[22-7-8 Fri] dashing hopes that ~라는 희망을 꺾다

1. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned as Conservative leader / after mass resignations from his ministers /  but says he will stay on as caretaker prime minister / until a successor is found.

보리스 존슨 영국 총리가, 내각 줄사퇴가 이어지자, 여당인 보수당 대표직에서 사임했습니다. 그러나 새로운 총리가 취임할 때까지는 총리직을 지킬 것이라고 말했습니다.

• mass resignations = 줄사퇴
• stay on = 남다, 계속 머무르다
• caretaker prime minister = 국정을 넘겨주는 역할의 총리

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2. The head of the International Monetary Fund has said / the outlook for the global economy has darkened significantly / and that she cannot rule out a possible global recession next year.

국제통화기금(IMF) 총재는 세계 경제의 전망이 상당히 어두워졌다며, 내년에 전 세계적인 경기 침체가 닥칠 가능성을 배제할 수 없다고 말했습니다.

• outlook = 전망 (=prospect)
• rule out = 배제하다, 제외하다

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3. The European Commission has voted to include nuclear energy and natural gas in its taxonomy of sustainable sources of energy / scheduled to take effect on January 1.

유럽연합 의회가 원자력과 천연가스를 지속 가능한 에너지원 목록인 녹색분류체계(택소노미)에 포함시키기로 결정했습니다. 이 사항은 내년 1월 1일부터 적용됩니다.

• taxonomy = 분류
• take effect = 시행되다, 발효되다

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4. Fresh Covid outbreaks in China / have put millions under lockdown, dashing hopes that the nation would move away from strict virus curbs seen earlier this year.

중국에서 다시 확산 중인 코로나바이러스로 인해 수백만 명이 봉쇄령에 묶이면서, 올해 초와 같은 엄격한 바이러스 규제에서 벗어나리라는 희망이 꺾였습니다.

• dashing hopes that ~라는 희망을 꺾다
• - dash: 꺾다, 낙담시키다 (원래는 ‘내던지다’, ‘부수다’)
• curb = 구속, 억제

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5. Scientists have said that snow at one of world's highest observatories is expected to completely melt before August this summer, the earliest time on record.

세계에서 가장 높은 관측소 중 하나가 있는 알프스 산 정상의 눈이 올해 여름에는 8월이 오기도 전에 모두 녹을 것으로 예상되며, 이는 그 어느 때보다도 빠른 속도라고 과학자들이 말했습니다.

• observatory = 관측소, 천문대, 기상대
• the earliest time on record = 기록된 가장 빠른 시간 = 최단 기록

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Allies Abandon Boris Johnson Amid Latest Scandal, but He Vows to Go On

Mark Landler and Stephen Castle c.2022 The New York Times Company

His support crumbling, his government in disarray(혼란), his alibis exhausted, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain tried frantically Wednesday to salvage his position, even as(~하는 와중에도) a delegation of Cabinet colleagues traveled to Downing Street to plead with their scandal-scarred leader to step down.

• his alibis exhausted: 그의 알리바이가 고갈되다
• scandal-scarred: 스캔들로 얼룩진, 스캔들투성이의
• plead with: 탄원하다, 간청하다
• salvage:  (이미 어느 정도 손상된 평판자존심 등을) 지키다[회복하다]

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More than 30 government ministers or aides quit, multiple Conservative Party lawmakers / urged Johnson to resign, and he got a withering reception in Parliament(의회에서의 평판도 흔들리고 있다).

But Johnson vowed to fight on, insisting he had a mandate(의무가 있다) from voters(유권자) / to steer Britain into its post-Brexit future, even as(~하는 와중에도, ~하는 상황에서도) rebellious Cabinet ministers tried to dislodge him.

• aide 보좌관
• withering  (사람의) 기를 죽이는[위축시키는]
• steer Britain into its post-Brexit future: 브렉시트 이후의 영국을 이끌다 
  steering wheel 운전대 / I'm behind the wheel. 운전을 하다 
• mandate: 권한, 재임기간
• dislodge: 몰아내다 (제 자리를 벗어나게 하다)

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 Elsewhere in Westminster, lawmakers considered — and then postponed, for a few days at least — a change in party rules that would allow another confidence vote, possibly next week, against the prime minister, who survived such a vote just a month ago.

Less than three years after he entered Downing Street, before riding a wave of pro-Brexit passion to win a landslide election victory, Johnson seemed cornered.

• confidence vote: 신임 투표
• before riding a wave of pro-Brexit passion to win a landslide election victory: 브렉시트 찬성론에 힘입어 선거에서 대승하기 전 

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That does not mean the end will come quickly or gracefully. Johnson resisted the appeals of the Cabinet delegation to resign. He has not ruled out calling a snap election to throw his fate to British voters. Such a move would need the assent of Queen Elizabeth II, which could precipitate a political crisis.

