今日の英和対訳天声人語（おじさん的英語習得法、若い君ならもっと簡単かも。）

Why high-rises pose a risk to life and limb

　僕は英辞郎を使って英語を読みまくり、インターネットラジオのNHKのラジオジャパン英語ニュースで時事英語を聞きまくってます。（＾＾；
参考「こんな感じで英辞郎を使ってます」

Why high-rises pose a risk to life and limb

04/23/2005

What was a typical scene in any neighborhood a half-century ago now seems lost to history. But poet Tatsuji Miyoshi's depiction of children's voices in his neighborhood in 1950s and 60s makes me wonder if such scenes could still be around somewhere.

In ``Tsuki no Toka'' (Ten days of the month), a Kodansha Bungei Bunko paperback, Miyoshi writes:

2005年04月22日（金曜日）付
【天声人語】

　半世紀ほど前の街の情景だから、失われて久しいのかもしれない。しかし、まだどこかに残っていそうな気もするのが、三好達治が書いた子供の声の話である。

``Every morning, I hear children's lively voices from the house opposite mine. I hear them shout after breakfast, `We're off. See you later.'''

Come noon, and Miyoshi heard their, ``We're home'' just as clearly. With only a narrow alley separating his home from his neighbor's, Miyoshi could pretty much tell what was going on next door, even though he did not have a particularly close relationship with his neighbors.

This is the sort of thing one does not experience living in magnificent residence. ``I would never want to live in a big, towering house,'' Miyoshi adds.

　「毎朝向いの家で元気な子供の声がきこえる。食事がすむと『いって参りまあす』というのが聞える」。昼になれば「ただいまあ」が、手にとるように聞こえる。露地一つを隔てて隣接しているからで、親しいつきあいはなくとも様子が分かる。宏壮な邸宅に居ては、この風味は味わえない。「私には大厦（たいか）高楼に住まいたい希望はない」（『月の十日』講談社文芸文庫）。

Today's high-rise housing complexes fit that bill. In Osaka, two rattan shelves for potted plants came hurtling down from the balcony of a 27th-floor apartment 77 meters above ground. They were tossed by the apartment's 78-year-old resident, who was arrested by Osaka prefectural police and charged with attempted murder.

　現代風の大厦高楼とも言える高層マンションの２７階から、植木鉢を載せる籐（とう）製の台二つが降ってきたという。大阪府警は、高さ７７メートルの自宅のベランダから投げ落としたとの殺人未遂の疑いで、大阪市内の７８歳の住人を逮捕、送検した。

The resident reportedly told police that she threw the shelves in anger because she had tripped on them while cleaning the balcony.

One of the shelves barely missed a woman who was passing below on a bicycle.

The shelf was cracked and bent out of shape. Nobody needs a close brush with death of this kind.

　「ベランダの掃除をしていたら台につまずき、腹が立ったので投げた」と供述したというが、一つは自転車に乗っていた女性の前髪をかすめた。落ちた台はひびが入って変形していた。こんな「命拾い」はたまらない。

When you look down from a towering high-rise, all you get is a distant view of street life. You can't see nearby scenes. You see trees, but you can't see their branches. You see people, but not their faces, nor can you hear their voices.

　塔のような高層の建物に上って感じるのは「近景の欠如」だ。地上のものは、遠景になってしまう。樹木は見えても枝は見えない。人は見えても顔は見えないし、声も届かない。

I can imagine many people actually relish this ``isolation'' from the world below and enjoy the open view they would not get from the ground level.

High-rise housing complexes have brought a new lifestyle to Japan today, but they can also instantaneously turn a perfectly harmless object into an instrument of destruction.

　こうした地上からの隔絶感をむしろ楽しみ、地面の近くでは得難い見晴らしを味わう人も多いのだろう。高さは、日本の暮らしに新しい形をもたらしたが、ありふれた物を、いつでも一瞬のうちに凶器に変える力をも備えている。

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 22(IHT/Asahi: April 23,2005)

Tange set himself huge task in difficult times

　僕は英辞郎を使って英語を読みまくり、インターネットラジオのNHKのラジオジャパン英語ニュースで時事英語を聞きまくってます。（＾＾；
参考「こんな感じで英辞郎を使ってます」

Tange set himself huge task in difficult times

03/25/2005

Foro Romano in central Rome is a cluster of ruins dating back to the old Republic. The nearby City Hall is said to have been built over the Tabularium, the ancient hall of records.

2005年03月24日（木曜日）付
【天声人語】

　ローマの中心部にあるフォロロマーノには、古代ローマの都市遺跡が立ち並んでいる。そばのローマ市の庁舎も、古代のタブラリウム（記録保管所）の上に築かれていると聞いた。

When the current Tokyo metropolitan government buildings were going up, I mentioned to the head of Rome's municipal museum department that the Tokyo government was abandoning its 30-year-old buildings for new premises that would cost more than 100 billion yen.

He remarked, ``It is fun, and a good thing too, to be able to fix and maintain a building built by your grandfather and his grandfather.''

Japan, however, has a tradition of constantly replacing old buildings. In fact, the new Tokyo metropolitan government headquarters came to symbolize that attitude.

　東京の都庁舎が建て替えられる頃、ローマ市の美術館局長に「東京では、築３０年ほどの庁舎を捨て、千数百億円かけて新庁舎を建てるところです」と話したことがある。答えはこうだった。「おじいさんや、そのまたおじいさんがつくったものに手をかけて暮らすのは、楽しく、よいことです」。建物がどんどん新しいものに変わる日本を、都庁舎は象徴していた。

Kenzo Tange, who designed both the old and new Tokyo government buildings, died Tuesday. In ``Tange Kenzo'' published by Shinkenchiku-sha, author Terunobu Fujimori, also an architect, described the architect as ``someone who gave form to the Showa Era (1926-1989).'' Indeed, Tange's works symbolized particular times in post-World War II Japan.

　新旧の都庁を設計した丹下健三さんが亡くなった。『丹下健三』（新建築社）を著した藤森照信さんが「昭和という時代に形を与えた人」と述べていたが、戦後の、その時々の日本を象徴する作品を残した。

Fujimori once asked him: ``You have studied the works of many architects of all periods around the world. Who do you think is the greatest?'' Tange answered, ``Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris) and Michelangelo.''

　藤森さんが、丹下さんに尋ねた。「世界の古今の建築家の仕事をたくさん見てこられて、誰が一番と思われますか」。「……ル・コルビュジエとミケランジェロですね」

Tange was a high school student under the old school system in Hiroshima when he came across the work of Le Corbusier, acclaimed as one of the fathers of modern architecture, featured in a magazine in a library. The architect left such a tremendous impact on the young Tange that he decided to go into the profession himself.

He later recalled in ``Ippon-no Enpitsu-kara'' (From one pencil), published by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, ``I was completely taken by his style that was devoid of any decorative element but decidedly beautiful in a severe way.''

　近代建築の祖の一人とされるコルビュジエには、旧制広島高校時代に図書館の雑誌で出会う。衝撃を受け、建築家を志した。「装飾的なものを一切取り払いながらも、凛（りん）とした美しさを持つその設計に、私はすっかりほれ込んでしまった」（『一本の鉛筆から』日本経済新聞社）。

Perhaps Tange always sought that kind of beauty even when designing massive contemporary structures. And perhaps he understood better than anyone what a tremendously difficult quest that was in our times.

　現代の巨大建築であっても、必ずどこかに凛とした美しさを込めようとしていたのだろうか。この時代に、それを求め続けることの途方もない難しさを、誰よりも味わっていたのかもしれない。

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 24(IHT/Asahi: March 25,2005)