気になる表現

時事英語に戻る　　 洋書の部屋　　 気になる表現 2005年 

ＰＢを読んでいて、気になる表現、謎の表現、変わった表現を集めてみました。


☆Gate of the Tigers by Henry Meigs から

    

  1. Before Ludlow could reply, Graves opened his office door and 
waved the Operations agent inside. 'Just in time. I've a bone
to pick with you." He closed the door behind them. (P161)

bone to pick with:～に対する苦情








☆The Shadows of Christmas Past by Christine Feehan and Susan Sizemore から

    

  1. There was something magical in the voice, more magical than the fact
that she was sticking up for him. His fingers tightened involuntarily
on Jase's shoulder. It was the first time he could ever remember
anyone sticking up for him. (P19)

stick up for:弁護する








☆Prey by Michael Crichton から

    

  1. Julia said Xymos had made several breakthroughs, and was far ahead
of others in the field. She said they were just days away from 
a prototype commercial product. But I took what she said with
a grain of salt. (P8)

grain of salt:話半分








☆Nerd in Shining Armor by Vicki Lewis Thompson から

    

  1. "I'm going!" Shitfire, she didn't want him worrying about her.
He'd said it would be every man for himself. (P58)

every man for himself:人のことなんか構ってられない








☆The Poet by Michael Connelly から

    

  1. Though it could be argued that it was still a line-of-duty 
death, it wasn't considered one by the department. So Sean didn't 
get the Show and most of the Denver police force stayed away. 
Suicide is believed to be contagious by many in the thin blue line. 
(P14)

The Thin Blue Line: 警察が舞台の、イギリスのテレビコメディ（多分）


  2. Gladden was surprised that she seemed to be taking the lead 
here. She looked to be about five to eight years younger than 
Sweetzer. She had blond hair kept in an easily managed short 
style. She was maybe fifteen pounds overweight and that was 
mostly in her hips and upper arms. Gladden guessed she worked 
out on the pipes. He also thought she was a lesbian. 
He could tell these things. He had a sense. (P62)

pipes: parts of the body(or biceps)



  3. "Just a question. It's kind of out of left field but here
it is. Did the cops show you or give you back Sean's gloves?" (P88)

out of left field: その場に似合わない,予期せぬ


  4. "Your bad luck is continuing in that the deputy DA assigned 
the case is a woman who I have had some dealings with before. 
She is a ballbuster and the arresting officers have informed her 
of the, uh, situation as they saw it at the pier."

"So she's going to go balls to the wall against me."
 (P102)

go balls to the wall: 全力で


  5. They can't move Gordon because he's got seniority. He's 
been there since the center started. If they move me the unit
loses one of the only three females and they know I'll make
a beef about it. (P237)

beef:不平









☆Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder から

    

  1. Sophie sat with her heart in her mouth. Was this really the
philosopher talking to her? She had only seen his profile that
one time in the darkness. Could he be the same man who was
now standing at the Acropolis in Athens? (P73)

have one's heart in one's mouth:びっくり仰天する


  2.   The footsteps passed her one their way up the aisle and she
saw a figure dressed in a brown monk's habit. Sophie could 
have sworn it was a monk right out of the Middle Ages.
  She was nervous. but not scared out of her wits. (P169)

out of one's wits:ひどく取り乱して







☆Divided in Death by J.D.Robb から

    

  1. After that, well, she wasn't quite sure what she'd do. She'd
just play the rest by ear. (P3)

by ear:出たとこ勝負


  2. "It earned you the rest of the day. Go home, get some sleep."
"Seriously?"
"And report to my home office at seven hundred. Sharp."
"With bells on." (P78)

with bells on:喜び勇んで







☆Goodnight, Irene by Jan Burke から

    

  1. Cody had relaxed and was walking around in the kitchen sniffing
in the air. Lydia gave hima a little lasagna and he devoured it
in nothing flat. (P35)

in nothing flat:アッという間に


  2. I could tell he was going to be a tough nut, and that he
was scared out of his pants by what I had blabbed on him
so far. (P93)

be scared out of his pants:～で腰を抜かす


  3. Well, for some reason Mrs. Hollingsworth took a shine to me
and decided to give me a personal tour of the place. (P267)

take a shine to:～が気に入る









☆Both Ends of the Night by Marcia Muller から

    

  1. He heaved the martyred sigh of a true hacker. Months before
he came to work for me, Mick had broken into the Pacific Palisades
Board of Education's computer and used certain information 
to line his own pockets. (P73)

line one's own pocket:私腹を肥やす


  2. It occured to me that if somebody wanted to appraoch him about
planting a device in Matty's plane, they couldn't just go in 
cold, now, could they? (P108)

go in cold:ぶっつけ本番でやる、









☆Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane から

    

  1. If time for me really is a series of bookmarks, then I feel
as if someone has shaken the book and those yellowed slips of
papers, torn matchbook covers and flattened stirrers have fallen
to the floor, and the dog-eared flaps have been pressed smooth.(P2)








☆After Glow by Jayne Castle から

    

  1. She had been warned, albeit respectfully, that Hepscott affected
a rather eccentric style. Now she comprehended why he had acquired
that reputation. He was a study in pales. (P79)

study: 見もの
in pales:グレーの色調


  2. He inclined his head to Lydia, gave Emmett his shoulder, and
walked away into the crowd. (P195)

give the cold shoulder to someone: ～によそよそしい態度を見せる







☆Family Honor by Robert B. Parker から

    

  1. The man looked at my card for a little while without picking it up,
and then he looked up at me and smiled. It was an effective smile and 
I could tell that he knew it. The little crinkles at his eyes made him
look kind though wise, and the parentheses arouond his mouth gave him
a look of firm resolve. (P12)


