Voicy Journal

【6/13-6/19】The New York Timesのニュースまとめ 〜Voicy News Brief〜

【6/13-6/19】The New York Timesのニュースまとめ 〜Voicy News Brief〜

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。

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6/13(月)の放送の英文記事と英単語:仲間、ノンバイナリー、偏って

Report Reveals Sharp Rise in Transgender Young People in the U.S.

peer 仲間、同格の人
developmentally 発展的に、発達上で
facet 面
nonbinary ノンバイナリー
disproportionately 不釣り合いに、偏って
similarly 同様に、同じく

著者:Azeen Ghorayshi
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

About 1.6 million people in the United States are transgender, and 43% of them are young adults or teenagers, according to a new report providing the most recent national estimates of this population.

The analysis, relying on government health surveys conducted from 2017 to 2020, estimated that 1.4% of 13- to 17-year-olds and 1.3% of 18- to 24-year-olds were transgender, compared with about 0.5% of all adults.

Those figures revealed a significant rise among younger people: The estimate of transgender people 13 to 25 nearly doubled since the researchers’ previous report, published in 2017, though the reports used different methods.

The data point to a stark generational shift. Young people increasingly have the language and social acceptance to explore their gender identities, experts said, whereas older adults may feel more constrained. But the numbers, which vary widely from state to state, also raise questions about the role of peer influence or the political climate of the community.

“It’s developmentally appropriate for teenagers to explore all facets of their identity; that is what teenagers do,” said Dr. Angela Goepferd, medical director of the Gender Health Program at Children’s Minnesota hospital, who was not involved in the new analysis. “And, generationally, gender has become a part of someone’s identity that is more socially acceptable to explore.”

The surveys, created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not ask younger teenagers about nonbinary or other gender identities, which also have been rising in recent years. But nearly one-quarter of the adults in the surveys who said they were transgender identified as “gender nonconforming,” meaning they did not identify as a transgender man or woman.

The new data were analyzed by researchers at the Williams Institute, a research center at the UCLA law school that produces highly regarded reports on the demographics, behaviors and policy concerns of LGBTQ populations in the United States.

Teenagers made up a disproportionately large share of the transgender population, the study found. While younger teenagers were just 7.6% of the total U.S. population, they accounted for roughly 18% of transgender people. Likewise, 18- to 24-year-olds made up 11% of the total population but 24% of the transgender population.

Recent Gallup polling data also analyzed by the Williams Institute shows that young adults also make up a disproportionately large part of the total LGBTQ population in the United States, which similarly varies state to state.

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6/14(火)の放送の英文記事と英単語:行き詰まり、没収する、前進

Senators Reach Bipartisan Deal on Gun Safety

impasse 袋小路、行き詰まり
confiscate (職権・罰として) 没収する、押収する
champion [動] 熱心に支持する、主張する、戦う
GOP filibuster 共和党による(上院での)議事進行妨害        
*GOP = Grand Old Party/ Gallant Old Party  
stymie [動] …を困った立場に追い込む、阻む
headway 前進、進歩

著者:Emily Cochrane and Annie Karni
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON — Senate negotiators announced Sunday that they had struck a bipartisan deal on a narrow set of gun safety measures with sufficient support to move through the evenly divided chamber, a significant step toward ending a yearslong congressional impasse on the issue.

The agreement, put forth by 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats and endorsed by President Joe Biden and top Democrats, includes enhanced background checks to give authorities time to check the juvenile and mental health records of any prospective gun buyer under the age of 21 and a provision that would, for the first time, extend to dating partners a bar on domestic abusers having guns.

It would also provide funding for states to implement so-called red-flag laws that allow authorities to temporarily confiscate guns from people deemed to be dangerous, as well as money for mental health resources and to boost safety and mental health services at schools.

The outline, which has yet to be finalized, falls far short of the sprawling reforms that Biden, gun control activists and a majority of Democrats have long championed, such as a ban on assault weapons and universal background checks. And it is nowhere near as sweeping as a package of gun measures passed almost along party lines in the House last week.

“Today, we are announcing a common-sense, bipartisan proposal to protect America’s children, keep our schools safe and reduce the threat of violence across our country,” the 20 senators, led by Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a joint statement.

The backing of 10 Republicans suggested that the plan could scale an obstacle that no other proposal currently under discussion has been able to: drawing the 60 votes necessary to break through a GOP filibuster and survive to see an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader who has played a central role in stymieing gun safety measures in recent years, praised what he called “headway” in the discussions even as he was noncommittal about whether he would support the package.

Aides cautioned that until the legislation was finalized, it was not certain that each of the components could draw the 60 votes necessary to move forward.

Biden urged Congress to pass a bill quickly, saying there were “no excuses for delay.”

