音声プラットフォーム「Voicy」で毎朝6時30分に更新中の英語ニュースチャンネル「Voicy News Brief with articles from New York Times」。このチャンネルでは、The New York Timesの記事をバイリンガルのパーソナリティが英語で読み上げ、記事と英単語を日本語で解説しています。英語のニュースを毎朝聴いて、リスニング力の向上と英語学習にお役立てください。

このVoicy Journalでは、毎週月曜日に前の1週間分のスクリプトをまとめて紹介しています。放送はアプリやWebページからいつでもご視聴いただけます。Voicy News Brief Season3の記事は2/7(月)以降をご覧ください！

6/20(月)の放送の英文記事と英単語：〜の渦中に、水浸しで、企業家

Revlon, Pioneering Cosmetics Brand, Files for Bankruptcy

amid 　〜の渦中に、〜に囲まれて
snarl　混乱、うなる
bankruptcy　破産、倒産、失墜
awash　水浸しで、あふれて
debtor　債務者
allure　誘う、魅惑する
entrepreneur　企業家

著者：Lauren Hirsch
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Revlon built a cosmetics empire on red nail polish, with lipstick to match. But the pioneering brand, a mainstay of cosmetic cabinets since the Great Depression, has lost its shine, amid the rise of a new generation of cosmetic brands, changing shopping habits and supply-chain snarls. The company filed for bankruptcy protection this week, its financial statements awash in red ink.

Revlon filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, with about $3.8 billion in debt. It said it had secured $575 million in “debtor-in possession loans” to help fund its operations in bankruptcy. The company has about 5,700 employees.

Revlon’s challenges have been mounting for some time. Amid declining sales in 2020, it cut 1,000 positions in hopes of improving profitability. Later that year, it narrowly avoided filing for bankruptcy by striking a deal with its debt holders. More recently, its businesses have been challenged by coronavirus-related shutdowns in China and supply-chain challenges that rippled across the country.

The company was founded in 1932, by Charles Revson, and grew to become the second-largest makeup company in the United States, behind Estée Lauder. Revson famously courted female shoppers by campaigning on the allure of matching red lips and nails.

Revlon was acquired by billionaire Ron Perelman for $2.7 billion in 1985 through a hostile takeover, then described as one of the pivotal corporate battles of the era.

It acquired Elizabeth Arden in 2016 in a purchase funded largely by loans. In the interim, a new group of cosmetics entrepreneurs, like Rihanna and Kylie Jenner, have emerged. The social media superstars have promoted their products directly to their millions of Instagram followers, embracing inclusive color palettes and sidestepping the drugstores Revlon has traditionally relied on to sell its products.

“Consumer demand for our products remains strong — people love our brands, and we continue to have a healthy market position,” Revlon’s chief executive, Debra Perelman, who is Perelman’s daughter, said in a statement. The company’s stretched balance sheet “has limited our ability to navigate macroeconomic issues in order to meet this demand,” she said.

音声はこちら

6/21(火)の放送の英文記事と英単語：叱責、気をとられている、有権者

Macron Loses Strong Majority to Opposition Surge, a Blow for His Second Term

muster　召集する、集合させる
rebuke　叱責、非難
preoccupied　(何かに)気をとられている、うわの空の
mar　…を損なう、台無しにする
electorate　有権者
lackluster　輝きの無い、どんよりした

著者：Aurelien Breeden and Constant Méheut
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

PARIS — In a serious blow to President Emmanuel Macron of France, his centrist coalition was projected to lose its strong majority in the lower house of Parliament on Sunday, after crucial elections that saw the far-right and an alliance of left-wing parties surge in seat numbers, leaving him with a slim lead and complicating his second term.

Projections based on preliminary vote counts gave Macron’s centrist coalition 205 to 250 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, the lower and more powerful house of Parliament — more than any other political group but less than half of all seats.

For the first time in 20 years, a newly elected president appeared to have failed to muster an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

The results were a rebuke of Macron, who appeared disengaged in the campaign and more preoccupied by France’s diplomatic efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“It’s not the result we were hoping for,” Gabriel Attal, Macron’s budget minister, told the TF1 television channel Sunday, as he acknowledged that his party and its allies would have “to find a stability” in Parliament if they wanted to push through legislation.

