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11/28(月)の放送の英文記事と英単語：破壊者、均衡、大胆な

How Do You Tell a Vandal From a Visitor? Art Museums Are Struggling.

vandal　破壊者、荒らし
abate　弱める、和らげる
equilibrium　均衡
daring　大胆な、型破りの
douse　(水などを)浴びせる、濡らす

著者：Alex Marshall
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

LONDON — For Hans-Peter Wipplinger, the director of Vienna’s Leopold Museum, the past few weeks have been challenging. As climate protesters across Europe stepped up their attacks against art, Wipplinger took measures to protect his storied collection, which includes famous paintings by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Bags were banned; coats, too. The museum hired extra guards to patrol its five floors.

It didn’t work. Last week, members of a group called Last Generation walked into the museum and threw black liquid at one of Klimt’s major works, “Death and Life.” A protester had sneaked the liquid into the museum in a hot water bottle strapped to his chest, Wipplinger said.

The Klimt, protected by glass, was unharmed. But Wipplinger said his security team could only have stopped the attack by subjecting visitors to invasive body searches, “like at the airport.” He didn’t want to even consider that prospect, he added.

With the attacks showing no sign of abating, museum directors across Europe are settling into a nervous new equilibrium, fearful for the works in their care but unwilling to compromise on making visitors feel welcome. So far, nothing has been permanently damaged. But many fear that an accident or an escalation in the protesters’ tactics could result in a masterpiece being destroyed.

The actions, which began in Britain in June, are already increasing in frequency and daring. At first, protesters glued themselves to the frames of famous paintings, but since footage of activists splattering Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” with tomato soup spread rapidly on social media last month, masterpieces have been doused in pea soup, mashed potatoes and flour.

Those works were all protected by glass, and the protesters’ projectiles never touched an artist’s brushstroke. Yet, last Friday, protesters in Paris poured orange paint directly onto a silver Charles Ray sculpture outside the Bourse de Commerce contemporary art space. (A Bourse de Commerce spokesperson said the sculpture was cleaned within a few hours.)

In a statement this month signed by the leaders of more than 90 of the world’s largest art institutions, museum administrators said they were “deeply shaken” by the protesters’ “risky endangerment” of artworks.

Yet, few museums appear to have taken bold steps to protect their collections. Norway’s National Museum and the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, Germany, have banned visitors from taking bags or jackets into their exhibition halls. Others have made no changes.

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11/29(火)の放送の英文記事と英単語：不要不急の、稼働率、収支報告

Business Travel’s Rebound Is Being Hit by a Slowing Economy

nonessential　不要不急の、肝要でない
earnings call　収支報告、業績発表
bullish　強気の、上昇傾向の (⇔ bearish 弱気の、下降気味の)
occupancy rate　稼働率
mortgage rate　住宅ローンの金利
notwithstanding　…にもかかわらず

著者：Jane L. Levere
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

Business travel came back this year more strongly than most industry analysts had predicted in the depths of the pandemic, with domestic travel rebounding by this fall to about two-thirds of the 2019 level.

But in recent weeks, it appears to have hit a new hurdle — companies tightening their spending in a slowing economy.

Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst for Atmosphere Research, said corporate travel managers have told him in the past few weeks that companies have started to ban nonessential business travel. He said he was now predicting that corporate travel would soften slightly for the rest of the year and probably remain tepid into the first quarter of 2023.

Harteveldt also said his conversations led him to believe that business travel would “come in below the levels airline executives discussed in their third-quarter earnings calls.”

Airlines were bullish on those calls, a little over a month ago. Delta Air Lines, for one, said 90% of its corporate accounts “expect their travel to stay the same or increase” in the fourth quarter.

Hotels, too, were optimistic. Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, said on his earnings call that overall occupancy rates had reached more than 73% in the third quarter, with business travel showing growing strength.

The change in mood has come as the economy has more visibly slowed. Technology companies have been announcing significant layoffs. Housing lenders have also been reducing staff, as rising mortgage rates cut into their business.

In a survey taken in late September by the Global Business Travel Association, a trade group, corporate travel managers estimated that their employers’ business travel volume in their home countries was back up to 63% of pre-pandemic levels, and international business travel was at 50% of those levels.

With Americans able to work remotely, many are combining professional and leisure travel, airline and hotel executives said on recent earnings calls.

Jan Freitag, national director for hospitality market analytics at CoStar Group, said hotel occupancy by business travelers currently varies by market, with occupancies high in markets such as Nashville, Tennessee; Miami; and Tampa, Florida — places where business travelers may well be taking “bleisure” trips. But hotel occupancies by business travelers are low in markets such as Minneapolis, San Francisco and Houston.

Airlines’ bullish forecasts notwithstanding, some experts find prospects for business travel this fall and next year extremely murky.

