☆ World's oldest person

現在世界で一番のご長寿さんをご存知ですか？

On May 3, 1873, a woman named Hernandez, was born
in a place called El Salvador. This year, Hernandez
celebrated her 128th birthday! Can you guess how
many family members Hernandez has? Hernandez has
13 children, 60 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren,
25 great-great grandchildren! What an unbelievably
huge family! She is so lucky to live until the age of
128 years old. I wonder if she will live until she is 130
years old? The secretary at Bella, calculated that through
Hernandez 178 lives have been born into the world - now that's amazing!

128歳と聞いて驚いてしまいますね！
彼女から１７８人もの命が続いているなんてすごいことです。
子供が１３人いる時点で驚きですが・・・。

By Christina

☆ Living a long time

昔に比べたらかなり寿命が長くなりましたよね。
最近では長寿番付を公開しないなど
少し話題になっています。
興味深いですが、載せられるご長寿さんには
個人情報など問題があるのでしょうか・・・。

Do you ever imagine what it would be like to
live a long time? These days many people from
the 'first world' countries are living
from the ages of 77 to 88 years old. People
usually live longer if they live in a wealthier country.
Unfortunately, people who live in a third world country
may live from the ages of 35 to 60 years old.
Some people have no desire to live a long life
because of the uncertainty of world problems.
Uncertainty means there is nothing stable about the world.
But, some people, such as myself would like to live
until they are 100 years old! To live until 100 years old
would be very exciting - imagine all the interesting memories
you would have to share with people.
By Christina

first world country - 先進工業国
third world country - 第三世界諸国
uncertainty - 不確実、不確定、先行き不安

皆さんは１００歳まで生きたいですか？
もし健康状態が良好なら、１００歳まででも色々
挑戦してみたいですね♪

☆ Modern Heroes

ヒーローについては今日が最後。
あなたにとっての「ヒーロー」の
定義は何ですか？

These days movie stars and singers are
the most modern day heroes to the younger
generations. Perhaps it is because they are
rich, beautiful and talented? Are these people
your modern heroes? I prefer heroes who
sacrifice something to help other people.
I like great characters who are not selfish.
Do you think it's possible we could all have
the potential to be a hero? If you could be a
hero, what kind of hero would you be? I'd like
to be a mixture of many famous people I've
read about.
By Christina

sacrifice - 犠牲にする
potential - 可能性、見込み

確かに、最近ではスーパーマンなどの
古典的なヒーローよりは
歌手や役者などより身近な人の方が
ヒーローになりやすいのかもしれません。
世界で活躍する野球選手は
子供にとってすばらしいヒーロー像ですよね。

日本語解説ーベラスタッフ

☆ Friends can be heroes

今日は皆さんの身近にいる
ヒーローのお話。
ヒーローといっても、
映画やアニメに出てくるような
超人ばかりではありません。

Do you have a friend who would do absolutely
anything to help you? These kind of people
are our personal heroes. A friend who cares enough
to make sure you are safe, healthy and happy.
Some friends will ensure they will do as much as
they can to help you in your life. One of my
favorite quotations is this: "Great love has no
man than this than to lay down his life for his
friend". This literally means a friend who cares
about you deeply and sincerely would give
anything to help you - even life itself.
In England, this kind of friend was known as
the 'white knight' - usually a brave man on
a white horse, dressed in armour to rescue
people. All these type of people are heroes.
By Christina

absolutely - 完全に、まったく
ensure - 確実にする、保証する
brave - 勇気ある

家族や友人など、自分のことを大切に思ってくれて
いつも助けてくれる人はいますか？
そんな人のことは大切にしたいですね。
自分も誰かのヒーローになれると良いです♪

日本語解説ーベラスタッフ

Sometimes old proverbs, statements and quotations have challenging grammar. Sometimes they use the same word twice or more. So the proverb, "Great love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends" uses "than" twice. This is because it is more than 2000 years old! To directly translate it: The love you have for your friends is greater than your selfishness. You will do anything for your friend, and not think about yourself first.

Please remember than most ordinary English does not use such challenging language, but sometimes it is good to see such sentences, as it helps us learn new ways to say things in English. In other languages the same rule applies, as in Japanese language. The older the statements or proverbs in Japanese, the more ancient the words or grammar become. It is also the same in the English language.

