Voicy Journal

Voicy News Brief with articles from The New York Times ニュース原稿 10/17-10/23

Voicy News Brief with articles from The New York Times ニュース原稿 10/17-10/23

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。

10/17(土)の放送

Children From Immigrant Families Are Increasingly the Face of Higher Education

著者:Miriam Jordan
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

LOS ANGELES — An extraordinary demographic shift is sweeping through U.S. university campuses as immigrants and children of immigrants become an ever-larger share of student bodies, with implications for the future of the country’s workforce, higher education and efforts to reduce racial and economic inequality.

A new study released Thursday found that more than 5.3 million students, or nearly 30% of all students enrolled in colleges and universities in 2018, hailed from immigrant families, up from 20% in 2000. The population of so-called immigrant-origin students grew much more than that of U.S.-born students of parents also born in the United States, accounting for 58% of the increase in the total number of students in higher education during that period.

“In higher education, we are producing and training the future workforce. That future workforce has more students from immigrant families than previously understood,” said Miriam Feldblum, executive director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a group of college and university officials that commissioned the study from the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

In California, immigrants or children of immigrants accounted for about half of enrolled students in 2018. In eight states — Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Washington — they represented 30% to 40% of the student body.

An overwhelming majority of immigrant-origin students are U.S. citizens or legal residents. But they are likely to face barriers and limits on resources that many other students do not.

“Going into the college process, these students themselves or their families may not have a lot of knowledge about navigating college applications and the financial aid process,” said Jeanne Batalova, a senior policy analyst at Migration Policy Institute and the lead author of the report.

As their numbers swell, the students from immigrant families will only become more important to the long-term financial health of U.S. colleges and universities. Even before the coronavirus pandemic threw the operation of colleges and universities into disarray, there was concern about future enrollment amid the country’s falling fertility rate and declining international student enrollment.

demographic 人口統計の
sweep (ニュースなどが)さっと広がる *10/12参照
implications [通例 〜s] (…に対する) 影響、予想される結果
hail from ~の出身である
account for ~の割合を占める、~から成る
commission 委託する、依頼する
nonpartisan 無党派の、無所属の
financial aid (大学生に対する) 学資援助   
swell (数や量などが) 増える、増加する
disarray ~を混乱させる
  •throw ~ into disarray ~を混乱に陥れる
fertility rate 出生率

10/18(日)の放送

Drug May Extend ALS Patients’ Lives by Several Months, Study Finds

著者:Pam Belluck
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company


A potential therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal neurological disorder, may allow patients to live several months longer than they otherwise would have, according to a study published Friday.

The two-drug combination is one of several potential treatments raising the hopes of patients with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The paralytic condition steals people’s ability to walk, speak, eat and ultimately breathe, typically causing death within two to five years.

The two-drug combination, called AMX0035, was conceived seven years ago by Joshua Cohen and Justin Klee, then a junior and senior at Brown University, with the goal of preventing the destruction of neurons that occurs in many brain disorders. It is a combination of an existing supplement and a medication for a pediatric urea disorder.

Last month, a study of 137 patients reported that AMX0035 slowed progression of ALS paralysis by about 25% more than a placebo. Measuring patients using a scale of physical function, researchers found that those receiving a placebo declined in 18 weeks to a level that patients receiving the treatment didn’t reach until 24 weeks, according to the study’s principal investigator, Dr. Sabrina Paganoni.

But because that trial was conducted for only 24 weeks, it left unanswered a crucial question of whether the treatment extended survival for the patients receiving the therapy. After that study ended, 98 of the participants, who had not been told whether they had received placebo or therapy, were given the option of taking the therapy for up to 30 months, a format called an open-label extension study.

Ninety patients did so, including 34 from the placebo group, who began taking AMX0035 about seven months after the 56 who had received it from the beginning. The research team, led by Paganoni, a neuromuscular medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Healey & AMG Center for ALS, and Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, the Healey Center’s director, followed the patients over nearly three years.