Several of Macron’s key allies appeared to have lost, including Richard Ferrand, president of the National Assembly, and Amélie de Montchalin, his minister for green transition — a stinging rebuke for the president, who had vowed that Cabinet ministers who failed to win a seat would have to resign.

The alliance of left-wing parties, known as the Nouvelle Union Populaire Écologique et Sociale, or NUPES, and led by leftist veteran Jean-Luc Mélenchon, was expected to win 150 to 190 seats.

Mélenchon, in a speech Sunday to cheering supporters in Paris, called the results “absolutely amazing.”

The vote was also marred Sunday by record-low turnout, a warning sign for Macron, who has promised to rule closer to the people for his second term. Only about 46% of the French electorate went to the ballot box, according to projections, the second-lowest level since 1958.

The National Rally, the party of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, was projected to secure 75 to 100 seats in the National Assembly, far more than was expected after she was convincingly defeated by Macron in the presidential election in April and then ran a lackluster campaign for the parliamentary one.

音声はこちら

6/22(水)の放送の英文記事と英単語：大統領令、心動かされた、思いやりのない

Biden Signs Measure to Protect LGBTQ Rights, Citing ‘Hateful Attacks’

measure　法案
executive order　大統領令、州知事令
legislation　立法
discredit　信用のない
moved　心動かされた
inhumane　非人道的な、思いやりのない
deceptive　欺瞞的な

著者：Michael D. Shear
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday aimed at protecting LGBTQ people from a cascade of legislation in conservative states that increasingly targets the rights of gays, lesbians, transgender youth and others.

The order is designed to counter efforts by Republican politicians like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has pushed through a measure — called by some the “Don’t Say Gay” law — banning teachers from providing instruction regarding gender identity or sexual orientation.

Other laws passed in conservative states include prohibitions on transgender girls competing in high school sports and efforts to ban the provision of gender-affirming care. White House officials have called the new laws “un-American” and said they are designed to discriminate against families and children based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Biden’s executive order takes direct aim at so-called conversion therapy, a discredited practice in which doctors falsely claim to be able to adjust a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation with treatment.

In a ceremony in the East Room packed with LGBTQ supporters, Biden said he was moved to take action to prevent what he called “hateful attacks” by Republican governors and legislatures around the country.

“My order will use the full force of the federal government to prevent inhumane practices of conversion therapy,” Biden said, to loud applause from his supporters. “This is the first time the federal government is leading a coordinated response against this dangerous discredited” practice.

In the executive order, the president directs the secretary of health and human services and the secretary of state to lead an effort to limit exposure to the procedure on the part of American youth, and endeavor to end it altogether internationally. The order would also direct the Federal Trade Commission to determine whether conversion therapy amounts to a deceptive act.

The order will seek to expand access to suicide prevention and mental health resources for LGBTQ people, White House officials said.

The president’s announcement of a new executive order comes as the White House celebrates Pride Month. In his remarks Wednesday, Biden repeated what he said a year ago during a similar event: “Pride is back at the White House.”

音声はこちら

6/23(木)の放送の英文記事と英単語：文化戦争、ロシア化、追放する

Ukraine Bans Some Russian Music and Books

culture war　文化戦争
Russification　ロシア化
condemn　強く非難する
ostracize　追放する、葬り去る
repression　抑制、制止

著者：Dan Bilefsky
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

As brutal battles rage in Ukraine, a parallel culture war is underway.

Ukraine’s parliament on Sunday voted to ban the distribution of Russian books and the playing or performance of Russian music by post-Soviet-era artists.

The National Gallery in London has renamed Edgar Degas’ “Russian Dancers” as “Ukrainian dancers,” a salvo against the Russification of Ukrainian culture.

And in Canada, performances by 20-year-old Russian pianist prodigy Alexander Malofeev, who has publicly condemned the invasion, were canceled in Vancouver and Montreal.

