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2011年03月の記事
全23件 (23件中 1-23件目)
1
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The advantages and / or disadvantages of public transportation
Environmental effects, Traffic conditions, Independence, Costs, Safety, AccessibilityThere are more advantages of public transportation than disadvantages of it. It is because there are three reasons to support the statement. These reasons are that environmental effects of using public transportation, cost of public transportation, and accessibility of public transportation. Firstly, we can save our environment more by using the public transportation. We could take trains, buses, airplanes to travel most parts in the world. Therefore, we should use the public transportation than private transportation, such as private cars, motorbikes, private jets, and so on. We need to reduce the gas that is emitted by the private transportations. If we do not make effort for the environment issue, the earth could be dirty and we might not feel comfortable to live on it. Therefore, we should use public transportation, such as trains and buses to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide. It could be a small step for us, but it would make a big difference in the future. Secondly, we should focus on the cost of using the public transportation. It is much cheaper than the cost of private transportation. It would cost a lot to buy gasoline if we want to drive own cars. Also, there are other expenses, such as parking license, registration fee, inspection fee, and so on to own cars. Therefore, if you want to save money, it is wise not to own private cars and use the public transportation instead. By saving the cost of transportation, we could enjoy better meal, accommodation, or other services. If we have a choice between public transportation and private transportation, we should choose public transportation, because the cost is very different. We should spend least money for transportation. Thirdly, accessibility of public transportation is good in large cities so that we would not worry about waiting for long hours. It could save time by using public transportation, because private transportation, such as cars need time to find a parking space. Comparing with the cars, trains, buses, and airplanes usually have the better accessibility in major cities in the world. Therefore, we should use the public transportation if we want to have good accessibility. In conclusion, we should use public transportation, because it is good for environment, it is cheap, and it has better accessibility. We might spend for other things, such as gifts or services by saving the cost of transportation.
2011.03.31
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Do professional athletes have a duty to serve as positive role models?
Professional athletes have a duty to serve as positive role models. It is because athletes of Japanese traditional sports, such as sumo are expected to behave well as a positive role model. For example, Asasyoryu needed to behave as yokoduna, the highest rank of sumo competition, but he did not behave nicely so that sumo association had to retire him. Japanese traditional sports, such as sumo and judo require the athletes to serve as positive role models. It is because these sports are national sports and Japanese people wish the athletes to have the high status. Therefore, when Asashoryu caused a social problem of beating a man, the sumo association had to make him quit sumo. This decision was based on the rules of sumo association. Since long time ago, in Japanese society, professional athletes of sacred sports needed to behave well as positive role models. However, Asashoryu did not behave the way that people expected. He was a strong sumo player, but he repeatedly caused problems and his news was on TV. It was because he was a foreign wrestler, he did not follow former customs of sumo. In conclusion, professional athletes have a duty to serve as positive role models. It is because people expect the athletes to behave well as positive role models. When these athletes do not follow the tradition of the sports, it causes problems.
2011.03.30
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Are books in danger of becoming obsolete?
Books are not in danger of becoming obsolete, because we still read books even though there are electrical books now. One of the issues about books is that they are changing to electrical books. iPad and other products are introduced to read the books electrically. However, people would still feel more comfortable reading paper books. Digital books could be efficient, because of the size and weight, but it would still need time to spread the technology. Most people still read paper books and they are happy by the situation. Some people might use the public library to borrow the books and they are free. It would be more expensive to buy the products for digital books now so that the customers are waiting for the price to go down. The digital books can be useful, because they can download the books for iPad or other products to read, but we still do not feel it is natural to read the books digitally. Some people prefer paper books, because they like the smell of paper. In conclusion, paper books will not be obsolete soon, because people still prefer reading the paper books than digital books. If the prices of digital books become cheaper, the customers might change their attitude and start reading the electrical books.
2011.03.30
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Should large companies in Japan make English their official language?