  2. "Has she been getting therapy?"
"Doesn't every teenaged brat that can't cut it get therapy?"
 Brock said.(P108)

cut it:見事にやる,水準に達する








☆Hard Rain by Barry Eisler から

    

  1. I ordered two Taliskers. They were excellent: huge and peppery,
with a finish that lasted forever. (P63)

finish: 味の余韻








☆Rain Fall by Barry Eisler から

    

  1. He gestured to the counter, but Midori shook her head. She
wasn't ready to break bread with this man. 

break bread with:～と食事を共にする


  2. My papger buzzed. I found a pay phone and dialed the number.
It was Benny. After the usual exchange of bona fides, he said,
"There's another job for you, if you want it." (P105)


  3. "Jaa, kanpai," she said, and we touched glasses and drank. She
paused for a moment afterward, then said, "Wow, that is good. 
Like a caress."
"Like what your music sounds like."
She smiled and gave me one of her shoulder checks.


  4. Construction is the biggest employer in Japan--it puts the rice
on one out of every six Japanese tables. (P204)








☆The Love Of A Cowboy by Anna Jeffrey から

    

  1. You could go up to the ski lodge and spend the night, but
it's thirty-eight miles and it's a little late. I expect there's
black ice on the road. Besides, your friend in there doesn't look
like she's game for the trip. (P39)

game: ～する気がある


  2. "But if you don't believe me, while we're finishing off this
champagne, I'll let you call me all the dirty names you know."
"I don't mean to say that. I don't usually call people names."(P113)

name:悪口








☆The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood から

    

  1. The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem;
as if they had been cut and are beginning to heal there. (P22)








☆Gone for Good by Harlan Coben から

    
Sheila had told me once--and only once--that she was used
to getting up early because of her years working on the farm.
When I pressed her for details, she quickly clammed up. The 
past was the line in the sand. Cross it at your own peril. (P24)








☆Why The Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo から

    
There's plenty of people, Daniel's mother amongst them, think
you've been getting Daniel into mischief. Personally I think
it's six to one half a dozen of the other, don't you?(P101)

six of one and half a dozen of the other: 五十歩百歩







☆The Angel's Crime by Preston A.Pairo Ⅲ から

    

  1. Not far uphill from the wooden house, exposed to free-flowing
currents of air, a windmill turned slowly in the cold breeze, 
wood planks creeking from ice frozen in its veins. (P7)


  2. Meanwhile, she ourfitted herself casually hip by day, 
sometimes shifting to sexy, even raunchy, by night. (P74)

hip: かっこいい,粋な


  3. No attachments. Lots of guys. She's had a ball, and always
put aside those empty feelings that sometimes came to her when
she thought about what she might be missing by not having a family
and being married. (P159)

have a ball: 大いに楽しむ


  4. "I'll go get him," before he started down the hall. His expression
was humorless and undercut with urgency. (P196)








☆The Ape Who Guards the Balance by Elizabeth Peters から

    

  1. He is Mrs. Markham's brother, and a sturdy defender of the
cause. If you had deigned to atttend our earlier meetings, 
Mrs. Emerson, you would be aware of these facts. (P12)


  2. Her feelings for Howard and Ned Ayrton are friendly at best,
and I assure you she would never set her cap for a married man. (P121)

set one's cap for:(女が男)の気を引こうとする


  3. I did not forbid Nefret to go, because it would never have occured
to me that she would. Autopsies and mangled bodies, yes; the abodes of
hardened criminals, certainly; but a house of illicit affection...
 I cannot imagine how I could have been so dense. (P210)

dense:鈍感な







☆Cold Feet by Brenda Novak から

    

  1. Did he hit you up for money? (P81)

hit up someone for cash:(人)にお金をせがむ


  2. She is a great kid. She's just a little out of her element
right now. (P86)


  3. Now I'm not saddled with the guilt of calling it quits, which
I would've had to do at some point. (P242)










☆Balck & Blue by Ian Rankin から

    

  1. A resident walking his greyhound had called it in. 'A lot of
stuff gets chucked on to the street, but not like this.' (P19)

get chucked:捨てられる


  2. "I'm on it!"
"Go easy, son, we're all freinds here."
Holmes seemed to deflate. He rubbed his eyes, clawed fingers
through his hair.
"Sorry," he said. "I'm beat, that's all it is." (P111)

beat: へとへとで


  3. "Do you know how many women make chief inspector in the Scottish force?"
"I know we're talking the fingers of a blind carpenter's hand." (P113)


  4. He's scared of these dealers, too scared to tell them to get
lost. But the last thing he wants is us catching on and putting
him in jail as an acceessory. That's why he's grassing." (P116)

grass: 密告する







☆The King's Bishop by Candace Robb から

    

  1. Mist hung low in the Vale of Rievaulx. The abbey seemed to
float on clouds. But for the awaiting the Abbot's blessing, the
damp ground was all too substantial. (P143)








☆Remember When by Nora Roberts/J.D.Robb から

    

  1. "I can't believe I let you talk me into closing a half hour
early. I can't believe how easy it was for you to talk me into
it. Coming home to change--it looks obvious, doesn't it?"
"What's wrong with obvious?" (P34)


  2. She pulled the warming cover off a plate, revealing an omelette
and a side of bacon. (P47)

side of bacon: salted and cured abdominal wall of a side of pork


  3. Meanwhile there was the matter of the break-in. The timing was
just a little too good to be serendipity. (P49)


  4. Though it was a puzzlement to him how the daughter of a drifter
and a grifter executed a one-eighty to become a small-town homebody.
(P63)

one-eighty: 180度の転回


  5. "He's been your father for twenty-eight years. I've been the
guy in love with you for about two days. I think I can cut you
some slack. Okay?" (P143)

cut someone some slack: (人)に理解を示す








☆The Apothecary Rose by Candace Robb から

    

  1. The thought of the extra revenue pleased her. Her husband, 
Tom, needed a new pair of boots and she had to purchase a donkey
for the cart--Flick was getting long in the tooth.(P56)

long in the tooth: 年を取った






☆The Nunn's Tale by Candace Robb から

    

  1. Free Companies: The Free Companies were one of the worst side 
effects of the Hundred Years War. They were bands of mercenary 
troops, often of mixed nationality, who took control of large 
areas of France, often from an occupied castle. 


