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9/19(月)の放送の英文記事と英単語：分裂させる、辛辣な、過激派

Attempts to Ban Books Are Accelerating and Becoming More Divisive

accelerate　加速する、促進する　
devisive　分裂させる、対立させる　
vitriolic　辛辣な、痛烈な、硫酸の　
extremist　過激派、過激主義者　
spectrum　範囲、領域、分布

著者：Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Attempts to ban books are accelerating across the country at a rate never seen since tracking began more than 20 years ago, according to a new report from the American Library Association.

So far this year, there have been attempts to ban or restrict access to 1,651 different titles, the group found, up from challenges to 1,597 books in 2021, the year with the highest number of complaints since the group began documenting book challenges decades ago.

Book-banning efforts have grown rapidly in number and become much more organized, divisive and vitriolic over the past two years, splitting communities, causing rifts on school and library boards, and spreading across the country through social media and political campaigns.

Public libraries have been threatened by politicians and community members with a loss of funding for their refusal to remove books. Members of the Proud Boys, an extremist right-wing group, showed up at a school board meeting in Illinois, where book access was on the agenda, and at a drag queen story hour in California. Librarians have been accused of promoting pedophilia. The library association cited 27 instances of police reports filed against library staff over the content of their shelves.

“It represents an escalation, and we’re truly fearful that at some point we will see a librarian arrested for providing constitutionally protected books on disfavored topics,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the office of intellectual freedom at the library association. “They’re being threatened with prosecution, attacked on social media, harassed for simply doing their jobs by trying to meet the information needs of their communities.”

Book challenges, defined in the report as “willful attempts to remove or restrict access to library resources or programming,” can be a written objection, a complaint form submitted to a library or a demand for removal issued on social media, the organization said. Although complaints in the past tended to focus on a single book, the majority of book challenges in 2021 targeted multiple titles, the library organization said.

The efforts have long come from both sides of the political spectrum. The report highlights challenges to “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” written by Sherman Alexie, including one made in a left-leaning New York City suburb over concerns about offensive racial language.

The report emphasizes the role that conservative politics and politicians have played in the escalation of the issue.

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9/20(火)の放送の英文記事と英単語：豪雨、台風14号、暴風・大雨警報

Typhoon Thrashes Japan, With Millions Told to Evacuate

thrash　(物が)(水面などを)激しく打つ、たたく　(≒ batter　雨、風が強く当たる)
Typhoon Nanmadol　台風14号
torrential rain　豪雨
traverse　(人などが)(場所を)横切る、横断する
storm advisory　強風・大雨注意報
storm warning　暴風・大雨警報
designate　指名する、指定する

著者：Hikari Hida and John Yoon
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

TOKYO — Typhoon Nanmadol brought torrential rain and the risk of destructive landslides to Japan’s southernmost main island Sunday, and more than 8 million people were ordered to evacuate and seek shelter from the powerful storm, which was expected to traverse virtually the entire length of the country.

Some areas of the southern island, Kyushu, were expected to receive 20 inches of rain or more, an amount not seen in the area in decades, officials said. While the heavy rain was viewed as the primary threat to residents’ safety, winds exceeding 110 mph were also recorded, causing heavy waves.

A total of nearly 8 million people in about 3.7 million households were ordered to evacuate from areas in southern and western Japan, according to NHK, the national broadcaster.

Thousands of people sought safety in shelters, and power was knocked out for about 190,000 households. Kyushu’s entire bullet-train service was suspended, and hundreds of domestic flights were canceled. By Sunday evening, a small number of injuries had been reported but no deaths.

Meteorological officials warned that the storm could be more damaging than Typhoon Jebi, which killed about a dozen people in Japan in 2018, and Typhoon Hagibis, the strongest storm to hit the country’s mainland in decades, which caused widespread flooding and landslides in 2019 and killed about 100 people.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was scheduled to depart Japan on Monday afternoon to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York, but he was planning to delay his flight, according to NHK, the public broadcaster. Kishida will make a final decision on his trip after assessing the damage, NHK reported.

