実践ビジネス英語 Wednesday, April 22
1) Graham says a product's sound should suit its basic purpose and an incongruous or distracting small sound should be avoided. McMillan says designers understand the importance of balancing appearance, performance and functionality, but the design trends often get in the way. Graham and Nissen describe how technological changes have resulted in quieter printers and cars. And Graham asks how popular quiet cars and commuter trains are.
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A Quiet Environment (4)
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2) distracting
This describes something that distracts us that pulls our attention away from something else. I'd say we use it mostly in undesirable situations, like, "It's very 'distracting' when people crack their knuckles." Or "The background music at the party was very 'distracting.' It's too loud."
3) strike a balance between
Achieve an appropriate balance between different things, achieve a compromise. We all have to "strike a balance between" our work and our private time, between spending and saving.
4) functionality
What something is supposed to do, the range of things it can do, such as, "This new laptop is expensive, but it offers the highest 'functionality' on the market." Or "If we cut the price any lower, we'll have to sacrifice 'functionality.'"
5) have a funny feeling
Something feels strange, "get a funny feeling" is okay too. I always "get a funny feeling" when my father calls my mother-in-law by her first name. Because if my father were also Japanese, he would never call her by her first name. We also use this when we think something unlikely or unexpected is going to happen, such as, "I 'had a funny feeling' I might run into John and today I did."
6) Native speakers, too, sometimes have to clarify the exact meaning of "funny." We'll often say, "I'm sorry. Did you mean funny strange or funny ha-ha?" But if you say "I have a funny feeling," that means strange. No one could think that you are laughing about something."
7) turn on the ignition
Ignition comes from "ignite," which can mean start a fire or some kind of metaphorical blaze. Things like, "The government's new tax system has 'ignited' criticism throughout the nation." And I'd say this usage is more common with writing than speech.
8) come to life
Nissen uses this to mean turn on, but it can also mean become vigorous, lively or vibrant, as in, "The party 'came to life' once the food came out." Or "The presentation really 'came to life' after he added more graphics."
9) roar
This was actually tricky to define, and it's a loud sound, but like lions "roar," for example. A big piece of machinery might "roar" to life. We also use it to mean laughing loudly or yelling in anger, such as, "Everyone 'roared' when Mary let out that huge sneeze." Or "Our boss 'roared' at Steven when he rudely interrupted him."
10) catch on
This is to become popular to be taken up by some group of people. Things like, "Hot yoga has really 'caught on' lately." Or "That product hasn't 'caught on.' The company is going to scrap it."
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実践ビジネス英語 Thursday, April 23
1) Nissen says people in quiet cars are asked not to use their cellphones, keep the sound off on various devices and speak in whispers. Graham asks who enforces such policies and Nissen says passengers used to do it themselves. That changed, however, after a disagreement among passengers that delayed a train. Now, Nissen says passengers are asked to speak to the conductor about any problems.
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A Quiet Environment (5)
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2) refrain from
Keep oneself from doing something, consciously not do it, as in, "The newspaper 'refrained from' publishing the suspect's name." Or "Employees have been asked to 'refrain from' taking office supplies home."
3) speak in a whisper
Whisper, speak that quietly. You can also say things like, "Pat 'whispered' to me that Carl was angry about not getting a raise." Or "There are 'whispers' all over the office about the new boss." So people are saying things in a way that's not obvious. They are being quiet or restrained about it.
4) In the vignette, Nissen says "speak in whispers." I think he uses this form because he is talking about multiple people. But it isn't set in stone, "speak in a whisper" for one person versus "speak in whispers" for plural. I think it depends on the situation and personal preference to some extent.
5) enforce
"Enforce" is to make sure a rule is obeyed. Things like, "Technically we are not supposed to eat at our desks, but no one 'enforces' that rule." We also say "come into force," which means something applies from a certain point or its rules must be followed from that point, such as, "The new law will 'come into force' on
January 1st."
