I had an accident at a job site. It was pretty simple ; when a pickup truck, even a Dodge Ram with all the bells and whistles, argues with a twelve-story crane, the pickup is going to lose every time. The right side of my skull only cracked. The left side was slammed so hard against the Ram's doorpost that it fractured in three places. Or maybe it was five. My memory is better than it used to be , but it's still a long way from what it once was. The doctors called what happened to my head a contracoup injury , and that kind of thing often does more damage than the original hit.
It was pretty simple ; when a pickup truck, even a Dodge Ram with all the bells and whistles, argues with a twelve-story crane, the pickup is going to lose every time.
「truck argues with a crane」 ここ現在形なんで、要注意。一般論をしゃべっているっぽい。 argue with は「議論する」だから、運転手とクレーン操縦者との議論でしょうね。 だから、あとの「lose」は、win/lose の「負ける」でしょ。argue との呼応。 多分、主人公はトラックの荷台でクレーンのフックに鋼材やらコンクリやらを引っ掛ける 作業の最中にクレーンに当てられたんじゃないかな。
used to be のところの判断はおっしゃるとおりだと思われます。 最後のoriginal hit とは、直接打撲した部分の脳挫傷(coup injury)のことでしょう。
It results not so much from choices made , as from choices neglected ; not from malignant intention , but from failure to take into account the full consequence of our actions.
I was fortunate in having grown up in a home where reading aloud on winter evenings was a favorite occupation. Of all books read , none left a more lasting pleasure than William Bartram's 'Travels' , and (→) I have taken no trip into Bartram country in succeeding years without giving attention to his trails.(←) Sometimes I have discovered a plant or some form of animal life in the exact locality where Bartram first recorded it. (京 大)
頻出構文ではありますが、「no 〜 without 〜ing」の訳し方が焦点です。 W.Bartram ; アメリカの博物学の第一人者。
The pathogen(病原体) appears to latch(くっつく) on to receptors in the lower lung. This part of the body is relatively inaccessible ― which may explain why , even though the virus is endemic(固有の) in poultry(鶏), human infection is so rare. Human flu , in contrast , hooks on to receptors in the upper respiratory tract , meaning that coughs and sneezes disperse the virus easily. Scientists have warned that H5N1 could mutate and begin to favour receptors in the upper tract , which would raise the threat(脅威の) level.
From the beginning, so far back as he could remember, he had believed that he would one day write great books ; had believed it from no conceit in him but simply (* 1→) because he clung so tenaciously to ambition that it had become, again, and again, almost realized in the intensity of his dreams of it (←). He had known that this achievement of his would take a long time, that he must meet with many difficulties, that he must starve and despair and be born again, but, (* 2→) never at any moment, until now, had he, in his heart of hearts, doubted that that great book was in front of him (←).
>>944 to ambition の ambition は無冠詞のくせに「名詞」なんですよね、これが。 誤植じゃないんだけれど、他動詞もあるからここを「to 不定詞」と読むのも 無理はない。ambition を、他動詞として、that 節をその目的格だとすると that の中の完了形とそぐわないでしょ。 「実現しそうな状況を望む」ならいいけど、「実現しちゃったを望む」は変。 cling to ambition 野望にしがみつく so 〜ly that「あまりにも〜に(しがみついた)ので、that 以下した。」(単なるソーザット構文)
2のほうですが、「立ちはだかる」と訳す心情はよくわかります。 直前で、「困難だし、生まれ変わらないとだめだ」とまで言っているのですからw ここで、冷静に文章を眺めてみて下さい。入試英文ではしばしば見られる事ですが、 「上段の抽象的文章を、下段で具体的に述べ直している!」だけだ、と気がつくはず。 下段の「in front of him」が、上段の「realized」に照応していると演繹的に判断 すれば訳に確信が持てるはずです。
I was sitting in a taxi, (*1→) wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.(←) It was just after dark. A blustery(ぴゅうぴゅう) March wind whipped(むち打つ) the steam coming out of the manholes, and people hurried along the sidewalks with their collars turned up(上に折り返す). I was stuck in traffic two blocks from the party where I was heading. Mam stood fifteen feet away. She had tied rags(ぼろ) around her shoulders to keep out the spring chill(冷気) and was picking through the trash(ごみ) while her dog, a black-and-white terrier mix, played at her feet. (*2→) Mom's gestures were all familiar ― the way she tilted her head and thrust out(突き出す) her lower lip when studying items of potential value that she'd hoisted(引き上げる) out of the Dumpster, the way her eyes widened with childish glee(喜び) when she found something she liked. (←)
In figure skating, there are always tears. That's half the reason they call the area where skaters wait for their marks the Kiss "n" Cry. And there's usually a lot more crying than kissing. But the 2007 world championship, which confirmed a dramatic castward shift in skating's power balance, was an even wetter Worlds than most. There was more spontaneous emotion among the winners, and (*1) there will continue to be more as the sport heads to Vancouver's 2010 Olympics.(←) That's because skaters can no longer absolutely expect a certain result. They cannot prepare their body language or their victory speech in advance, (*2) because there is no understood and accepted pecking order (←). You must skate, and skate well, ― or you will lose. (*3) When skaters do perform, and do win, they are drained to exhaustion with no defense against overwhelming feelings (←).
The biggest of the moa(モア)s , which weighed around 500 pounds or more , was once celebrated(記念された) as the tallest bird that ever existed. That claim(主張), however, is not as secure(安心) as it might seem. ▼ In the past many of the skeletons(骨格) put together by museums and, doubtless, by collectors who wished to sell record-breaking finds to museums , contained vertebrae(脊椎骨) from several individuals so that the reassembled(再組立てされた) skeleton was considerably taller than any moa had been in life. ▼