This Time of Year

midsummer　夏至、真夏
advisory　注意報、忠告
exhaustion　消耗、疲弊
evacuation 避難、撤退
digit 　アラビア数字、(数字の)桁
consecutive　連続した、一貫した
whiplash　むちで打つ、損害を与える

著者：Rick Rojas and Sophie Kasakove
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Roughly one-third of Americans are seeing midsummer-like temperatures this weekend, as heat and humidity began to roast the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States on Saturday, potentially setting hundreds of daily heat records. More than 38 million people were under a heat advisory Saturday afternoon.

In West Virginia and New Hampshire, public health officials urged people to look out for symptoms of heat exhaustion. In Washington, D.C., officials activated heat emergency plans, opening splash parks and cooling centers. A runner in the Brooklyn Half Marathon — where organizers had warned participants of potential heat concerns — died Saturday morning, although it was not immediately clear if temperatures had played a role.

Elsewhere in the country, the misery set in weeks ago. In drought-parched New Mexico, the largest wildfire in the state’s recorded history is burning months before peak fire season. Other blazes are driving evacuations and fears in Colorado, Arizona and Utah.

Parts of Texas, where heat-intensified wildfires burned 30 structures near Abilene this week, saw their earliest triple-digit temperatures on record this month. San Antonio has hit 100 degrees four times in May, more than it did in all of 2021. Dallas-Fort Worth reached 95 degrees for a fourth consecutive day Friday, making it the longest streak of such high temperatures recorded this early in the year.

And in a sign of just how strange things could get, Denver whiplashed from 90-degree weather this week to a late-spring snowfall overnight Friday into Saturday.

Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, is still more than a week away. But by the end of this weekend, more than half of all Americans will have experienced temperatures climbing to 90 degrees or higher from a blast of hot air that started in the Southwest, swept across the eastern third of the country, and will move this weekend through New England and even into Canada.

Meteorologists warned that scores of heat records could be tied or broken in some 20 states.

In many places, temperatures could be 20 degrees or more above what residents are accustomed to this time of year. In Boston, for instance, the average temperature for the pre-Memorial Day weekend is typically in the high 60s; on Sunday, forecasts show a high of 95 degrees.

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5/24(火)の放送の英文記事と英単語：方向転換する、強める、を仕上げる

Biden Arrives in Tokyo Seeking to Shore Up Support for Economic Plan

shore up　テコ入れする
pivot [動]　方向転換する、軸足を移す
swing [名]　(遊説などのための)周遊旅行
the substance　(話などの)大意、要旨
ramp up　強める、強化する　(≒bolster, strengthen)
cap [動]　…を仕上げる　
*Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF:アイペフ)　インド太平洋経済枠組み

著者：Zolan Kanno-Youngs
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

TOYKO — President Joe Biden on Sunday began the second chapter of his diplomatic tour in Asia, pivoting from reassuring allies about the threat posed by North Korea to rallying nations behind his administration’s new economic policy for the Indo-Pacific.

During a three-day swing in Japan, Biden will meet with a series of leaders — including those from Australia, India and Japan — as he rolls out a new economic agenda five years after the Trump administration pulled the United States out of the far-reaching trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.

The plan appears to be the substance behind Biden’s pledge to engage with allies and assert U.S. influence in the region, while also countering China. Though it will be far less sweeping than the TPP, Biden’s aides have said that the new plan, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, will set standards for the digital economy, clean energy and supply-chain resilience.

But the lack of clarity about the economic approach in the region, one that Biden has said is a priority of his foreign policy agenda, has prompted skepticism from some allies. The administration has still not said how many nations have signed on to the new cooperative agreement, while Beijing has ramped up criticism of the new policy.

Biden will have to persuade allies to dismiss criticism from Beijing and sign on to the plan, even though the administration is not expected to open the U.S. market as a part of the agreement.

Biden’s arrival in Tokyo comes after capping a series of meetings with the newly inaugurated president of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol. The two leaders discussed a number of economic initiatives, including strategies to combat the semiconductor shortage that has fueled price increases. But the threat posed by North Korea loomed over the visit promoted by U.S. officials as an effort to reassure allies that the U.S. remained focused on countering China.

While in Tokyo, Biden will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Anthony Albanese, the newly elected prime minister of Australia, during a summit of the Quad, a bloc formed because of the growing anxiety about China’s military footprint in Asia and parts of the Indian Ocean.

5/25(水)の放送の英文記事と英単語：ワクワクする、困難な、断言

Workers at Activision Studio Vote to Unionize, a First for Gaming Industry

tallied　集計
object　〜に反対する、異議を唱える、抗議する
grounds for　根拠、理由
thrilled　ワクワクする、感激する
arduous　困難な、骨の折れる
assertion　断言、断定、主張

著者：Kellen Browning
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

A group of workers at a video game studio that is part of Activision Blizzard has voted to form a union, a first for a major North American video game company.

