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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目次
1/16(月) 脱走したウンピョウが見つかる
Clouded Leopard Found at Dallas Zoo After ‘Suspicious’ Tear in Enclosure
tear 裂け目、引き裂くこと
story 階、階層
intentionally わざと、故意に
summon 呼び出す、召集する
domesticated 飼いならされた、家庭的な
著者：Claire Fahy
(c) 2022 The New York Times Company
The Dallas Zoo said on Friday afternoon that a clouded leopard that had been missing all day had been recovered after officials said they found a “suspicious” tear in the animal’s enclosure.
Nova, who weighs 25 pounds, was found on the zoo grounds at 4:40 p.m. local time near “very near the original habitat, and teams were able to safely secure her just before 5:15 p.m.,” the zoo said on Twitter. She did not appear to be injured, the zoo said.
Police said they had opened a criminal investigation into Nova’s disappearance.
Officials said they found a tear in the mesh in the zoo’s two-story clouded leopard enclosure. Investigating further, they found Luna, a 3- or 4-year-old clouded leopard, safely in her habitat. But Nova, her sister, was gone.
Sgt. Warren Mitchell of the Dallas police said at a news conference Friday afternoon that crime scene investigators had determined that the tear in the mesh had been made intentionally.
Harrison Edell, the zoo’s executive vice president for animal care and conservation, said members of the zoo’s staff believed that Nova and Luna were both still in their enclosure at 1 a.m. Friday.
The zoo did not open on Friday morning. Instead, zoo officials issued a “Code Blue,” summoning the police to help address what it described as a “serious situation” after zookeepers discovered that Nova was missing from her enclosure.
Speaking near the end of what he described as “a stressful and frustrating day for all of us here at the Dallas Zoo,” Gregg Hudson, the zoo’s president and chief executive, said the tear was “suspicious.”
“It was clear that this opening wasn’t habitat failure, wasn’t exhibit failure and it wasn’t keeper error,” Hudson said.
Clouded leopards are becoming more common at zoos across the country because of their inclusion in a species-survival program, said Paul Frandsen, a professor of plant and wildlife sciences at Brigham Young University.
“The females are a little bit nicer than the males,” Frandsen said. “But I think, like any wild animal, that they’re not totally domesticated. It’s not like a little cat.”
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1/17(火) 日米首脳、日米同盟強化へ
Biden and Kishida to Bolster U.S.-Japan Alliance Amid China’s Growing Power
bolster 増強する
linchpin 欠かせないもの、要
crystal clear 明白な
infuriate 激怒させる
disputed territory 係争地
nonproliferation (核兵器の)拡散防止、核不拡散
*NPT: [正式名称] Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 核兵器の不拡散に関する条約
著者：Edward Wong
(c) 2022 The New York Times Company
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan met Friday to discuss how to transform Japan into a potent military power to help counterbalance China and to bolster the alliance between the two nations so that it becomes the linchpin for their security interests in Asia.
“We’re modernizing our military alliance, building on Japan’s historic increase in defense spending and new national security strategy,” Biden said as the two leaders sat in the White House Oval Office in front of a fireplace with a roaring blaze. “Let me be crystal clear: The United States is fully, thoroughly, completely committed to the alliance.”
Kishida was making his first trip to Washington since his election in October 2021 and one month after his government announced plans to strengthen its military capabilities and significantly increase military spending in the face of China’s rising power and repeated missile tests by North Korea.
Japan was infuriated by China’s lobbing of missiles around Taiwan in August, five of which landed in waters near Japan, the first time that had happened. And Japan is increasingly anxious over greater maritime activity by the Chinese military in the East China Sea and around the Senkaku Islands, which is disputed territory between the two governments.
Kishida said his administration had decided to take major steps aimed at “fundamentally reinforcing our defense capabilities,” including increasing military spending and growing the nation’s missile strike abilities.
The two men did not mention China in their opening remarks, but a statement issued by their governments after the meeting highlighted growing challenges in the Asia region that ranged “from actions inconsistent with the rules-based international order by China to provocations by North Korea.”
Biden, Kishida and their aides discussed the economic ties between the two nations and the challenges in maintaining secure global supply chains. The security issues tied to commerce include technology trade with China, the world’s second-largest economy, and sanctions against Russia for its war on Ukraine.
The governments said they would build on prior economic cooperation to “sharpen our shared edge on economic security, including protection and promotion of critical and emerging technologies, including semiconductors.” They also promised to lead on clean energy efforts and work together on nuclear energy while upholding nonproliferation standards.
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1/18(水) ミズーリ州の女性議員の服装規定改定に疑問の声
Missouri State Lawmakers Revise Their Dress Code for Women
lawmaker 議員 (legislator)
dress code 服装規定、ドレスコード
pointless 無意味な
professionalism プロ意識
proponent 提議者、支持者
disenfranchisement 公民権剥奪、失権
underscore (~を)強調する
著者：Eduardo Medina
(c) 2022 The New York Times Company
The Missouri state House of Representatives revised its dress code for female legislators and staff members, requiring them to wear a jacket, such as a blazer or cardigan, and setting off a debate about policing the fashion choices of women.