  2. A golden dawn found the chinks in the shutters and shone
into the room. (P63)








☆The Lady Chapel by Candace Robb から

    
Corpus Christi:聖体祝日(Trinity Sunday 後の木曜日)
Trinity Sunday:三位一体の主日(Whitsunday の次の日曜日)
Whitsunday: 聖霊降臨祭(Pentecost)(Easter後の第 7 日曜日)
Corpus Christi plays:聖体祝日劇(中世にイングランド北部の
            職業別ギルドによって演じられた一連の聖史劇)
Martinmas: 聖マルティヌスの祭日(11 月 11 日)
Mary Magdalene: マグダラのマリア(イエスにより改心更生した売春婦
           と同一人とされている)


  1. "Why do you keep Michaelo as your secretary?"
"On what unsuspecting soul would I thrust him? I have come
to see Michaelo as my hair shirt." (P157)

hair shirt:自らに課した罰


  2. When Ambrose woke, he could not get his bearings and 
wondered why his cat made such a strange, whimpering sound. (P333)

get one's bearings: 自分がどこにいるか分かる







☆Piranhas by Harold Robbins から

    

  1. "We can ship out ten times more than that," Bradley said.
"Sure we can," Chuck said. "But we have no one to buy it. 
You've been away from Oklahoma a long time. You don't realize
what has been going on. All the high rollers have been wiped
out and more than seventy banks have folded this year. There's
no money around, not even with the shylocks." (P136)

high roller:浪費家,金遣いの荒い人


  2. Bradley sat there silently for a moment, then said to Jed,
"I'm puzzled. You came in out of left field. What brought you
into this game?" (P194)

out of left field:不意に


  3. He turned to Bradley. "We better get a line on that boy.
He's too relaxed for my taste. Also, it's hard to trust a man
who don't drink." (P196)

get a line on: 調べる


  4. They were standing six deep at the bar at the Palms at 8 P.M.
I was glad I had asked Kim to call and make a reservation for us.
(P268)

deep: ～重にもなって






☆A Bitter Feast by S.J.Rozan から

    


  1. New immigrants--Chinese, Dominican, Colombian, Pakistani--
flock there and live three or four to a room in illegal apartments
in what are supposed to be one- or two-family houses. (P17)

live three or four to a room: 一部屋に３家族か４家族が住んでいる


  2. "There are certain similarities," I admitted. "Although Chinatown's 
not a Cantonese village anymore."
"Full of unwashed newcomers from the wrong side of the track, huh?"
"They're washed. But they're not from Guangdong so much, now." (P79)

unwashed:下層社会,下層民


  3. So my mother and I had dinner, adding steamed rice and sliced 
carrots and an assortment of spices and sauces tothe food I'd 
brought. As opposed to her handling of my brothers and me, my 
mother has a very light hand with seasonings; as opposed to her 
personality, my mother's food is subtle and delicate. (P99)

light hand: 手際の良い


  4. So that conversation ended the way so many of ours do:
Bill hitting on me in a kidding-around way; me telling him to
put a sock in it an annoyed-sounding way. (P112)

Put a sock in it!:おだまり!


  5. I looked out the window, still seeing a skinny kid slipping
out of a dim bar with two fifty-dollar bills burning a hole in 
his pocket. (P202)

burn a hole in one's pocket:お金を使いたくてウズウズする







☆Breath of Magic by Teresa Medeiros から

    

  1. "How can you be so glib when I've faxed my fingers to the bone
trying to establish a repectable reputation for you?" (P2)

work one's fingers to the bone:懸命に働く







☆Starplex by Robert J.Sawyer から

    

  1. The closest star was an F-class subgiant a quarter-light-year
away. (P9)

F-class：恒星の分類の方法：表面温度の連続スペクトルと線スペクトルで分類し、
   　　　熱い(若い) ものから冷たい(年取った)ものへ、O、B、A、F、G、K、M
   　　　であらわされる。
恒星温度：O(50,000゜K),B(20,000゜K),A(10,000゜K),F(7,000゜K),
          G(6,000゜K),M(3,000゜K)


  2. Keith lay in bed next to his wife, unable to sleep. He looked
over at Rissa's form in the darkness, watched the thin sheet covering
her rise and fall in time with her breathing. (P87)

in time with:～に合わせて







☆An Exchange of Eagles by Owen Sela から

    

  1. I've read everything the FBI and G2 have on you, and a few
other things besides. You gave up the Party in 1938." (P9)

リーダーズには
G2: (米国陸軍参謀幕僚 (general staff) の) 情報幕僚, 軍情報部
米国政府用語集には

陸軍参謀総長：情報・保安司令部　Intelligence and Security Command(INSCOM)
　　　　　　　（情報の参謀本部２部G２と、通信情報の陸軍保安局ASAを統合）


  2. Stannard looked from the book-lined wall to the scatter rugs on
the polished wood floor, looked through the salt-stained glass door
at the sea. (P9)

salt-stained: 白っぽく汚れた(この場合は海の潮風で）


  3. There was a lack of privacy there and many of the things she 
had to do meant little to her. Still she hoped that if victory came,
it would be large, a decisive mandate for liberal gavernment. (P128)