The vote, which passed 19-3, affects 28 quality-assurance employees at Raven Software, the Wisconsin studio that helps to develop the popular Call of Duty game. The workers voted over the past several weeks and the results were tallied by the National Labor Relations Board on Monday. Activision has one week to formally object if it finds grounds for complaint.

The new union, the Game Workers Alliance, is the culmination of months of labor organizing at Activision, which has faced increasing pressure from employees to improve working conditions after a lawsuit accused the company of having a sexist culture in which women were routinely harassed.

Organizing at Raven in particular increased in intensity in December, when quality assurance, or QA, workers walked out to protest the ending of about a dozen workers’ contracts. The Communications Workers of America, a prominent tech, media and communications union, helped lead the unionization effort.

“Our biggest hope is that our union serves as inspiration for the growing movement of workers organizing at video game studios to create better games and build workplaces that reflect our values and empower all of us,” workers in the new union said in a statement.

Sara Steffens, the secretary-treasurer of the CWA, said she was “thrilled” to welcome the new union and that “these workers will soon have an enforceable union contract and a voice on the job.” Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., also cheered the new union on Twitter.

Employees in the video game industry have complained for years about poor pay, gender discrimination and “crunch” — a term for arduous, 12- to 14-hour shifts given to workers in a rush to meet deadlines.

The new union affects only a small group of workers — the 28 QA workers at the Raven studio, where several hundred people work. Activision, which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft for $70 billion, had argued that all workers at the studio should be eligible to vote. That assertion was rejected by the NLRB at a hearing in April.

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5/26(木)の放送の英文記事と英単語：サル痘、風土性の、天然痘

‘Everybody Should Be Concerned’ About Monkey Pox, Biden Warns

monkey pox　サル痘
as of〜　～の時点で、～現在で
endemic　風土性の、特有で
fatal　致命的な
stretched thin　余力がない、キャパが足りない
consequential　結果として起こる
smallpox　天然痘

著者：Russell Goldman
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

President Joe Biden raised the alarm Sunday about monkey pox, a viral infection fast spreading around the world, and warned that the disease, which can be spread as easily as through handling a contaminated object, is something “that everybody should be concerned about.”

Monkey pox, rarely seen outside Africa, has been found in recent weeks in Europe and the United States.

As of Saturday, 92 cases and 28 suspected cases had been identified in 12 countries outside of those African nations where it is endemic, according to the World Health Organization. There has been one confirmed case in the United States — a man in Boston was diagnosed last week — but public health officials believe case numbers will soon increase.

Although only occasionally fatal, the speed at which the monkey pox virus is spreading has raised fears of another pandemic that would further strain health systems stretched thin by COVID-19.

“They haven’t told me the level of exposure yet, but it is something that everybody should be concerned about,” Biden said at Osan Air Base in South Korea, where he met with U.S. troops before flying to Japan during his first official visit to Asia as president. “We’re working on it hard to figure out what we do and what vaccine may be available.”

He added, “But it is a concern in the sense that if it were to spread it would be consequential.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is “no proven, safe treatment” for monkey pox, but the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of smallpox vaccines and antiviral treatments to help control outbreaks.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said later Sunday that the United States had the resources, including the smallpox vaccines, to keep the virus at bay.

“I am confident we’re going to be able to keep our arms around it,” Jha said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Two smallpox vaccines are approved for use in the United States, and they are generally effective at preventing monkey pox infection as well. The United States has stockpiled millions of doses for use in a possible outbreak.

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5/27(金)の放送の英文記事と英単語：本当にそうなる、主権者がいる、飾られてない

Biden Pledges to Defend Taiwan if It Faces a Chinese Attack

Ambiguity　あいまいさ
If it comes to　本当にそうなる
Caveat　警告
Sovereign　主権者がいる
Unvarnished　飾られてない
Reiterate　繰り返す

著者：Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Peter Baker
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

TOKYO — President Joe Biden signaled on Monday that he would use military force to defend Taiwan if it were ever attacked by China, dispensing with the “strategic ambiguity” traditionally favored by American presidents, and risking Beijing’s anger at a time of rising tensions in the region.

At a news conference during a visit to Japan, Biden suggested that he would be willing to go further on behalf of Taiwan than he has in helping Ukraine, where he has provided tens of billions of dollars in weapons as well as intelligence assistance to help defeat Russian invaders but has refused to send U.S. troops.

“You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons,” a reporter said to Biden. “Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?”

“Yes,” Biden answered flatly.

“You are?” the reporter followed up.

“That’s the commitment we made,” he said.

The president’s declaration, offered without caveat or clarification, set the stage for fresh tensions between the United States and China, which insists that Taiwan is a part of its territory and cannot exist as a sovereign nation.

It also surprised some members of Biden’s own administration watching in the room, who did not expect him to promise such unvarnished resolve. The United States has historically warned China against using force against Taiwan while generally remaining vague about how far it would go to aid the island in such a circumstance.