To some, the moves to cancel Russian culture, both high and low, are a fitting show of solidarity with Ukraine. But others counter that Russian artists should not be blamed for an invasion beyond their control and that ostracizing them only stokes nationalist sentiment in Russia.

“It is profoundly ironic that those who react to the war in Ukraine by aggressively or indiscriminately canceling or restricting artists and artistic works simply for being Russian are reflecting the same kind of nationalist thinking driving the Russian invasion in the first place,” Kevin M.F. Platt, a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in a recent opinion essay in The New York Times.

Russian art, music, painting and film, he argued, do not belong to the Kremlin, and Russian artists at home and abroad have long played an important role of resistance in the face of state repression.

In Ukraine, the government has sought to promote the Ukrainian language over Russian and to suppress various forms of Russian artistic expression. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine must still sign the bills passed Sunday into law, but they have broad support across the political spectrum.

The issue of language is especially sensitive in Ukraine, where researchers estimate about 1 in every 3 Ukrainians speaks Russian at home, a legacy of centuries of being dominated by the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

In 2019, the government made Ukrainian the mandatory language used in most aspects of public life, including schools. Russia pointed to this law before its invasion to argue that Russian speakers in Ukraine were under attack.

音声はこちら

6/24(金)の放送の英文記事と英単語：義務、再び負わす、抜け道

Broadway Will Drop Mask Mandate Beginning July 1

Mandate　義務
Reimposing　再び負わす
Wield　振り回す
Loophole　抜け道
Landlord　大家、地主

著者：Michael Paulson
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

NEW YORK — Broadway theaters will be allowed to drop their mask mandates starting July 1, the Broadway League announced Tuesday.

The league described the new policy as “mask optional” and said it would be reevaluated monthly.

“Our theater owners have been watching the protocols, watching admissions to hospitals, watching as we have no issues across the country where tours are mostly not masked, and they decided it was time to try,” said Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League.

St. Martin said the theater owners would continue to meet weekly to assess the health situation and are open to reimposing the mandate if necessary.

Broadway had maintained fairly restrictive audience policies since theaters reopened last summer. The theaters required patrons to show proof of vaccination until April 30, and have continued to require patrons to wear masks except while eating and drinking.

Broadway’s public health protocols have taken on an outsize role in the performing arts, as many other institutions have taken their cues from the big theaters. Broadway theaters imposed a vaccine mandate before New York City did the same for restaurants, gyms and other indoor performances, and then maintained their rules long after the city stopped requiring them.

Mask wearing became part of the theatergoing experience this season: sign-wielding employees walked the aisles reminding patrons of the requirement, and reminders to wear masks were added to the usual pre-show announcements about turning off mobile phones and banning photography. When theaters first reopened, some did not sell food and drink to avoid interfering with mask wearing; the consumption of refreshments now provides a noticeable loophole for those who don’t like wearing masks.

Some other performing arts venues, including many off-Broadway theaters, continue to ask for proof of vaccination and to mandate masks.

There are 27 shows running in Broadway’s 41 theaters.

The four nonprofit organizations that operate six of the Broadway houses hung onto vaccine mandates longer than the commercial landlords that operate the majority of the theaters. But none of the nonprofits has a show running on Broadway, and none plans to resume producing on Broadway until after Labor Day.

音声はこちら

6/25(土)の放送の英文記事と英単語：急騰している、元気のいい、疑心暗鬼

Never Mind Your Wallet. Armed Robbers Want Your French Bulldog.

booming　急騰している
kibble　ドライタイプのドッグフード
perky　元気のいい
punishing　痛手となっている
paranoia　疑心暗鬼
hypervigilance　超警戒

著者：Thomas Fuller
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

ELK GROVE, Calif. — The French bulldog business is booming for Jaymar Del Rosario, a breeder whose puppies can sell for tens of thousands of dollars. When he leaves the house to meet a buyer, his checklist includes veterinary paperwork, a bag of puppy kibble and his Glock 26 pistol.

“If I don’t know the area, if I don’t know the people, I always carry my handgun,” Del Rosario said on a recent afternoon as he displayed Cashew, a 6-month-old French bulldog of a new “fluffy” variety that can fetch $30,000 or more.

