TOEIC(R) Test 満点続出の謎を解く！:オリジナル英文

No.328 オリジナル英文

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US Football Star Garcon Shines Light Back on Haiti
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The lead-up to Sunday's Super Bowl is a frenzy of media attention on the top two teams, the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints.

Star players endure hours of interviews, talking about their football background and their preparation for the big game.

Colts receiver Pierre Garcon is enjoying his moment in the spotlight.

But he also wants to remind people about Haiti, and its struggle to rebuild following a devastating earthquake.

"Haiti has given me extra motivation, but every time I play I try to…, try to do my best."

Garcon was born in the United States and grew up playing football not far from the Miami stadium hosting this year's Super Bowl.

He retains a strong link to Haiti, the homeland of his parents, and carries the nation's flag after crucial football victories.

When news broke about the January 12 quake, he was shocked.

Garcon was relieved to learn his relatives were unharmed.

Since then, he has been drawing attention to the needs of tens of thousands of Haitians who lost their homes and relatives in the disaster.

One of his goals is to raise $150,000 to help a missionary group in northwest Haiti.

Garcon is among a small group of NFL players of Haitian descent.

The quake has brought them together even across football rivalries.

Garcon will face off Sunday against the New Orleans Saints and Jonathan Vilma, who also has family in Haiti.

"I was fortunate enough to hear about my family being OK at that night that the earthquake hit.

And you know, that was a relief for myself.

And I was able to you know actually just put it to the side a little bit, focus on football.

And you know, I can…, I can now do that until the season is over with."

For Garcon, it has been a challenge to put aside his concerns about Haiti, and focus on football and the most important game of his career, but he has a simple message to Haitians.

"We are coming, we are coming, coming to help.

You know, stay strong, hold on.

You know, we will be there soon."

Win or lose on Sunday, Garcon says he plans to return to Haiti in April and offer help to the battered country.

Brian Wagner, VOA News, Miami

No.327 オリジナル英文

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Toyota Halts US Sales of Popular Models
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In an extraordinary move that sent Toyota stock prices plummeting, the world's largest automaker has suspended sales of eight of its most popular models and shut down five North American plants.

Michelle Krebs at online auto advisor Edmunds.com called the sales freeze "unprecedented."

"It represents two-thirds of the Toyota brand sales, more than half of the whole company's sales.

We've never seen anything like this before."

Toyota announced the recall last Thursday following reports that the accelerator mechanism in some models can wear down and cause the gas pedal to stick.

The company says it’s unaware of any accidents or injuries as a result of the flaw, but news reports link the defect to several accidents in the U.S, some with fatal results.

One Toyota owner says the company should have acted sooner.

"They probably should’ve done it a few weeks ago when they were saying it was the gas pedal and, you know the floor mats."

U.S. auto dealers, already reeling from one of the worst sales slumps in more than two decades, say the eight models account for 56 percent of Toyota's U.S. sales.

Fresno State marketing professor William Rice says the recall could hurt the company's advertised reputation for quality and safety.

"And when people have fears, they’re not gonna buy, and so there's gonna be a significant pullback of consumer confidence, which is gonna relate all the way down to their sales."

But some customers believe Toyota is doing what responsible companies do.

"Things happen, mistakes happen.

If they're doing a recall, they're open about it with their customers, so I think it's just gonna be a temporary setback.

I don't think it's gonna hold Toyota back or take anything away from their brand loyalty."

Company officials say the problem part has been traced to one U.S. supplier and does not affect vehicles made in Japanese plants.

But the problem is expected to spread to Europe, where a similar accelerator part is used.

The recall and sales suspension is just the latest in a string of quality control problems that have plagued the Japanese automaker.

Last year, Toyota recalled nearly four million cars for a similar issue.

Mil Arcega, VOA News

No.326 オリジナル英文

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Japan Airlines Files for Bankruptcy
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Japan Airline's bankruptcy filing is one of Japan's largest corporate failures in decades.

The former state-owned carrier once symbolized the strength of the country's post-war economic boom.

But its financial fortunes declined in the last decade with the fallout from the September 11th attacks, a surge in fuel prices, and the worldwide economic slowdown.

The company racked up more than $20 billion in debt and its share price has dropped to a record low of about three cents.

