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。
12/12(土)の放送
Biden and Harris Are Time’s Persons of the Year for 2020
著者：Neil Vigdor
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company
Time magazine on Thursday named President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as its persons of the year, citing the weight of the pandemic and racial injustice that will be shouldered by the history-making Democratic ticket.
Bruce Springsteen, who narrated a television ad for Biden during the campaign, revealed the magazine’s choice at the end of an hourlong television special on NBC.
Biden, 78, the former vice president under President Barack Obama, and Harris, 56, a U.S. senator from California who became the first Black woman and the first Indian American elected to the vice presidency, will appear side by side in a portrait on the magazine’s cover on Dec. 21.
They edged out frontline health care workers (along with the nation’s leading infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci), the racial justice movement and President Donald Trump for the distinction.
Earlier, on the “Today” show, Time announced the four finalists for the recognition. “Time has always had a special connection to the presidency,” Edward Felsenthal, the editor-in-chief and chief executive officer of Time, said Thursday night.
Felsenthal noted that it was the first time that the magazine had chosen to include the vice president as a person of the year. “Person of the year is not just about the year that was but about where we’re headed,” he said.
At a time when weekly print magazines have struggled to remain relevant in the media landscape, the marketing hype over the purely ceremonial distinction has continued to create fanfare for Time. The tradition goes back to 1927, when Time named aviator Charles Lindbergh its first man of the year, as the honor was then called. (Last year, the magazine named the young climate activist Greta Thunberg its person of the year.)
Time has noted that its selection process is not a popularity contest, however. Its choice reflects “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill,” the magazine said in 2014.
racial injustice 人種的不公平
shoulder (責任などを)負う、(仕事などを) 引き受ける
ticket (米)(政党の)公認候補者一覧、政策
edge out ～に僅差(わずかの差)で勝つ、辛勝する
editor-in-chief 編集長
chief executive officer CEO、最高経営責任者
relevant 関係のある、関連(性)のある
landscape (特定の活動の)大勢、状況
fanfare ファンファーレ、鳴り物入りの宣伝
aviator 飛行士、パイロット
12/13(日)の放送
Airbnb Tops $100 Billion on First Day of Trading, Reviving Talk of a Bubble
著者：Erin Griffith
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company
Over the past decade, Airbnb has upended the travel industry, riled regulators, frustrated local communities and created a mini-economy of short-term rental operators, all while spinning a warm narrative of belonging and connection.
On Thursday, Airbnb sold investors on an even unlikelier story: that it is a pandemic winner.
The company’s shares skyrocketed on their first day of trading, rising 113% above the initial public offering price of $68 to close at $144.71. That put Airbnb’s market capitalization at $100.7 billion — the largest in its generation of “unicorn” companies and more than Expedia Group and Marriott International combined.
Airbnb’s offering raised $3.5 billion, making it the biggest IPO this year.
Just a day earlier, DoorDash, a food delivery startup, also defied gravity by raising $3.4 billion in its first day of trading, when its share price surged 86% to a valuation of $68 billion. Both debuts followed a string of other hot IPOs that together make 2020 the busiest year for U.S. public offerings since 1999, according to Renaissance Capital, which tracks IPOs.
The hair-bending offerings this week have raised talk of a new stock market bubble in the midst of a pandemic-induced downturn, as more than 947,000 workers filed new claims for state unemployment benefits last week. With interest rates low and fiscal stimulus goosing parts of the economy, investors have chased ever-riskier bets, driving valuations of unprofitable startups to levels that seem divorced from reality. Robinhood, a stock trading app whose use has spiked in the pandemic, has also flooded the market with millions of day traders eager to get a piece of brand-name tech companies.
James Gellert, chief executive of Rapid Ratings, a provider of financial analysis, said the “absurd” valuations represented “the extreme exuberance and unprecedented liquidity in the market.” He warned that sentiment could quickly turn, bringing IPO investors “a participation hangover in the coming months.”
Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive, said in an interview that he felt a “groundswell of enthusiasm” while pitching Airbnb to investors, but would not focus on the company’s short-term stock movements.
“I can’t control the stock price, but I can control the story,” said Chesky, 39, whose stake in Airbnb is now worth $11.1 billion.