I think that the large companies in Japan should make English their official language. There are two reasons to support my argument. One of these reasons is that English is a global language in business situation and workers should speak it fluently to conduct better business. The other reason is that English should be used more in society so that Japanese people’s English ability would be improved. Some Japanese companies, such as Rakuten and First Retailing introduced that English is their official language. It is a good idea for Japanese business, because in a global business situation, English is commonly used so that Japanese workers should also use English. Most multinational companies, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft are American or Western companies and their official language is English. Therefore, English should be spoken to conduct their jobs at the companies. Some workers might feel that it is not natural to speak English at the corporate meetings, because they used to speak only Japanese, but they will soon adjust to the English environment. For many people, it is better to use English than the local languages, because English is the global language and it is widely spoken. One of the obstacles that people might have by introducing English as the official language of companies is that they might loose the sense of Japanese. In some cases, it is important to keep Japanese tradition. For example, Japanese people take off their shoes when they enter their houses. These small differences in society should not be taken too carefully, but some Japanese people still care about them. In conclusion, Japanese employees should use English as the official language. It is because English is a global language that is universally spoken and most multinational companies use it. Many people will get used to with using English sooner or later so that it will not be a big issue in Japanese companies.
2011.03.30
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Diary on March 28, 2011
I studied hard yesterday by solving problems for the correspondence course. Also, I sent back a reply to the trial exam for the company. That exam was the translation exam that would test me and decide whether they hire me at a translator or not. So I was a little nervous and took the exam seriously. The exam was about translating the IT related documents and I thought I did pretty well. I used an on-line dictionary to translate it. Today, I listened to the radio English programs for both practical business English and introductory business English. In the program of practical business English, the topic was about April fool’s day again. I think office environment sometimes need to relax so that they need time to say some jokes. However, these jokes should not confuse the works that employees do. In the program of introductory business English, they used two words, such as alliance and align to talk about the business situation. They said that using words other than “communication” would be useful in the business setting.
2011.03.28
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Diary on March 27, 2011
As I wrote before, I started to study at Fellow Academy’s correspondence course. I have submitted one of the tasks already. I thought the problems were more difficult than I expected, but I will try to continue the course. I listened to NHK radio program. It is going to be a new program from today. It is a start season in Japan so there will be many new programs. The radio program talked about April fool’s day. It is the day that people tell innocent lies and have fun about it. In the radio program, jokes sounded a little surprising for other people. It was because the joke included some kind of nonsense. For example, the office will start from 5 o’clock in the morning. If it was not a joke for April fool’s day, it would be troublesome. New books have arrived at home again. I bought a writing book for TOEFL test. I do not take TOEFL test anymore, but I would use this book to improve my writing skill. I briefly read this book and found out that there were words and phrases that I should use to make my writing better. I used to study abroad to the U.S. so that I have taken TOEFL test before. I used the test to enter the university in the U.S.
2011.03.27
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Diary on March 25, 2011
Yesterday, I read The Da Vinci Code and now I am reading page 161. The other Dan Brown’s book has arrived at my house, because I bought it in this week. It is “Angels & Demons.” I will read it after I read The Da Vinch Code. The setting of “Angels & Demons” is in Italy. Today, textbooks for the translation school have arrived. I will study translation from now. Also, I received an e-mail that includes translation problems for the lesson at the translation school. I am supposed to solve the translation problems until the class date. This class is an experimental class for students who just want to know what kind of lessons the school is teaching. So, it is only once. I will take the translation course by correspondence. So, I will study at home most of the time and send answers to the problem either online or mails. There are skills when translators effectively translate the sentences so I will try to learn these tips. First, I need to know the basic patterns of translation. First pattern is to get the intension of writers. Second pattern is to use the background information. Third pattern is to keep promises for the expressions.