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11/30(水)の放送の英文記事と英単語：強制労働、非人道的な、人身売買

U.S. Blocks Dominican Republic Sugar Imports, Citing Forced Labor

forced labor　強制労働
inhumane　非人道的な、思いやりにかけた
vehemently　激しく、猛烈に
Haitian　ハイチ人の 　
Haiti　ハイチ
child labor　児童労働
human trafficking　人身売買

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

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it would block shipments of sugar from Central Romana Corp., a Dominican Republic company that produces sugar sold in the United States under the Domino brand and that has long faced allegations of subjecting its workers to poor labor conditions.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued what is known as a withhold release order against the company “based on information that reasonably indicates the use of forced labor in its operations,” including abusive working and living conditions, excessive overtime, withheld wages and other violations.

“Manufacturers like Central Romana, who fail to abide by our laws, will face consequences as we root out these inhumane practices from U.S. supply chains,” AnnMarie R. Highsmith, the executive assistant commissioner of the agency’s Office of Trade, said in a statement.

Central Romana responded that it was “very disappointed” by the decision and that it had been investing significantly for years to improve the living conditions of its employees.

“We disagree vehemently with the decision as we do not believe it reflects the facts about our company and the treatment of our employees,” it said in a statement Wednesday.

Central Romana, which is the largest landholder and employer in the Dominican Republic, exports more than 200 million pounds of sugar to the United States each year. It is owned partly by the Fanjul family, an influential force in U.S. politics for decades as key donors to both Republicans and Democrats.

The measures have been the subject of an intense debate on Capitol Hill, where profits from the sugar industry are funneled into generous campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures, according to people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Dominican sugar industry has been the subject of scrutiny for decades for its poor labor practices. Media reports and human rights groups have said Central Romana exerts tremendous power over its workers, many of whom are Haitian migrants and some of whom lack citizenship.

Central Romana has publicly defended its practices and has said it offers among the best working conditions in the industry. A congressional delegation that visited the Dominican Republic and met with workers this summer said the country had made progress toward addressing some of the worst abuses, including child labor and human trafficking.

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12/1(木)の放送の英文記事と英単語：副産物、混乱、鉄則

Chinese Unrest Over Lockdowns Upends Global Economic Outlook

fallout　副産物、（予期しない）影響
unrest　〔政治・社会的な〕混乱、騒動
chafe under　いらいらする，怒る
iron rule　鉄則
game changer　ゲームチェンジャー

著者：Patricia Cohen
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

LONDON — The swelling protests against severe pandemic restrictions in China — the world’s second-largest economy — are injecting a new element of uncertainty and instability into the global economy when nations are already struggling to manage the fallout from a war in Ukraine, an energy crisis and painful inflation.

For years, China has served as the world’s factory and a vital engine of global growth, and turmoil there cannot help but ripple elsewhere. Analysts warn that more unrest could further slow the production and distribution of integrated circuits, machine parts, household appliances and more. It may also encourage companies in the United States and Europe to disengage from China and more quickly diversify their supply chains.

Millions of China’s citizens have chafed under a tight lockdown for months as the Communist Party seeks to overcome the spread of the COVID-19 virus, three years after its emergence. Anger turned to widespread protest after an apartment fire last week killed 10 people and comments on social media questioned whether the lockdown had prevented their escape.

It is unclear whether the demonstrations flaring across the country will be quickly snuffed out or erupt into broader resistance to the iron rule of its top leader, Xi Jinping, but the most significant economic damage stems from the lockdown.

“The biggest economic hit is coming from the zero-COVID policies,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, a research firm. “I don’t see the protests themselves being a game changer.”

“The world will still turn to China for what it makes best and cheapest,” he added.

Asked how the Biden administration assessed the economic fallout from the latest unrest, John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, said Monday, “We don’t see any particular impact right now to the supply chain.”

Concerns about the economic impact of the spreading unrest in China, nonetheless, appeared to be partly responsible for a decline in world markets. The S&P 500 index closed 1.5% lower, while the dollar, often a haven in turbulent times, moved higher. Oil prices began the day with a sharp drop before rebounding.

The sheer magnitude of China’s economy and resources makes it a critical player in world commerce. “It’s extremely central to the global economy,” said Kerry Brown, an associate fellow in the Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House, an international affairs institute in London.

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12/2(金)の放送の英文記事と英単語：

Elon Musk Takes On Apple’s Power, Setting Up a Clash

Withhold 保留する
Immense 莫大な
Vested Interest 利害関係
Clout 権力
Resurrect 復活する

著者：Kate Conger and Tripp Mickle
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

SAN FRANCISCO — “What’s going on here @tim_cook?” Elon Musk tweeted on Monday to Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, igniting a spat between the world’s richest man and the world’s most valuable public company.

In a series of tweets over 15 minutes, Musk, the new owner of Twitter, accused Apple of threatening to withhold Twitter from its App Store, a move that would limit some new users from downloading the app. The action would amount to censorship, Musk said, with no explanation from Apple for why Twitter would be blocked. He added that Apple had also reduced its advertising spending on Twitter.

“Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?” Musk wrote on Monday.

With his tweets, Musk set the stage for a power struggle with Cook, who holds immense influence over other tech companies through Apple’s dominance. Musk has a vested interest now in Apple’s clout because of his ownership of Twitter, which he bought last month for $44 billion. Twitter is distributed through Apple’s App Store and is used by iPhone and iPad owners around the world. In one tweet, Musk implied he was ready for “war” with Apple.

