7/10 〜 7/12

実践ビジネス英語　　　Wednesday, July 10

1) Breakstone says she and her husband have established guidelines for using digital technology and that their son maintains a good balance between the digital world and the real world. She goes on to say she's felt overwhelmed at times by her new job. Nissen compliments her on how well she's coped, and Breakstone says she's had to work very hard to achieve her current position.

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Confessions of a Working Mother (4)

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2) work out: Umemura means what outcome has that led to, produced. How well has that gone? If something doesn't "work out," then it doesn't lead to the desired outcome. It doesn't produce good results, such as "The company's new hire as marketing director didn't 'work out.' She didn't really have any creative ideas."

3) level-headed: A 'level-headed' person is calm and sensible. They show good judgment. If someone is "bull-headed" or "pig-headed," then they are foolishly stubborn, obstinate. We also say "wrong-headed," which refers to actions, things that are based on bad judgment. So a newspaper editorial could say something like, "The government's economic policy is based on the 'wrong-headed' idea that higher taxes will reduce consumer spending."

4) sore-headed, hot-headed = 怒りっぽい

5) oldster: An old person, in other words, just like a youngster is a young person. Breakstone also could have said "what we 'old-fogies' like to call the real world" or “what we 'old-timers' like to call the real world."

6) oldster は年配者という意味ですが、自分たちに関して言うのはかまわないが、他の人のことを you oldster というのはまずいです。

7) unsettling: If something is "unsettling," it upsets our equilibrium. It upsets or disconcerts us somehow. You could say something like, "The projected sales figures for next year were very unsettling. They made me worry about the company's future."

8) feel overwhelmed by: Feel as if something is too much to handle, Breakstone means.　We also use "overwhelmed" in a good way, as in "I was 'overwhelmed by' Kyoto's scenic beauty." Or "I was 'overwhelmed by' the technological innovations on display at the trade show."

9) I was overwhelmed by your kindness. = あなたのご親切に大きな感動をえました。

overwhelm ⇔underwhelm （underwhelm は主にジョークとしておどけた場合に使われる）

10) cope: Nissen means deal with certain problems and difficulties, handle them, overcome them, something like, "Francis quit his job because he couldn't 'cope' with his extremely demanding boss."

11) real pro: Nissen means someone who is expert at their job who behaves, performs in a manner befitting a professional. Some of the best advice I ever got was -- a true professional doesn't create more work for other people. In other words, doesn't make other people cover for our mistakes or carelessness.

12) face an uphill battle: Fighting an enemy who's higher up on a hill is very difficult. So this means a hard struggle. Breakstone also could have said, "Women at that time 'faced an uphill fight.'" So something like, "It'll be an 'uphill fight' to get new computers for the office. The budget is very tight these days."

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実践ビジネス英語　　　Thursday, July 11

1) Breakstone says she considered all the barrier she'd face trying to rise in the corporate world and was always willing to do more than was required in her job. She admits that sometimes she was so stressed, she wanted to cry but never did because that would feed into stereotypes about women. She adds that she paid attention to feedback listening objectively and learning from her mistakes.

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Confessions of a Working Mother (5)

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2) the playing field wasn't level: Not everyone had the same opportunities, Garcia means. It wasn't the situation that was equal for all. We also say "level the playing field," which means to create an equal situation where everyone has the same opportunities and chances. they operate on an equal footing. I've heard school uniforms described as a way to level "the playing field," for example so that kids aren't differentiated by the cost of their clothes.

3) climb the corporate ladder: Move up in the business world, rise up, Breakstone means. We also refer to "the bottom of the ladder" and "the top of the ladder" meaning the lowest, highest levels of something. New college graduates start at the bottom of the corporate ladder. A person might reach the top of the corporate ladder after years of hard work.

4) above and beyond the call of duty: To do more, to go beyond what is required of you in some situation. A travel agent went "above and beyond the call of duty" for me a few years ago. Even though I hadn't asked her to, she spent an hour finding a better connection for me, wanted to have a shorter layover.