The Japanese government bailed out the airline three times in the last 10 years but it could not save the company from bankruptcy this time.

Naoto Kan is Japan's finance minister.

Kan vows the government will do all it can to reverse JAL's economic fortunes.

The airline will continue to operate daily flights but the government is planning restructuring efforts that will significantly reduce JAL's size.

About a third of the workforce is expected to be cut, along with more than a score of international and domestic routes.

A state-backed group will oversee the restructuring plan, with a new chairman at the helm.

The government has asked Kyocera founder Kazuo Inamori to lead JAL.

In exchange for the bankruptcy filing, JAL will get about $3 billion in capital from the government.

The company's lenders will be asked to forgive about $3 billion in loans.

Although the restructuring plan is expected to take three years, Land, Transport, and Tourism Minister Seiji Maehara says the government will act swiftly, without disrupting service to passengers.

Maehara says they will look to maintain stability and safety in the air as they move forward with this process.

The Japanese airline's financial failure has opened up a bidding war among American airlines.

Delta and American Airlines have both offered a $1 billion in financial support, in an attempt to form closer alliances with JAL.

Akiko Fujita for VOA News, Tokyo

No.325 オリジナル英文

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Full Picture of Haiti Devastation Emerges
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Two days after the 7.0 magnitude quake, the horror of the disaster is undiminished.

In Port-au-Prince, sheet-draped bodies remain unclaimed, and untold numbers of people are trapped in rubble or missing and feared dead.

The ranks of the injured seeking scarce medical attention continue to grow.

Seemingly countless people lack food and shelter, leaving streets packed with increasingly hungry, destitute survivors.

Even among those whose homes did not collapse, fear of aftershocks has led many to remain outdoors.

Haiti's humanitarian crisis has sparked the biggest outpouring of international aid in response to a natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami that devastated parts of Indonesia and surrounding nations.

The United States has mobilized thousands of troops and a massive contingent of civilian workers to respond to the Haitian crisis.

Speaking at the White House, President Barack Obama said the initial U.S. response will exceed $100 million, and that more assistance will be forthcoming.

"To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction: You will not be forsaken.

You will not be forgotten.

In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you.

The world stands with you."

Dozens of other nations and a vast array of international organizations and aid groups have also sprung to action.

But obstacles remain.

Diplomats and aid officials familiar with Haiti say that even before the quake, the country's roads and infrastructure were in poor condition or virtually non-existent.

The temblor damaged Port-au-Prince's international airport as well as the city's seaport.

Speaking on NBC's Today show, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said U.S. teams have had logistical challenges to overcome.

"We’ve got the airport open, thanks to the U.S. military.

We’ve got our civilian search-and-rescue teams on the ground.

We are doing all we can."

Haiti is the Western hemisphere's poorest nation, long-plagued by frequent hurricanes, political instability and chronic underdevelopment.

Michael Bowman, VOA News, Washington

No.324 オリジナル英文

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Google Plans to Put All World's Books Online
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A truck belonging to Google pulls up at the Stanford University library near San Francisco just before nine in the morning.

It's loaded with books that Google checked out and is now returning, after having scanned them so they can be uploaded onto a computer.

Once the truck is empty, library workers load it up again, with more books to digitize.

Google Books Director Daniel Clancy says the company's goal is to scan up to 40 million books.

"Google said our mission is to organize all the world's information."

In addition to Stanford, the University of California in Berkeley and the University of Michigan have signed agreements authorizing Google to scan their books.

Stanford librarian Michael Keller says the initiative can give new life to obscure books.

"What happens when you digitize these books and make them accessible on the net is that they get a lot more use.

People can find the stuff; 10 times more use than formerly was recorded."

Silicon Valley attorney Gary Reback represents the Open Book Alliance, whose members include Microsoft and Amazon.com.

He warns even though Google may start out not charging for access to what it digitizes, it may eventually impose big fees to use its online library.

"It's not a public library, it's a private library.

And it's being run for profit, big profits.

Google is gonna charge university scholars, ordinary people, even school children to get access to books that Google copied."

Google insists the project is about more than money.