After passing over Okinawa, a southern Japanese archipelago, on Sunday Nanmadol weakened somewhat and became a “very strong typhoon” as it neared mainland Japan, the meteorological agency said.

It had been classified as a “violent typhoon,” the agency’s most severe category of storm based on wind speeds. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center, a U.S. military command in Hawaii, also issued a storm advisory, designating Nanmadol a “super typhoon” this past week.

The storm was projected to curve northeastward and trace almost the entire length of the main islands that make up Japan. Nearly the entire country was in the storm warning area designated by the agency.

The storm will probably head back to sea Wednesday or Thursday, according to the meteorological agency.

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9/21(水)の放送の英文記事と英単語：危険、早朝、24時間体制

In the City That Never Sleeps, Some Doors Now Close at 10 P.M.

-ish　〜のような、〜ぽい、(口語)およそ〜ごろ 　　
名詞 + ish　〜のような、〜じみた 　　
形容詞 + ish　〜がかった、やや〜の 　　
数字 + ish　〜歳ぐらい、〜ぐらい 　　
国名 + ish　〜の、〜に属する
jeopardy　危険
wee hours　早朝、深夜過ぎ
commuting　通勤
round the clock hours　24時間体制

著者：Dodai Stewart
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

NEW YORK — If you see “Moulin Rouge” on Broadway on a Thursday at 8 p.m. and get out of the theater after 10:30, definitely do not take the train down to Wo Hop expecting to get some 11 p.m. lo mein. The subway is back to running all night, but the Chinatown institution that was once open 24 hours now closes at 10 p.m.

L’Express, a French-ish bistro on Park Avenue South, has a sign outside that reads “Ouvert 24 hours,” but these days it closes at 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 p.m. the rest of the week.

Cafeteria in Chelsea, the sleekly designed comfort-food space formerly open all day and night, now calls it quits at 1 a.m. Whitestone Lanes, a bowling alley in Queens, used to be 24 hours but now shuts its doors at 1 or 2 a.m. And there’s a 24 Hour Fitness in Kew Gardens that closes at 10 p.m.

As New York recovers from the pandemic, one may wonder whether its reputation as a 24-hour town is in jeopardy.

The reasons for the early closings vary: Some businesses grew weary of the drunken clientele in the wee hours. Some worried about the safety of their staff commuting home. Some scaled back during the pandemic and have not yet resumed round-the-clock hours. And many restaurants still report difficulty in finding enough help, even amid signs of improvement.

While the rest of the country has regained all of the jobs it lost during the pandemic, New York City is bouncing back more slowly. Many hotel and restaurant jobs have disappeared because fewer people are visiting the city or dining out, and the jobs that remain are often the hardest to fill, offering late-night shifts and relatively low pay.

In 1978, when Frank Sinatra — who was known to be a late-night fixture at spots such as P.J. Clarke’s and Jilly’s — sang “New York, New York,” he wanted to “wake up in the city that never sleeps.” The nickname stuck. But now, New Yorkers accustomed to a city whose machinery churns until dawn are finding themselves disoriented by adjusted closing hours.

A recent night out found startled customers all over the city grappling with scaled-back accommodations at formerly up-all-night institutions — and showed that the very-late-night nibbles in New York have morphed and moved but not entirely disappeared.

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9/22(木)の放送の英文記事と英単語：国葬、棺、君主政治

Thousands Pay Tribute as Britain Says Final Farewell to Its Queen

laid to rest　埋葬されている、安置されている
state funeral　国葬
sovereign　君主
coffin　棺
monarchy　君主政治

著者：Mark Landler
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest Monday after a majestic state funeral that drew tens of millions of Britons together in a vast expression of grief and gratitude, as they bade farewell to a sovereign whose seven-decade reign had spanned their lives and defined their times.

It was the culmination of 10 days of mourning since the queen died at 96 on Sept. 8 in Scotland.