Musk has been poised to confront Apple since taking over Twitter. His business plan is predicated on shifting its revenue from a dependence on advertising to a greater reliance on subscription sales. But any new subscription revenue will be subject to Apple’s practice of taking as much as a 30% cut.

Musk’s complaints also come at a pivotal time for Apple. There’s a push in Congress during the final months of the year to advance a series of antitrust laws. Among the bills under consideration is the Open App Markets Act, which seeks to give developers more control over their apps and allow them to skirt the fees that Apple and Google charge.

“Elon is the latest chapter in a push to make App Store fees lower, and this will resurrect a topic that’s been fairly quiet over the past six months,” said Gene Munster, managing partner of Loup Ventures, a technology research firm. He said he anticipated a future in which App Store fees were reduced to around 20%.

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12/3(土)の放送の英文記事と英単語：空洞化、職人技、威信

A Slice of France, the Baguette Is Granted World Heritage Status

intangible cultural heritage　無形文化遺産
upheavals　大変動
hollowing　空洞化
prestige　威信
artisanal　職人技
alleviate　緩和する

著者：Catherine Porter and Constant Méheut
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company

PARIS — It is more French than, perhaps, the Eiffel Tower or the Seine. It is the baguette, the bread that has set the pace for life in France for decades and has become an essential part of French identity.

On Wednesday, UNESCO, the United Nations heritage agency, named the baguette something worthy of humanity’s preservation, adding it to its exalted “intangible cultural heritage” list.

The decision captured more than the craft knowledge of making bread; it also honored a way of life that the thin crusty loaf has long symbolized and that recent economic upheavals have put under threat. UNESCO’s choice came as boulangeries in rural areas are vanishing, hammered by economic forces like the slow hollowing out of France’s villages, and as the economic crisis gripping Europe has pushed the baguette’s price higher than ever.

“It’s a good news in a complicated environment,” said Dominique Anract, the president of the National Federation of French Bakeries and Patisseries, who led the effort to get the baguette on the UNESCO heritage list.

A French delegation celebrated the announcement, delivered Wednesday in Rabat, Morocco, in classic French style — by waving baguettes and trading “la bise,” the traditional two kisses, one for each cheek.

President Emmanuel Macron of France reacted to the news by describing the baguette on Twitter as “250 grams of magic and perfection in our daily lives.”

Although just one of many breads that can be found in a typical boulangerie, the baguette is by far the most popular in France. More than 6 billion are sold every year in the country, according to the federation.

With the baguette’s new status, the French government said it planned to create a Bakehouse Open Day to “enhance the prestige of the artisanal know-how required for the production of baguettes” and support new scholarships and training programs for bakers.

Still, the baguette is under threat, with the country losing 400 artisanal bakeries a year since 1970.

Some Parisian bakers expressed skepticism that the news Wednesday would do much to alleviate their most pressing fear that the high costs of wheat and flour would continue to rise because of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“This UNESCO recognition is not what will help us get through the winter,” said Pascale Giuseppi, who was behind the counter of her bakery near the Champs-Élysées. “We still have bigger bills to pay.”

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12/4(日)の放送の英文記事と英単語：機能不全、議事妨害、無効にする

Same-Sex Marriage Bill Passes Senate After Bipartisan Breakthrough

bipartisan　超党派の
lame-duck　機能不全
filibuster　議事妨害
repeal　無効にする
be trampled upon　ないがしろにされる

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

WASHINGTON — The Senate passed landmark legislation Tuesday to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, as a lame-duck Congress mustered a notable moment of bipartisanship before Democrats were to lose their unified control of Capitol Hill.

The 61-36 vote put the bill on track to become law in the final weeks before Republicans assume the majority in the House of Representatives at the start of the new Congress in January. It marked one of the final major legislative achievements for Democrats before Republicans shift the focus in the House to conducting investigations of President Joe Biden’s administration and family members.

The bill must now win final approval by the House in a vote expected as soon as next week, which would clear it for Biden, who said he looked forward to signing it alongside the bipartisan coalition that helped shepherd it through the Senate.

In a statement, the president said the vote reaffirmed “a fundamental truth: Love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love.”

There was little question that the bill’s embrace in the Senate, where proponents had a breakthrough this month in drawing a dozen Republican supporters and overcoming a filibuster, gave it the momentum required to become law.

The bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples. It prohibits states from denying the validity of an out-of-state marriage based on sex, race or ethnicity. But in a condition that Republican backers insisted upon, it would guarantee that religious organizations would not be required to provide any goods or services for the celebration of any marriage, and could not lose tax-exempt status or other benefits for refusing to recognize same-sex unions.

“Because of our work together, the rights of tens of millions of Americans will be strengthened under federal law. That’s an accomplishment we should all be proud of,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader.

Schumer audibly choked back tears on the Senate floor as he described how his daughter, who is married to a woman and expecting a baby with her wife, had lived in fear that their union could be reversed.

“I want them to raise their child with all the love and security that every child deserves,” Schumer said. “The bill we are passing today will ensure their rights won’t be trampled upon simply because they are in a same-sex marriage.”

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