The updated dress code — which was adopted Wednesday by a vote of 105-51 as part of a larger package of rules governing the House — drew criticism from some Democratic lawmakers, who described the Republican-backed effort as sexist and pointless. Supporters said it was a tweak that would help ensure professionalism inside the chamber.
The main proponent of the new rule — state Rep. Ann Kelley, a Republican, who introduced it — said on the House floor that the new rules for women would mirror the dress code language for men, and that it “is essential to always maintain a formal and professional atmosphere” in the House.
The amendment took up four sentences in a 37-page resolution that established rules governing the state House of Representatives, including how committee meetings are announced and attendance policies for lawmakers. There are 116 men and 43 women in the House. In the state Senate, there is no rule requiring women to wear blazers.
Kelley, who did not respond to a call and an email seeking comment Saturday, said on the floor that she sought to establish revised rules because even though new female lawmakers were told that a jacket was required in the chamber, there had been some women who believed that if “you were wearing a skirt or a sweater, you did not have to wear a jacket.”
Dress codes for men, who are required to wear a jacket, shirt and tie, were not changed.
Some Democratic representatives objected to the idea that a dress code change was necessary.
“I think we’re being quite pedantic here by making rules so petty,” state Rep. Raychel Proudie, a Democrat, said Wednesday in the chamber. “And what it will ultimately lead to is the disenfranchisement of folks. For example, they don’t make jackets or blazers for women who are pregnant.”
Other Democratic lawmakers said the rule change underscored how women had historically been subjected to heightened scrutiny and criticism over their fashion choices.
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1/19(木) バイデン氏の機密文書、自宅の訪問者記録は保管なし
White House Says It Does Not Keep Visitor Logs at Biden’s Delaware Home
residence 邸宅
classified documents 機密文書
property 財産、不動産
transparency 透明性
subpoenaed 〔裁判所が〕召喚状を発する
著者：Michael D. Shear
(c) 2022 The New York Times Company
WASHINGTON — White House officials said on Monday that there are no visitor logs that keep track of who comes and goes from President Joe Biden’s personal residence in Wilmington, Delaware, where six classified documents were discovered in recent days.
A top House Republican demanded on Sunday that the White House turn over visitor logs for Biden’s home, citing what he called the “serious national security implications” of the fact that the documents may have been accessible to people without security clearances.
“It is troubling that classified documents have been improperly stored at the home of President Biden for at least six years, raising questions about who may have reviewed or had access to classified information,” wrote Rep. James R. Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee.
But a spokesperson for the White House Counsel’s Office said no such logs exist because Biden’s home is not an official government property.
“Like every president across decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,” spokesperson Ian Sams said. “But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors’ logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.”
The demands by Republicans for transparency in the case of Biden’s classified documents highlight the political danger for the president, who criticized former President Donald Trump when boxes of classified records were found at his Florida residence.
Last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the documents found in Biden’s home and office. In November, Garland appointed a different special counsel to investigate Trump’s handling of sensitive documents and his failure to return all of them, even after being subpoenaed.
The two cases are different. Trump fought with officials for months about whether to return government materials in his possession. In Biden’s case, his aides and lawyers returned the documents and contacted authorities swiftly after discovering them on their own.
Asked on Monday whether the Oversight Committee would be requesting from Trump the “INFO on everyone” from Mar-a-Lago, a spokesman for Comer declined to answer. Instead, he offered a statement that did not address why the committee had sought visitor logs from Biden’s home, but not Trump’s.
“The American people deserve transparency, not secrecy,” said the spokesman, Austin Hacker.
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1/20(金) マイクロソフト、コスト削減のため1万人の人員削減を決定
Microsoft to Lay Off 10,000 Workers as It Looks to Trim Costs
frenetic 熱狂的な
hoard 買いだめ
symptomatic 前兆
tepid 生ぬるい
explosively 爆発的な
著者：Karen Weise
(c) 2022 The New York Times Company
Microsoft on Wednesday became the latest addition to a growing list of big technology companies that have announced plans to lay off employees because of overhiring during the pandemic and worries about the economy.
The company will lay off 10,000 workers, CEO Satya Nadella said, as it looks to trim costs amid economic uncertainty and to refocus on priorities such as artificial intelligence.
Microsoft employed about 221,000 workers as of the end of June, and the cuts amount to less than 5% of its global workforce.
With the cuts, Microsoft joined a string of other tech giants that have pulled back after several years of frenetic hiring to meet the pandemic-fueled surge in online services and the expansion of cloud computing. Microsoft and its peers responded to surging customer demand by essentially hoarding technical staff. But the market slowed last year.
“The reality is you can adjust hiring very quickly, and that is what is going on,” said Brad Reback, an analyst at the investment bank Stifel. “I don’t think this is symptomatic of a bigger issue.”
Speaking at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Nadella said that after rapid acceleration during the pandemic, “quite frankly we in the tech industry will also have to get efficient.” He added that the industry “will have to show our own productivity gains” using its own technology.