☆ Why do we want heroes?

前回に引き続きヒーローのお話です。
最近ヒーローを題材にした映画や
ドラマが多いですが、なぜ
ヒーローものが流行っているのでしょう？

There are songs, movies, books,
poems and souvenirs that show
heroes and how they are significant
in our lives. I think having heroes
to read and talk about gives us hope that
there are people we can look-up to
(admire and respect).
There is always good and bad
and the hero usually saves society from
becoming completely bad. What kind of
heroes do like in Japan? Recently, I saw
the Japanese movie: 'Japan Sinks' and the
hero sacrificed his life to save the remainder
of Japan from sinking. These kind of heroic
actions are incredible for an ordinary person.

By Christina

souvenir - 記念品、土産
significant - 重要な、重大な
sacrifice - 犠牲にする
ordinary - 普通の、並の、平凡な

ヒーローものが流行る背景には、
不安定な社会が影響しているのかもしれませんね。
誰にでも希望の象徴、ヒーローが必要です。

日本語解説ーベラスタッフ

☆ Sports in Australia 1: Major football competition

オーストラリアにいるブレイクから
オーストラリアのスポーツ第一弾として
フットボールのお話が届きました♪
連休前にちょっと読んでみては如何でしょう？

Some people say that Australia does not have
a culture, it has sports. September is when
Australia's love of football is at it's peak.
The end of season finals for the National
Rugby League (NRL) and the Australian
Football League (AFL) are held in September.
Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Rules
Football (AFL) are both winter sports in
Australia. Rugby League and Australian
Rules are just two of the four sports that
are called football in Australia (the others
are Rugby Union and Soccer).

フットボールと言っても、
アメフトとラグビーとサッカーの３種類ありますよね。
オーストラリアでのフットボールは
オーストラリア式フットボールとラグビーなんですね。
スポーツに詳しくないスタッフにとっては
何がなんだか訳が分かりません・・・（汗）

Sydney (Australia's largest city) is the home of
Rugby League and Melbourne (Australia's
second largest city) is the home of
Australian Rules Football. However the finals
for the NRL and the AFL show a change in
both competitions. Traditionally, almost
all clubs in the NRL were based around
Sydney and almost all clubs in the AFL were
based around Melbourne. Therefore, the
champions in the NRL were almost always
from Sydney and the champions in the
AFL were almost always from Melbourne.
Both sports have formed teams in other
major Australian cities in recent times though.

やはりどのチームにも地元があるようですね。
オーストラリアの場合、日本の野球やサッカーのように
各地に散らばっているわけではなく
シドニーとメルボルン周辺に固まっているようです。
それはそれで珍しい！

This year sees a Melbourne team as a favorite
to win the Rugby League. In addition to that,
four of the six teams in the AFL finals are
from outside Melbourne. Australian media
and sports fans are quite excited about
both sports truly becoming national sports
in reality and not just in name.

今オーストラリアでは、ラグビーとフットボールの
両方に人気があるようです。
まさに旬な話題です♪

By Blake
日本語解説ーベラスタッフ

☆ Heroes of the past

今回は「ヒーロー」についてです。
皆さんにとってのヒーローは誰ですか？

Who's your hero of the past? Is it someone
from a cartoon, like Superman? Or is it a
friend or family member you admire and
respect? Some people like hero's who are
physically stronger than humans. Some
people also like hero's who have extra
helpful characters and personalities.
My favorite comic hero is Wonderwoman.
She's physically strong and fit, but at
the same time she is beautiful and so smart!
These are the type of things I admire about
certain heroes.

最近ヒーロー映画が多く放映されていますね。
スーパーマンも新しくなり、
スパイダーマンも人気の映画です。
クリスティーナのヒーローはワンダーウーマンだそうですが
皆さんの子供の頃のヒーローは誰でしたか？

By Christina

☆ Sun protection

今日は日よけに関してのお話。
オゾン層破壊のせいで
紫外線が強いですね。
皆さん、今年の夏の
日焼け対策は如何でしたか？

When I was a child, summer time was exciting
and even though the temperature was sometimes
high, it seemed to be safer to play outside than
now. These days it is easy to get sun burnt quickly
- it only takes me about five to ten minutes to
get burnt in Japan! Believe it or not, the sunshine's
rays in Australia are far more dangerous compared
with Japan. Australia's ozone layer is causing many
skin problems, such as skin cancer. Many people die
of too much sun exposure every year in Australia.