面白い使い方です


  4. Schroeder grunted and eyed the rangy figure through the 
glasses. There was muscle there alright, and litheness. The 
boy was an easy mover, cat-like, using only the muscles he 
needed and no more. A bit on the skinny side perhaps, but 
he carried the other man as if he were cotton.
  Schroeder focused the glasses on Stannard's face. Flat cheek 
bones, a three-day growth of beard, surprisingly sensitive 
mouth, matted blond hair bleached by the sun running down to 
his collar. (P144)

sensitive mouth: はて、一体どんな口なのか？ネットで検索しても、
敏感肌と同じように、敏感な口（薬などで荒れやすい）ぐらいしか
見つかりませんが、ここではそういった意味は無理。
「感受性の高い性格を示す口をした男」でしょうか？






☆Sacrifice by Mitchell Smith から

    

  1. The blackbirds came shifting through the heated air over 
the hay. They kited this way and that way, rose higher, then
lit nearby on a telephone wire along the road. (P20)

light: (鳥が)舞い降りる


  2. He'd done the Michigan thing for the money, for sure─but also
to show they hadn't taken it out of him. Kid stuff, probably. 
Wasn't much people did wasn't kid stuff, come right 
down to it. (P20)

come right down to :つまるところ,率直に言って

wasn'tは何なのでしょう？


  3. "Tomorrow, I want you to go.─I'll come down and see you
afterward, tell you all about it. But I want you to get on
home. Get on home, tommorow." (P362)

get on: 帰る







☆Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones から

    

  1. How odd! "Tell Wizard Howl," she said to the boy, "that this
castle's going to come apart round his ears if it travels much
further." (P40)

訳語は見つかりませんが、似たような用例はいくつか見つかります。

At the age of sixteen Adam Windjammer is forced to become a man as 
his family is torn apart round his ears.

Fine demonstration of mental strength as the second highest run-scorer, 
even with the tour falling round his ears. His fifth consistent series 
in a row could/should have been capped with the man of the match award 
in Sydney for his brace of ballasting 70s (England had their noses in 
front before Vaughan scored a run). Not a bowler's captain but did 
the rest of the job excellently.

イメージとしては、耳元で音がするので、「音を立てて」崩れていく、
とか崩壊していくときの表現でしょうか。


  2. "I didn't bully him," said Sophie. "It gave me a turn
and he was sorry for me." (P108)

give A a good turn: Aに親切を尽くす


  3. Her gray dress by this time was frayed and dirty. She wondered
whether she dared cut the least-stained bits out of Howl's ruined
blue-and-silver suit to make herself a new skirt with. (P128)

dareを動詞として過去形で使うとき、そのあとに来る不定詞は"to"が省略される
ことがある


  4. Howl says he'll only look for Prince Justin if you promise 
him your daughter's hand in marriage." (P198)

win in a lady's hand: 婦人から結婚の承諾を得る


  5. "Want me to write out a list before I go out another time? I have
looked for Prince Justin. Courting isn't the only thing I do when I 
go out."

"When have you looked?" said Sophie.

whenと完了形が一緒に使われている例です。






☆The Wizard of Seattle by Kay Hooper から

    

  1. Odd the twists and turns fate pursued. If his father had
not given him this book, the "reference material" that contained
the procedure to take Serena's powers, he would never have found
what he had searched for all these months. It wasn't an answer,
but it was definitely a beginning. (P98)

twists and angles: 紆余曲折

It's odd the twists and turns our lives take.
と表現が１つだけ見つかりました。odd + the twists and turns
という使い方がないことはない、ようです。odd, the twists and turns はもう少しあります。


  2. "You two travel together?" Phaedra demanded in a shocked tone.
"If I had a nickel," serena said with a sigh. (P282)

If I had a nickel for every time... の形で使う。
例：If I had a nickel for every time my co-worker complained, I'd be rich.

要するに、ここでは「またか」とうんざりしている表現。






☆Resume With Monsters by William Browning Spencer から

    

  1. Philip Kenan accelerated to make the left into the parking
lot, then braked hard to avoid losing his muffler on the
huge speed bump that must have been a legend amid the local
hordes of fire ants. (P6)

make a left: 左折する


  2. Mr.Grodinov had sighed and taken off his shoe and absently
scratched his ear with it. "This is a job of work, yo see.
This is a doing every day over and over of the same thing, and
throwing out the old and putting in the new. It is not a thing
for finishing, but only for doing. It is the System here, and
that is our jobs." (P97)


  3. She loved make-up, indeed, she would occasionally get so
carried away with the application of face powder and eyeliner
that strangers would be startled when she spoke, mistaking
her for a mime. (P122)

application:塗ること


  4. Each time some new physical catasrophe would strike the man,
office gossip would have it that he was out for the count. (P200)

out for the count: 疲れ果てて,活動を続けられない


  5. "But he came back!" Bickwitchers would shout, rising up
on the balls of his feet like a preacher full of Good News. (P200)

ball of one's foot: 足の親指の付け根、もしくは足の指の付け根


  6. The T-shirt, and a tendency his therapist had of sucking in
her lower lip and thrusting her chin forward in a manner that
suggested senile addlement, did not inspire Philip's confidence. (P283)

addlement: addleの名詞形か？そうだとすると、「頭が混乱していること」
　　　　　 とか、「頭が悪いこと」とい意味になる

用例：The drink-addlement of my brain has caused me to probably 
forget lots of interesting things about vampires.