2011.03.26
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Diary March 24, 2011
I used SNS site called Lang-8. This site let me post English writings and some people make corrections of writings. Languages are limitless and there are people who are studying various types of languages at the site. I read newspaper. Today, there is a article about the earthquake in Japan. Water in Tokyo was contaminated by radioactive of Fukushima. Some people are worried about drinking tap water. I learned English vocabularies by using Eiken Pass Tanjukugo. I memorize about 20 words. I think it is important to increase my vocabularies. I also used Eiken 1st Grade Vocabulary/Idiom Problems 500. Yesterday, I solved problems of vocabulary so that I will practice reading or listening today. First, I will listen to Jissen Business Eigo, Radio English Program. Second, I will listen to BBC. In the NHK radio program, there is a question. What strikes you as typically American? In the program, popped corn, hot dogs, the backyard barbecue, and apple pies are raise for the discussion. For me, hamburgers and sandwiches are really American. It is because they are fast food and easy to eat. I also like American music, such as jazz, blues, and rock. I often listen to jazz, because trumpet and piano sounds are good to listen.
2011.03.24
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Now I have a Wells Fargo account
Now I have a Wells Fargo account One of the banks that use has been merged with another bank recently. Wachovia was merged with Wells Fargo. Since Lehman Shock, I heard that Wells Fargo is doing well so that they are trying to expand. I knew this change, because I received a mail that included various document in it. Since I opened my checking account with Wachovia in Philadelphia in 2000, I did not get in touch with Wachovia very much. I was a little worried so that I made a phone call to Wachovia. It was convenient that their customer service center is open for 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. When I told the operater my account number and social security number, I could know my account balance. I asked that the check card will be changed or not. In my case, it will not be changed and the current check card is used to make transaction at ATM machines. My impression about the merger of banks was that I wanted to have a checking account at Wells Fargo that has not been badly damaged by the financial crisis. So, this change looked a good change. I have a bank account of Citibank, but since the Lehman shock, I moved most of my money to Japanese banks that seem safer than Citibank. These Japanese banks are Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Postal Saving. Here in Japan, Postal Saving is quite popular, especially in rural area. It is because post office used to deal with many business and helped rural community. However, post office has been privatized by Koizumi cabinet and they are divided by the businesses, such as a bank, a post office, insurance, and so on. Japanese financial industry is quite different from the one of America or Western countries. This could have been influenced by Japanese people's lifestyle. We carry a lot of cash compared with Americans. Japanese often do not use credit cards when the price of merchandise is low. So, it can be said that Japan is a still cash oriented country. Therefore, you might feel it is less convenient when you go shopping in Japan. It is because you need to withdraw money at ATM before shopping. Another thing about Japanese people's financial philosophy is that they tend to save more than other nationalities. One of the possible reasons for this is that we are sometimes worried about future events that could cost us. For example, when you had a traffic accident, when you lost a lot by gambling, or when the value of your property was significantly dropped by the economic situation.
2011.03.23
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Diary March 23, 2011
Diary March 23, 2011Today, I started using CNN English Express. This magazine is a monthly magazine that has CNN articles and other useful information about English learning. It included two CDs so that I could listen to CNN articles. Some of the articles were spoken slowly for beginners of English. I practiced writing English by this magazine. I felt this magazine has a lot of problems to practice English so that it is useful. I bought two books that were Matilda and Someone like you. Both books were written by Roald Dahl. I read The Da Vinci Code and looked up words by a dictionary. Now I am reading page 145. Reading paperbacks is time taking, but it helps to improve my reading skill. I will listen to NHK radio program and BBC news. Also, I will read the Economist, Time, and Newsweek. If I had time, I would International Herald Tribune. If I had more time, I would study for Eiken or TOEIC.
2011.03.23
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Diary on March 22, 2011
Diary on March 22, 2011I read article about failure on Harvard Business Review. It said that the organizations need to deal with staff’s failures. It is important to know how to react with other people’s failures. For my English practice, I read the Economist, McKinsey Review, Time, and Newsweek. Also, I listened to English program of NHK radio. I found that it is very expensive to buy imported magazines in Tokyo. Harvard Business Review costs 3,150 yen. I would rather read it online than buy it. However, there are websites that do not let viewers to read all the contents. The Economist’s site only allows me to read 10 articles. For podcasting, it is the same thing and Harvard Business Review charges me when I try to download the contents. I read The Da Vinci Code a lot yesterday night and now I am reading on page 125. Langdon escapes from the police at museum, because Fache, one of the police officers is suspicious that Langdon killed the museum staff. I will start reading another book from today. It is “Paths of Glory” by Jeffrey Archer. I will read it in Japanese first then I will read it in English.