The new study, published in the journal Muscle and Nerve, reported that people who received AMX0035 during the trial and through the open-label extension lived about 6.5 months longer than people who had originally received the placebo — a median of 25 months compared to 18.5 months.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis 筋萎縮性側索硬化症
Neurological 神経性の
Paralytic まひ状態の
Ultimately 最後には
Junior 3年生
Senior 4年生
Neurons 神経細胞
Pediatric 小児科の
Urea 尿素
Progression 進行
Paralysis まひ
Placebo 偽薬
Neuromuscular 神経筋の
Median 中央値

10/19(月)の放送

Jacinda Ardern, Hero to Liberals Abroad, Is Validated at Home

著者:Damien Cave
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

SYDNEY, Australia — Her face has graced magazine covers all over the world. Her leadership style has been studied by Harvard scholars. Her science-and-solidarity approach to the coronavirus has drawn legions of fans in other countries who write to say, “I wish you were here.”

The global left (along with a chunk of the center) has fallen hard for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, giving her a prodigious presence for a leader who manages a smaller population than many mayors do. Now her country’s voters have come around as well.

On Saturday, Ardern, 40, was well on her way to a second term. With most of the votes counted, her Labour Party was projected to win a clear majority in Parliament, with around 64 of 120 seats and 49% of the vote — its strongest showing by far since New Zealand overhauled its electoral system in the mid-1990s.

Riding a wave of support for her “go hard, go early” response to the coronavirus, which has effectively been stamped out in the country, Ardern has now cemented her position as New Zealand’s most popular prime minister in generations, if not ever.

“We will govern as we campaigned — positively,” Ardern said Saturday, adding: “We will build back better from the COVID crisis. This is our opportunity.”

In New Zealand — where the love for Ardern had generally lagged behind her profile abroad — she now has a mandate more in line with her international adoration. What’s unknown is whether that will help deliver major policy successes.

“She has significant political capital,” said Jennifer Curtin, the director of the Public Policy Institute at the University of Auckland. “She’s going to have to fulfill her promises with more substance.”

In a parliamentary democracy like New Zealand’s, legislation can move quickly, which means the success or failure of new policies will fall squarely on her shoulders.

Ardern has said little about her legislative plans. She won primarily with a pandemic-fueled surge in support, as New Zealand recently declared community transmission of the coronavirus eliminated for a second time.

The Pacific Island nation of 5 million people, which has tallied only 25 coronavirus deaths, now looks and feels mostly normal: A recent rugby match between Australia and New Zealand in Wellington, the capital, drew 30,000 fans.

validate ~を有効にする、~を確認する
grace 美しく飾る
solidarity 結束、団結
legions of 多数の、多くの
a chunk of どっさり、かなりの
prodigious 巨大な、並外れた
come around 同調する
overhaul (組織・方法・考えなどを)徹底的に見直す
stamp out 抑える、(病気などを)根絶する
cement (動) 強固にする
lag behind 後れを取る、~より負ける
mandate 権限、任務
in line with ~に即して、沿って
adoration 崇拝、敬意
capital 資本、もとになるもの
substance (物の)実質、中身
fall on one’s shoulders 肩にかかる
squarely まともに
surge 急上昇(10/14, 関連語 resurgence:再起-10/16)
tally (動) 勘定する、記録する
*日本:正、英語: tally mark ||||

10/20(火)の放送

Paleontologists See Stars as Software Bleeps Scientific Terms

著者:Maria Cramer
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

The trouble started when Thomas Holtz Jr., an expert on the Tyrannosaurus rex, typed “Hell Creek Formation,” the rock unit in Montana where the remains of North America’s last giant dinosaurs have been found. He was trying to answer a colleague’s question after an online presentation during the first day of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology’s 80th annual conference.

But Holtz was stunned when instead of the word “Hell,” four asterisks appeared in the chat.

Colleagues chimed in with other words that had been rejected by the software system set up to filter out profanities: knob, pubis, penetrate and stream, among others.

“Most funny to us was the censorship of ‘bone,’ which, after all, are the main thing we work with,” Holtz said.

Many have raised concerns about online censorship by large tech companies. Instagram has been criticized for banning posts of art featuring nudity. In 2016, the Swedish Cancer Society used graphics of square-shaped breasts in a video about breast exams to evade Facebook’s censors.

The paleontology conference, which attracts hundreds of scientists, amateur bone collectors and dinosaur enthusiasts every year, was supposed to take place in Cincinnati. But the pandemic forced the organizers to move it online. That meant scrambling to organize sessions for panelists who had expected to make presentations in public, and developing codes of conduct for participants to prevent any embarrassing conduct online.