☆Death in a City of Mystics by Janice Steinberg から

    
Omer: Passover の 2 日目から Shabuoth の前日までの 49 日間

Passover: 過越しの祝い(ユダヤ暦の Nisan 月 14 日の晩に始まりそ
          の後 8 日間(現イスラエルおよび改革ユダヤ教徒の間では
          7日間)続くユダヤ人の祭で, 先祖がエジプトの奴隷身分か
          ら救出されたことを記念する; ヤハウェがエジプトのすべ
          ての初子を襲ったとき, イスラエル人の家を通り過ぎたこ
          とにちなむ)

Shabuoth: ユダヤ教の五旬節,ペンテコステ（Passover の後 50 日目の
　　　　　聖霊降臨の祝日）

Kabbala: カバラ（ユダヤ教の神秘的聖書解釈法）

Deborah: 旧約聖書の女預言者デボラ

Orthodox Jew: 正統派ユダヤ教徒(妻以外の女性に触れてはならない）

Hanukkah: ハヌカー,ユダヤ教の神殿清めの祭り

menorah: 9本枝の大燭台,Hanukkah の祝日の1日ごとに一本ずつろうそ
         くの火を付けていく、

challah: カラ,ユダヤ人の食べるパンの一つ

Sabbath: 安息日(ユダヤ教では土曜日,キリスト教では日曜日,イスラ
         ム教では金曜日)

Lag B'Omer: オーメルの第三十三日節(過越しの祭の第2日から33日目
            にあたる祭日

Torah : トーラー,モーゼの五書(旧約聖書の最初の5冊｢創世記｣｢出エジ
        プト記｣｢レビ記｣｢民数記｣｢申命記｣を指す)

Talmud: タルムード(ユダヤの律法とその解説)

kibbutz: キブツ(イスラエルの農業共同体)

moshav: モシャヴ、(イスラエルで自営小農の集まった共同農場)

shiva: シバ、shiva＝shivah＝shibah。近親者の死の後の7日間の
       喪。(注：大文字の Shiva はヒンズー教のシバ神)



  1. Dalia mentions a cousin living next door with whom she
isn't on speaking terms. (P16)

be on speaking terms: 話をする仲である


  2. "How pretty!" Margo took in the wooden table with a 
lilac-print cloth, two framed pen-and-ink drawings of a
synagogue (Dalia's work, she knew from her mother's letters), 
the vase of fresh white flowers...and a double bed. (P40)

take in: うっとり見入る


  3. Ma'ayan looked like the little mouse Alice had described,with lank, nondescript brown hair and a limp, long-sleeved 
white blouse over olive slacks. But there was nothing quiet
about the way she hammered her points home. (P81)

hammer home: 力説する






☆Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow から

    

  1. Even in the best ot times, the Ofice of the Knidle County
Prosecuting Attorney has a dismal aspect. Most deputies work
two to an office in a space of Dickensiangrimness. (P23)

two to an office:一部屋に二人


  2. "I just wanted to touch base in case there's something
you might be able to add." (P69)

touch base with:に話をする


  3. "I didn't make any difference to her. You know? She was
as nice as pie. Now. But like she didn't care. That's why
my old man didn't want me to come out here. (P73)

as nice as pie:上機嫌で


  4. Guerash enters. He looks like half the young men on the force,
handsome in an old-fashioned way, with an erect bearing and
a military order to his person. His shoes are spit-shined
and the buttons on his jersey gleam. His hair is cleanly parted.

to one's person:の様子がすっかり身に着いてる


  5. He has proved a straight, capable judge, short just enough
candlepower to keep him from being regarded as brilliant. (P175)


  6. I go to the john. When I come out, Nico again is at the sink,
washing his hands as he feints left and right to see the position
of his hairs under the light. (P311)






☆The Best Bad Thing by Yoshiko Uchida から

    
特に面白いという表現はなかったので、この本で使われている
日本の言葉を書き出しています。

rice ball:おにぎり
paddle:しゃもじ
picked plum:梅干
sesame seeds:ゴマ
forty-ninth-anniversary:四十九日
Obon festival:お盆
bowl of rice with hot tea and pickles:お茶漬け
a tiny dish of rice:仏壇に供えるご飯
home shrine:仏壇
wood float:浮蓋
miso soup:味噌汁
go-between:仲人
green persimmon:渋柿(?)
yellow pickled radish:たくあん
bean curd cakes:豆腐
three monkeys who don't see, hear, or speak evil:見ざる・聞かざる・言わざる






☆By the Shores of Silver Lake から

    

  1. "He wouldn't hold out to walk it for a fact," Pa said. (P9)

for a fact :確かに,事実として


  2. Guiltily they piled and smoothed them and lugged the heavy 
basket into the shanty where Aunt Docia and Ma were dishing up 
the dinner.
"You girls look as if butter wouldn't melt in your mouths," said 
Aunt  Docia. (P51)

butter would not melt in one's mouth :いい子ぶっている


  3. Beyond the Big Sioux there were no more fields, no houses, 
no people in sight. There really was no raod, only a dim wagon 
trail, and no railroad grade. Here and there Laura glimpsed 
a little wooden stake, almost hidden in the grasses. Pa said 
they were surveyors' stakes for the railroad grade that was 
not started yet. (P59)

railroad grade:「鉄道の勾配」という意味があるが、ここでは当て
はまらない。このあとに色々な場面が出てくるが、そこから推測す
る、「線路を敷設するために均した場所」ぐらいと思うのだが。


  4. "Not enough to hurt much. Some of the crowd was breaking
down the store door with neckyokes, and the storekeeper
opened it. (P120)

neckyoke: 荷車･馬車のながえを馬具からつるす棒のようですね。


  5. "Nothing can hurt her," Pa said. "We'll have her in sight
all the way. Follow the lake shore, Flutterbudget, and don't
worry, Caroline; we'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's 
tail." (P141)

in two shakes of a lamb's tail :すぐに,直ちに,たちまち、






☆Bad Moon Rising by Katherine Sutcliffe から

    

