Voicy初の公式英語ニュースチャンネル「Voicy News Brief with articles from New York Times」。チャンネルでは、バイリンガルパーソナリティがThe New York Timesの記事を英語で読み、記事の中に出てくる単語を日本語で解説しています。
Voicy Journalでは、毎週金曜日にその週に読んだ記事を、まとめて紹介します！１週間の終わりに、その週の放送をもう１度聞いて復習するのも良いかもしれません。VoicyのPCページやアプリでは、再生速度も変えられるので、自分の理解度に応じて、調整してみましょう。
1/30(土)の放送
Cicely Tyson, an Actress Who Shattered Stereotypes, Dies at 96
著者：Robert D. McFadden
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company
Cicely Tyson, the stage, screen and television actress whose vivid portrayals of strong African American women shattered racial stereotypes in the dramatic arts of the 1970s, propelling her to stardom and fame as an exemplar for civil rights, died Thursday. She was 96.
Her death was announced by her longtime manager, Larry Thompson.
In a remarkable career of seven decades, Tyson broke ground for serious Black actors by refusing to take parts that demeaned Black people. She urged Black colleagues to do the same and often went without work.
She won three Emmys and many awards from civil rights and women’s groups, and at 88 became the oldest person to win a Tony, for her 2013 Broadway role in a revival of Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful.”
At 93, she won an honorary Oscar, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2018 and into the Television Hall of Fame in 2020. She also won a career achievement Peabody Award in 2020.
In the 1960s, there were few substantial roles for talented, relatively unknown Black actresses like Tyson.
But in 1972, in a film called “Sounder,” she found what she was looking for: a leading role with dignity. It was as Rebecca, the wife of a Louisiana sharecropper (Paul Winfield) who is imprisoned in 1933 for stealing food for his children. She rises to the challenge — cleaning houses, tilling fields, sweltering under the sun in a worn dress and braided cornrows — a Black woman whose excruciating beauty lies in toil and poverty.
“The story in ‘Sounder’ is a part of our history, a testimony to the strength of humankind,” Tyson told The New York Times after receiving rave reviews and an Oscar nomination for best actress. “Our whole Black heritage is that of struggle, pride and dignity. ”
In 1974, Tyson stunned a national television audience with her Emmy Award-winning portrayal of a former slave in the CBS special “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” adapted from the novel by Ernest J. Gaines.
She was a vegetarian, a teetotaler, a meditator and, from 1981 to 1989, wife of jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis.
Tyson eventually appeared in 29 films; at least 68 television series, miniseries and single episodes; and 15 productions on and off-Broadway.
After a three-decade absence from Broadway, Tyson returned in 2013 in a production of “The Trip to Bountiful,” playing Carrie Watts, an old woman, conceived as a white character, who yearns to see her hometown before dying. Her performance won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards.
In January 2021, when she was 96, her memoir, “Just as I Am,” appeared, and in a prepublication interview with The New York Times Magazine, she was asked if she had any advice for the young.
“It’s simple,” she said. “I try always to be true to myself. I learned from my mom: ‘Don’t lie ever, no matter how bad it is. Don’t lie to me ever, OK? You will be happier that you told the truth.’ That has stayed with me, and it will stay with me for as long as I’m lucky enough to be here.”
portrayal 描写、肖像
propel (～を) 前へ押し出す、(～を) 進ませる
exemplar 模範、手本
demean 品位を落とす
inducted (正式に人を) 就任させる、任命する
substantial 実体のある、実在する、実のある
sweltering うだる(地獄の)ように暑い
excruciating ひどく苦しめる、耐え難い
toil 苦しい仕事、骨折り、苦労
stun 驚かせる、びっくりさせる、衝撃を与える
teetotaler 絶対禁酒者
1/31(日)の放送
Markets Drop to End Volatile Week Dominated By ‘Meme Stocks’ Trading
著者：Mohammed Hadi and Eshe Nelson
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company
For weeks, as the stock market regularly climbed to records, investors wondered what it would take to snap Wall Street out of its blissful state. The resurgent pandemic certainly wasn’t doing it. Even an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol wasn’t alarming enough to end the rally.
GameStop, though?
On Friday, the S&P 500 fell more than 1.9%, capping a stretch of volatile trading that left the index down more than 3% for the week — its worst week since late October.
The selling came as Wall Street was consumed by the antics of a group of day traders who have been bidding up a handful of stocks — notably ailing video game retailer GameStop — and forcing losses on big hedge funds.