With their perky ears, their please-pick-me-up-and-cradle-me gaze and their short-legged crocodile waddle, French bulldogs have become the “it” dog for influencers, pop stars and professional athletes. Loyal companions in the work-from-home era, French bulldogs seem always poised for an Instagram upload. They are now the second-most-popular dog breed in the United States after Labrador retrievers.

Some are also being violently stolen from their owners. Over the past year, thefts of French bulldogs have been reported in Miami, New York, Chicago, Houston and — especially, it seems — across California. Often, the dogs are taken at gunpoint. In perhaps the most notorious robbery, Lady Gaga’s two French bulldogs, Koji and Gustav, were ripped from the hands of her dog walker, who was struck, choked and shot in last year’s attack on a Los Angeles sidewalk.

The price of owning a Frenchie has for years been punishing to the household budget — puppies typically sell for $4,000 to $6,000 but can go for multiples more if they are one of the new, trendy varieties. Yet owning a French bulldog increasingly comes with nonmonetary costs, too: The paranoia of a thief reaching over a garden fence. The hypervigilance while walking one’s dog after reading about the latest abduction.

On a chilly January evening in Oakland, California, Rita Warda was walking Dezzie, her 7-year-old Frenchie, not far from her home. An SUV pulled up and its passengers lunged toward her.

“They had their gun and they said, ‘Give me your dog,’” Warda said.

Three days later, a stranger called and said she had found the dog wandering around a local high school. Warda says she does not know why Dezzie’s abductors gave him up but it could have been his advanced age: Frenchies have one of the shortest life spans among dog breeds, and 7 years old was already long in the tooth.

音声はこちら

6/26(日)の放送の英文記事と英単語：落ちかけている、徐々に終わる、地形

Relief Efforts Intensify in Afghanistan After Devastating Earthquake

Ramp up　増える、活発化する
Teeter on　落ちかけている、ぐらついている
Temblor　地震 ≒ Tremor、Quake、Earthquake
Rugged　険しい ≒ Punishing、Steep
Wind down　徐々に終わる
Terrain　地形

著者：Najim Rahim, Cora Engelbrecht and Michael Crowley
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Relief efforts ramped up Friday to aid victims of the deadly earthquake that struck an impoverished region of southeastern Afghanistan this week in a disaster that killed hundreds and devastated a country already teetering on economic collapse nearly a year after the Taliban seized power.

As hopes of finding survivors faded, a second earthquake Friday jolted Geyan, the district hit hardest by the 5.9 magnitude temblor Wednesday. The follow-up quake killed at least five people and injured another 11, according to local officials.

That added to the hundreds killed and many others injured Wednesday in the provinces of Paktika and Khost, which are both on the border with Pakistan. According to Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, more than 1,000 people died and at least 3,000 others were injured; the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Wednesday put the current death toll at 770.

Large numbers of people are missing, and aid agencies have said that they expect the toll in the rugged region, where communications and access are difficult, to rise.

The news of fresh tremors came as rescue efforts from Wednesday’s quake were winding down and as Taliban officials issued more calls for assistance from aid agencies and international governments. The Taliban and local functionaries said that they did not expect to find more survivors.

The punishing terrain and challenging weather conditions in the affected region made it difficult to send aid swiftly to Paktika province, according to Mohammad Nasim Haqqani, a spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Disaster Management.

But as of Friday morning, a flow of aid from international governments and agencies had begun to stream in via air and road. Volunteers were carrying in whatever aid and supplies they could in their cars in a makeshift convoy along unpaved and steep mountain roads.

About 42 humanitarian aid planes and a group of 15 trucks sent by the Ministry of Disaster Management carrying emergency housing and food items — including rice, oil and flour — had reached the province, and the supplies were already being distributed, according to Haqqani, who said that the Afghan government had allocated 100 million afghani, or about $1.1 million, to help survivors.

音声はこちら

「Voicy News Brief with articles from New York Times」は毎朝6時30分にVoicyで更新中！いつでも無料で聴けるVoicyの英語チャンネルを活用して、英語力向上にお役立てください。