Still, in the quarter ending in September, Microsoft had $50 billion in sales that produced $17.6 billion in profit. The company’s annual revenue grew 58% over three years, during which time it hired more than 75,000 people. But in the latest quarter, it reported its slowest growth in five years and warned that more tepid results could follow.
Microsoft’s stock price closed down nearly 2% Wednesday and is down about 22% in the past year. The company is scheduled to report its next quarterly earnings Tuesday.
Microsoft is going forward with several expensive bets, including potentially putting another $10 billion into its investment in OpenAI, which makes the explosively popular ChatGPT artificial-intelligence system, and a $69 billion acquisition of video game maker Activision that is facing challenges globally by antitrust regulators.
workforce
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1/21(土) Twitterのでっかい鳥型ネオンサインが競売に！
Giant Neon Twitter Bird Bid for More Than $17,000.
turmoil 混乱
jettisoning 投げ捨てる
artifacts 残されたもの
evokes 彷彿とさせる
flush 豊かな
tastes センス
著者：Michael Levenson
(c) 2022 The New York Times Company
Since Elon Musk took over Twitter in October, the company has been in turmoil, as he has aggressively cut costs, laid off half of the company’s full-time workers and hunted for new ways to raise revenue.
Now, Twitter is auctioning off surplus corporate assets from its San Francisco headquarters, jettisoning artifacts of a barely bygone era in Bay Area tech. While the online auction doesn’t signal the end of Twitter, the collection evokes a more flush time when the company’s tastes reflected its status as a hot tech world employer.
The 631 lots include a blue electric light display shaped like Twitter’s bird logo, which had attracted a bid of more than $17,000; a bird statue, which had a bid of $16,000; a 6-foot decorative planter shaped like the “@” symbol (bidding was up to $4,100); and five espresso machines made by the Italian company La Marzocco, one of which had attracted a bid of $11,000.
The auction also offers a range of high-end furniture, including a Knoll womb chair, Eames molded plywood lounge chairs, an Erik Jørgensen Savannah two-seater sofa and a roughly 23-foot-long custom wood conference table.
Ross Dove, CEO of Heritage Global, the parent company of Heritage Global Partners, which is handling the auction, said more than 20,000 people had registered to bid online, more than in any of the thousands of auctions the company has handled over 90 years in business.
Dove said he expected that the auction would net Twitter about $1.5 million after the bidding, which began Tuesday and closes Wednesday. That sum would not “move the needle” for a company that Musk bought for $44 billion, Dove said. But he said it was nonetheless “good corporate governance” for any company to auction off surplus equipment.
“If you’re not going to use an espresso machine because you have extras,” Dove said, “why do you keep it?”
Twitter did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the auction, which comes as the company has been squeezing costs to stabilize its finances.
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1/22(日) 世界最高齢「118歳」フランスの修道女が死去
Sister André, World’s Oldest Known Person, Dies at 118 in France
make headlines メディアで大きく報道される
governess （住み込みで子供の教育にあたった）女性家庭教師
ecclesiastical 聖職の
orphan 孤児
authenticate （～が）本物であることを証明する
著者：Constant Méheut
(c) 2022 The New York Times Company
PARIS — Sister André, a French nun and the world’s oldest known person, who lived through two world wars, the 1918 influenza pandemic and survived COVID-19, died Tuesday in France. She was 118.
A spokesperson for the nursing home in the southern city of Toulon, where Sister André was residing, confirmed the news in an interview with French news media and said she died during her sleep.
The French nun made headlines in recent years for being the world’s oldest known survivor of COVID, according to Guinness World Records. She beat the disease with barely any complications just as she was about to turn 117.
On Tuesday, David Tavella, a spokesperson at the nursing home, Ste. Catherine Labouré, told Agence France-Presse that it was Sister André’s “desire to join her beloved brother,” with whom she was close, in death.
“For her, it is freedom,” he said.
Born Lucile Randon on Feb. 11, 1904, Sister André grew up in a Protestant family of six in the southern town of Alès. She worked as a governess in Paris and later converted to Catholicism and was baptized at age 26. She joined a charitable order about two decades later and took on her ecclesiastical title.
Sister André was assigned to a hospital in Vichy, where she cared for orphans and others for three decades.
She was known for her generosity, often aiding older people younger than herself.
She lived through 18 French presidents and 10 popes. Her relatives said she always had vivid memories of global events, including the two world wars. She said in interviews that she saw many French soldiers who fought in the 1954-62 Algerian independence war returning traumatized to the hospital where she worked.
“Since I came into this world, I have only seen wars and fights,” Sister André said in an interview as she celebrated her 118th birthday.
The French nun became the world’s oldest known person after the death of Japan’s Kane Tanaka, who died last year at 119, according to Guinness World Records. With Sister André’s death, the oldest known person, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which validates those thought to be 110 or older, is Maria Branyas Morera. She was born in the United States, lives in Spain and is 115.
Glenday said Sister André was “the fourth-oldest person ever authenticated.”
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