医学部を目指し、Natureなど科学・医学記事を英語で読む

分詞構文 High School Musical 3(The Junior Novel)

新高校２年生と読んでいるHigh School Musical 3(The Junior Novel)では、興味深い分詞の用例が頻発しています。特に「分詞構文」の用例は注目すべきものいくつも出てきます。例えば、

...Troy was knocked to the ground, causing the referee to call a foul against West High. Stunned, Troy looked around the gym at the crowd yelling, the cheerleaders leaping into the air ...

どれが分詞構文でしょうか？
causingとStunnedです（他のyellingとleapingは後置修飾の分詞の用法）。

このcausingは、Natureの先週号（3/25）のEditorialに出てくる、
All six (instances of litigation) were settled or dismissed within a year and a half, suggesting that the scale of litigation is not as high as some suspected.
[Nature(Editorial) Published online 25 March 2009]
のsuggestingと同じ使われ方をしています。
つまり、ともに意味上の主語として、前文の内容を受けているのです。学校文法では言えば、明確に分かる主語は省略可、に当てはまるのでしょうが、確認すべき基礎事項です。
ただし、頭で理解するのでのではなく、こういうことが意識せずに把握できるまで場数を踏む、つまり多くの英文を読むことがなにより大切です。

これまでそれなりの数の医学部受験生に接してきて、上記の事柄をクリアしている人は（すでに合格した人々を含めて）ほとんどいません。だから、『ハリーポッター』を薦めるのですが・・・。これが大変なら是非High School Musical 3(The Junior Novel)で、楽しみながら、基礎事項の確認をしてみてください。もちろん、だれしも楽に読める、という保証はありません。
http://www.amazon.co.jp/Disney-High-School-Musical-Novelization/dp/1423112024/

文章構造を見抜けますか？

文法・語法的な事柄としては基礎ですが、文章の中にでてくると見抜けないことがあります。以下の文章は、学士編入試験の過去の問題、最新の医学雑誌記事からのものですが、ともに頻出です。

The military researchers contributed greatly to anthrax research, but the mechanism of the toxin wouldn't have been so quickly solved had university labs not gotten involved as well.

[The Best American Science Writing, 2003]

Some did have feelings of hopelessness characterized by an inability to envision a meaningful future given the limits imposed by their disease, but such feelings are often distinct from clinical depression.

(N EnglJ Med May 10, 2007)

関係代名詞と接続詞

Doctors and medical researchers are often hesitant to abandon a long-established idea. So it was with the discovery that gastric ulcers can result from bacterial infection. Until the mid-1990s, doctors blamed the acid build-up that supposedly caused gastric ulcers on stress and eating spicy foods, calling the causes "hurry, worry, and curry." The finding in the 1970s that drugs which block acid production [relive] ulcers seemed to confirm the hypothesis that excess acid caused them. For decades, the standard treatment for ulcers in the stomach or small intestine used to be a mild-tasting diet, stress reduction, acid blocking drugs, or surgery. The idea that an ulcer was [instead] due to a bacterial infection that could be easily, quickly, cheaply, and permanently cured seemed ridiculous.[2006年北里大学[薬学-1]]

医者や研究者は、「定説」を捨てることをなかなかしたがらない、という文章。

So it was with the discovery that gastric ulcers*1 can result from bacterial infection.
の部分をどう読むか？
まず、So it was...全文を受けて、with・・・に関して
も「そうだった」、つまり「医者や研究者は定説を捨てることをためらった」ということ。
thatは、discoveryと同格の名詞節を導く接続詞。

ついでながら、
1.So+助動詞+主語
2.So+主語+助動詞
の違いについては、過去にセンター試験で出題されており、確認しておくとよい。
1. A:I am hungry. B:So am I.(=Me too.)
2. B:You look tired. B: So I am.

gastric ulcersについては、問題では註がついていますが、これまでここで学習した知識でgastric「胃の」という意味であることは分かりますね。また、ulcer程度は必須でしょう（なお添付の問題文の註で、医学、医療関係学部受験者には知っていてほしい[というよりも「日常単語」と考えた方がいい]単語は赤の文字にしてあります。）。

関係代名詞が頻発していて慣れていない人、構文の分析をしてしまう人は時間がかかってしまうかもしれませんね。単純に前から順に読んでいけば「関係代名詞」の存在自体ほとんど気にならないのですが・・・
The finding in the 1970s that drugs which block acid production [relive] ulcers seemed to confirm the hypothesis that excess acid caused them.