"Google hopes to benefit from it by improving our search and we expect that we will make some money as we sell the books, but the motivation is not the money we're gonna make from selling books."

Meanwhile, Google continues scanning truckloads of books at a time.

Hearings on the legal issues involved are scheduled in front of a federal judge in February.

Rachel Silverman for VOA News, San Francisco

No.323 オリジナル英文

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The U.S. Constitution was Written in: 1776? 1787? 1904?
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Each year, about 750,000 people become what's called naturalized U.S. citizens.

They've lived here lawfully at least five years, know enough English to take a test, are prepared to swear allegiance to the United States, and are some of the smartest people in the land when it comes to U.S. history and constitutional principles, smarter than a great many life-long U.S. citizens, in fact.

Walker and Company has published a little paperback book that challenges native-born Americans to pass their country's own citizenship test.

The book is called The Great American Citizenship Quiz.

And you don't even have to be a great American to take it!

While immigrant citizens-to-be know their state's capital, its two U.S. senators, and a lot more, like the state motto, many Americans couldn't even guess.

Ask them who was the only person to serve as both president and chief justice, and you're liable to get a blank stare.

People studying to be naturalized citizens know there're nine U.S. Supreme Court justices, know that the electoral college has no campus, and know who is next in line if both the president and vice president should die.

You wouldn't want to bet much money that the average citizen shopkeeper or pro athlete or secretary or journalist, for that matter would know all those things.

Those who are about to become naturalized citizens appreciate the rights that American citizens enjoy to meet, to vote, to worship, to speak openly.

They'll even have the right to forget almost everything they learned about the United States, after they pass their citizenship tests.

By the way, the fellow who was president and later chief justice was William Howard Taft, early in the 20th century.

I’m Ted Landphair.

No.322 オリジナル英文

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Another One Bites the Dust
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This year, at least five U.S. daily newspapers and uncounted weekly papers have closed in the face of falling advertising revenue, as readers turn to computers and handheld devices to access their primary news sources online.

And now the industry's oldest journal, the 108-year-old magazine Editor & Publisher, is disappearing as well.

Its owner, the Nielsen Company, is selling several other magazines, including the popular entertainment-industry publications Billboard and Hollywood Reporter.

But it could not find a buyer for the magazine that some call the bible of the newspaper business.

Editor & Publisher, based in New York City, had already scaled back from a weekly to a monthly publication five years ago.

It launched a Web site that printed breaking journalism news.

That site, too, came down last week.

With a small staff under editor Greg Mitchell, the author of eight books about journalism coverage, Editor & Publisher aggressively attacked biased reporting from both left and right.

"The main principle of journalism – besides being accurate and fair – is to be skeptical," Mitchell wrote in his column.

"It's a sad day," Philadelphia Daily News reporter Will Bunch wrote on the online Huffington Post blog.

But, he added, the folding of Editor & Publisher gave him hope for journalism's future.

"If Greg Mitchell and his small staff can ask the right question and not back down," he wrote, "then I know it can happen again and will happen again, somewhere else and in some other format – that no-holds-barred journalism is possible even on these weird little newfangled tablets or whatever."

Those newfangled tablets are electronic book readers, one of the handheld devices that helped put endangered newspapers, and the magazine that was their bible, out of business.

I’m Ted Landphair.

No.321 オリジナル英文

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Recession Bargain-Hunting Spreads to Colleges
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There's not exactly a rush of good news across economically stressed America, unless you work at one of our 1,200 community colleges.

For most of them, everything's rosy.

Once dismissed as lowly junior colleges and commuter schools in urban areas where students could walk or take public transit to class, these two-year colleges are attracting tens of thousands of students who would normally enroll in four-year private or state universities.

By living at home, they will spend $4,500 a year in tuition, on average.

That's half the typical cost at a four-year state school, and a fraction of a private university's $26,000-average annual tuition.

Adding room and food charges and fees at renowned universities can boost the bill as high as $50,000 a year!

The Washington Post reports that even exceptional students are enrolling in community schools in record numbers.

Community colleges' honors programs, usually half-empty, have, in the Post's words, exploded.

There's often a waiting list.

Recently, too, President Obama directed more than $12 billion in federal stimulus money to community colleges for programs in which older workers train students in practical job skills.