Tens of thousands of people lined the route of the cortège past the landmarks of London. In Hyde Park, people watching the service on large screens joined in “The Lord’s Prayer” when it was recited at Westminster Abbey. Thousands more cheered, many strewing flowers in the path of her glass-topped hearse, as the queen’s coffin was driven to Windsor Castle, where she was buried next to her husband, Prince Philip.

On Tuesday, Britain will return to wrestling with the gravest economic crisis in a generation. Fears about its public finances have driven the pound to its lowest levels against the U.S. dollar since 1985. The survival of the monarchy’s far-flung realm is in question, as Caribbean countries debate whether to cast off the king as their head of state.

Britain’s uncertain future, however, was a matter for another day, as it paid tribute to one of the great symbols of its past. More than 100 world leaders, including President Joe Biden and Emperor Naruhito of Japan, converged on London, the largest such gathering since the funeral of Nelson Mandela in 2013 in South Africa.

The new king, Charles III, was a quiet presence on a day devoted to his mother. On her coffin, next to a wreath of roses, hydrangea and dahlias he had left a handwritten note, “In loving and devoted memory, Charles R.”

The setting was more intimate after the queen’s coffin arrived at Windsor.

Before the final hymn, the crown jeweler removed the imperial state crown, the orb and the scepter — precious regalia symbolizing the crown — from the coffin and placed them on the altar.

As a totem of the end of his service, the queen’s lord chamberlain, the most senior officer in the royal household, broke his wand of office into two pieces and placed them on to the coffin, to be buried with his sovereign.

The coffin was then lowered into the royal vault, where the queen was interred next to Philip in a private family ceremony later in the evening. The queen’s piper played a mournful lament, its sound dying out as he walked slowly away from the chapel.

In a last reminder of the monarchy’s continuity, the congregation sang, “God save the King.” Charles, his face bearing the weight of grief and, perhaps, the burdens of his new job, looked on wordlessly.

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9/23(金)の放送の英文記事と英単語：元気付ける、監視、言いくるめる

New York City Subway System to Install Security Cameras in Train Cars

Bolster　元気付ける
Teeter　揺らぐ
Surveillance　監視
Coax　言いくるめる
Pilot　実証実験
Prevalent　一般化する

著者：Ana Ley
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

NEW YORK — With subway ridership stuck at about 60% of pre-pandemic levels, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would install two security cameras on every car to lure back people frightened of crime and bolster a system whose finances were teetering.

Hochul said the cameras would bring scrutiny to places that have been the scene of random attacks, muggings and the focus of concerns about rising numbers of homeless people.

“You think Big Brother is watching you on the subway?” Hochul said at a news conference. “You’re absolutely right. That is our intent: to get the message out that we’re going to be having surveillance of activity on the subway trains, and that’s going to give people great ease of mind.”

For Hochul, who is running for her first full term as governor in November, and Mayor Eric Adams, who won office promising a safer city, reviving the subway system — and coaxing back frightened riders — is an urgent issue.

Expanding on a pilot program that began this summer, the transit authority would spend $5.5 million of state and federal funds to equip each of the more than 6,400 cars by 2025, Hochul said. The new cameras, which will monitor entire cars, cannot be monitored live, Hochul said, but they will provide investigators with video footage after a crime.

But even as Hochul and Adams have urged New Yorkers to head for their workplaces again, continuous violence on the subway has complicated their message.

Five months ago, a gunman opened fire on an N train in Brooklyn, striking 10 people as more than a dozen others were injured. Six weeks later, a man fatally shot a passenger at random aboard a Q train.

And lower-profile offenses are an increasingly prevalent part of commuters’ daily experience. The number of crimes reported in the subway system is roughly the same through July of this year as it was in 2019, according to police statistics. But because ridership is at about 60% of pre-pandemic levels, the per capita crime rate is up.

Only a fraction of reported crimes have resulted in arrests. Through July of this year, the Police Department counted about 2,800 complaints and about 600 arrests.