Upend ひっくり返す
Rile 怒らせる
Narrative 物語
Share 分け前、株
Skyrocket 急上昇
Initial Public Offering IPO、新規上場
Market Capitalization 時価総額
Raise 調達
Defy 無視する
Valuation 価値評価
Debut デビュー、初舞台
Hair-bending 意外な
Fiscal 財政上の
Stimulus 刺激
Goose お尻を突く／触る
Exuberance 豊富
Unprecedented 前例のない
Liquidity 流動性
12/14(月)の放送
EU Agrees to Slash Carbon Emissions by 2030
著者：Monika Pronczuk
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company
After an all-night negotiating session, European Union leaders agreed Friday morning to cut net carbon emissions by 55% in the next decade from levels measured in 1990, overcoming the concerns of nations still heavily dependent on coal and taking a critical step in the effort to become climate-neutral by 2050.
European leaders, who are keen to position themselves as at the forefront of the global fight against climate change, had failed in October to reach a deal on an even less ambitious target of 40%.
But after an agreement on a $2.2 trillion budget Thursday evening — with billions earmarked for member states to spend on the transition to a greener economy — momentum for a consensus environmental policy gathered speed.
Shortly after dawn, Charles Michel, the head of the group of the EU leaders, announced the news on Twitter.
“Europe is the leader in the fight against climate change,” he wrote. “We decided to cut our greenhouse gas emissions of at least 55% by 2030.”
The decision on the new target comes just in time for the U.N. climate summit Saturday, where it will be announced by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said it was “worth losing a night’s sleep” over the climate deal.
“I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t been able to achieve such a result,” she said during a news conference Friday.
Still, the details and language in the agreement were kept vague after many hours of often tense negotiations, leaving it up to the commission to hammer out the specifics.
The overnight discussions on climate had been obstructed by the familiar divisions between the wealthier Western European countries pushing for more ambitious targets, and a handful of Eastern European states, led by Poland, that depend heavily on coal.
In a gesture toward Eastern European governments, the EU leaders decided the target has to be reached by the bloc collectively — effectively giving coal-dependent countries more time to transition their energy consumption. For the first time, emissions from forests and land use — which absorb more carbon dioxide that they emit — will be included in the target, which climate activists say might weaken the outcome.
slash （～を）大幅に削減する、切り下げる (*11/21 復習）
net carbon emissions 二酸化炭素純排出量 (*10/28 復習）
climate-neutral 実質排出ゼロ
at the forefront of… …の最前線で、…の中心となって
earmark 資金などを特定の用途に）取っておく(*9/27 復習）
momentum 機運、推進力 (*11/12 復習)
consensus 合意、統一見解
European Commission 欧州委員会
executive arm 行政の執行機関
language 文言
leave ~ up to ～を（人に）任せる
hammer out 苦心して考え出す
obstruct さえぎる、妨害する
*obstruction of justice 司法妨害
a handful of 一握りの
collectively [副] 併せて、まとめて (*11/24 [形]collective 集合的な)
effectively 事実上
12/15(火)の放送
Bhutan Becomes Latest Asian Nation to Dial Back Anti-Gay Laws
著者：Mike Ives
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company
The kingdom of Bhutan prides itself on maximizing “gross national happiness,” but it doesn’t always feel that way to members of the country’s LGBT community. Stigma and discrimination are rife, activists say.
This past week, however, lawmakers in the Himalayan country voted to amend a line from Bhutan’s penal code that criminalizes “sodomy or any other sexual conduct that is against the order of nature,” previously treated as a reference to gay sex.
The move, which needs the king’s approval to become law, was the latest example of an Asian government loosening laws governing the private lives of LGBT people.
In neighboring India, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down one of the world’s oldest bans on consensual gay sex in 2018, ruling that gay Indians were to be accorded all the protections of the Constitution.
Last year, lawmakers in Taiwan voted to legalize same-sex marriage, a first for Asia. That gave new leverage to activists campaigning for marriage equality in Japan and beyond.
And in July, Thailand’s Cabinet said that it had approved a draft bill that would give same-sex unions many of the same benefits as heterosexual marriages. The legislation avoided the term “marriage,” but allowed for the legal registration of same-sex partnerships.
Bhutan’s new law, which passed both houses of Parliament on Thursday, “folds Bhutan into the global momentum toward recognizing equality for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people,” said Kyle Knight, a senior researcher in the LGBT rights program at Human Rights Watch who has written about the law.
However, he added, “Bhutan still has significant work to do to ensure that the rights of people who have been long marginalized on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity are fully protected.”