And just last week, the foundation backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, pledged another $13 million to upgrade technology at selected community schools.

The New York Times reports that the clamor to get into community colleges has grown so strong that many have had to plow new, auxiliary parking lots; rent extra classroom space; and offer night classes running as late as 2:30 in the morning, just to fit everyone in.

They aren't Harvard, but again, $4,500 tuition is less than one-tenth of the total cost of an Ivy League school.

I’m Ted Landphair.

No.320 オリジナル英文

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Maldives Waits for World to Decide on Its Future
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The people of Maldives say the sea brings life to their country, but scientists say it could, one day, take it away.

The nation, which is made up of more than a thousand small islands in the Indian Ocean, is the lowest lying in the world, with an average ground level of just 1.5 meters above water.

If current global warming trends continue, experts predict the country could be completely submerged by rising sea levels in about a century's time.

Maldives leaders hope the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen will help reverse the trend.

Thousands of delegates from nearly 200 countries will take part in the event that begins Monday.

Their aim is to construct an agreement for controlling greenhouse gas emissions that lead to rising temperatures.

Maldives Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan says participants will be in a position to save his country.

A major point of contention in reaching an accord is deciding on how to balance the responsibilities of developed and developing countries.

For years, industrialized nations have enjoyed modern comforts while polluting the atmosphere, and it has been agreed that they should be held more accountable for reducing the world's CO2 levels.

Meanwhile, the two largest countries, China and India, are becoming more developed and Beijing argues its emissions requirements should be more lax as it tries to catch up with the West.

But others disagree.

They say if China and India are allowed to have reduced regulations, global climate change would accelerate at a significantly quicker pace.

As the debate continues, Maldives waits on the sidelines.

Vice President Waheed says the nation has looked into buying land in other countries in case its citizens are eventually forced to move abroad, but he says the world must take action before that happens.

Tuesday, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research announced melting ice on the continent could add to rising global sea levels.

It’s believed waters could climb by 1.4 meters by 2100 unless measures to reduce pollution are taken.

In an effort to make sure the prediction doesn’t turn into a reality, Maldives has pledged to become the world's first carbon-neutral nation.

President Mohamed Nasheed is to reinforce that promise when he leads the country's delegation in Copenhagen.

Phillip Walter Wellman for VOA News, Malé

No.319 オリジナル英文

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Hey, Got a Light?
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You've heard of e-mail, e-books, and maybe e-commerce.

But what a lot of Americans are talking about now are e-cigarettes.

Electronic cigarettes, mostly made in China, first appeared in the United States a couple of years ago, and they're no longer a novelty.

An estimated one-half-million Americans, especially those who are trying to kick the smoking habit, have switched to them.

The federal government, which heavily regulates tobacco products, wants to oversee e-cigarettes as well.

But their makers are fighting hard to prevent it.

E-cigs look like cigarettes.

They even have a cork-like filter.

When the user inhales deeply, a battery activates an atomizer that quickly heats a chamber full of water, nicotine, and a chemical that has a faintly sweet taste.

But taking a long drag on an e-cig is not smoking.

There's no smoke, no second-hand smoke, no cigarette butts on the floor.

There's no lighting up with a match or lighter, either - just a cool, electric-red glow at the end of the e-cig stick.

So technically, e-cigarettes would not seem to violate no-smoking restrictions in public places.

The trade group that is supporting e-cigarette manufacturers in court estimates that an e-cig kit costing a little less than $100 can last a former pack-a-day cigarette smoker ten days.

The industry maintains that smokeless cigarettes are not stop-smoking devices, even though many e-cig users say they almost miraculously helped them end or reduce their smoking habits.

But several states and the federal Food and Drug Administration insist that nicotine is nicotine - addictive and subject to their control.

The music industry can't be happy about e-cigs, either.

If sales keep growing, popular song lyrics like Smoke Gets in Your Eyes won't work any more.

I’m Ted Landphair.

No.318 オリジナル英文

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Renault-Nissan Says Ultra Low-Cost Car Will Be Built by India's Bajaj
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It appears the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano, launched this year in India, will soon get some competition.

Speaking to reporters, Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of Renault and Nissan, revealed the French-Japanese automakers have agreed to work with Bajaj Auto to introduce a new ultra low-cost four-wheeled passenger vehicle in 2012.