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9/24(土)の放送の英文記事と英単語：誘拐、罪を認めた、烙印

California Woman Who Faked Her Own Abduction Gets 18 Months in Prison

Abduction　誘拐
Extensive　大規模な
Pleaded Guilty　罪を認めた
Prompted　促した
Brand　烙印
Cat Litter　猫用トイレ

著者：Eduardo Medina
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

A California woman who faked her own kidnapping in 2016 and fabricated an elaborate tale to tell authorities, prompting an extensive and costly search for made-up perpetrators, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison, the Justice Department said.

The woman, Sherri Papini, 40, of Redding, pleaded guilty in April to one count of making false statements to FBI agents about her disappearance and one count of mail fraud.

Federal prosecutors said that “not only did Papini lie to law enforcement, her friends and her family, she also made false statements to the California Victim Compensation Board and the Social Security Administration” to collect more than $125,000 in disability benefits.

As part of the sentence, Judge William Shubb of U.S. District Court in Sacramento, California, ordered Papini to pay $309,902 in restitution for losses incurred by several agencies, including the SSA, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.

Her lawyer, William Portanova, said Monday that Papini regretted her actions.

On Nov. 2, 2016, Papini’s husband, Keith, came home from work and reported his wife missing after finding that she had not returned from a jog and that their children had not been picked up from day care, according to a criminal complaint.

Papini’s disappearance prompted a three-week search across Northern California and several other states.

On Nov. 24, 2016, a truck driver spotted Papini along an interstate in Yolo County, more than 140 miles south of where she had disappeared, the U.S. attorney’s office said. She had “various bindings on her body” and injuries that included a “brand” on her right shoulder, according to prosecutors.

Papini told authorities that she had been abducted by two Hispanic women who had tied her to a pole inside a closet and given her a bucket of cat litter to use as a toilet. She said that the women had beaten her and that she was branded after she tried to escape.

For more than four years, Papini “repeated her false story about her kidnapping, while law enforcement continued its investigation to identify Papini’s kidnappers,” the Justice Department said.

In August 2020, authorities questioned Papini about her abduction claim, warning her that it was unlawful to lie to federal agents. She was eventually arrested this past March.

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9/25(日)の放送の英文記事と英単語：率直に、常任理事国、反響

Biden Condemns Russia as Threat to the World in U.N. Speech

authoritarian　権威主義的な
plainly　率直に
permanent member　常任理事国
in solidarity　連帯して
echo　反響

著者：Jim Tankersley, David E. Sanger and Farnaz Fassihi
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

President Joe Biden used his first speech at the United Nations since the invasion of Ukraine to accuse one man, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, of seeking to “erase” another nation from the map and of trying to drag the world back to an era of nuclear confrontation.

Hours after Putin mobilized reservists for Ukraine and issued new threats to deploy Russia’s nuclear arsenal, Biden drew a sharp contrast between Russia and the West and described a growing competition with China as it pursues its own authoritarian vision.

“Let us speak plainly,” Biden said as he opened his address to the General Assembly, accusing Putin of violating the U.N. charter. “A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor.”

The war, Biden added, is about “extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state.”

“If nations can pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences,” Biden went on, the post-World War II order crumbles. “We will stand in solidarity against Russia’s aggression.”

The scope and scathing nature of Biden’s attacks on Putin were startling; they appeared to be the most direct and sustained focus on a single adversary by an American president at the United Nations since 2002, when President George W. Bush called the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein a “grave and gathering danger.”

Biden told the leaders “we do not seek a Cold War” or to ask other nations to choose between the United States and “any other partners.”

Yet the world he described had echoes of the Cold War era. Biden cast the United States and its allies as the protectors of a fragile global order that has endured since World War II, while seeking to reassert American leadership on existential issues like warming temperatures and faltering food supplies. And he portrayed Russia as the chief threat to global peace, describing the Russian leader’s warnings just hours before as “irresponsible nuclear threats” and warning him against following through.

“A nuclear war cannot be won,” Biden said, “and must never be fought.”

That phrase, used by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, was repeated by all the major nuclear powers in a joint statement Jan. 3, just seven weeks before Putin’s invasion set off perhaps the biggest concerns about the use of nuclear weapons since the Cuban missile crisis, 60 years ago.

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