2011.03.22
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Diary on March 21, 2011
Diary on March 21, 2011I have read International Herald Tribune and the Economist. I read that the website of the New York Times will charge the fee again for non-subscribers. On the Economist, I read two articles. One was about manufacturing industry in the U.S. and the other was about patent. It said that the U.S. manufacturing industry is on decline. Also, it said the new inventions were prevented by former patents that inventors could be sued easily. Then I solved problems for TOEIC exam. I used an official textbook volume 4. It has two practice exams and I studied one of the practice exams. Since I studied one of the exams yesterday I finished solving all the problems on this book. I thought that the next practice would be the practice by using the Nintendo DS software that I bought before. I listened to NHK radio program as usual and also listened to BBC World News. I took some time to read some articles from Time and Newsweek. I read article about reforming the Wall Street. It has been several years since the financial crisis in the U.S. so that the Wall Street is active by investors who frequently trade their stocks. I bought books from amazon.com. I bought Red October by Tom Clancy, The Firm, Time to Kill, and The Pelican Brief by John Grisham, and Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffrey Archer. These books were recommended by the website that encourages practicing English. I am currently reading two books. One is The Da Vinci Code and the other is Master of the Game. Now I am on page 73 of The Da Vinci Code, because I read about 20 pages yesterday.
2011.03.21
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A passage from The Great Gatsby
A passage from The Great Gatsby“I made the pleasure of his acquaintance just after the war. As soon as I’d talked with him for an hour, I said to myself, ‘There’s the kind of man you’d like to take home and introduce to your mother and sister.’ Gatsby’s very careful about women. He would never so much as look at a friend’s wife.”People talk about Gatsby at his party. Gatsby knows how to socialize with other people. It was the time when the U.S. had a prosperous era. Gatsby enjoyed his life in New York.
2011.03.19
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The part from The Da Vinci Code
This is the part from The Da Vinci Code and I used it for my English practice. “Langdon could not help but feel a deep sense of loss at the curator’s death. Despite Sauniere’s reputation for being reclusive, his recognition for dedication to the arts made him an easy man to revere.” (Dan p.27) Langdon is a professor at Harvard and polices in France are suspicious on Langdon about murdering Sauniere.
2011.03.19
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Diary 2 on March 19, 2011
Diary 2 on March 19, 2011I had soba with tempura at the restaurant at Roppongi hills.Then I rented DVDs at Tsutaya, rental DVD shop. One of the DVDs was “precious.”I borrowed books at Takanawa library, the closest library from my house.I borrowed one issue of Time and Newsweek and paperbacks. The books I borrowed were “The Great Gatsby”, “Forest Gump”, “A two year’s vacation”, “The lord of the rings”, “The adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”I have read “The Great Gatsby”, “Forest Gump” in Japanese before.So it would not take long to read them in English. I bought two books that were “50 great short stories” and “The Da Vinch Code.”I will write about these books in the future diary after reading them. I have read “The Da Vinch Code” in Japanese before. I will start reading the paperbacks from “The Da Vinch Code.”I hope to improve my English by reading paperbacks.
2011.03.19
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Diary on March 19, 2011
Diary on March 19, 2011I will go to the rental DVD shop at Roppongi hills today. As usual, I rent some DVDs there. My favorite genre is drama, non-fiction,Love romance, and action. After that, I will eat lunch. Then I will go to the Takanawa library to borrow books. I will borrow paperbacks to practice my English skill. I will order the textbook and CD of NHK radio English program.I am listening to the program that is called Practical Business English.Since the new program will be started from April, I am looking forward to do it. I think it is one the best ways to practice English is to listen to the program many times.I have been listening to the radio programs of NHK since I was a junior high school student. So, it has been for a long time that I listen to the programs. I started to read paperback of Master of the game and I am reading around page 30.It will be a long way to finish reading this book since this book has 488 pages. However, I will try to read it till the end for English practice. I will focus more on speed rather than understanding the contents.
