実践 5/15　〜　5/17

実践ビジネス英語

実践ビジネス英語　　　Wednesday, May 15

1) Garcia describes carsharing services that allow people to rent cars as briefly as by the hour. They can also pick up and drop off vehicles at convenient locations around town. Lyons says lower salaries and difficulty getting loans have made renting a smart choice for many amid recession. He also describes how investors are buying up foreclosed homes and renting them to former home owners who can no longer afford to buy.

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Rental Generation (4)

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2) rent by the hour: Renting hourly increments and pay according to how many hours you rent. You can use other length of time with "rent by the" traveling businessman sometimes rent apartment hotel rooms by the week or by the day.

3) bear the burden: Here "burden" is a noun, but it can also be used as a verb. We have the expression "burden someone with something," which is to weigh them down with something. "The government's reforms will 'burden the middle class with heavy taxes.'" for example.

4) bellwether: Nissen is using "bellwether" to mean something that indicates trends. So "Company X's sales could be a 'bellwether' for the computer industry." Its sales would indicate how well the industry was doing. What areas were selling well, that sort of thing.

5) This word originally meant the leading sheep of a flock. It refers to the practice of putting a bell on the leader of a flock.

6) strike at the heart of: This is to damage the core of something or shake it from its foundations. The advent of the cellphone certainly "struck at the heart of" the communications industry.

7) latter-day: Lyons means the modern or recent version of something. You might hear a politician described as a "latter-day" Abraham Lincoln, or a businessman described as a "latter-day" Andrew Carnegie.

8) buy up: When we "buy up" something, we buy all the available supply. Remember the oil shock back in 1973? People rushed to stores and "bought up" all the toilet paper.

9) To "buy out" is to purchase someone's entire share or interest in something or to buy that something entirely, as in "He eventually 'bought out' his partner's and took full control of the company."

10) foreclosure: Lyons uses the noun form of this word, which means taking away a mortgager's right to redeem mortgage property, usually because they haven't made the proper payments. The verb is "foreclose," as in "The bank 'foreclosed' on the property last week.

11) afford: Lyons uses "afford" to mean have enough money, have the financial resources to do something. But it can also mean be able to do something without disadvantage or risk to yourself, as in "I can't afford to miss this deadline." or "I can't afford to alienate my boss."


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実践ビジネス英語　　　Thursday, May 16

1) Lyons says retailers expected consumers to buy more as the economy gradually picked up but that that has not happened. Nissen expresses concern over the fact that many young people are delaying things like getting married and having children out of financial uncertainty. Lyons says renting is a cheaper option for people just starting out in life, but that there's a danger of succumbing to the desire for immediate self-gratification.

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Rental Generation (5)

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2) on the downside: "Downside" refers to a negative aspect of something. One of the "downsides" of working at a newspaper, for example, is working on public holidays. The paper has to go out every day.

3) "Upside" means a positive aspect. One of the upsides of living in Tokyo is the fantastic public transportation system. I really don't need a car.

4) gather pace: Pick up speed, in other words, increase in speed. Lyons also could have said as the economic recovery picks up pace.

5) There's also the expression "pick up the pace," which means to do something faster, as in "We need to 'pick up the pace,' or we'll miss our deadline."

6) head south: This means decline, deteriorate, fail. Lyons uses it in the sense of falling numbers. You'll also hear things like "The job interview 'went south' when she couldn't articulate why she wanted to work at that company."

7) I don't believe we use "go" or "head north" to means improve. Though I have seen it a few times meaning increase in terms of number, like "Stock prices 'went north' on the back of strong job's data.

8) on the plus side: This refers to the good part of some situation, the benefits. For example, "'On the plus side,' this job doesn't involve any overtime."

9) Apparently the expression "on the minus side" does exist. Though an Internet news search leads me to believe that it's much less common than "on the plus side." I found about 700 examples of "on the plus side" as opposed to about 20 for "on the minus side."

10) take something too far: Lyons means doing something, taking something to an excessive level. He also could have said "you can go too far" with the concept of the rental society or "you can go overboard" with the concept of the rental society.

11) succumb to: This is when we are beaten by something stronger than we are. We can't hold out against it, as in "I finally 'succumbed to' fatigue and fell asleep around midnight." or "He was trying to quit smoking but 'succumbed to' his nicotine craving last week."

12) immediate self-gratification: Lyons uses the noun here "gratification." The verb would be "gratify," which is to please or satisfy someone, fulfill someone's wish or desire. Say, someone compliments your work they tell you they are very impressed. You could reply, "Oh, thank you. I'm very 'gratified' to hear that." or "Thank you. It's very 'gratifying' to hear that."


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実践ビジネス英語　　　Friday, May 17

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Rental Generation (6)

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1[S]: Now, in our current vignette, the H&B staff discuss the recent popularity of rental services for items that people would traditionally buy such as neckties and educational toys. Now have any of your friends in the United States use services like these, Heather?

2[H]: Yes, a friend of mine who lives in Boston has two little daughters, and she subscribes to a rental service for children's books. Subscribers can tailor the service to their needs, choosing how many books they want to receive, how many times a month. She registered to get up to two shipments of four books each.

3[S]: Hmm... And what were her main reasons for using the service?

4[H]: Convenience was one. She and her husband don't have time to go to the library, and this is a quick way to get books for her children. And unlike library books, there's no return date on this service's rentals. She and her family can keep the books for as long as they like. They just can't receive new ones until they return the books they have.

Also her older daughter does most of the reading, and apparently she doesn't want to read the same books again for a while after she's finished them. So using the rental service saves money and space on the family bookshelves.

5[S]: What are some other items available for rent in the United States?

6[H]: Apparently there are now a great many websites from which you can rent designer handbags. I took a look at one well-known site a while ago, and it offered monthly rentals on about 200 different bags. You could search by size, brand, color, design. The site even offered a group of bags that were featured on a famous TV show known for its character's distinctive fashion.

There are also jewelry rental services offering things like earrings, necklaces and bracelets. On the site I saw, customers choose what they want and the date they want to wear the pieces, and the company will mail them the jewelry about two days before the event. Then after the customer's finished, they mail the pieces back on the first business day after the event in a box provided by the company, postage already paid.

7[S]: Hmm... interesting. What kind of pieces did they offer?

8[H]: They ran the gamut. The earrings, for example, ranged from a pair of classic pearl earrings that cost just 60 dollars to rest to large diamond studs that would set you back 500 dollars. That would still be cheaper than buying them however. According to the website, the diamond studs retail for over 19,000 dollars.

9[S]: So what's your overall take on the burgeoning rental culture in the United States?

10[H]: It seems like a good thing as long as people rent items they truly need. Renting things like toys and books seems like an excellent idea, as they represent an investment for the future, an investment in the development of children's minds, for example. And children will only need these items for a limited amount of time.

With handbags and jewelry and such, I think we need to make sure we don't go overboard and rent a lot of things just because we want them instead of need them. Even if a single rental cost less than buying, it's still money that perhaps could have been saved or otherwise put to better use. And renting can add up to a tidy sum if we do it too often.


【原稿チェック： Hiromi, Hiroko】
【ディクテーション： Sanae】