"I am practically sure that the cost of this car will be lower than any other car made today in India."

Ghosn also says the new car will have the best performance on the market for a production conventional engine in terms of kilometers per liters of fuel consumed.

Bajaj, a maker of motorcycles and three-wheeled taxis, known as auto rickshaws, is to design and build the new car with assistance from the French company, which is to market and sell the vehicle in India and abroad under the Renault-Nissan brands.

The car, not yet named, will compete with Tata's Nano, which hit Indian roads this year and sells for little more than $2,000.

General Motors of the United States and Toyota of Japan have also previously announced plans to launch, within the next couple of years, small passenger cars in India.

Renault-Nissan next year is to open a passenger car factory in the southern Indian city of Chennai with a capacity to make 400,000 vehicles a year.

But the new joint venture small car is to be made at a Bajaj plant near Pune, in western India.

The French-Japanese automaker ranks in the top four globally, accounting for a 10 percent market share.

But its success in India has been more modest, trailing most competitors.

Ghosn calls sales here of its Logan brand mid-sized sedan, a money-losing joint venture with domestic automaker Mahindra, not up to expectations.

"We cannot just accept a situation where in India we represent less than one percent market share.

That’s absolutely out of question.

We have to adapt to the Indian market.

We have to adapt to the product that the Indian people want."

Ghosn is bullish on the future of India's automotive sector, with a population of more than one billion people, but where annual new car sales are around two million vehicles.

The Renault-Nissan top executives predict the number of autos sold in India will triple in 10 years as more of India's 50 million motorcycle owners move from two wheels to four.

Steve Herman, VOA News, New Delhi

No.317 オリジナル英文

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Temperatures Rise at Flu-Shot Clinics
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The title of this essay, Flu Shot Etiquette, is a poor one.

There hasn't been much etiquette displayed in health clinics and doctors' offices where H1N1, or swine flu, vaccinations are usually offered.

Patients are frustrated by delays in delivery of the vaccine.

Some are angry that they're not among the two groups – children and pregnant women – given priority because they seem most susceptible to swine flu.

Some women who are not the least bit pregnant are lying and saying they are, just so they can get in line.

So desperate is the search for the vaccine among men and women, both, that some are yelling and cursing – even threatening – health workers.

Medical offices report employees – who themselves are highly susceptible to catching this dangerous strain of flu from patients – have been breaking into tears, even walking off the job.

They say they can't take the abuse any more.

The H1N1 vaccine has been slow to arrive due to testing and manufacturing delays.

That has led to cancellations of flu-shot clinics, raising anxieties as the winter flu season nears.

Worried parents, especially, are clogging clinic telephone lines, preventing sick patients seeking appointments from getting through.

Vaccine shipments that do arrive go quickly, increasing the frustration among those turned away.

And frustration can turn to anger when the staff tells them they have no idea when the next shipment will arrive.

Add long lines to the aggravation at places where the shots are available, and temperatures are up across the land, not from the flu, from behavior that some are calling flu rage.

Oh, there is one sort of behavior that might fall under the heading of flu etiquette.

People aren't shaking hands as much these days.

For instance, hockey coach Bruce Boudreau, whose Washington Capitals team had already lost a flu-ridden player for several games, was heading off to sign copies of his new autobiography.

"Everybody you meet is nice and wants to shake your hand," Boudreau said.

"You don't want to be rude and say no, but…"

I’m Ted Landphair.

No.316 オリジナル英文

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New York Yankees Win Major League Baseball's Coveted Championship Title
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New York's Japanese-born designated hitter, Hideki Matsui, was the catalyst in the Yankees' dominating victory.

Matsui drove in six of the team's seven runs in the pivotal sixth game of the Series, including a massive home run off Phillies pitcher Pedro Martinez in the second inning that gave the Yankees their first two scores of the game.

Matsui also drove in two runs during his at-bats in the third and fifth innings.

His exploits earned him the Most Valuable Player award for the 2009 Series, becoming the first Asian-born player, and first full-time designated hitter, to win the award.

Matsui said he was happy to take one for the team.