2011.03.19
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Diary on March 18, 2010
Diary on March 18, 2010It has been a week since a huge earthquake hit Japan. I will write about what I studied today. The paperback I ordered has arrived today. It is Master of the game by Sidney Sheldon. This book is very famous, because as a paperback, it was a bestseller. I want to read as many paperbacks as possible (around 50 books) to practice my reading skill. I still feel my reading is slow so that I try to read fast. I might try to read without checking words that I do not know. I like reading books so that it will not be painful to continue reading. Also, the English-English dictionary that I ordered has arrived. It is Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 5th edition. I chose this dictionary, because it was very cheap and it was only 350 yen. It was cheap because it was a secondhand book and it is the 5th edition. Normally, people buy the 8th edition that is the latest, but I thought there will not be big changes for this dictionary. I will look up more words by using this dictionary and improve my vocabulary. Other than these things, I listened to BBC’s Biz Daily by podcast. Podcast is useful, because I can listen to the programs by registering to the podcast programs. I have registered for BBC related programs, such as BBC World Update, Business Daily, Business Weekly, Global News, and so on. I have iPod so that I can listen to the programs outside of my house. I use iTune for listening to music that I rented from rental CD shop. I watched the movie, Cove again, because I did not watch it carefully before. It was the story of killing dolphins in the town of Taiji, Japan. American activists claim that dolphins are the same as whales and they should be protected. However, Japanese fishermen do not stop fishing dolphins, because it is for the research purpose. There is an organization by U.N. about whaling, but their help seems to be not enough. This movie helped my English practice so that I would watch other movies.
2011.03.18
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Diary on March 17th, 2010
I would like to write about what I did today.I walked to the Tokyo Metropolitan Library at Arisugawanomiya Park with my mother. On the way to the library, we walked the route that was a shortcut so that it took about 19 minutes to get there. After arriving at the library, we read books about the earthquakes. Also, I read English-English dictionary. They had Longman, Oxford Word Power Dictionary, and Cobuild dictionary. When it was lunch time we had lunch at the cafeteria. I ordered Ramen. It was tasty, but it was not very good compared with the one at really good Chinese restaurants. For English practice, I did not study much today. I looked up Eiken related websites and I found an English school for Eiken preparation. I read the contents and tried to do the same things as the former students of the school. I knew that shadowing of the Listening section part 2 was effective so that I tried to do it. The book of Eiken has arrived at my house today. They have problems of Eiken from 2003 to 2005. I think it is effective to repeatedly solve former problems of Eiken. Especially, I thought I should write essays followed by the topics of former years so that my writing skill will be improved.
2011.03.17
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Writing Practice on March 16 No.2
I have been studying English for many hours these days. I used Scientific American and Nature to read and listen to scientific articles.For listening practice, I use BBC and CNBC. I am getting used to with British accent now. Today’s dinner was curry.I am still watching the movie, Mammoth. This movie is O.K. , it was because the man meets with a girl in Philippine. He has a wife in the U.S. and his child is sick. The wife has a baby sitter who is a Pilipino. The man first thought that he can not have a good time with a girl, because he has a wife and not want to cheat her. However, he cheats with a girl. I will study at a translation school from April, but I have not decided yet.As I wrote before, I was supposed to take a level check last Sunday, but it was postponed because of the earthquake. I will need to do better on the test. I heard that I need to be higher than level 4 to take a translation course.