  1. She looks like a Nicole. Perhaps an Amanda. Definitely
the cheerleader type. Long blond hair, long legs, and
collagen-puffed lips that make her look as if she's taken 
a deep suck off a green persimmon. (P2)

collagenとpuffというのがイメージ的には合わないのですが、puffには
膨れるという意味もあるので、唇がコラーゲンたっぷりのプリンとした
感じ、ということでしょうか。


  2. What was it about women who didn't give a flying frog 
about how ugly a man is as long as he has money and acclaim? (P5)

give a flying frog:否定形で使われることが多い。意味は想像ですが、
「考えてもいない」、ぐらいでしょうか。


  3. The love he felt for his children was his cup that runneth over.
(P42)

cup runneth overで使われることが多いようです。意味は「溢れるほど」
ぐらいでしょうか。


  4. "No charges are being pressed against you."
"Just like that."
"Just like that."
"But--"
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Miss Jones. Just
go and don't look back." (P53)

look a gift horse in the mouth :もらい物にけちをつける,人の親切にけちをつける


  5. The man had clout. Lots of it. And because of that, Tyron
carefully watched his P's and Q's. DiAngelo wasn't a man
to cross. (P161)

watch one's p's and q's:言行を慎む


  6. The diener, a tall, overly thin Afican American man wearing
a green jumpsuit, stood as they entered the room, his long face
expressionless. (P182)

dienerの説明に関しては、ネットで以下のものが見つかりました
Immediately before the autopsy, the body is removed from the cooler 
by a morgue attendant who will help with the autopsy. This individual 
is called a diener (DEE-nur), which is German for "servant." 






☆Booked to Die by John Dunning から

    

  1. Doctors and laywers with six-figure incomes prowl the thrift
stores and garage sales, hoping to pick up a treasrue for pennies 
on the dollar. (P1)

格安で、という意味でしょうか。


  2. But Carol had been looking at it from another angle lately.
We had been seeing each other, in the polite vernacular, for
a year now, and she was starting to want something more permanent. (P10)

as they say in the vernacular :下世話に言う
speak in the vernacular :日常語で話す

この辺りの表現なんでしょうね。


  3. She's good company: her interests broaden almost every day.
She reads three books to my one, and I read a lot. (P11)

toをこういう風にも使う。


  4. Hennessey was driving and Barbara was huddled against the
shotgun door. (P33)

shotgun:車の助手席


  5. The plain fact is, for some murderes, I just don't care whether they
were incapable of reason, were whipped as children for wetting the bed,
or had a mother who bayed at the moon. (P38)

bay at the moon :無益なことを企てる,無駄骨を折る


  6. "We've been going through some lean times, Mr.Janeway. We've
had a few setbacks." "Oh, let's call a spade a bloddy fucking shovel,"
Ruby said. (P49)

call a spade a bloody shovel :ありのままに(はっきり）言う


  7. He looked almost like a statue, every muscle chiseled
in infinity. (P72)

わからんことはないけど、infinityをこういう風に使う？


  8. "And that, I guess, is why she's called the ice lady."
"That's part of it. The other part is that people in the trade 
think she's got a cold shoulder. She don't stand over the 
counter engaging in mindless bullshit. She don't seem to be
interested in shoptalk at all." (P89)

get the cold shoulder:冷たくされる,人に冷淡な態度を取る


  9. He didn't have a car, and probably wouldn't want to spend
Sundays doing what he did every other day of the week--walking
or riding a bus. (P118)

every other day of the week :頻繁に


  10. "Come on, people, what's the story? Do you inherit the 
old man's estate?"
"Lock, stock, and barrel," she said. (P129)

lock, stock, and barrel :全部,一切合切


  11. A great old man. His like will not come this way again. (P137)

one's like,the like：～に似た人,～のような人


  12. I had been told that much by those who knew her, but my mind had
filled in the blanks with amazing accuracy until the vision formed
that now stood there in the flesh. The only thing I hadn't got right
was the wardrobe: I had seen her in furs and jewels and she wore
neither. What I could see of her dress under the old and rather plain
coat looked common and conservative. She wore a little hat, tilted
back on her head.

wardrobe :洋服ダンス,衣装係
という意味が普通なのだが、ここでは、「服装一式」あるいは
「衣装全体」の意味で使われているようです。


  13. There was a pensive, lonely, almost sad look on her face.
I didn't know what else to call it but a window to the soul. (P232)


  14. I was wired to the gills and ready to make something happen. (P306)

to the gills :いっぱいに


  15. "Detective Janeway," I said. "Remember?"
"Ah," she said, and let me in.
If she knew anything about my recent history, she didn't 
let on.(P313)

let on :認める,白状する

let inとlet on、こういう風に続けて使うと面白い






☆A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge から

    

  1. It caught the threesome's eye, and slowly crawled across the
open space toward them. Wic and Kwk and Rac backed away, their
pelts puffing up in fright and fasciantion; the scarred one was
at least half again the weight of any of them. (P35)

half again :～の1倍半


  2. From Ravna's altitude, one hundred meters up, the air had
the nip of frosts to come. (P56)

「これからやってくる寒気の厳しさ」ということかな。


  3. Ravna gradually becoming more coherent as she parceled the
various aspects of the last ten houres into business and pleasure.(P98)

parcelをこういう風に使い分けね。






Welcome to Temptaion by Jennifer Crusie から

    

  1. Maple trees had waved cheerfully in the warm breeze, cotton
clouds had bounced across the blue, blue sky, and the late-August
sun had balsted everything in sight. (P1)