オーストラリアは紫外線が強いのですね！
日本では紫外線対策、日焼け対策は万全ですが
なぜオーストラリアの方達は日焼けを気にしないのでしょう？

Japanese women take good care to protect their skin.
They use sun umbrellas and wear sun lotion to
protect their faces. But it is not very popular in
Australia to wear hats, use umbrellas and wear
sun lotion protection. The reason many women
don't seem to care about their skin as much as
Japanese is because all their life they have grown
up with hot weather and they don't think there is
a problem with not protecting themselves.
However, whenever I return to Australia, I always
try to use an umbrella!

確かに海外の方達は、日傘や日焼け止めを余り使っていませんね。
暑い夏はキャミソールに短パン、という姿が定番のようです。
夏に作った日焼けのせいで、白い肌にそばかすが見えますが
あれがどれだけ夏を楽しんだかの証のような気がします。

exposure - 照射

By Christina

☆ Strange weather conditions

最近は環境汚染のせいか
異常気象が続いています。
今年の夏は、世界各地で
猛暑が続きました。

Within the past three years
the weather all over
the world has become
extremely damanging and
had developed severe conditions. The weather
has affected both the earth and the oceans around
it. Many people think that global warming is the
reason for strange weather conditions. Do you
remember what happened in Europe about two
years ago? Many people died of heat exhaustion
and dehydration. Do you remember last year's
summer season in Japan? It was the hottest
summer I've ever experienced! This year, in New
York City, people have been experiencing
scorching hot summer temperatures, which
have been dangerous for their health.
Now much of the ice in Greenland is melting
and Antartica is also having problems keeping
normal temperatures. It is difficult to know
what to do about all these strange weather
conditions? Perhaps being environmentally
friendly may be a good idea!

heat exhaustion-熱中症、熱射病
dehydration-脱水症
scorching-焼けるような、焼け付くような

私達の生活を守るためにも、
今からしっかり環境の事を考える必要がありますね。
このブログを起に、小さなことでも何か始めて行きましょう。
ベラでは紙を節約するところからでしょうか？
いらない紙はメモにしたり、節電したり
できることは沢山ありますよね♪

By Christina
日本語解説ーベラスタッフ

☆ Typhoon seasons & Hurricanes

前回に引き続き、
今日も台風のお話です。
台風で雨量が増すと
全国では沢山の被害がでます。
今年も九州では雨が沢山降り
かなりの被害がでましたね。
海外でもハリケーンのせいで
多くの被害がでているようです。

Typhoons are giant whirlwinds, they can also
be described as tropical cyclones. Japan usually
has difficult weather patterns during the typhoon
season. Where there are many landslides and
high water tides, they cause risks to people's lives.
Typhoons are more common in Asian than other
countries. Sometimes in Australia, hurricanes
can cause huge damage to people's houses and
their farms. Recently, in Queensland, the Northern
part of Australia, had an extremely bad hurricane.
The hurricane ruined and destroyed most of
the banana farms. Hurricanes are similar to
typhoons, but the winds are less dangerous,
there is usually more rain instead. Compared
with Japanese wind, the Australian wind is not
as dangerous.

whirlwind-つむじ風
cyclone-低気圧（インド洋で発生する）
ruin-破壊する

クリスティーナがtyphoonとhurricaneの違いを説明してくれてますね。
hurricaneの方が、風が穏やかで雨が多いんですね。
調べてみたところ、それぞれ規模など多少の違いはありますが、
北太平洋のは typhoon、北大西洋のは hurricane、
インド洋のはcyclone、オーストラリアのは willy-willyというように
分類されるようです。

By Christina
日本語解説ーベラスタッフ

Kelly: "I don't like the look of those clouds, Dan. It looks like it might rain."

Dan: "But everything seems so peaceful and quiet."

Kelly: "You know what they say about those kind of situations? There's always a calm before a storm!"

Dan: "May be. I suppose we should close the windows, just in case the rain comes in."