2011.03.16
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Writing Practice on March 16
Things I studied to progress my English.Since yesterday, I have been reading the website of Newsweek. As I imagined, most articles are about the earthquakes in Japan. Also, I have read Time and looked up words by English-English dictionary on the website. I found that there are differences among Longman, Oxford, Cambridge, and other dictionaries. I have solved listening problems last night and I have done reading questions today. I used the text that is Eiken 1 Grade Reading Problems 120. I felt that there are some science topics in Eiken so that I need to read science magazines. Therefore, I decided to read Scientific Magazine online. On Scientific American, there are also articles about the earthquake and problems of nuclear facilities. I have been watching movies by DVD now. I watched Cove and Mammoth. In Cove, the small town in Japan is focused, because of the killing of dolphins. People are strongly against fishing the dolphins on the movie. They want Japanese to stop eating dolphins (in this case, they are whales), but it is our costume that has been continuing for a long time. Young Japanese who were born after WWII would not eat whales, but people who were born before have eaten whales, it was because whales were served at school lunch. In Mammoth, the man works at company that creates the social community site. The man travels to Thailand and buys souvenirs. IT companies make a lot of money if their businesses do well so that many people would try to work for the industry. I think I am not suited for IT industry, because of weakness in math. I can make programs, but the level is not good enough for professionals. One of the reasons that I do not like working for IT industry is that they have long overtime work. It is famous that IT engineers work endlessly and they are often burn out. It is also true that when IT engineers get older they can not catch up with the new technology. So, IT technology is good for young people, but not for older people. Apple Corporation began to sell iPad2 and some people are interested. One day, I went to Apple shop at Tokyo Midtown and touched iPad. It looked interesting and I thought that I wanted to read digital books by iPad. I like reading books so that in the future, most books will be digitalized and people read books by iPad or other things that are similar to iPad.
2011.03.16
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英作文の練習2(About situation after the earthquake)
I have watched TV, internet, and listened to radio about the post-earthquake situation since yesterday. It was because the electricity will stop. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that there is going to be planned blackout in Kanto region. They also announced that most of the areas in central Tokyo will not be affected by this blackout. However, surrounding areas, such as Chiba, Saitama, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma will be influenced. They had announced the schedule of the blackout, but they have corrected the schedule several times. Today, the planned blackout of group 1 that was supposed to be conducted from 6:30 has been changed not to do it. I heard that there was confusion about this, because it was too quick for most people to know about the information of the blackout. TEPCO announced about the blackout last night (around 9 o’clock) and it was not early enough for many people. As long as I know, there was an accident at nuclear facilities in Fukushima prefecture. This accident has caused the huge panic of society since this week so that most TV programs have been only taking about this. TEPCO has said the planed blackout will be conducted by 5 groups and we need to know which area we live in. My hometown is Yachiyo, Chiba and it is group 1 and 2. I am not sure why the city is categorized for two groups, but TEPCO said that no city would be selected for more than 1 group so that it is going to be one of the groups. I have been studying for Eiken today. I have done some problems on the reading section. In that section, there are passages to be read and questions to be chosen. Science, internet, and social science are the contents of passages. There are some words that need to be looked up in the passages to understand. I would need to read the descriptions of answers carefully to understand the problems that I could not get points.