• snap election: 스냅(정해진 것이 아니라 순간순간 찍는) 선거, 예정보다 빠른 선거(집권당에 의해 예정된 날짜보다 일찍 치르는 선거)
• assent: 승인
• precipitate: 촉발시키다, 치닫게 하다

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 “Anyone quitting now, after defending all that, hasn’t got a shred of integrity,” said Starmer, the Labour Party(노동당) leader, staring balefully(악의적인 시선을 보냈다) across a table at Johnson. “Isn’t this the first recorded case of the sinking ship fleeing the rats?”

• hasn’t got a shred of integrity: 진실성(온전함)이 조금도 없다
• the sinking ship fleeing the rats: 침몰하는 배가 쥐를 피해 도망가는 격 (rats fleeing a sinking ship을 sarcastic humour로 표현한 것) / 여기서 sinking ship은 보수당, rats는 존슨 총리 및 아직 남아있는 정부 인사들
• The idiom ‘like rats fleeing a sinking ship’ is used in reference to people abandoning an enterprise once it seems likely to fail. 침몰하는 배에서 탈출하는 쥐들 (사람들이 남아 있는 사람들에 대해서는 신경 쓰지 않고 어려움에 처한 조직·회사 등을 떠나는 경우에 씀)  
• balefully: 악의를 품고

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 The Real Reason the Minions Have Taken Over the World

 Calum Marsh c.2022 The New York Times Company

 Early one Saturday morning in the summer of 2015, I attended a press screening of an animated film with a few other critics and a lot of happy families. Before the film began, the studio played a trailer for “Minions,” Universal’s spinoff based on characters from its popular series “Despicable(비열한) Me.”

• spinoff: 파생상품

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I had never heard an audience so ecstatically enraptured(무아지경으로 도취된) in my life. The auditorium quaked with laughter and applause. Children all around me were bouncing in their seats, shrieking and wailing in utter delight. When the trailer ended, they refused to settle down(진정하다). As the actual feature started, a boy in the front row seemed to speak for(대변하다) the entire room when he screamed, at the top of his lungs, “I WANT MINIONS!”

• feature: (예고편이 아닌) 본 영화. 원래는 feature film (장편 영화) - short film (단편영화) 
• movie 미국 - film 영국
• at the top of his lungs : 큰 소리로 떠나갈 듯, 목이 터져라

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That boy soon got his wish. The first “Minions,” starring those pill-shaped yellow humanoids in blue overalls and goggles / that kids seem to find irresistible(거부할 수 없는 매력), went on to earn more than $1 billion worldwide. The second, “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” released last week, broke the box office record for Independence Day weekend. Minions merchandise is ubiquitous, and on social media, the Minions lead TikTok trends and star in boomer-beloved memes. Writer Zack Kotzer has argued, convincingly(신빙성있게), that Universal’s lenient attitude(관대한 태도) toward copyright enforcement helped the Minions reach a point of cultural saturation (문화적 포화 상태의 경지).

But no less important is their joyous brand of simple, streamlined comedy, which, in its slapstick zest and nonverbal brio, achieves a kind of borderless comic nirvana.

• star in boomer-beloved memes: 베이비 붐 세대가 사랑하는 인터넷 밈에 등장하다
• reach a point of ~: ~의 경지(지경)에 이르다

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Of course, because the Minions don’t use a comprehensible language, their humor isn’t based on spoken jokes. This has doubtless(의심의 여지없이) helped the franchise find success abroad; with few punchlines in English, little is lost in translation. But the emphasis on sight gags and physical humor / makes the Minions films different from what you’d expect of family-friendly modern animation. Given the abundance of acrobatic antics, pratfalls and slapstick action, what the Minion movies end up resembling most is silent-era comedies(무성 영화).

• with few punchlines in English, little is lost in translation: 영어로 표현되는 농담이 거의 없기 때문에, 번역 과정에서 누락되는 내용이 없다
•  punchline: 핵심이 되는 구절, 결정적 역할을 하는 코믹한 대사

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One of the joys of watching the Minions in action is how neatly they manage to focus on simple pleasures, such as an anarchic(무질서한), madcap(무모한, 무분별한 (=reckless)) yellow creature in blue overalls(멜빵바지) blowing up or falling down. That’s refreshing and helps explain why these films are such colossal hits(엄청난 히트).

The Minions are the substance(본질, 핵심, 요지). The Minions aren’t voiced by celebrities. The Minions don’t make timely pop culture references. The Minions just hit gag after gag(개그의 연속): pure physical comedy without borders.

And that’s how the Minions took over the world(세계적으로 성공하다).

• without borders: 국경이 없는, 국경을 뛰어넘는
• Doctors Without Borders: 국경 없는 의사회
• choppy waters - 파도가 심하게 일렁이는 바다
• diaphragm - 횡경막