雲に乗ったらはずむような感覚はわからないでもないが、雲自体が
はずむというのはどんなのでしょう？


  2. And Sophie had felt a chill, courtesy, she was sure, of the
sixth sense that had kept generations of Dempseys out of jail 
most of the time. (P1)

by the courtesy of ～：～のおかげで


  3. It's been twenty-four years since she's been back.(P10)

現在も継続中の事柄の起点を表す場合には,since 以下を完了形にすることがある


  4. If she ever relaxed, she'd be the kind of woman his father had 
warned him about, the devil's candy, a woman who'd ruin you as
soon as look at you. (P33)

the devil's candy:手持ちの辞書には載っていませんが、ネットで検索して
みるとかなりヒットします。
意味としては、一度食べるとやめられない、食べても食べても物足りない、
ということらしく、コカインなどの意味でも使われるようです。


  5. "You think?" Sophie said.
"I think." Amy said.
"Your call," Sophie said. "The color is wonderful." (P52)

call:判断,見きわめ
かな～


  6. "Uh, yeah, she did," Sophie said into her drink, but Georgia
wasn't listening, which was about par for Georgia. (P85)

par for the course:いつもどおりの,典型的な


  7. "I can't think of anything," Sophie said, which was true; her
mind was going south again. (P156)

go south :消滅する,消えてしまう






☆Exodus by Leon Uris から

    

  1. "Can I get a transfusion around here?"
"Yes, sir. The coffee counter is straight down the hall." (P3)

面白い使い方です。


  2. Proper marriage. Neddie Ashton. The daughter of Colonel Ashton
was a clever catch. Fine stock, Neddie Ashton. Fine hostess, that
woman. She always has the ear of the right person. She'll be a big
help to your career. Splendid match. (P26)

have the ear of someone:に話を聞いてもらえる､顔がきく


  3. The dream was ruthless to the reality. The first month away from
Denmark was a nightmare. She was frightened, for she had always been
sheltered, but a dogged determination carried her on. (P78)

dogged: 執拗な

dogに関する表現は、人間の相棒だけあって、良い意味のも悪い意味の
ものも沢山ありますが、これもそのひとつ。
犬はあとを追いかけるのが得意だからか。


  4. Every time the Palmach blows up a British depot or knocks the hell
out of some Arabs he's winning respect for me. He's making a liar out
of everyone who tells me Jews are yellow. (P95)

make a liar out of :(人)をうそをつかなければならない状況に追いやる
→～に恥をかかせる。


  5. I see. Well, you are on the level. Let us talk turkey. (P328)

on the level:率直に
talk turkey :率直に話す


  6. The Arabs have cried crocodile tears over the great love these
poor fellaheen have for their lost homes. (P554)

crocodile tears :見せかけの涙
(久し振りに見た表現です）






☆Emma by Jane Austen から

    

  1. And when she had come away, Mrs Martin was so very kind as to
send Mrs Goddard a beautiful goose: the finest goose Mrs Goddard
had ever seen. Mrs. Goddard had dressed it on a Sunday, and asked 
all the three teachers, Miss Nash, and Miss Prince, and Miss Richardson,
to sup with her. (P22)

dress には、（料理の）下ごしらえをする、（食物を）調理する
という意味があるらしい。dressのイメージから、わからんこともないです。


  2. The yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel
I can have nothing to do. A degree or two lower, and a creditable
appearance might interest me; I might hope to be useful to their
families in some way or other. But a farmer can need none of my help,
and is therefore in one sense as much above my notice as in every other
he is below it. (P23)


  3. Perhaps you think I am come on purpose to quarrel with you, knowing
Weston to be out, and that you must still fight your won battle. (P28)

be+自動詞の過去分詞　（文語・古語・詩語）現在完了形


  4. Very well; I will not plague you any more. Emma shall be an angel,
and I will keep my spleen to myself till Christmas brings John and
Isabella. (P31)

work off one's spleen 鬱憤を晴らす
vent one's spleen on… …に鬱憤を晴らす
という意味があるので、ここではその逆か。






☆The Golden Room by Irving Wallace から

    

  1. Across the way was the fireplace, its white-veined marble mantel
bearing a miniature bronze statue of Minerva, a vase overflowing
with yellow daffodils, a tall German clock of the darkest, richest
oak. (P5)


  2. The floor was covered with finely woven straw matting and there
was a bamboo umbrella stand inside the door. Dominating the room
was a carved Oriental chair on a dais over which was hung a canopy
of silk. The chandelier suspended from the deep blue ceiling had
small Osaka parasols instead of lampshades. The walls were painted 
with Japanese flowers in their natural colors. Above was a frieze
of flying storks, with bronze panels depicting sacred dragons of 
mythology. Decorative artifacts strewn about ranged from iron
teakettles from Kyoto to hangings of Japanese fans. (P16)

面白いですね。


  3. Holmes didn't give a damn about the Everleighs, but he did
give a damn about the Club and keeping it open forever as his
fleshy playground. (P78)

give a damn:気にする、関心を持つ

damn という罵倒する言葉が、give a damn となると「気にかける」という
一見逆の意味になるのは面白い。もっとも、not give a damn(気にかけない
←damnすら与えない）から not がなくなったと考えれば納得はいく。


  4. She wanted to help Mayor Carter Harrison, of that she was sure.(P134)

非制限用法の that が稀なのに加えて、関係代名詞 that は前置詞の
あとにはこない、という原則があります。この２つに反している点で
興味ある表現。
実際、こういう表現は許されているのでしょうか？


  5. On that threat, the reverend had departed and the mayor had
been left to stew over the matter. (P194)

stew over:腹を立てる、やきもきする


  6. What is unusual is that neither she nor the other two informed
Miss Everleigh that they were leaving. They just left without word
as to their destination. (P227)

without a wordか、without wordか。
どちらも使うようだけど、冠詞がない場合は、「伝言」とか「言葉」
といった抽象的な意味になるのかな。






☆Dead Poets Society by N.H.Kleinbaum から

    