The traders appear to be mostly small investors who are focused only on a handful of stocks. But they have emerged as a new risk factor for large firms that had bet against those companies with what are known as short sales. Short sellers lose money when a company’s shares rise, and the losses are potentially limitless.
GameStop’s shares gained 400% this week and over 1,600% this month. Short sellers who had bet against the stock are facing losses of as much as $19 billion in January, according to estimates from Ortex, a market data firm. Another target, AMC Entertainment, gained about 280% this week.
For the rest of Wall Street, the worry is that the hedge funds will have to sell shares of other companies to cover their losses on GameStop and AMC — “forced liquidation.” That selling was a factor in the stock market’s 2.6% drop Wednesday, the S&P 500’s worst daily decline in three months, Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, wrote in a note to clients Friday.
It isn’t just GameStop that’s giving investors a reason to sell. They’re also concerned about the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine as countries begin to clamp down on supplies or warn of shortages.
The trading Friday reflected some of these concerns. Shares of companies that are sensitive to concerns about the pandemic — including Norwegian Cruise Line, Delta Air Lines and shopping mall owner Kimco Realty — were among the worst performers on the S&P 500.
Meme 模倣として拡がっていく行動
Snap はっと覚める、キレる
Blissful この上なく幸せな
Resurgent 生き返る
Insurrection 暴動
Volatile 不安定な
Antics ふざけた
Ailing 病気の
Short sales 空売り
Liquidation 清算
Rollout 製品投入
Clamp down 圧迫
2/1(月)の放送
‘Like Wartime’: Canadian Companies Unite to Start Mass Virus Testing
著者：Catherine Porter
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company
TORONTO — As frustration mounts in Canada at the leaden weight of lockdowns and the glacial pace of vaccinations, a consortium of some of the country’s largest companies has launched a rapid testing program with the aim of protecting their 350,000 employees and publishing a playbook for businesses across Canada on how to reopen safely.
The program, believed to be the first of its kind among the Group of 7 industrialized nations, has already attracted the attention of the Biden administration.
The 12 companies have worked together for four months, creating a 400-page operating manual on how to run rapid antigen tests in various work settings. They began piloting the tests in their workplaces this month and expect to expand the program to 1,200 small and medium-sized businesses.
They also plan to share their test results with government health authorities, greatly raising test counts in the country and providing an informal study of the virus’s spread among asymptomatic people.
“It’s like wartime — people get together to do something that’s in the interest of everybody,” said Marc Mageau, senior vice president of refining and logistics with Suncor Energy, which introduced the testing to its employees this month.
The companies in the consortium were brought together in the spring by Ajay Agrawal, founder of the University of Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab, which helps science and technology startups. They were inspired by the most Canadian of muses: author Margaret Atwood.
“How soon can we have a cheap, buy-it-at-the-drugstore, self-administered test?” Atwood asked last May during a virtual meeting of business leaders and others tasked with brainstorming ideas for economic recovery during the pandemic. “That would be a game changer,” she said.
The group focused on antigen tests because they can produce results in minutes, don’t require a laboratory and, in Canada, can cost between $5 and about $20.
Consortium members hope in the long run that the testing program will help reduce infection rates enough to permit a return to crowded restaurants and boardroom meetings. But in the meantime, they plan on using the tests as an added layer of protection — on top of wearing masks, engaging in social distancing and pre-screening employees so those with symptoms stay home.
leaden 重苦しい、鈍い
glacial 非常にのろい、遅い
consortium 協会、組合
playbook 戦略が書かれた本、脚本
antigen test 抗原検査
pilot (動)～を試験的に行う
asymptomatic 無症状の
self-administered 自己投与の
game changer 流れを変える人物、革新的な物
in the long run 長期的には、結局は(＝eventually)
2/2(火)の放送
Myanmar Leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, Is Detained Amid Coup
著者：Hannah Beech
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company
BANGKOK — Myanmar’s military launched a coup on Monday, detaining the country’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and her top lieutenants in early morning raids and seizing power from a government established only five years ago.
Officials from the governing National League for Democracy confirmed the detentions Monday morning. Hours later, with politicians and activists alike racing to find out who had been detained, a military television network announced a one-year state of emergency with ultimate authority transferred to the army chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
Mobile networks and the internet were down in major cities in Myanmar, and some local journalists went into hiding for fear that their reporting could compromise their safety. Domestic flights were suspended , and the main international airport in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, had been shuttered, according to residents.
Myanmar had been celebrated as a rare case in which generals willingly handed over some power to civilians, honoring 2015 election results that ushered into office the National League for Democracy.
