難関大学を目指し、英文記事を読む！

Let's write about values

このブログを覗いてくれる人は、難解大学を目指す自信がある人が多いのではないでしょうか。これまで、周りからも「できるひと」とみられ、自分でも程度の差こそあれ、そんな自覚をしているのではないでしょうか？
しかし、そういう自信のある人でも上手く行かないのが、大学受験かもしれません。中学まではオール５，高校の平均評定は４．８前後。こんな人でも入試に失敗する人は多いものです。ですから、推薦入試がはやるのでしょう。自分への自信を常に疑ってみることも大切だろうと思います。
今回紹介するNauterのNewsは、逆の意味でintelligenceのa fixed quantityしかないと思い込んでいる生徒についての話ですが、「出来る」a fixed quantityがあると信じている人にも参考になる研究報告だと思います。

Published online 16 April 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.366
News
Writing about values shrinks racial grades gap
Short essays raise school scores of low-achieving African-American students for two years.
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090416/full/news.2009.366.html

まずは、以下の文の意味を考えてみましょう。
Students taught that their intelligence is not fixed do better than students who believe intelligence is a fixed quantity,

単語チェック：
values　価値観
racial 人種の、人種上の、民族の
intelligence　知能,聡明,理解力
do better(well)　(学校で)成績がよい
fixed quantity　定量

Gliese 581

話題沸騰！
The most Earth-like planet yet
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070423/full/070423-5.html

PLUTO IS NOT A PLANET

Astronomers can't seem to agree on what, exactly, a planet is. Is it simply a round thing in orbit around a star? Or something more? And is Pluto a planet or not?

BREAKING NEWS - PLUTO IS NOT A PLANET
Follow the fierce debate LIVE in our newsblog from the International Astronomical Union meeting in Prague this week.
http://blogs.nature.com/news/blog/conference_reports/international_astronomical_union/

宇宙の起源

"The Universe may have come in countless different versions."[may have 過去分詞]

Hawkingと同僚のHertogは、"the Universe had no unique beginning"と主張する論文を発表する、というニュースです。概要は以下です。基本的の言葉を確認しておりました。

Published online: 21 June 2006; | doi:10.1038/news060619-6
Hawking rewrites history... backwards
To understand the Universe we must start from the here and now.
Philip Ball

How did the Universe begin? Many scientists would regard this as one of the most profound questions of all. But to Stephen Hawking, who has perhaps come closer than anyone to answering it, the question doesn't in fact even exist.

Hawking, based at the University of Cambridge, UK, and his colleague Thomas Hertog of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, are about to publish a paper claiming that the Universe had no unique beginning. Instead, they argue, it began in just about every way imaginable (and maybe some that aren't).

Out of this profusion of beginnings, the vast majority withered away without leaving any real imprint on the Universe we know today. Only a tiny fraction of them blended to make the current cosmos, Hawking and Hertog claim.

That, they insist, is the only possible conclusion if we are to take quantum physics seriously. "Quantum mechanics forbids a single history," says Hertog.

The researchers' theory comes in response to a problem raised by 'string theory', one of the best hopes for a theory of everything. String theory permits innumerable different kinds of universe, most of them very different from the one we inhabit. Some physicists suspect that an unknown factor will turn up that rules out most of these universes.

But Hawking and Hertog say that the countless 'alternative worlds' of string theory may actually have existed. We should picture the Universe in the first instants of the Big Bang as a superposition of all these possibilities, they say; like a projection of billions of movies played on top of one another.

続きはこちらで読めます。

《語句》
be about to　～しようとしている
a paper claiming that　that以下のことを主張する論文（claimingは分詞の後置修飾）
imaginable　想像できる、考えられる限りの
based at the University of Cambridge,
～を本拠地にしている　→　研究拠点がある、～の研究者である　異。
Particle Physics (素)粒子物理学
CERN  欧州原子核共同研究所, セルン 《1952 年設立》
profusion　[a ～ of ...] おびただしい数[量]の…
withere away　しぼむ、きえてゆく
imprint　痕跡
fraction　断片
current　今の、現在の
if we are to take　'be to do'if節中で「意図」
quantum physics　量子物理学
quantum mechanics　量子力学
string theory　「ひも理論」
factor　要因
turn up　判明する, わかる:
rule out　除外する, 不可能にする, 妨げる; 禁止する
alternative　既存のものに代わる(べき)[より好ましい], 代替…
projection　投射

