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5/8(土)の英文記事と英単語 非現実的な・窮地・絶滅寸前の〜など

pesky　　厄介な、迷惑な
descend on　　～に押し掛ける
surreal　　超現実的な、非現実的な
destructive　　破壊的な
【類】damaging、fatal 【反】constructive　
endangered 　絶滅寸前の、絶滅の危機にひんした
predicament　 苦境、窮地
excrement　　 排せつ物、糞便
wingspan 　 (鳥や昆虫の) 翼幅 【同】wingspread
pesticide　　 殺虫剤
captive breeding　　飼育下繁殖

Pesky Condors Invade California Home

著者：Johnny Diaz
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

After spending the weekend away, Cinda Mickols returned to her California house Monday and found some unexpected visitors.

About 15 to 20 condors had descended on her home outside the city of Tehachapi in Southern California. At least 13 were hanging out on her deck — and there were several more on the roof.

“When I arrived home Monday, I was both amazed and angry at the condors,” Mickols said Wednesday. “To have that many condors on my house was surreal; they can be destructive and messy. Nature is amazing!”

Her daughter, Seana Quintero, also thought it was odd to have so many condors, which are endangered and number about 160 in the state, gathered in one spot. So she tweeted about the condor mob with photos of the destructive visit. The birds wrecked the deck, ripped up a spa cover and knocked over plants this week.

“My poor mom JUST redid her deck with new wood,” Quintero said in an interview Wednesday. Her tweet has drawn more than 21,000 likes, with users poking fun at the predicament.

One user wrote that “your mom has been adopted by a critically endangered species. I’d call that an honor.”

Mickols, 69, said the birds had also damaged screen doors and knocked over a half-barrel deck plant.

“The worst,” she said, “was the excrement.”

Mickols is used to living among the wild in a semirural area in the Tehachapi Mountains. Elk and deer regularly approach her property.

“She’s used to seeing a few condors around,” Quintero said, “but this is a whole other level.”

It is hard to miss a California condor, which, with a wingspan of about 9 1/2 feet and weighing about 25 pounds, is the largest flying bird in North America.

Condors have been in danger since the 1950s as development began to invade their natural habitats. Their eggshells also became so abnormally thin from exposure to the long-banned pesticide DDT that they could not support life.

Their populations dropped dramatically, and by 1967, the California condor was listed by the federal government as endangered, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In the early 1980s, when there were just over 20 of the birds left in California, the wildlife service began a captive breeding program to save the species.

5/9(日)の英文記事と英単語

Ingenuity 工夫
Perseverance 忍耐
Autonomously 自律的に
Orbiter 軌道衛星
Flawlessly 完璧に
Subsequent その次の
Afield 遠く離れて
Robust たくましい
Aerial 空中の
Reconnaissance 偵察

NASA Mars Helicopter Makes One-Way Flight to New Mission

著者：Kenneth Chang
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

This time, NASA’s Mars robotic helicopter Ingenuity did not come back.

That was intended.

On Friday, Ingenuity, which last month became the first machine to fly like an airplane or a helicopter on another world, took off for the fifth time. It made a successful one-way trip to another flat patch of Mars more than the length of a football field away. The spot where it landed will serve as its base of operations for the next month at least, beginning a new phase of the mission where it will serve as a scout for its larger robotic companion, the Perseverance rover.

As with the previous four flights, Ingenuity flew autonomously, with no help or communication from people on Earth, executing a flight plan that had been sent hours earlier. Engineers had to wait more than three hours after Ingenuity had landed before news of the success — relayed from Ingenuity to Perseverance to an orbiter passing overhead and then to Earth — arrived.

Ingenuity, 1.6 feet tall and weighing 4 pounds, is an $85 million add-on project to the $2.7 billion Perseverance mission, which is searching for signs of past life on Mars. The helicopter traveled to Mars tucked under the belly of the rover, which landed on Mars in February.

In NASA’s original plans, after the helicopter was dropped onto the ground in early April, the Ingenuity team had a month and up to five flights to demonstrate that controlled, powered flying was possible on Mars, where the atmosphere at the surface is just 1% as dense as Earth’s. Ingenuity was to have been left behind, and Perseverance would have headed off to conduct its scientific explorations.