The society contracted with a software company that provides chat sessions with built-in algorithms that could filter any profanities or offensive terms.

“All software plug-ins are going to have filters in to make sure you don’t get out of control,” said Carolyn Bradfield, chief executive of Convey Services, the company hired by the society. “In that particular case, the filter was too tight.”

Jessica Theodor, president of the society, said participants kept finding other words that triggered the asterisks and alerted the society’s leaders, who then relayed the information to Convey Services. The company quickly removed the words as it learned about them.

Paleontologists 古生物学者
[語源: paleo(昔の)+onto(物事の存在と本質)+logy(の学問)]
☝️psycho(魂=息)+logy→心理学
☝️archaeo(昔の)+logy→考古学
Bleep ピーという音(規制音)
Scientific Terms 学術用語
rock unit 岩層
colleague 同僚
[語源: co(一緒に)+league(集める)→一緒に選ばれた人]
stunned 唖然とした
[語源: stun(殴打または感情的なショックで唖然とさせる)]
[親戚: astonish(驚かせる), stun gun(スタンガン)]
chimed in 同調した
☝️「チャイムを鳴らす」というイメージ
☝️「相槌を打つ」という意味にも
profanities 冒涜的な言葉
[語源: pro(前)+fane(寺院)→寺院に入れない→冒涜的な]
pubis 恥骨
[親戚: pubic(恥部の)、puberty(思春期)]
censorship 検閲
☝️動詞で「 ~ was censored by 〇〇」
evade 避ける
[語源: ex(out)+vade(walk)]
enthusiasts 熱狂者、愛好家
☝️enthusiastic(熱狂的)
scrambling (敏捷に)這いまわる
codes of conduct 行動規範
☝️code(特定の集団、関係性の中で決められた規範)
offensive terms 攻撃的な言葉
☝️termの語源 → 限界、終着点(terminal)
→ 1. 区切られた期間、2. 限られた場で使われる言葉
get out of control 暴走する

10/21(水)の放送

In New York Schools, Only 18 Positives Out of 10,676 Tests

著者:Dana Rubinstein and J. David Goodman
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

NEW YORK — For months, as New York City struggled to start part-time, in-person classes, fear grew that its 1,800 public schools would become vectors of coronavirus infection, a citywide archipelago of super-spreader sites.

But nearly three weeks into the in-person school year, early data from the city’s first effort at targeted testing has shown the opposite: a surprisingly small number of positive cases.

Out of 15,111 staff members and students tested randomly by the school system in the first week of its testing regimen, the city has gotten back results for 10,676. There were only 18 positives: 13 staff members and five students.

And when officials put mobile testing units at schools near Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods that have had new outbreaks, only four positive cases turned up — out of more than 3,300 tests conducted since the last week of September.

New York City is facing fears of a second wave of the virus brought on by localized spikes in Brooklyn and Queens, which have required new shutdown restrictions that included the closure of more than 120 public schools as a precaution, even though few people in them have tested positive.

But for now, at least, the sprawling system of public schools, the nation’s largest, is an unexpected bright spot as the city tries to recover from a pandemic that has killed more than 20,000 people and severely weakened its economy.

If students can continue to return to class, and parents have more confidence that they can go back to work, that could provide a boost to New York City’s halting recovery.

The absence of early outbreaks, if it holds, suggests that the city’s efforts for its 1.1 million public school students could serve as an influential model for school districts across the nation.

In September, New York became the first big urban district to reopen schools for in-person learning.

Roughly half of the city’s students have opted for hybrid learning, where they are in the building some days, but not others. The approach has enabled the city to keep class sizes small and create more space between desks.

“That data is encouraging,” said Paula White, executive director of Educators for Excellence, a teachers group. “It reinforces what we have heard about schools not being super spreaders.”

vector 媒介者
random 無作為の 
regimen 検査計画
turned up 判明する
precaution 予防措置
sprawling 広大な
severely ひどく
halt 停止する
urban 都会の
reinforce 補強する

10/22(木)の放送

U.S. Accuses Google of Illegally Protecting Monopoly

著者:David McCabe, Cecilia Kang and Daisuke Wakabayashi
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department accused Google on Tuesday of illegally protecting its monopoly over search and search advertising, the government’s most significant challenge to a tech company’s market power in a generation and one that could reshape the way consumers use the internet.