5) emotional rollercoaster: Almost everyone's been on a rollercoaster, those amusement park rides that turn sharply and climb up and plunge down. So metaphorically, a "rollercoaster" refers to a situation where there are dramatic swings between different things. In Garcia's statement, between different emotions.

6) I've also heard about "rollercoaster weeks" on the stock market where share prices soared and plunged.

7) playing right into the hands of someone: This means to do exactly what someone wants us to do. Something that works to their advantage but in a bad way to us. Imagine a coworker is always trying to irritate you, unsettle you, another colleague might say, "If you lose your temper, you are 'playing right into his hands.' He wants you to look bad in front of our boss."

8) flighty: I think this expression uses the image of a bird that doesn't sit still but flips from branch to branch, tree to tree. It means someone who isn't steady or stable. Breakstone uses it in the sense of someone who is easily upset or excited. It can also refer to a capricious person, a foolish person. I knew a woman once who changed her job almost every year, and that kind of behavior will eventually make employers view someone is "flighty."

9) calm and collected: When we are "collected," we are composed, under calm control as if
we've collected, pulled all the various elements of ourselves together. For example, "He's been practicing his speech so he'll be calm and collected when he give it, not get stage fright."

10) blow to the old ego: An injury to our pride, our self-esteem, in other words. A person who has an overblown sense of self-importance, you know, who thinks far too highly of themselves is an egotist, suffers from egotism. An even stronger tem is egomaniac, which would be someone incredibly self-centered and conceited.

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実践ビジネス英語 Friday, July 12

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Confessions of a Working Mother (6)

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1[S]: In our current vignette, members of the H&B staff talk about working parent's guilt and the digital gap that many parents feel with their children. You are a mother yourself, Heather, though your little girl is only about eight months old now. Do you think about the digital gap?

2[H]: Certainly. There are so many elements of life now that my parents didn't even have to think about when they were raising me, cellphones, tablet computers, social networking. I saw a video the other day that really brought home the difference. A two-year old girl was swiping her tiny finger across a page in a magazine and was apparently confused as to why the page didn't move like the images on a tablet computer.

Bringing up a child amid all this technology really is a daunting prospect and I worry that I won't properly guide her through the maze. Apparently there's not much data yet on how newer digital technology affects little children and adolescents, so a lot of parents must feel like me like they're groping around in the dark.

Will letting a little child use a drawing app on a tablet computer help develop their creativity and motor skills, for example? Or is it better to have them use good old-fashioned crayons? My instinct is crayons, but do I feel that way just because I used crayons? Ahhhh....

3[S]: Perhaps striving for a happy medium is a good approach.

4[H]: I think so. Trying to completely eliminate digital technology from a child's environment would almost certainly fail. It's an integral part of modern life. They'll have to interact with it at some point, and we run the risk of their falling behind society or being isolated within their social group if they're totally disconnected from it.

I can see myself, say, letting my daughter play with a tablet computer but only for a limited amount of time each day or week. Also I'll probably adopt my mother's old approach toward television, i.e. use digital technology with my daughter as much as possible, and try to steer her toward apps and other things that will stimulate her mind.

5[H]: Now have you spoken to any of your friends with older children about how they've handled use of the Internet?

6[H]: I have. And most of them have practiced carful monitoring in the early days. A friend of mine in Colorado, for example, has a child in late primary school and another in early middle school. They are not allowed to have computers in their rooms, their parents have password control over the computers that are in the house. And their cellphones don't have Internet access.

My friend also said she and her husband look at the kid's browsing histories and take away their) privilege for a while if they've looked at things they shouldn't. Most of all I like the fact that she tries to keep the tone on lending guidance and wisdom to help her kids navigate the Internet rather than getting angry and punishing them for transgressions.

She thinks their curiosities are natural. She just wants them to understand the risks and realities involved so when they are older, they will be able to practice reasonable and moderate use.

7[S]: The vignette also touches on what women need to do to succeed in the workplace. Kay Breakstone recommends that they never cry in the office no matter what.

8[H]: I got exactly the same advice many years ago. I cried at work one day -- I don't even remember why now -- and an older woman there took me aside and said, "When you do that, you don't just hurt yourself. You tarnish the image of every single woman in the office." And she was absolutely right.

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