英語学習 アメリカの出来事 日本を英語で説明

Last month, you probably had no idea who Louis Oosthuizen was. If you asked anybody around you, they probably had no idea either. Now, that he has won the British Open, many know his name. South African Oosthuizen, after only making cut in his previous eight majors, won at St. Andrews by seven shots over Lee Westwood of England.

Oosthuizen has a gap-tooth smile; his friends nicknamed him "Shrek." If you follow golf, you know Ernie Els, his mentor, and if you don't follow golf, you still may have heard of him. Tiger Woods tied for 23rd at the end of the British Open. Will he ever recover from his problems and capture his old golf game? If so, it looks like it will be a while longer.

We are waiting for the Prisoner to appear on the big screen as a movie, but it is in the works. Universal Pictures owns the rights, but who knows what is happening now. The movie has been stuck in development hell for many years.

Development hell refers to when a movie is being worked on for a long time, and does not appear to be getting close to be completed. Developing, developing, developing...

Viewers of the new and old versions of the television show are probably struck by the difference in location. In the original, the Village was on an island somewhere off of Africa. In the remake, the Village is in someone's mind.

As with many remakes, the elapsing years have produced new technology and new ideas. Who could have conceived of the Village being in the mind in the 1960s? While many remakes are just tired and should never have been made, the remake of The Prisoner does add something new.

We wonder what the movie will bring.

This quote is from George Bernard Shaw on martyrdom:

Martyrdom is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability.

Shaw lived in a different era. Today, men and women can become famous for many reasons not involving ability. Perhaps the spread of television, reality shows, and scandals are a major factor. Perhaps we just have too much time and money on our hands.

After all, what is all this but an elevated form of gossip?

Some Americans are so upset by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that they are thinking of boycotting oil. Instead of cars, they can bike-ride or walk. Wait, bikes and sneakers have oil products in them. Everything today has oil in it: carpeting, computers, clothing, toothpaste, and more. Petrochemicals, chemicals that come from oil are everywhere, including in our blood.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) tested humans and found 180 products in our blood that started as natural gas or oil. Every day we are touched by petrochemicals. For an example, look at shampoo: plastic cap, seal and the label. The ink is from petrochemicals; the glue that keeps the label on is from oil or gas.

The results of this use appear in the Gulf of Mexico and the hormone problems in people and animals. Until we have an accident or problem, life is more comfortable and more convenient. Before petrochemicals milk and soda containers were glass and desks heavy wood. We lived without computers or cell phones and with very little air conditioning.

We need something to replace oil and petrochemicals, something safe and plentiful. Will we find it?

We now face two disasters in the Gulf of Mexico: the one we can see and the one we can't. The one we can see is on the surface and the other is deep down in the Gulf. Two massive underwater plumes of what looks like oil are hundreds of feet deep and stretching for miles.

We are waiting to hear when the oil will truly stop, to see how much damage there will be, and to learn how quickly it can be cleaned up. No one knows any of the answers, but we do know that the damage is great and the clean up will take years, decades, or even longer.

Looking at this, we hope humanity will learn that drilling in deep water should be banned, that alternative energy should be sought out with greater resources and more seriousness, and that saving energy should also be truly embraced, including heavy taxes on gasoline to change the way we live.

We look at our history of accidents and failures to learn. Still, we hope.