extraterrestrial life

   The question of whether or not mankind is alone in the universe is one of the oldest problems of philosophy, and has deep implications for our world view. In recent years, the subject has become increasingly important to science too. Advances in biochemistry and molecular biology have begun solving the mystery of the origin of life. Discoveries in astronomy are casting light on the existence of other planets and their chemical and physical structures, while the space programme has provided the opportunity to search for life directly on our neighbouring planets. In addition, a major new project has begun which sets as its goal the detection of radio signals from advanced technological communities elsewhere in the galaxy. It is therefore very timely to consider in detail what the discovery of extraterrestrial life would mean for our view of ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
   There is little doubt that even the discovery of a single extraterrestrial microbe, if it could be shown to have evolved independently of life on Earth, would drastically alter our world view and change our society as profoundly as the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions. It could truly be described as the greatest scientific discovery of all time. In the more extreme case of the detection of an alien message, the likely effects on mankind would be highly significant.[2003年、東京農工大]

biochemist生化学　　　
molecular biology分子生物学
detection発見　
extraterrestrial地球外の　
microbe　微生物

上記の文章を踏まえて、"extraterrestrial life"について、考えて見ましょう。

nanotechnology

後期でも出題の可能性があるnanotechnology。確認しておきましょう。［以下の文は抜粋です。最後の部分の意味が不明な場合は出題番号２全体を読んでみてください。

  So, what is the solution to these technological problems[one of them is the physical limit of semiconductor industry]? Perhaps the most exciting alternative comes in the form of nanotechnology. Basically, nanotechnology will allow humans to control matter on a tiny scale. The smallest possible scale is the atomic level and if humans could control atoms we would be able to make incredibly small chips and computers. This is what nanotechnology is all about: the control of matter at the atomic level.
  In 1981 IBM took the first practical step toward making nanotechnology a reality by making a new microscope. The microscope was so powerful it allowed researchers to see atoms and molecules for the first time. Scientists had talked and written about working at this atomic level before, but they had to wait until IBM's invention to make it possible. Now that scientists can see at this atomic level it may be possible to control atoms, move them around and build products from the atomic level. This would allow humans to make virtually perfect materials and products, atom by atom. Many scientists believe that nanotechnology will become as important as electricity, that it will allow the creation of new materials and products and great advances in electronics, energy and medicine. It would certainly allow chips to become smaller and more powerful than Gordon Moore ever imagined and get his law beyond "the wall."

Question:
According to the text, what is likely to happen with the development ofnanotechnology? Choose THREE of the responses below.

(A) Chip makers like Intel will be able to make considerable profits from it.
(B) IBM will have a virtual monopoly in the field of nanotechnology.
(C) It will be possible to make new materials which do not currently exist.
(D) The "law" Gordon Moore put forward in 1965 will be ignored as inaccurate.
(E) Less energy will be required to produce new medicine.
(F) Making chips which are much faster than they are now will be possible.
(G) Matter will be able to be controlled at the atomic level.
(H) The need for electricity will be reduced.
[２０００年北海道大学]hokkaidomon1.pdfをダウンロード

A Briefer History of Einstein

  Throughout his life, Einstein's efforts toward peace probably achieved little that would last--- and certainly won him few friends. His vocal support of the Zionist cause, however, was duly recognized in 1952, when he was offered the presidency of Israel. He declined, saying he thought he was too naive about politics. But perhaps his real reason was different: to quote him again, "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."
[from A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking,2005]

1.　... little that would last
ここが分かるか？

２．His vocal support of the Zionist cause, however, was duly recognized in 1952,
この文は何を読むか？ここは'however'を読む！
また、このcauseは必須。

３．He declined, saying he ...　　あたりまえのように出てくる「分詞構文」、しかし自然に読み進めばよい。

４．"Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."
有名な引用句。

equation、eternityあたりは必須単語。

Genetic engineering

「遺伝子工学」のみが問題にされた文ではないですが、暗記しておくと役に立つと思う。

A lot of research is being carried out to explore the possibility of establishing human life on another planet such as Mars. Scientists are planning to build a camp where people can stay for relatively long periods. Some researchers, however, have conceived of an even stranger and more ambitious project to make another earth. This project involves using genetically altered bacteria to make Mars habitable for human beings. According to one scientist, genetic engineering will be able to produce bacteria that can survive in the harsh environment of Mars. Bacteria living in the Antarctic, for example, can survive at temperatures far below freezing point. Through genetic modification of such bacteria, it may be possible to produce new organisms that will adapt themselves to life outside earth. Techniques from molecular biology would also be used to steal traits of other bacteria and combine them with these organisms. This could produce organisms able to withstand harsh chemicals and be resistant to dryness and radiation.
[Meijo, 2004]

単語の意味や説明、また和訳してみたい人はコメントに書き込んでください。