Bhutan’s penal code was introduced in 2004, four years before the Buddhist-majority nation of 800,000 people held its first elections as part of a transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional democracy.
The campaign to amend anti-gay language in the penal code grew out of an effort to help the Health Ministry prevent HIV in the country’s gay community. The ministry recognized that the code’s reference to “unnatural sex” could prevent gay and bisexual men from seeking treatment.
<Pickup Vocabs 1>
Dial Back 減らす、弱める
pride v. 誇りを持っている
Stigma 汚名
[語源: 烙印]
rife 蔓延している状態
amend (法や議案などを)修正、改正する
[親戚: mend(服、道具、家などを直す)]
penal 刑法の
[親戚: penalty(罰)]
sodomy 生殖を目的としない性行為
sexual conduct 性行為
unanimously 満場一致で
[語源: unus(ひとつの)+animus(精神)]
consensual 合意の上での
[語源: consent(合意)+al(〜の)]
be accorded 与えられる
☝️自動詞 accord(一致する)との違い
<Pickup Vocabs 2>
same-sex 同性の
☝️same-sex marriage(同性婚)
draft bill (法案の)草案
☝️draft(下書き)
heterosexual 異性愛の
fold into 混ぜ合わせる
marginalized 疎外される
[語源: margin(余白、欄外)に置く→疎外する]
on the basis of ~ 〜にもとづいて
sexual orientation (*6/16復習) 性的指向
transition 移行
[語源: trans(越える)すること]
absolute monarchy 絶対君主制
language 言い回し
☝️昨日かおりさんが紹介していた
Watch your languageの「言葉遣い」に近い
12/16(水)の放送
Start of Vaccinations Across U.S. Brings Hope As COVID Death Toll Soars
著者：Campbell Robertson, Amy Harmon and Mitch Smith
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company
Some of the very medical centers that have endured the worst of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States found the gloom that has long filled their corridors replaced by elation and hope Monday as health care workers became the first to take part in a mass vaccination campaign aimed at ending the pandemic.
Hundreds of those who have been on the front lines of fighting COVID-19 — a nurse from an intensive care unit in New York, an emergency room doctor from Ohio, a hospital housekeeper in Iowa — received inoculations in emotional ceremonies watched by people around the country.
“I feel like healing is coming,” said Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse who was among the first health care workers to be vaccinated Monday morning in Queens, New York.
But the vaccinations came as the nation surpassed 300,000 coronavirus deaths, a toll larger than any other country. Even as applause rang out at hospitals nationwide, many intensive care units remained near capacity and public health experts warned that life would not return to normal until well into next year.
Plunking down in chairs and rolling up their sleeves were physicians, nurses, aides, cleaners and at least one chief executive who said he was getting the vaccine early to encourage everyone on his staff to do the same.
One of those who had spent months studying the safety of the vaccine was herself vaccinated. “This is the culmination of a lot of hard work in our clinical trials,” said Dr. Patricia Winokur, 61, principal investigator of the clinical trial of the vaccine and a professor at the University of Iowa.
Near the White House, five health workers at George Washington University Hospital were given shots at a national kickoff event. Alex Azar, the health secretary, said that the vaccinations in Washington were “representative of what’s happening across America right now.”
The first vaccinations come at the bleakest moment of the pandemic in the United States. The country is averaging more than 2,400 deaths a day, even more than in the spring. More than twice as many deaths are being announced each day than just a month ago.
By day’s end, it was unclear exactly how many Americans had received an initial dose of the approved vaccine, made by Pfizer-BioNTech. Another vaccine, made by biotech company Moderna, is likely to receive emergency authorization Friday.
endured 耐える、我慢する
gloom 暗闇、憂鬱
corridor 廊下
elation 高揚感
inoculation 予防接種
surpass 〜を上回る、超える
applause 拍手
plunk 腰を落とす
culmination 集大成
bleak 暗い、希望の無い
12/17(木)の放送
Big Fines and Strict Rules Unveiled Against ‘Big Tech’ in Europe
著者：Adam Satariano
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company
Authorities in the European Union and Britain built momentum Tuesday for tougher oversight of the technology industry, as they introduced new regulations to pressure the world’s biggest tech companies to take down harmful content and open themselves up to more competition.
In Brussels, European Union leaders unveiled proposals to crimp the power of “gatekeeper” platforms like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which policymakers argue deserve more oversight given their outsize influence. The proposed EU laws would require the companies to do more to prevent the spread of hate speech and sale of counterfeit merchandise, and disclose more information about how services like targeted advertising work.
