MASAHARU's BLOG ＿＿＿＿＿目指せテニス世界一!!

Obama victory2

Europe, where Obama is overwhelmingly popular, is one region that looked eagerly to an Obama administration for a revival in warm relations after the Bush government's chilly rift with the continent over the Iraq war.

"At a time when we have to confront immense challenges together, your election raises great hopes in France, in Europe and in the rest of the world," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a congratulations letter to Obama.

Poland's Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski spoke of "a new America with a new credit of trust in the world."

Skepticism, however, was high in the Muslim world. The Bush administration alienated those in the Middle East by mistreating prisoners at its detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison — human rights violations also condemned worldwide.

Some Iraqis, who have suffered through five years of a war ignited by the United States and its allies, said they would believe positive change when they saw it.

"Obama's victory will do nothing for the Iraqi issue nor for the Palestinian issue," said Muneer Jamal, a Baghdad resident. "I think all the promises Obama made during the campaign will remain mere promises."

In Pakistan, a country vital to the U.S.-led war on the al-Qaida terrorist network and neighbor to Afghanistan, many hoped Obama would bring some respite from rising militant violence that many blame on Bush.

Still, Mohammed Arshad, a 28-year-old schoolteacher in the capital, Islamabad, doubted Obama's ability to change U.S. foreign policy dramatically.

"It is true that Bush gave America a very bad name. He has become a symbol of hate. But I don't think the change of face will suddenly make any big difference," he said.

Obama's victory was greeted with cheers across Latin America, a region that has shifted sharply to the left during the Bush years. From Mexico to Chile, leaders expressed hope for warmer relations based on mutual respect — a quality many felt has been missing from U.S. foreign policy.

Venezuela and Bolivia, which booted out the U.S. ambassadors after accusing the Bush administration of meddling in their internal politics, said they were ready to reestablish diplomatic relations, and Brazil's president was among several leaders urging Obama to be more flexible toward Cuba.

On the streets of Rio de Janeiro, people expressed a mixture of joy, disbelief, and hope for the future.

"It's the beginning of a different era," police officer Emmanuel Miranda said. "The United States is a country to dream about, and for us black Brazilians, it is even easier to do so now."

Many around the world found Obama's international roots — his father was Kenyan, and he lived four years in Indonesia as a child — compelling and attractive.

"What an inspiration. He is the first truly global U.S. president the world has ever had," said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbuck's in Bangkok. "He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president."

Obama victory

PARIS – Barack Obama's election as America's first black president unleashed a renewed love for the United States after years of dwindling goodwill, and many said Wednesday that U.S. voters had blazed a trail that minorities elsewhere could follow.

People across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn to watch U.S. history being made, while the president of Kenya — where Obama's father was born — declared a public holiday.

In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner and poured into the courtyard where they hugged each other, danced in the rain and chanted "Obama! Obama!"

"Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place," South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, said in a letter of congratulations to Obama.

Many expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American as president.

"This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten," Rama Yade, France's black junior minister for human rights, told French radio. "America is rebecoming a New World.

"On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes," she said.

In Britain, The Sun newspaper borrowed from Neil Armstrong's 1969 moon landing in describing Obama's election as "one giant leap for mankind."

Yet celebrations were often tempered by sobering concerns that Obama faces global challenges as momentous as the hopes his campaign inspired — wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the elusive hunt for peace in the Middle East and a global economy in turmoil.

The huge weight of responsibilities on Obama's shoulders was also a concern for some. French former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said Obama's biggest challenge would be managing a punishing agenda of various crises in the United States and the world. "He will need to fight on every front," he said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the incoming administration will take steps to improve badly damaged U.S. ties with Russia. Tensions have been driven to a post-Cold War high by Moscow's war with U.S. ally Georgia.

"I stress that we have no problem with the American people, no inborn anti-Americanism. And we hope that our partners, the U.S. administration, will make a choice in favor of full-fledged relations with Russia," Medvedev said.

