a virtuous circle

「好循環」。

反対のvicious circle、「悪循環」はよく使いますが、こちらも併せて使えるようにしておきたいですね。

例文は、前回、そして前々回と同様、CNNの記事、 'Free and easy? One man's experiment in living without money By Matt Ford' から。

’With this in mind he put the money from the sale of his houseboat towards setting up justfortheloveofit.org, a social networking Web site that aims to help reconnect people in their local communities through the simple act of sharing.

Essentially users sign up and offer skills, spaces and tools they have to others for free. When you need something, you just ask. It's a virtuous circle’.

get worked up about ...

「〜にむきになる、興奮する」。

前回と同様、CNNの記事、 'Free and easy? One man's experiment in living without money By Matt Ford' から。

'"People tend to be either very positive about what I'm doing or very negative; I think it's about 70 percent/30 percent. But I try not to get too worked up about it; its early days and we live in a very money orientated world."'

strike out in a new direction

「新しい方向に進む」。

希望に満ちた表現ですよね。

CNNの記事、 'Free and easy? One man's experiment in living without money By Matt Ford' から。

'The British economics graduate was inspired by Gandhi's call to be the change you want to see in the world. After six years working as the manager of an organic food company in Bristol, UK, he decided to strike out in a bold new direction'.

an unlikely ... to 〜

「〜する可能性の低い...」

...には名詞を、〜には動詞の原形を入れて使います。

The New York Timesの記事、'Uncertainty Buffets Japan’s Whaling Fleet'から。

'AYUKAWAHAMA, Japan — This small harbor on Japan’s northern coast, where whaling boats sit docked with harpoon guns proudly displayed, and shops sell carvings made from the ivorylike teeth of sperm whales, might seem to be an unlikely place to find opponents of the nation’s contested Antarctic whaling.

Yet, local residents are breaking long-held taboos to speak out against the government-run Antarctic hunts, which they say invite international criticism that threatens the much more limited coastal hunts by people in this traditional whaling town'.

non-password-protected

「パスワードで保護されていない」。

例文は、本日のThe Ageの記事、'Google halts Street View Wi-Fi data collection'からです。

'Although Google has stated previously it did not collect any personal data, "it's now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (ie non-password-protected) Wi-Fi networks," Eustace said'.

barrage

「集中砲火」。

CNNの記事、"Meet Diaspora, the 'anti-Facebook'"から。

’Sick of the barrage of Facebook privacy scandals?

Don't trust a multi-billion-dollar corporation with your photos and personal information?

Well, there may be an online social network for you yet.

It's called Diaspora, and it's an idea from four New York University students who say in a video pitch that big online companies like Facebook shouldn't be allowed to have access to, and to some degree "own," all of the personal data that flows in and out of their social networks’.

... be among 〜

「...は〜に含まれている」。

amongの便利な使い方です。

The Ageの記事、'Back to black, and proud of it' by MICHELLE GRATTANから。

'A RAPID return to surplus and the prospect of full employment underpin a restrained federal budget aimed at showcasing the Rudd government's economic management and health reforms ahead of this year's election.

A $2.2 billion primary care health package, a new incentive to save, simpler tax returns, a new renewable energy fund and money for skills development are among the limited initiatives Treasurer Wayne Swan unveiled in his third budget.

The budget's highlight was his promise to get back into the black, with a $1 billion surplus, in 2012-13 - three years earlier than thought possible only months ago. Mr Swan said this would be ahead of every major advanced economy'.

clinch...

「〜に決着をつける」。

The Ageの記事、'Brown to resign to secure alliance with Liberal Democrats' by PAOLA TOTARO, LONDONから。

'British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will resign and pave the way for the election of a new Labour leader by September in a dramatic 11th-hour bid to clinch a power-sharing deal with the Liberal Democrats'.

close a gap

「ギャップを埋める」。

本日のThe New York Timesの記事、'Obama Asks Graduates to Close Education Gap' By JACKIE CALMESから。

'HAMPTON, Va. — President Obama on Sunday for the first time as president delivered a commencement address to a historically black college, Hampton University, telling graduates that they have “a separate responsibility” to become mentors to other young African-Americans to help close a persistent gap in educational achievement'.