In a much-anticipated lawsuit, the agency accused Google of locking up deals with giant partners like Apple and throttling competition through exclusive business contracts and agreements.

Google’s deals with Apple, mobile carriers and other handset makers to make its search engine the default option for users accounted for most of its dominant market share in search, the agency said, a figure that it put at around 80%.

“For many years,” the agency said in its 57-page complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, “Google has used anti-competitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopolies in the markets for general search services, search advertising and general search text advertising — the cornerstones of its empire.”

The lawsuit could set off a cascade of other antitrust lawsuits from state attorneys general. About four dozen states and jurisdictions, including New York and Texas, have conducted parallel investigations and some of them are expected to bring separate complaints against the company.

Attorney General William Barr had spoken publicly about the investigation for months. He urged the agency to file a case by the end of September, prompting resistance from some of its lawyers who wanted more time and complained of political motivations.

Google called the suit “deeply flawed.” But the agency’s action signaled a new era for the technology sector. It reflects pent-up and bipartisan frustration toward a handful of companies — Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook in particular — that have evolved from small and scrappy companies into global powerhouses with outsize influence over commerce, speech, media and advertising. Conservatives like President Donald Trump and liberals like Sen. Elizabeth Warren have called for more restraints over Big Tech.

A victory for the government could remake one of America’s most recognizable companies and the internet economy that it has helped define since it was founded in 1998. The Justice Department did not immediately put forward remedies, such as selling off parts of the company or unwinding business contracts, in the lawsuit. Such actions are typically pursued in later stages of a case.

anticipated 待望の、期待された
throttle 抑制する、圧迫する
district 地区、地方
cornerstone 基礎、土台、隅石
a cascade of たくさんの
jurisdiction 管轄区域、権力の範囲、司法権
parallel 並行の、同時(進行)の
pent-up うっ積した
bipartisan 超党派の、2党から成る
scrappy 闘争心のある、断片的な
unwind ほどく、ゆるめる

10/23(金)の放送

Pope Francis, in Shift for Church, Voices Support for Same-Sex Civil Unions

著者:Jason Horowitz
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company

Pope Francis expressed support for same-sex civil unions in remarks made in a documentary that premiered Wednesday, a significant break from his predecessors that staked out new ground for the church in its recognition of gay people.

The remarks, coming from the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, had the potential to shift debates about the legal status of same-sex couples in nations around the globe and unsettle bishops worried that the unions threaten marriage.

“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” Francis said, reiterating his view that gay people are children of God. “I stood up for that.”

Many gay Catholics and their allies outside the church welcomed the pope’s remarks, even as they said they understood Francis’ opposition to same-sex marriage within the church remained absolute.

His conservative critics within the church hierarchy and especially in the conservative wing of the church in the United States, who have for years accused him of diluting church doctrine, saw the remarks as a contradiction of church teaching.

Evgeny Afineevsky, director of the documentary, “Francesco,” which debuted at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday, said that Francis made the remarks directly to him for the film. He did not reply to a question about when the remarks were made by the pope, who had previously supported civil unions as the cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Francis had already drastically shifted the tone of the church on questions related to homosexuality, but he has done little on policy and not changed doctrine, leading even some of his more liberal supporters to question whether he was mostly talk.

The remarks in the documentary were in keeping with Francis’ general support for gay people but were perhaps his most specific and prominent on the issue of civil unions, which even traditionally Catholic nations like Italy, Ireland and Argentina have permitted in recent years.

“Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family,” Francis says at another point in the documentary. “They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable because of it.”

same-sex civil union  同性シビルユニオン/同性市民結婚
predecessor    前任者/先人
stake out new ground 新たな領域に踏み入れる/前代未聞の行動をとる
reiterate  繰り返して言う/反復する
stand up for  肩を持つ/支持する
absolute  絶対的/確か(な)
dilute  薄める/希薄化する
doctrine ( 6/12の復習)  教義/主義
mostly talk 実行が(ほとんど)伴わない/ほとんど口だけ
☝️all talk(口だけ)の all(全て)を mostly(ほとんど)に変えた言葉
in keeping with 〜と一致する/〜を踏まえて

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