The stalwarts of that party had spent years in jail for their political opposition to the military. Suu Kyi, the political party’s patron saint, spent 15 years under house arrest and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her nonviolent resistance to the junta that locked her up.
But the army, led by Min Aung Hlaing, has maintained important levers of power in the country, and the detention of the top government leaders, along with activists and other veteran politicians, Monday appeared to prove the lie in its commitment to democracy.
In addition to Suu Kyi, others who were reported to have been detained by their family, friends and colleagues included President U Win Myint, Cabinet ministers, the chief ministers of several regions, opposition politicians, writers and activists.
In a statement late Sunday in Washington, Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, said that the Biden administration expressed “grave concern and alarm” over the military’s escalation and called on the authorities to release government and civil society leaders.
coup クーデター、(不意の)一撃
☝️フルだとcoup d’etat [語源: 仏語でcoup(打つ)d’etate(国家を) ]
detain 拘束する
civilian (軍人に対して)一般人、文人
lieutenants 副官たち
☝️(米英海軍)大尉、<米国>警部補 [語源: 仏語でlieu(場所を)+tenant(持つ人)
→高官の代理で役割を担当する人]
seizing 奪う
☝️”I before e, except after c”の例外
☝️仏語語源だから
☝️seize the moment (今を生きる)
National League for Democracy 国民民主連盟
detention 拘留
☝️(罰としての)放課後の居残り
compromise 危うくする [語源: com(一緒に)+promise(約束する)]
☝️妥協する、和解するという意味も
suspended 停止
☝️サスペンダー
☝️停学させられる
stalwarts 政治的に信念の強い人 [語源: スコットランド語stand+worthy]
patron saint 守護聖人
junta (クーデター後の)軍事政権
☝️スペイン語で、jはhと読む
☝️ナポレオン支配に抵抗するための集会
grave 深刻な
alarm 危機意識 [語源: イタリア語 all’arme(武器を取れ)]
civil society 市民社会
☝️政府や企業と異なる
2/3(水)の放送
Football Practices Pose More Concussion Risk Than Games, Study Suggests
著者：Alan Blinder
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company
College football players sustained far more concussions during practices than they did in games, medical researchers reported Monday, a finding certain to add to the yearslong debate about regulating training regimens across the sport.
Much less clear is whether the college sports industry will nationalize safety reforms like those adopted by the NFL, which limits the number of padded practices per season, or some college conferences. But with the NCAA and its members facing urgent decisions on other fronts, including how to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, far-reaching new rules intended to prevent head injuries are probably not imminent.
The authors of the new study, published in JAMA Neurology, a peer-reviewed journal, found that 72% of the concussions they reviewed over five college football seasons happened during practice. And although preseason training accounted for about one-fifth of the time the researchers studied, they found that nearly half of the concussions occurred during that period.
Changes to the rules that govern games, they wrote, “are an important component to protecting athletes during competition,” but they asserted that revisions to training activities before and during the season “could lead to a substantial reduction” in concussions.
“The biggest surprise was the extent of the data, not just the trend of the data,” said Dr. Michael A. McCrea, the study’s lead author and a professor of neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he is co-director of the Center for Neurotrauma Research.
“Most people, scientists or not, are aware that there’s more full-contact activity in the preseason than in the regular season, so I’m not sure the trend of that finding is a surprise,” he continued. “But maybe the magnitude of it.”
In an editorial published simultaneously in the JAMA Neurology journal Monday, two concussion experts who were not authors of the McCrea-led study described the findings as “shocking,” particularly given statistics about concussions and head impact exposure during contractually regulated practices in the NFL.
Professional teams may hold no more than 14 padded practices during the regular season. In the NFL’s 2019 regular season, less than 7% of concussions happened during practices, according to league data.
“Concussions in games are inevitable, but concussions in practice are preventable,” the experts, Dr. Robert C. Cantu and Christopher J. Nowinski, wrote in their editorial.
sustain （損害などを）受ける、被る
yearslong 何年もの、長年に渡って
reforms 改革
adopt 採用する、導入する
far-reaching 広範囲に及ぶ、遠くまで伝わる
imminent 差し迫った、目前に迫った
assert 断言する、強く主張する
neurosurgery 脳神経外科
preventable 予防可能な
2/4(木)の放送
Jeff Bezos to Step Down as Amazon CEO
著者：Karen Weise
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company
SEATTLE — Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, said Tuesday that he will hand over the reins of the e-commerce giant this summer and transition into the role of executive chairman, in a changing of the guard for one of the internet’s foundational companies.
Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon’s cloud computing division, will be promoted to run the entire company, Amazon said. The transition will be effective in the third quarter, which starts in July.
“As much as I still tap dance into the office, I’m excited about this transition,” Bezos, 57, said in an email sent to employees. As executive chairman, he said, he intends “to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives.”
The move marks the end of an era for Amazon. Bezos has personified the company since he founded it as an online bookseller in 1996, growing it into a $1.7 trillion behemoth with more than 1.2 million workers. Under his leadership, Amazon expanded into sales of millions of items, became a logistics giant, upended the retail industry and then spread further into cloud computing, streaming entertainment and artificial-intelligence-powered devices.
Amazon’s impact on corporate America and the way that goods are sold turned Bezos into one of the world’s most influential technology and business leaders, as well known as the founders of Apple and Microsoft, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. It also pushed Bezos’ personal wealth to new heights. Worth $188 billion, he is the world’s second richest person.
In recent years, Bezos had stepped back from much of Amazon’s day-to-day business, delegating those responsibilities to two main deputies, including Jassy. He instead had focused on Amazon’s future and more personal projects such as space travel. In 2019, he also got a divorce.
But the pandemic pulled Bezos back into Amazon’s daily operations last spring. As Amazon grappled with a flood of e-commerce demand, labor unrest and supply chain challenges brought on by the coronavirus, Bezos began holding daily calls to help make decisions about inventory, talked to government officials and made a much-publicized visit to one of Amazon’s warehouses.
Amazon on Tuesday posted a record $125.6 billion in sales for the fourth quarter, while profits more than doubled to $7.2 billion from a year ago.
step down 退任する
hand over the reins 支配権を渡す、引き継ぐ
changing of the guard （政府・企業などの）首脳の交代、政権交代
personify 体現する、象徴する
behemoth 巨大企業、巨大なもの
upend 大打撃を与える、覆す
delegate （権限など）を委任する
grapple with （問題・課題など）取り組む、格闘する
much-publicized 世間に広く知られた、話題となった
2/5(金)の放送
Modi’s Response to Farmer Protests in India Stirs Fears of a Pattern
著者：Mujib Mashal and Sameer Yasir
(c) 2021 The New York Times Company
NEW DELHI — First came the accusations of foreign infiltration. Police complaints against protest leaders followed, as did arrests of protesters and journalists. Then the government blocked internet access in places where demonstrators gathered.
As India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, struggles to quell months of protests by farmers against new market-friendly agriculture laws, critics and analysts see a pattern of curtailing free speech that they fear is sending India down a dangerous path of intolerance.
In its response to other contentious policies — including citizenship laws that disadvantaged Muslims, its clampdown on the disputed Kashmir region and the farmers’ protests — Modi’s government has resorted to arrests, stifling of dissenting voices and blocking of the internet. Groups that track internet freedom say India’s is slipping.
While some of the tactics are not new in India’s recent history, many fear Modi is taking them to new heights.
Gyan Prakash, a professor of history at Princeton University, said the closest parallel was in the 1970s, during the period that in India is called emergency rule. The prime minister at the time, Indira Gandhi, curbed civil liberties, imprisoned political opponents and shut down the news media.
“But the BJP onslaught is also very different and even more damaging to whatever remains of democracy in India,” he said, referring to Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party.
He cited what he called a creeping dismantling of the pillars of democracy under Modi, from the coercion and control of the mainstream media to influencing of the courts.
The efforts have drawn growing international condemnation from human rights groups and internet personalities alike. A tweet by pop star Rihanna in support of the farmers dominated Indian social media Wednesday, prompting a response from pro-Modi entertainers in India urging unity and denouncing outsider voices as trying to divide the country.
The showdown between the government and the farmers, who had peacefully camped out at the borders of New Delhi for two months demanding the laws be repealed, turned chaotic and violent last week, during a tractor procession into the city by farmers. At least one person died in what police said was a tractor accident. Hundreds of police officers and farmers were wounded.
quell 鎮める／鎮圧する
curtail 削減する／制限する
free speech 言論の自由
contentious 論争の〜／異論の〜
clampdown 取締り／弾圧
dispute 紛争する／争議する
stifle 抑圧する／もみ消す
dissent 反対する／異議を唱える
curb 抑制する／抑える 😮名詞の場合は「縁石」という意味があります
civil liberties 市民の自由／公民権
cite 挙げる／引用する
coercion 強制／威圧
condemnation （厳しい）非難／罪の宣告”