But the mission’s managers at NASA changed their minds.

Ingenuity flew almost flawlessly. The first flight was a short up-and-down. Subsequent flights ventured farther afield, meeting all of the original goals.

In a blog post, Joshua Ravich, Ingenuity’s mechanical engineering lead, said the power system, the heaters, the navigation system and the rotors were all working well. “Our helicopter is even more robust than we had hoped,” he wrote.

That opened the door to using Ingenuity not only as a proof of the basic technology but also to provide aerial reconnaissance of the surrounding landscape for the Perseverance scientists, who have decided that they want the rover to explore the neighboring areas for several months.

5/10(月)の英文記事と英単語

belching [形] (ガス・煙などを)吐き出す、噴き出す
set a precedent 前例・先例を作る
spur [動] 駆り立てる、刺激する
take a heavy toll 大きな打撃を与える、多くの犠牲を出す　
make up for (不足・損失などを)補う、埋め合わせる
nitrogen oxide 窒素酸化物
asthma attack 喘息の発作
public health 公衆衛生

E-Commerce Mega-Warehouses, a Smog Source, Face New Pollution Rule

著者：Hiroko Tabuchi
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Southern California is home to the nation’s largest concentration of warehouses — a hub of thousands of mammoth structures, served by belching diesel trucks, that help feed America’s booming appetite for online shopping and also contribute to the worst air pollution in the country.

On Friday, hundreds of residents flocked to an online hearing to support a landmark rule that would force the warehouses to clean up their emissions. The new rule, affecting about 3,000 of the largest warehouses in the area used by Amazon and other retailers, requires operators to slash emissions from the trucks that serve the site or take other measures to improve air quality.

The rule, which was adopted late Friday by the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s 13-member board in a 9-4 vote, sets a precedent for regulating the exploding e-commerce industry, which has grown even more during the pandemic and has led to a spectacular increase in warehouse construction.

The changes could help spur a more rapid electrification of freight trucks, a significant step toward reducing emissions from transportation, the country’s biggest source of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

The pollution has taken a particularly heavy toll in Southern California, which suffers from the nation’s worst air quality. The heavy presence of industry in the region, combined with heat waves and wildfire smoke, helped make 2020 the smoggiest year in the region since the mid-1990s.

Operators of warehouses larger than 100,000 square feet are required to earn points to make up for emissions from the trucks that come and go from the warehouses. Operators can earn these points by acquiring or using zero-emissions trucks or yard vehicles or investing in other methods for reducing greenhouse gas emissions — for example, installing solar panels at the warehouses or having air filters installed in local homes, schools and hospitals. Or they could choose to pay a fee if not in compliance.

According to estimates by the regulator, its plan will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 15% and result in up to 300 fewer deaths, up to 5,800 fewer asthma attacks and up to 20,000 fewer work loss days between 2022 and 2031. The district estimated that public health benefits from its plan could be as much as $2.7 billion, about three times the projected costs.

5/11(火)の英文記事と英単語

litmus test　リトマス試験紙
dismantle　分解する、解体する　[語源: dis(外す、なくす)+mantle(マント、外套)]
hiatus　隙間
☝️ラテン語で「あくび」
plummet　急落する
☝️名詞で「(釣り糸の)おもり」
shed　脱ぎ捨てる
☝️shed a tear (涙を流す)
☝️動物がツノ・皮・毛などを自然に生えかえる
confine　監禁する、閉じ込める
logistical　物流の　[語源: logistes(ギリシャ語で「計算機」)]
eligible　適任の
out-of-shape　本調子でない
contortionist　軟体パフォーマンスの曲芸師
☝️contortion(ねじれ、歪み)
supplement　補う ☝️サプリ

Cirque du Soleil’s Return Could Be Its Most Challenging Feat Yet

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

MONTREAL — As COVID-19 vaccinations accelerate around the world, the Cirque du Soleil announced last month that its two longest-running Las Vegas shows, “O” and “Mystère,” will return this summer. “Luzia,” a crowd-pleaser featuring acrobats jumping to and from a pair of huge swings, will open at Royal Albert Hall in London in January. And talks are underway to reopen in China, Japan, South Korea and Spain.