"I was happy to be able to hit and contribute to the team's win but more than that, just, us as a team, winning the championship - by far - that is such a great feeling.

I guess you can say that this is the best moment of my life right now.

If I were to look back, yes, this would be the best.''

The Yankees have won 27 World Series titles over their storied history, dating back to the 1920's, making them one of the most successful sports franchises in North America.

New York won this year's prize in the first year of their new $1.3-billion stadium.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi says the team was honored to win another World Series title for the franchise's 79-year-old owner, George Steinbrenner.

"This is what the Steinbrenner family has strived for year after year after year and has tried to deliver to this city of New York.

And George Steinbrenner and his family are champions.

Um, and to be able to deliver this to the Boss, the stadium that he created and the atmosphere that he has created around here, um, is…, is very gratifying for all of us."

The Philadelphia Phillies were seeking to become the first National League team to win consecutive World Series since the Cincinnati Reds did it in 1975 and 1976.

New York City's mayor has scheduled a parade through Manhattan Friday, to honor the Yankees.

Richard Green, VOA News, Washington

No.315 オリジナル英文

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'Big-Box' Stores' Prices, Convenience Thrill Shoppers
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The American landscape is full of gigantic stores as large as 30,000 square meters, or 323,000 square feet, in size.

Many are discount operations like Wal-Mart, Target, and Price Club, which offer consumers convenient one-stop shopping.

Customers love their low prices and vast selection, especially during the current recession.

So shopping-center developers keep building them.

But not everyone adores megastores.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation calls them big boxes and has published guidebooks on how to keep them out of town.

And cities like Fort Collins, Colorado, and Charlottesville, Virginia, have banned big-box stores.

Other places have called a temporary halt to megastores while they decide how to deal with them.

As Rockville, Maryland's, former mayor, Rose Krasnik, once put it, "They are not aesthetically pleasing.

When you walk in, you're looking at a windowless, cinder block warehouse."

And outside at peak shopping times, you can also be looking at a traffic quagmire, especially when two or three megastores locate in the same shopping complex.

Shoppers converging from throughout a metropolitan area are, of course, exactly why smaller retailers want to cluster around these big-box stores.

The cities that have banned giant discount stores are not impressed by their low prices.

They call it predatory pricing because so-called mom-and-pop shops and downtown department stores cannot hope to offer the same vast selection and cheap prices.

When smaller stores are driven out of business, the life is sucked out of downtown and neighborhood shopping centers.

And what happens when a big-box store goes out of business?

It leaves behind an ugly, empty hulk that can be hard to fill, and a sea of empty asphalt around it.

This abandoned eyesore, in turn, drives people away from the same shopping malls that the big-box store once made so popular.

I’m Ted Landphair.

No.313 オリジナル英文

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Do You Have Some James Bond in You?
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A few years ago, David Borgenicht of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a book producer.

He found people who had book ideas that he liked and helped them find publishers.

Then one day, he read an article that gave him an idea for his own book.

From it, he and Philadelphia magazine writer Joshua Piven produced an instant best-seller that developed almost a cult following.

It's about life-and-death situations and how to survive them.

The article that David Borgenicht was reading told people how they might safely land a small plane if the pilot passes out.

It got Borgenicht thinking about other hair-raising situations in movies and TV shows.

Of course it's one thing for an action hero to break down a door, leap from a moving motorcycle into a car, or fend off a killer shark.

But how would the ordinary, out-of-shape reader do it?

How would he or she wrestle free from an alligator, survive if his parachute does not open, or escape from a mountain lion?

David Borgenicht and Joshua Piven got together to produce a pocket-sized book called The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

In its first eight months, it sold more than 1 million copies and was reprinted 11 times.

Killer bees chasing you?

Not a problem.

Lost in the desert?

Turn to Page 129.

Need to build a fire but don't have any matches?

No sweat, wrote Borgenicht and Piven, who are just ordinary physical specimens.

We should note that, despite its helpful tips, the book is sold in the HUMOR section in bookstores.

For instance, if you find yourself on top of a moving train, here's how to survive: Don't stand up!

Common sense, perhaps, but it could come in handy.

The authors have since produced a whole series of guides, including how to survive while traveling and how to survive in college.

I’m Ted Landphair.