In Britain, which is preparing to exit the bloc, the government proposed banning some harmful internet content like terrorism material, suicide videos and child abuse, which could result in billions of dollars in fines. Separately, Irish regulators announced a fine of 450,000 euros (about $547,000) against Twitter for violating EU data protection laws, one of the first penalties of its kind.
The string of announcements helped reinforce Europe as home to some of the world’s toughest policies toward the technology industry.
“The European Union wants to be the leader in the tech regulation,” said Christoph Schmon, the international policy director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
But the region is no longer alone in its efforts to limit the power of Big Tech. In the United States, regulators sued Facebook last week for illegally squashing competition, and Google was hit with an antitrust lawsuit in October. In China, the government has begun to clamp down on local tech giants like Alibaba. Australia, India and Brazil are among others debating new regulations.
Governments are increasingly scrutinizing tech companies that have become critical infrastructure for billions of people and businesses to communicate, shop, learn about the world and be entertained. The result could be that the technology sector becomes more like banking, telecommunications and health care — industries of such size and importance that they are subject to more government supervision.
“2021 will be the year of regulation for the tech giants — they are a mature industry now, not shiny young startups,” said James Lewis, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We used to say too big to fail for banks, but banks are highly regulated and these guys are moving in this direction, too.”
unveiled 明らかにする、発表、公表
oversight 監視、監督
crimp 邪魔する、妨害する
gatekeeper 門番、守衛
新聞・インターネットなどで、ニュースや記事の取捨選択をする者や組織
outsize influence 巨大な影響力
counterfeit merchandise コピー商品、偽造品
exit the bloc 〈本文では〉EUを離脱する
string of 一連の、相次ぐ
squashing 潰す、やり込める
clamp down on 弾圧する、きつく取り締まる
scrutinizing 綿密に検査する、徹底的に調べる
12/18(金)の放送
Monarch Butterflies Qualify for Endangered List. They Still Won’t Be Protected.
著者：Catrin Einhorn
(c) 2020 The New York Times Company
The monarch butterfly is threatened with extinction but will not come under federal protection because other species are a higher priority, federal officials announced Tuesday.
Officials said Tuesday they do not have the money or resources to protect all the species that need it. Currently, 723 animal species are listed as endangered or threatened in the United States.
Monarchs’ numbers have been decimated by climate-change-fueled weather events and pervasive habitat loss in the United States.
“We conducted an intensive, thorough review using a rigorous, transparent science-based process and found that the monarch meets listing criteria under the Endangered Species Act,” Aurelia Skipwith, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement. “However, before we can propose listing, we must focus resources on our higher-priority listing actions.” As part of the decision, monarchs’ status will be reviewed each year by the agency and conservation efforts will continue.
The number of eastern monarchs has declined by 75% since the 1990s, scientists estimate. Western monarchs have seen an even more alarming drop.
Some of this collapse is tied to a need for milkweed, the only plant that monarch caterpillars can eat. Milkweed has declined across monarch breeding grounds throughout the United States since farmers started using crops that are genetically modified to tolerate Roundup, a brand of weedkiller. Milkweed often grew among crops but cannot survive spraying.
In recent years, as the monarchs’ plight has grown more dire, everyday citizens, advocacy groups and government agencies have planted 500 million milkweed stems, officials said, providing a lifeline for monarchs.
But given the increasing toll from climate change, which is fueling winter storms that wipe out millions at a time in Mexico, droughts that kill them in the United States and temperature changes that may cause them to migrate too early or too late, efforts to protect monarchs have not been enough. In addition to being threatened by climate change and habitat loss, monarchs are killed by pesticides used on crops and mosquitoes.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration made another announcement about the Endangered Species Act, limiting the very definition of “habitat” under the law. Environmentalists say the move could prevent the protection of land that species need to adapt to climate change.
monarch butterfly オオカバマダラ
qualify for 対象となる／適任とされる
endangered 絶滅危惧／絶滅寸前
decimate 急激に減少する／（大量に）殺す
pervasive 広範囲にわたる／普及している
rigorous 厳密な／厳格な
criteria 基準／標準
☝️単数形は criterion
milkweed ミルクウィード／トウワタ
caterpillar 青虫／毛虫
plight 窮状／苦境
lifeline 生命線／命網