The White House quickly tried to deny that the president meant what he seemed to be saying. “As the president said, our policy has not changed,” the White House said in a statement hurriedly sent to reporters. “He reiterated our One China Policy and our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. He also reiterated our commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself.”

Biden’s comments came barely an hour before he formally unveiled a new 13-nation Indo-Pacific Economic Framework intended to serve as a counter to Chinese influence in the region. The new bloc will bring the United States together with countries like Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and others to write future rules of commerce in areas like supply chain resilience, digital trade, clean energy and corruption.

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5/28(土)の放送の英文記事と英単語：意図的な虚偽性、動機、刑事

‘How to Murder Your Husband’ Writer Convicted of Murdering Husband

Circumstantial　 状況的
Duplicitous　 意図的な虚偽性
Lucrative　 もうけになる
Motive　動機
Speculate　思索する
Prime　一番の
Detective　刑事

著者：Mike Baker
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

A romance novelist who wrote about “How to Murder Your Husband” was convicted in her husband’s killing Wednesday following a trial in which prosecutors leaned on a “puzzle” of circumstantial evidence to portray the author as a duplicitous spouse who spent months plotting the perfect crime.

Nancy Brophy, 71, stood quietly as the verdict was handed down in Portland, Oregon. Her sentencing is scheduled for June 13.

Prosecutors had built their case with evidence showing Brophy had acquired gun pieces in the months before the killing of her husband, Daniel Brophy, including one extra component prosecutors said could ensure the bullets used in the shooting would not be traced back to her gun. Prosecutors contended she shot her husband in his workplace, where there would be no cameras or witnesses, then moved to collect on lucrative life insurance policies in the days that followed.

“She had the plan in place,” Shawn Overstreet, a deputy district attorney, said in closing arguments this week. “She had the opportunity to carry out this murder. She was the only person who had the motive.”

Brophy, who had written self-published romance novels, had once speculated in a 2011 blog post that a wife who kills her spouse must be “ruthless” and “very clever” because she is likely to become a prime suspect.

On the morning of June 2, 2018, Daniel Brophy had gone to the Oregon Culinary Institute, where he taught classes. Students arriving after him discovered his body on the floor of a kitchen. He had been shot twice.

Detectives later told Nancy Brophy that her husband was dead, and they asked her for details of the morning. She said her husband arose early, fed their chickens and walked their dogs. She said she awoke when he came upstairs to have a shower. She estimated he left for work a little after 7 a.m.

But investigators discovered video in the neighborhood of the culinary institute showing what was apparently Brophy driving her old minivan in the area around the time of the killing. Brophy testified that she had no memory of that time period.

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5/29(日)の放送の英文記事と英単語：引き潮、破壊的な、明白な

College Enrollment Drops, Even as the Pandemic’s Effects Ebb

Ebb　引き潮、減退
Breadth　幅、横幅
Devastating　破壊的な
Pronounced　明白な、はっきりした
Nascent　初期の

著者：Stephanie Saul
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

The ongoing enrollment crisis at U.S. colleges and universities deepened in spring 2022, raising concerns that a fundamental shift is taking place in attitudes toward the value of a college degree — even as the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted operations for higher education.

The latest college enrollment figures released Thursday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center indicated that 662,000 fewer students enrolled in undergraduate programs in spring 2022 than a year earlier, a decline of 4.7%. Graduate and professional student enrollment, which had been a bright spot during the pandemic, also declined 1% from last year.

Doug Shapiro, the center’s executive director, noted small gains in first-year, first-time students. However, he suggested that the numbers and the breadth of the declines indicate an underlying change, as students question whether college is the ticket to the middle class and a good-paying job.

“That suggests it’s more than just the pandemic to me; it’s more than just low-income communities that are primarily served by community colleges,” Shapiro said during a conference call with reporters. “It suggests that there’s a broader question about the value of college and particularly concerns about student debt and paying for college and potential labor market returns.”

Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, a major industry association, urged caution in interpreting the data. “The numbers are disappointing and troubling, but I am reluctant to read any major implications into enrollment changes in one spring semester during a pandemic,” Hartle said.

Overall, total undergraduate enrollment has dropped by nearly 1.4 million — or 9.4% — during the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, college enrollment had been dropping nationally.

While elite colleges and universities have continued to attract an overflow of applicants, the pandemic has been devastating for many public universities, particularly community colleges. Declines occurred generally across the country but were slightly more pronounced in the Midwest and Northeast.

Overall, enrollment at public colleges and universities declined by more than 604,000 students in spring 2022, or 5%. Within the public sector, community colleges dropped the most, losing 351,000 students or 7.8%.

In what Shapiro called possible signs of a “nascent recovery,” first-time, first-year enrollment increased in spring 2022 by 13,700 students, or 4.2%, over last spring.

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