... pass in time

「時が経てば〜はなくなる、消える」。

The Guardianの記事、'I'm bisexual and jealous of my straight friend's sexual partners'からです。

いわゆる、実存する個人の悩み相談コーナーなのですが、今日は相談者であるbisexualの男性が、彼の男友達に対する複雑な気持ちを打ち明けています。ちょっと長目ですが引用しますね。

'I'm a 38-year-old bisexual man and after a six-year battle with depression I quit my job and went back to college. I've made some new friends and started the process of coming out of the closet.

I know I'm emotionally immature. I have recently begun to experience intense feelings of possessiveness towards my close male friend at college. I'm insanely jealous of his sexual partners, but oddly, not because I want to be with him sexually. He's my soul-brother. He's straight and when I recently confessed these feelings to him he gave me a hug, sat me down and talked it through.

I know he's forgiven me (nothing to forgive, he says), but I am suffering from shame, guilt and sorrow, which will pass in time, but how do I fix the green-eyed monster?'

ちなみに、green-eyed monsterは、「嫉妬心でいっぱいの怪物、モンスター（のような人）」。

undercurrent

「底意、内心、底流」。

The New York Timesの本日記事、'Immigration Could Sway Coming Vote in Britain' by JOHN F. BURNSから。

'LUTON, England — When Mohammed Qurban stood outside the Jamia mosque in the heavily Muslim Bury Park district on Tuesday and spoke anxiously about Britain’s record-high levels of immigration, he was reflecting a powerful undercurrent that could help tip victory in dozens of constituencies in Thursday’s general election to the main opposition groups vying with the governing Labour Party for power, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats'.

ちなみに、例文中のvying withで、「〜と競う、張り合う」。発音は［va'iiŋ］。動詞vieは、こちらから音声が聞けます。

... named on a 〜list

「〜のリストに載っている...」。

CNNの記事、'Would Chinese consumers 'go green' -- if given the choice?'By Emily Changから。

'The brewery is the central attraction. More than 3,000 wide-eyed tourists visit every day, filing off buses to marvel at the production site of their favorite beer.　What many do not know is that the Tsingtao Brewery Group was recently accused of violating environmental standards. It is just one of 20 companies named on a "polluters' blacklist," including major companies such as Hitachi, Philips and China's most popular instant noodle maker, Master Kong'.

brief

「～の概要を伝える、説明する」。

この場合は、動詞として使われています。

本日のThe New York Timesの記事、'S.U.V. Holding Bomb Material Had Been Sold in Cash Deal'から。

'The 1993 Nissan Pathfinder rigged to blow up in Times Square on Saturday night was recently sold by its registered owner for cash, with no paperwork involved, a person briefed on the investigation said on Monday afternoon'.

disclose ... in the very next breath

「まさに（前述のことを話した）すぐその後で、〜を明らかにした」。

昨日日曜日の夜、オーストラリアでは『ヘンリー税制見直し報告書』の内容がメディアを通して、ラッド首相によって公開発表されました。

その大まかな内容は、地下資源企業により多くの税金を払ってもらい、中小企業の法人税率を下げるというもの。それから、通称『スーパー』と呼ばれる、オーストラリアの退職年金積立拠出率を現行の９％から１２％に引き上げるということで、「低所得者や労働者に、オーストラリアの一連の鉄鉱ブームで生じや利益を回してあげよう」というのが目的です。結局この政策で、平均的なフルタイムの労働者には、年間＄450が残ることになり、GDPも0.7%、実質賃金が1.1%上昇すると期待されるということです。

The Ageの記事、'Rudd serves magic tax pudding to Howard's battlers’ by Peter Hartcherから。

'The Prime Minister declared today his tax reforms were designed to create a “strong and secure economy for the future.” But he disclosed his true political purpose in the very next breath. Explicitly nominating his target market, Rudd said he wants “working families and small businesses to get their fair share” of the boom'.

snuff out

「〜を消す、弾圧する、鎮圧する」。

snuffは、「（犬が）クンクンと臭いをかぐ」という動詞で使われますが、ここでは、 outという副詞を伴って、動詞句として「押さえる、消す」という意味で使われています。

本日のGuardianの記事、'BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill likely to cost more than Exxon Valdez'から。

'Britain's biggest oil company was tonight facing an environmental disaster expected to cost more than the Exxon Valdez tanker spill as thousands of tonnes of floating oil began to reach the US Gulf coast.

As several coastal states declared a state of emergency and dispatched clean-up crews, BP was desperately trying to stem the flow of crude from its damaged offshore platform and to snuff out a growing political storm that has wiped billions of pounds off its share price'.