英語学習のAaron Teaches　ブログ

今日は、California Adventure Parkについての英文です。このパークは、Disneyland Park（通称Disneyland）に隣接しており、Paradise Pier、Route 66、Golden State、California wilderness、Napa Valley and the wine industry、Hollywood Pictures Backlot、A Bug's Lifeなどのエリアなどから構成されています。



Photo by Paul Sapiano

This is Disney's California Adventure Park, which is located in Anaheim, California, next to Disneyland Park. Disneyland Park is near Los Angeles, but is in Anaheim, not Los Angeles. If you visited Disneyland Park, commonly referred to as Disneyland, before 2001, you may remember an extremely large parking lot. California Adventure Park was built in that parking lot and opened on February 8, 2001. California Adventure Park was constructed as part of a Disney project to transform Disneyland into the Disneyland Resort. The new resort area uses themes based on California culture, landmarks and history.

California Adventure Park contains Paradise Pier, which has a California boardwalk theme based on popular California boardwalks such as the Santa Monica Pier and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. One part is based on Route 66, the old highway that ran from Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to California. You can also find Golden State; which has five areas based on aviation in California; California wilderness; our very own Bay Area; Napa Valley and the wine industry; and Pacific Wharf, which seems to combine the Cannery Row of John Steinbeck with San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

Other areas at California Adventure Park include Hollywood Pictures Backlot and A Bug's Life. The California Adventure Park was not as successful as Disney had hoped and was criticized for not having provided enough while not reducing the price. In 2007, Disney embarked upon an expansion plan. Given Disney's success rate, we imagine that this park will become a success too.

英語翻訳、英文校正のアーロンランゲージサービスは、ウェブサイトにて、毎週さまざまなトピックを取り上げ、英語でお伝えしております。http://www.aaronlanguage.com/weekly_English_topics_main_page.htmlからどうぞ。

By Dawn Endico

今日はガラガラヘビについての英文を読んでみましょう。

You can find rattlesnakes throughout all of California. Rattlesnakes usually have a rattle on the tail, but not always. The rattle could be missing or it could be small and you could miss it. This is why you cannot rely on the rattle to identify rattlesnakes. This picture of combat ritual between two male Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes was taken by Dawn Endico in Portola Valley.

We turn to Wikipedia to learn more about rattlesnakes. Here are some of the facts we found:

1. There are approximately thirty species of rattlesnake.
2. Rattlesnakes consume rodents and other small animals with venomous bites.
3. If the rattle absorbs enough water in wet weather, it will not make noise.
4. Rattlesnakes are born with fully functioning fangs capable of injecting venom.
5. A rattlesnake bite is always a potentially fatal injury.
6. Antivenom, when applied in time, reduces the death rate to less than 4%.
7. Around 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States each year.
8. Rattlesnakes are also a popular food in some southeastern and southwestern American cuisines and are sometimes sold in speciality meat shops. It has a flavor that has been described as similar to chicken or frog legs and a chewy texture.

Click the link above to learn more about rattlesnakes.

英文中のvenom は、毒液のことです。

欧州委員会での英語の使用が増えています。英文をご覧ください。

The amount of English used in the European Commission is growing while the percentage of documents in other languages is shrinking. The European Commission, part of the government of the European Union, is now reducing the number of Spanish, Italian, French, and German translators. The Commission has three main working languages: English, German, and French. The number of French and German translators will not be reduced as much as the number of Spanish and Italian translators. The number of Spanish, Italian, French, and German translators is being reduced by between approximately 10 and 35%. English translators will increase by slightly under 1%. The term working language, which refers to French, German, and English, means that all internal documents and EU legislation must be issued in these languages.

There are 18 other official languages of the EU. While all EU legislation must be translated into these languages, nothing else is required. Today, more and more documents in the commission, in the EU, and in each country are written in English. Approximately 60 of all internal commission memos are now written in English, 25 percent in French, and 5 percent in German.

The Commission estimates that they will need to translate 1,710,000 pages next year. The majority of these will be in English. While the population of the EU speaks many languages, it is just too difficult and too expensive to do everything in all languages. English is faster and faster becoming the most convenient language for the European Commission, the European Union, and its millions of people.

欧州委員会内で使用される文書も英語で書かれることが多くなってきています。ヨーロッパに限らず、世界中で、英語でコミュニケーションをとる機会がますます増えています。