下線部が「主部」です。関係代名詞はthatとwhich。

the hypothesis thatのthatは、同格の名詞節を導くthat。これと、the assumption thatは定番。

確認：以下の文章の主部はどこまでですか？またthatが二つ出てきます。役割（接続詞なのか関係代名詞なのか）が区別できますか。
The idea that an ulcer was [instead] due to a bacterial infection that could be easily, quickly, cheaply, and permanently cured seemed ridiculous.

全文、問題　→　20061.pdfをダウンロード

Steroid Use

Adolescence can be a trying time --- particularly for the teenage boy. He is proud of his new-found sense of masculinity, but his underdeveloped body, alas, remains an embarrassment. Earlier generations of frustrated young sought salvation in bodybuilding exercises or strenuous programs of pumping iron. Many of today's teens, however, are subscribing to a simpler solution. Now they turn to steroids.

  Illegal steroid use by Olympic, college, and professional athletes often makes the news. But the alarming fact is that steroids arc increasingly being abused by teenage boys for cosmetic reasons. According to one study, an estimated 75% of the approximately one million Americans using such steroids are in high school.

  It is steroids' ability to promote muscle growth, increase lean body mass, and decrease body fat that attracts teenagers to take them. Those striving to improve their strength, speed, and stamina often see steroids as a quick means to pushing heavier weights and looking better.

  But the drug-enhanced physiques are a hazardous bargain. Steroids can upset hormonal production and damage the heart and kidneys. Just as worrisome is the threat to mental health. Users of steroids are prone to mood swings, including uncontrolled anger and aggressiveness, extreme irritability, paranoid jealousy, and impaired judgment.

  California State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted using steroids when he was a bodybuilder. But now he wants to ban steroids from the sport of bodybuilding. He called for a summit on steroids, saying the sport should be drug-free.

本文の内容から判断して，次の英文の空欄に入るものとして貴も適切なものを一つ選びなさい。

The most suitable title for this passage is "        ".

a. What Are Steroids?

b. Black Market of Selling Illegal Steroids

d. An Irony: Ex-Steroid User Governor Urges Steroid Crackdown

e. Athletic Doping: Play Safe, Play Fair

d. Steroid Use: A Dangerous Trend among Teens

[2006年北里大学（薬学部）-4]

次の言葉は、文中でどんな意味合いで使っていますか。まず、意味を考えて、使っている「単語集」で意味をかくにんしてください。そこにぴったりした「訳語」もしくはそのヒントになる説明が書かれていましたか？

1. embarrassment　　　2. subscribe　　3. cosmetic　  4. mass　　5.masculinity

6. physique         7. summit

確認したい単語[訳としての「意味」を覚える前に音を覚えよう]

1.adolescence  2. remain  3. generation 4. frustrate  5. sought   6. salvation   7. exercise  8. strenuous　9.solution  10.illegal  11.athlete  12.abuse 13.estimate　14. approximately　 15.promote 16.muscle 17.growth 18. increase 19. decrease 20. fat 21. attract　22. strive 23. improve 24. strength 25.means 26.hazardous 27.bargain 28. upset 29. kidney30. worrisome 31. aggressiveness 32. extreme 33. irritability 34. threat 35. paranoid 36. paranoid 37. ban

この文章だけで、４０語～50語の単語を確認できます。不明な（まだ覚えていない単語はまず音でしっかり覚えましょう。