At a time when the pandemic is still raging and uncertainty remains about people’s willingness to return to large theaters, the attempted comeback by the Montreal-based circus is a litmus test of sorts for the live-entertainment industry.

But before Cirque shows can restart, it must put back together a company that was all but dismantled at the start of the pandemic.

During its 400-day hiatus, Cirque’s revenues plummeted to zero, and it shed nearly 4,700 people, or 95% of its workforce, leaving many of the world’s best trapeze artists and acrobats confined at home, unable to practice.

With touring on the horizon, the circus also faces the logistical challenge of navigating different health and safety rules across the globe. “It’s going to take a very long time for the Cirque to come back to what it was before the pandemic — if ever,” said Mitch Garber, who stepped down last year as Cirque’s chair.

Yasmine Khalil, who recently stepped down as Cirque’s executive producer after 25 years at the company, said the group retained a sparkling global brand, while the pandemic offered the radically scaled-down organization the opportunity to reinvent itself.

Under new rules by Clark County, in which Las Vegas sits, shows can proceed with no social distancing once 60% of the state’s eligible population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Masks will be required. On Thursday, Nevada reported that nearly 47% had received at least one shot.

Cirque must also grapple with out-of-shape circus artists, many of whom have been forced to pursue other ways to make a living.

For Uranbileg Angarag, a Mongolian contortionist, rehearsing favorite moves from home — including putting her legs 180 degrees in front of her head while balancing on a cane in her mouth — has been difficult: The ceiling of her apartment in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, gets in the way. She has supplemented her income by offering online yoga classes.

5/12(水)の英文記事と英単語

asteroid　小惑星
stash　こっそりしまう、隠す
tow　引っ張る、けん引する
head home　家に帰る
get my hands on〜　〜を手に入れる
souvenir　記念品、お土産
down the middle　真ん中に
mixed feelings　複雑な心境

Bye Bye, Bennu: NASA Heads Back to Earth With Asteroid Stash in Tow

著者：Kenneth Chang
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

After more than two years of sightseeing at an asteroid, a NASA spacecraft is now heading home. Scientists cannot wait to get their hands on the souvenirs it is bringing back.

On Monday, the OSIRIS-REX spacecraft, about 180 million miles away, fired its thrusters for seven minutes to push itself away from Bennu, an asteroid that is a bit wider than the Empire State Building is tall.

“The burn was right down the middle,” said Jason Dworkin, the mission’s project scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. “It looks perfect.”

Dante Lauretta, a professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona who serves as the principal investigator, said he had mixed feelings about the end of this part of the mission.

“You get used to having a spacecraft at an asteroid and seeing cool new images coming down all the time,” he said.

But the robotic probe’s departure, moving away at 600 mph, means scientists are getting closer to performing close-up studies of pristine asteroid samples in their laboratories. “We’re getting pretty excited about that, too,”Lauretta said.

Two years from now, after a 1.4 billion-mile journey that will swing around the sun twice, OSIRIS-REX will catch up to Earth. The main spacecraft will not land, but it will instead drop off a capsule containing dirt and rubble it has collected from Bennu. Slowed by parachutes, the 32-inch-wide capsule will land on Sept. 24, 2023, at the Utah Test and Training Range in the Great Salt Lake Desert.

The Japanese space agency conducted a similar mission, Hayabusa2, which visited a different asteroid, Ryugu, and also grabbed a bit of rock and dirt. It dropped off its samples in the middle of Australia in December, and scientists have begun examining them.

By studying asteroids scientists hope to better understand the beginnings of the solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago.

Although pieces of asteroids have landed on Earth as meteorites, those rocks are melted on the outside, and the minerals inside are often altered by water after they arrive on Earth.

“We’re going to get a much better understanding of the most fragile materials that are on these asteroids and in space, that don’t survive passage to the Earth’s atmosphere,” Lauretta said.

5/13(木)の英文記事と英単語

Panic Buying パニック買い、買い占め
scramble to 慌てて（大急ぎで）～する
ransomware ランサムウェア、マルウェア
disruption 混乱、崩壊
vulnerable 攻撃されやすい、無防備な
limited purchases to 限定購入
waiver 権利放棄、免除
alleviate 軽くする、緩和する
carry out 成し遂げる、実行する

Gas Pipeline Hack Leads to Panic Buying in the Southeast

著者：Clifford Krauss, Niraj Chokshi and David E. Sanger
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Panicked drivers scrambled to fuel their vehicles across the Southeast on Tuesday, leaving thousands of stations without gasoline as a vital fuel pipeline remained largely shut down after a ransomware attack.