  1. "And why don't you just tell him off! It couldn't get any
worse," Knox added.
 Neil wiped his eyes. "Oh, that's rich," he sneered. (P17)

= that's ridiculous


  2. "Wait a minute," Knox said, walking toward Neil. "I don't
let my parents walk on me." (P17)

walk on ～：～の気持ちを踏みにじる


  3. "I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep over it," Meeks said
cheerfully. "It's just a bunch of people trying to impress Nolan."
(P17)

lose sleep over ～：～が心配で眠れない


  4. "Those seventh graders look like they're going to make in their
pants, they're so nervous," Neil laughed as he splashed his face
with cold water. (P20)

make in one's pants は shit in one's pants(慌てふためく)
と同じような表現かな。


  5. One read poetry because he is a member of the human race, and the
human race is filled with passion! Medicine, law, banking ─ these are
necessary to sustain life. But poetry, romance, love, beauty? These
are what we stay alive for! (P41)


  6.  "Yaa! I'm a dead poet!" Charlie shouted, suddenly popping out
of nowhere. He had found the cave.
 "Ahh!" Meeks shrieked. "Eat it, Dalton," Meeks said to Charlie,
recovering his composure. (P53)

eat it:クソでも食らえ、ばかめが


  7. "Oh, I don't know. I'll probably never know. The point is, there's
nothing you can do about it, so butt out, all right? I can take care
of myself just fine, all right?" (P65)

butt out:いらぬ口出しをやめる


  8. Keating turned toward the other Dead Poets pledges, who stood
nearby waiting for Charlie. "So keep your heads about you ─ the 
lot of you!" he ordered. (P111)

keep one's head: 慌てるな
keep one's head right: 自制する






☆Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson から

    

  1. Her gray eyes, rimmed with dark lashes, were wide set and
her features were agreeably irregular. (P9)

顔立ちがあまりにも整っていないので、かえって見ていて気持ちが
いい、ということなのですね。


  2. In the daytime you will see that some of these motor hotels
are set in old orchards, and among the rows of neat homogeneous 
dwellings stand old cherry trees, sprawling and frothing with
white blossoms in the spring. (P17)

桜の花が「あぶく」とか「泡」のように見えるというと、イメージが
変わってしまうね。


  3. Because she was not happy by nature (circumstances had
arranged that) she was a little apt to have trifling growing
jealousies of other girls, and only policy prevented her
from showing the resentments she sometimes felt. (P63)

a littleをこう使いますか。aptとのつながりは奇異に感じるが、
調べてみると使うようです。Googleで検索すると
a little apt        258件
a little rough   90,700件
a little awkward 79,000件
少ないが、あり得るということですね。


  4. Then sumac would turn scarlet, and the skeins of wild geese
would return in their swift pointed arrows of flight to the south,
passing high overhead between the great hills. Their musical cry
would drop down into the valley lying in silence. (P72)


  5. She despised sentiment so much that, as she wrapped the Angel
first in one layer of paper and then in another in order that the
Angel should not be jolted this way or that in the shoe box on
its journey up the Fraser River Canyon, she firmly repressed the
grief that she felt rising like a storm at sea. (P104)

in order that は使用頻度が少なくて、しかも、それに続く助動詞は may 
ぐらいしかこないのかと思っていたら、shouldもごく普通に使われるようだ。

こんなのがありました。
In American English, it is Standard to follow in order that with may, 
might, can, would, or any other auxiliary that fits the sense intended: 
In order that we can have enough time, we ought to leave by noon.


  6. Look at Philip's family. They all started life as infants and
that guaranteed them nothing. Take the eldest brother Monty. He was
a gentle anarchist. When he was staying with us, the evil of the 
world had become too much for him and he started one night to throw
himself off a cliff. What a night! Then he found that he had forgotten 
his false teeth so he came back to the house to get them. When he
got his teeth in he reconsidered. Later he became very respectable
and dropped us. (P199)

急にdropなんて出てくると、戸惑います。






☆A Cool Breeze On The Underground by Don Winslow から

    

  1. The countertop of the efficiency kitchen glistened and 
the sink and tap handles shone as brightly as the soul 
of a seven-year-old Catholic girl leaving confession. (P92)


  2. "I don't blame you," Graham answered, "but it's either
this or that kung fooey crap Levine does." (P105)

kung fu（カンフー）とfooey(くそくらえ）をかけたものなんでしょうか？


  3. Foggy London Town was sunny and hot, really hot. Summer had
taken an early jump on spring. (P119)


  4. Crime was reserved for those vaguely greasy people 
like Italians and French, not to mention Africans, Indians, 
and Orientals ─ but not the English. (P142)

greasy:unreliable という意味で使われているのでしょうね。
脂ぎったじゃおかしいから。


  5. Like ageing women, cities are prettier at night. The softer
light shades the insults of aging. Darkness fades the lines and
wrinkles that every good woman and evey good city wear on their
faces as signs that somebody has lived there. 


  6. He had a friend at Columbia who claimed that life was just
a stack of record albums on an automatic drop. Problem was, they
were all the same record. 


  7. He'd put the water to the boil, make himself a strong pot of
tea, generously heaping in milk and sugar. (P262)

「ミルクと砂糖をたっぷり入れる」という意味なのだろう。
heap upはよくあるけれど、heap inとはね。
ちなみに、heapingという形容詞は（スプーンなどに）山盛りの、という
意味があります。two heaping teaspoons of sugar


  8. Forced inside by the weather, they would sit by the fire and
sip their tea, pointedly reading old paperbacks, and the quiet
was not something they shared but something that divided them.
(P267)

沈黙が重苦しく立ちこめて、カーテンのように二人を分けている。