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6/15(水)の放送の英文記事と英単語:ペットボトル、不足、埋立式のゴミ処理地

National Parks Begin Long Goodbye to Plastic Water Bottles

plastic bottle ペットボトル
single-use 使い捨ての
disposable 使い捨ての
steward 管理人
hampered 妨げる、邪魔をする
shortfalls 不足
landfill 埋立式のゴミ処理地

著者:Christine Hauser
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Sales of plastic water bottles and other single-use plastic products will be phased out at national parks and on public lands in the United States over the next decade, the Interior Department said this week.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced the measure Wednesday. As the manager of 480 million acres of federal land, she said, the department has an obligation to play a leading role in reducing plastic waste, including food and beverage containers, bottles, straws, cups, utensils and disposable plastic bags.

“As the steward of the nation’s public lands, including national parks and national wildlife refuges, and as the agency responsible for the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats, we are uniquely positioned to do better for our Earth,” she said in a statement.

The Interior Department’s order reflects an intensifying global push to address plastic waste pollution and the challenges of getting rid of it, as recycling alone, hampered by shortfalls in collection and transport, has not been enough for the United States to stay ahead of mountains of plastic.

The department acted in response to an executive order from President Joe Biden to reduce waste.

In a first step, the department’s bureaus and offices will be required to report how they will phase out single-use plastic products by 2032, the Interior Department’s order said. They will also be required to come up with ideas for how to change public behavior, such as adding water fountains and bottle-filling stations.

Oceana, a marine conservation organization, estimated that the Interior Department’s move would curb “millions of pounds of unnecessary disposable plastic in our national parks and other public lands.”

The Interior Department’s order falls in line with similar measures that countries and companies have announced to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills and waterways. Tens of millions of tons of plastic pollute the oceans every year, dramatized by images of marine life strangled by plastic rings and accounts of birds that have died from ingesting plastic waste.

In March, representatives of 175 nations agreed to begin writing a global treaty that would restrict the explosive growth of plastic pollution.

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6/16(木)の放送の英文記事と英単語:弱気市場、かすかな光、大きな変化

Rising Fears About Inflation and Growth Drive Markets Into Bear Territory

bear market 下げ相場、弱気市場
glimmer かすかな光、兆し
ripples 波紋、影響
tectonic shift 大きな変化、構造的転換
toppled 倒れる
clobber 大打撃を与える

著者:Mohammed Hadi and Jeanna Smialek
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Three weeks ago, Wall Street narrowly escaped a bear market, with stocks rebounding at the last minute from a brutal drop that had brought the S&P 500 down 20% from a record high in January. The next few weeks offered a glimmer of hope that the worst of the losses might be over.

That glimmer is now gone.

On Monday, the S&P fell 3.9%, closing the day nearly 22% below its Jan. 3 peak and firmly in a bear market — a rare and grim marker of investors’ growing concerns for the economy.

A crucial report Friday showed inflation in the United States was accelerating and creeping into every corner of the economy. Earlier last week, the World Bank issued a dire warning that global growth may be choked, especially as the war in Ukraine drags on.

Together, the data undercut optimism that the Federal Reserve, as it raises interest rates, would be able to keep price gains under control without damaging the U.S. economy and sending ripples throughout the globe.

Monday’s trading ended with reports that the Fed is likely to discuss making its biggest interest-rate increase since 1994 when policymakers meet this week.

“The Fed needs to hike policy rates more aggressively if it has any hope of bringing inflation down,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Global Investors. “If it’s going to have to tighten even more, then the chance of a recession is higher.”

Large stock declines like this one — just the seventh bear market in the past 50 years — usually accompany a tectonic shift in the outlook for the economy and batter people’s retirement accounts. While one does not cause the other, recessions have historically followed bear markets. The last time stocks fell this much was at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and before that it was during the 2007-08 global financial crisis, which toppled some of the world’s largest banks.

The bear market in 2020, however, lasted only a relatively short six months. Stock analysts worry this decline will drag on longer.

Stocks are dropping now because companies and consumers face rising costs nearly everywhere they turn and investors fear that the Fed will clobber the economy as it tries to get inflation under control. The central bank has already raised interest rates twice this year.

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6/17(金)の放送の英文記事と英単語:公開する、縦列駐車、言い張る

Tesla Autopilot and Other Driver-Assist Systems Linked to Hundreds of Crashes

commonplace 平凡
roll out 公開する
parallel park 縦列駐車
assertive 言い張る
emerging 最新の

著者:Neal E. Boudette, Cade Metz and Jack Ewing
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Nearly 400 crashes in the United States in 10 months involved cars using advanced driver-assistance technologies, the federal government’s top auto-safety regulator disclosed Wednesday.

The findings are part of a sweeping effort by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to determine the safety of advanced driving systems as they become increasingly commonplace.

In 392 incidents cataloged by the agency from July 1 of last year through May 15, six people died and five were seriously injured. Teslas operating with Autopilot, the more ambitious Full Self Driving mode or any of their associated component features were in 273 crashes. Five of those Tesla crashes were fatal.

The data was collected under a NHTSA order last year requiring automakers to report crashes involving cars with advanced driver-assistance systems. Scores of manufacturers have rolled out such systems in recent years, including features that let you take your hands off the steering wheel under certain conditions and that help you parallel park.