2011.03.14
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英作文の練習1 (Tohoku earthquake and schedule change)
英検のライティングの練習を兼ねて、英作文をやってみようと思います。We had a big earthquake in Japan and we would still need to be careful about other earthquakes to happen. Most trains and buses started to run again, but some people are worried about not being able to get in touch with people in Tohoku region, Northern part of Japan. Most TV channels focus on the topics about the earthquake today. They tell us about the number of people who died by the earthquake and the information to evacuate from Tsunami. Also, they give us the information of people who are O.K. and they want to look for their family members who live in Tohoku regions. Today, my plan has been changed, because of the earthquake that occurred on March 11th. I was supposed to go to English school to take a level check and take a test for translation, but the schedule has been canceled. I knew this information by looking at the website of the school. I was little disappointed about not being able to take the tests today. The tests will be rescheduled on the next week. So, I would study for Eiken exam at home today. I am listening to the English programs that are produced by NHK radio. I am listening to two programs. One is Practical Business English and the other is Introductory Business English. One the advantage of listening to the programs is that my listening skill could be improved. Since I have not been studying English at English conversation school for many months, my listening and speaking abilities are gradually weakened everyday. (260 words)
2011.03.13
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英検1級までの道のり
英検1級に向けて再度頑張ってみようと思い、勉強を再開した。部屋に置いてあった、英検教本等のテキストを探し出し、さらに単語集や過去問を購入した。英検のサイトからは、過去3回分のテストがダウンロードできるため、ダウンロードしておいた。これは役に立つと思う。実は、過去に2回1級を受験しているが、どちらも1次試験で点数が足りなかった。前回は特に、1点差で不合格だった。普段行っている勉強を書き出すと、・Newsweek、Timeを読む。New York Timesのサイトを閲覧。・英字新聞（ヘラルドトリビューン）を読む。・VOA、BBC、CNN、NHK WORLDのサイトを視聴する。・英検教本をやる。・実践ビジネス英語、入門ビジネス英語を聞く。この中で、特に好きな勉強は、NHK英語講座の実践ビジネス英語だ。去年から入門ビジネス英語を聞いており、このおかげで、特に何もしなくても英語力はある程度保てていると思う。去年受験したTOEICでは、900点を下回ったが、検討したと思う。アメリカの州立大学を卒業してからは、東京外大で勉強していたとはいえ、生活で英語を使う機会が減ったため、英語力の維持に苦労している。今回、英検の勉強をきっかけにして、再度TOEIC900点を目指したいとも思っている。（本当は950点くらいあっても良いのだが･･･）さまざまな英検関連のサイトを参考に、書籍を購入したり、勉強方法を考えていこうと思う。どの人も、NHKラジオ講座は効果的だといっているので、これからも継続していくつもりだ。特に、発音やリスニング能力が下ってきているので、音読をしたり、シャドウイングと呼ばれる、後に続いて発音する練習方法を行っている。気付いたことだが、英字新聞やTIME、ペーパーバックなどの難解な内容を続けていても、実際は英語力が向上するとは限らないと言うことだ。和訳や英単語の知識が不足すると、わからないままで、英語を学ぶことになり、効率が良くないらしい。気をつけて、NHKラジオ講座を繰り返し聞くことにしようと思う。明日は、サイマルアカデミーと呼ばれる翻訳通訳の専門学校の体験レッスンに参加する予定だ。4月から、翻訳コースを受講しようと考えている。翻訳コースを受講するためには、レベルチェックと翻訳コース受講の為のテストを受ける必要がある。どちらも頑張って、希望のコースが受講できるようにしたい。また、体験レッスンでは、授業の内容がどんなものかを理解できるようにしたいと思っている。そのために、ノートに内容を書いてこようと思う。英検は6月12日に1次試験があるため、5月後半にTOEICを受験して、試験に慣れておこうと思っている。TOEICの最高点は925点だが、最近はあまり英語に力を入れていなかったので、また900点台が取れるように努力したい。考えてみれば、東京外大では英語のクラスをいくつか受講したが、あまりレベルが高くは無かったように思えた。それでも、積極的にネイティブが指導するクラスを受講し、英語能力の向上に努めていた。特に、印象に残ったのは、アメリカ人講師が指導した法律関係の内容を英語で説明し、ディスカッションを行ったクラスだ。3人のグループをつくり、クラスに発表したのだが、内容は「日本女性は、離婚後に6ヶ月待たないと再婚出来ないと言う法律」についてだった。その他に、興味深かったのは、イギリス人講師が指導した、異文化理解のクラスで、日本における外国文化について何度かスピーチを行った。その中の一つは、横浜中華街について話をした。このように、東京外大では、興味があった科目が法律や経済だったために、英語のクラスでもその様な科目に影響された内容を選んでいた。英文学や言語学にはあまり興味が持てなかった。それでも、シェイクスピアや英国文学、語用論、言語学などの講義も受講した。
2011.03.05
全23件 (23件中 1-23件目)
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- エステ コスメ 美容
- 美容師歴28年がおすすめするStraine…
- (2026-09-22 14:56:39)
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- 手作りコスメのススメ
- オンリーワン！ナチュラルコスメのワ…
- (2023-03-29 11:01:49)
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