6) on one's own
This means by oneself. We also use it when someone has no help, when they have to do something by themselves, such as, "No one else volunteered so I'm 'on my own' with this report." Or "My wife is going out with friends
so I'll be 'on my own' with the baby."
7) difference of opinion about
To have a "difference of opinion" is to disagree in other words. You could say, "Carla and I had a 'difference of opinion' about the new marketing strategy. I liked it. She didn't."
8) unobtrusively
This means in a way that doesn't draw attention. That isn't noticeable in an undesirable way. I once left my office unobtrusively when a former boss was in a very bad mood. I really didn't want him to notice me. As an adjective, you could say, "He doesn't like to display his awards in an unobtrusive way."
9) turn out
Nissen says the passengers used to enforce the quiet car policy themselves, but that "turned out" to be a bad idea. It proved to be. It was discovered in the end that .... For example, "Our new laptop 'turned out' to be a great success. A similar expression is "end up," which means in the end this happened or someone did this. "I 'ended up' calling in sick on Monday," for example.
10) constitute
Nissen says there were differences of opinion about what "constituted" quiet. He means what was considered to be quiet, what was the equivalent of quiet. For example, "This new laptop 'constitutes' a major leap forward for our company." Or "The company achieved 20% growth, which 'constitutes' a 5 percentage point improvement from last year."
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実践ビジネス英語 Friday, April 24
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A Quiet Environment (6)
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1[S]: Our current vignette talks about the difficulty of finding peace and quiet in modern life. Bill Nissen and visiting product noise consultant, Sandra Graham, talk about their noisy experiences in a barbershop and a taxi, for example. Now, Heather, have you had similar experiences?
2[H]: Certainly. The hardest times are when we are tired of stressed, aren't they? We just want to veg out in our seat, but the driver or the hairdresser insists on keeping up a conversation. And we don't want to be rude, so we force ourselves to respond when we are actually thinking, "Oh, please, I just need a few moments of peace."
I've often thought how nice it would be if hairdressers and taxi drivers and such had a set practice of asking at the start, "Do you feel like talking today?" If that could be a standard question, like "How much should I trim today?" or "Do you want me to take the freeway?" then we could say with no guilt, "I think I'd like some quiet time today."
Or maybe they could copy supermarkets and their "I don't need a plastic bag today" cards. Have a "I'd like to be quiet” card that customers could pass over when they sit down or get in.
3[S]: That might work. Now, are there any other times where the noise gets to you?
4[H]: Music in beauty salons and such doesn't really bother me, especially if they are playing 80s hits that take me back to my teenage days.
One type of piped-in sound I'm not a fan of is nature sounds, like birds chirping in train stations. It doesn't mentally transport me to some sylvan dale. It just makes me even more aware that I'm smack in the middle of an urban jungle and usually on my way to or from work.
Oh, and of course, the sound blaring out of some people's earphones in train cars and elevators sometimes, way too force me into your world.
5[S]: And risk their own hearing.
6[H]: Right. A British research organization on deafness has found that one-third of people aged under 35 have experienced ringing in the ears after listening to loud music. That's a sign of hearing damage.
I have to admit I've never understood why it's necessary to have the volume that loud. The earphones are exactly that. They are in your ears. People could hear perfectly well a half that volume.
7[S]: Sandra Graham also mentions how computer printers have become quieter with the introduction of laser beams and ink-jet drops.
8[H]: They certainly have. Remember those old printers, the ones that printed on paper with holes along the edges? They were loud. Years ago I bought a new printer for my mother specifically for that reason.
Like me, she's often slow to adopt new technologies and so she was still using one of those old bam-bam-bam-bam print-head printers. It was so loud and she was doing so much work in the evenings, the woman in the apartment next door apparently came over to complain.
So that was my mother's, I think, early birthday present that year, and up-to-date ink-jet printer that was quiet as a mouse in comparison.
【原稿チェック： Sei Shimura, Hiromi】
【ディクテーション： Sanae】