NHTSA’s order was an unusually bold step for the regulator, which has come under fire in recent years for not being more assertive with automakers.

“Until last year, NHTSA’s response to autonomous vehicles and driver assistance has been, frankly, passive,” said Matthew Wansley, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York who specializes in emerging automotive technologies. “This is the first time the federal government has directly collected crash data on these technologies.”

Speaking with reporters before Wednesday’s release, Steven Cliff, the NHTSA administrator, said the data — which the agency will continue to collect — “will help our investigators quickly identify potential defect trends that emerge.”

Cliff said NHTSA would use such data as a guide in making any rules or requirements for their design and use. “These technologies hold great promise to improve safety, but we need to understand how these vehicles are performing in real-world situations,” he said.

But he cautioned against drawing conclusions from the data collected so far, noting that it does not take into account factors like the number of cars from each manufacturer that are on the road and equipped with these types of technologies.

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6/18(土)の放送の英文記事と英単語:荒れ果てた、風変わりな、騒動

Canada and Denmark End Their Arctic Whisky War

desolate 荒れ果てた
whimsical 風変わりな
schnapps シュナップス(お酒)
benign 温和な
impasse 難局
turmoil 騒動

著者:Ian Austen
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Hans Island is just a desolate, kidney shaped piece of rock in the Arctic. But for 49 years, it has been the source of a rare territorial dispute for Canada because it sits right in the middle of the international boundary between that country and Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

Over the decades the dispute between Canada and Demark has been fought in often whimsical ways.

Since Canadian troops began visiting the island in 1984 to plant maple leaf flags and leave behind bottles of Canadian whisky, Danes have been regularly dropping in to replace the Canadian items with schnapps and Danish flags. And Cabinet ministers from both countries have arrived by helicopter to assert their nations’ competing claims and survey the rock they claimed to govern.

Now, this long-running and largely benign diplomatic impasse reached an end.

Canada and Denmark signed an agreement on Tuesday that formally defined their Arctic marine boundary and settles the question of Hans Island’s ownership. The island will be split, with about 60% of the rock becoming Denmark and the rest becoming Canada.

The country’s two foreign ministers contrasted the peaceful and successful, if protracted, resolution of the dispute with the violence and turmoil of other territorial struggles, most notably Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“This sends a strong signal at a time when we see big powers brutally violating fundamental international law, like what is being done by Russia in Ukraine,” said Jeppe Kofod, the Danish foreign minister.

“It was the friendliest of all wars,” said Mélanie Joly, the Canadian foreign minister. “But when you look at what’s going on in the world right now, particularly since the invasion by Russia of Ukraine, we really wanted to give more momentum and renew our energies to make sure that we would find a solution.”

The fight over a piece of rock dates back to 1973, when Denmark and Canada wound up talks about boundary and underwater rights but did not reach an agreement over Hans Island.

The agreement will mean the end of the whisky war. The two ministers exchanged bottles for the last time Tuesday.

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6/19(日)の放送の英文記事と英単語:歩き始めの子供、全会一致で、感覚が麻痺する

COVID Vaccines Endorsed for Youngest Americans

toddler 歩き始めの子供(2歳~4歳ぐらいの幼児)
unanimously 全会一致で
provoke 引き起こす
become numb 感覚が麻痺する
pediatric 小児(科)の

著者:Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON — The only Americans still not eligible for coronavirus vaccines — babies, toddlers and preschoolers — appear on the verge of finally getting cleared to receive them after an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the group.

The FDA appears poised to authorize Moderna’s vaccine for children younger than 6 and Pfizer’s for those younger than 5 as soon as Friday. States have already ordered millions of doses, and White House officials have said shots could roll out as early as next week.

The committee’s 21-0 votes came after a daylong review of clinical trial data and signaled the end of a process that involved months of false starts and dashed hopes for a vaccine to cover the youngest Americans. Except for the roughly 20 million children under 5, everyone has had access to coronavirus shots for many months.

The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention jointly made a strong push for a positive recommendation, showering the committee with 230 pages of data that they said showed the vaccines were safe and provoked a strong immune response in children. Regulators also emphasized that even though young children are generally at low risk for serious illness from the virus, vaccinating the group would save lives.

“We have to be careful that we don’t become numb to the number of pediatric deaths because of the overwhelming number of older deaths here,” Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, said.

CDC officials said that more than half of young children hospitalized with COVID-19 had no existing medical conditions. During the omicron wave in the winter, young children were hospitalized at a higher rate than older children and adolescents, and their illness tended to be at least as severe. More than 200 children ages 6 months through 4 years old have died of COVID, according to death certificate data that is one of the most conservative estimates.

“There are so many parents who are absolutely desperate to get this vaccine,” said Dr. Jay Portnoy, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City medical school. “I think we owe it to them to give them the choice.”

The CDC’s own panel of vaccine experts is set to take up the matter over two days this weekend. If that committee also gives a favorable recommendation, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the agency’s director, would issue her decision, the final step in the process.

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