The disruption to the Colonial Pipeline, which stretches 5,500 miles from Texas to New Jersey, also left airlines vulnerable, with several saying they would send jet fuel to the region by air to ensure that service would not be disrupted.

Gasoline in Georgia and a few other states rose 3 to 10 cents a gallon Tuesday, a jump typically seen only when hurricanes interrupt refinery and pipeline operations along the Gulf Coast.

The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline rose 2 cents Tuesday, with higher prices reported in the Southeast, according to the AAA motor club. The average increase was nearly 7 cents in South Carolina, 6 cents in North Carolina and 3 cents in Virginia.

Southern stations were selling two to three times their normal amount of gasoline Tuesday, according to the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks the industry. Some stations limited purchases to 10 gallons.

State leaders responded with measures intended to keep the flow of fuel steady and stabilize prices.

Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia signed an executive order suspending his state’s gasoline tax, roughly 20 cents a gallon, through Saturday. Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida each declared a state of emergency to suspend some fuel transport rules.

At the White House, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters, “We know we have gasoline; we just need to get it to the right places.” But she made no promises about when the pipeline, which was shut down to prevent the cyberattack from spreading, would resume operations, saying the company will decide Wednesday whether it is ready to do so.

The Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Michael Regan, issued an emergency waiver for fuel air emissions Tuesday to help alleviate fuel shortages in places affected by the pipeline shutdown, including the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The waiver will continue through May 18.

The FBI said the attack was carried out by an organized crime group called DarkSide.

5/14(金)の英文記事と英単語

adviser　　顧問／相談役
endorse　　推奨する／支持する
adolescent　　（１０代の）若者／青春期の（人）
cheer　　元気付ける／励ます
weary　　疲れた／しんどい
pediatrics　小児科学
eagerly　　懸命に／必死に
anticipate　　期待する／予期する
a glut of　　供給過剰／盛り沢山の
in the midst of　　〜の真っ最中／〜の真っ只中
mutate　　変異する／変化する

CDC Advisers Endorse Pfizer Vaccine for Children Ages 12 to 15

著者：Apoorva Mandavilli
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

The federal government on Wednesday took a final step toward making the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine available to adolescents in the United States, removing an obstacle to school reopenings and cheering millions of families weary of pandemic restrictions.

An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to recommend the vaccine for use in children ages 12 to 15. The CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, is expected to review the recommendations and approve them later on Wednesday.

“Approving COVID-19 vaccines for children 12 to 15 years of age is an important step in removing barriers for vaccinating children of all ages,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, who represents the American Academy of Pediatrics on the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Many parents are eagerly anticipating the availability of vaccines for children, at least in part to speed their return to schools. Roughly one-third of eighth graders, usually 13 or 14 years old, are still learning fully remotely.

Vaccinations of adolescents have already begun in a few states, like Maine. Others plan to offer the vaccine as early as Thursday. There are nearly 17 million 12- to 15-year-olds in the United States, accounting for 5.3% of the population.

Nearly all states now have a glut of vaccine doses that could be quickly redirected to adolescents. The dose used to immunize adults is also safe and effective for these adolescents, clinical trials have shown.

“Sometimes we lose the importance of children and adolescents in the midst of pandemic — there’s such a focus on older adults in particular,” said Dr. Grace Lee, a member of the committee and professor of pediatrics at Stanford University.

While children’s risk of severe illness is low compared with that of adults, the coronavirus has infected more than 1.5 million children and sent more than 13,000 to hospitals, more than are hospitalized for flu in an average year, according to the CDC.

Vaccinating children should increase the level of immunity in the U.S. population, helping to bring down the number of cases.

“Every person with COVID-19 provides the virus with an opportunity to spread and continue to mutate and further expose our communities,” said Dr. Bill Gruber, a senior vice president at Pfizer. “The decisions from health authorities this week bring us one step closer to protecting adolescents and achieving herd protection.”

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