普段よく使う映画のセリフランキング。

「ニュースサイトの転載」はサービス終了になりました。

詳しくはこちら

【11月9日 AFP】英国映画の促進機関UK Film Councilが2000人を対象に行った「日常生活で最も頻繁に使用される映画のセリフ」の調査結果が8日に発表された。
　
　1位に輝いたのは、『ターミネーター（The Terminator）』（1984年）でアーノルド・シュワルツェネッガー（Arnold Schwarzenegger）演じるターミネーターが言った名セリフ「I'll be back」。2位には、『風と共に去りぬ（Gone With The Wind）』（1939）で、レット・バトラー（Rhett Butler）がスカーレット（ Scarlett O'Hara）に別れを告げる場面でのセリフ「Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn」が選ばれた。

　人気テレビドラマ『スタートレック（Star Trek）』からは、どのエピソードでもそのまま語られることはなかったが、有名なキャッチフレーズとなっている「Beam me up, Scotty」が3位に入った。8位に入った「Do you feel lucky, punk?」は、『ダーティーハリー（Dirty Harry）』でクリント・イーストウッド（Clint Eastwood）演じる ハリー・キャラハン （Harry Callahan）が言ったとされているが、これも実際に登場したセリフとは少し違っている。

　上位10位以内に入ったセリフのほとんどは男性が好むものだった。10位以内に入らなかったが、男性が選んだセリフの大半は「007」、「スター・ウォーズ（Star Wars）」、「ロード・オブ・ザ・リング（The Lord of the Rings）」などのシリーズに登場するものだった。

　一方、女性が好んだセリフは、『ダーティ・ダンシング（Dirty Dancing）』、『プリティ・ウーマン（Pretty Woman）』、『風と共に去りぬ』などで使われたものだった。

　上位10位は以下の通り。

1．「I'll be back.」-『ターミネーター』
2．「Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn」-『風と共に去りぬ』
3．「Beam me up, Scotty」-『スタートレック』
4．「May the force be with you」-『スター・ウォーズ』
5．「Life is like a box of chocolates」-『フォレスト・ガンプ／一期一会（Forrest Gump）』
6．「You talking to me?」-『タクシードライバー（Taxi Driver）』
7．「Show me the money」-『ザ・エージェント（Jerry Maguire）』
8．「Do you feel lucky, punk?」-『ダーティーハリー』
9．「Here's looking at you, kid」-『カサブランカ（Casablanca）』
10．「Nobody puts Baby in the corner」-『ダーティ・ダンシング』

(c)AFP

英会話情報！

英語の基礎を学びたい方に朗報のサイトです。

サイト管理をされているのはフィリピン在住の日本人の男性の方ですが

親切で英語の本質から発音までしっかりされている方ですのでお勧めです。

　http://roundsquaretriangle.web.fc2.com/

Fuji in Japan

Not beginner english

This weekend the Formula One calendar moves to Fuji in Japan - a race track where none of the current crop of F1 cars has so much as completed a lap. And yet by the Friday morning before the Japanese Grand Prix, BMW Sauber expect the set-up of their cars will already be close to optimum.

Advanced simulation programmes and the recent expansion of the team's computer capacity have been key to making this possible. However, experience has also played a critical role...

The racing line:

In late 2006 the simulation experts at BMW Sauber received the data on the new Fuji circuit as a CAD (Computer Aided Design) file from the race organisers in Japan. On the basis of this data, one of the team's experts started by using a computer programme to establish the probable ideal racing line around the track. This process saw the circuit divided up into 500 to 800 segments through two stages. The radii for each individual segment were determined, allowing the experts to numerically define the ideal line.

The image of the circuit was then expanded to take on a further dimension, the engineers feeding the gradient profile of the race track into their computers. Inclines and downhill sections have a significant effect on the cars' speed - especially on long straights.

"In order to avoid losing precious time during the race weekend, we need to have as accurate as possible a picture of downforce levels, gearbox ratios and brake specification in advance," says Willy Rampf, BMW Sauber’s technical director.

This photograph is an old thing