実践ビジネス英語 ディクテーション (10/11, 12)
NHKラジオ「実践ビジネス英語」”Talk the Talk”のディクテーションです。
Lesson 12のテーマは、’Poverty in America’（アメリカにおける貧困）でした。Vignetteでは、アメリカでは4000万～4700万人が貧困生活をしているというドキュメンタリー番組が紹介され、貧困の原因や貧困の定義などが話題になりました。貧困生活をするアメリカの高齢者が2030年までに7000万人を超えるという驚きの予測もあるそうです。
Talk the Talkでは、Heatherさんがアメリカに住むつもりはないという理由の1つに日本の国民皆保険制度を挙げられ、杉田先生は貧困の定義についても話されています。
Poverty in America
（S: 杉田敏先生 H: Heather Howardさん）
S: Our current vignette talks about the different causes of poverty in the United States.
Overall, the size of the middle class is shrinking, and the number of people who are either very rich or very poor has been increasing in the United States in recent years.
I think that’s most evident in cities like New York.
H: It’s such an upsetting subject especially as it affects children.
I hate to think of children being deprived of their basic necessities and the terrible pain and anxiety that must cause their parents.
You know, Ueda briefly mentions the pressure of healthcare costs on people struggling to get by.
That’s a big reason why I’m probably never go back to the United States to live.
I came to Japan right after college graduation, so my entire adult working life has been spent in a country where there’s national health insurance.
It’s hard for me to process the idea of avoiding the doctor due to financial concerns.
I wish every American could live in a country like Japan for two or three years, could experience getting regular, reliable medical treatment for very affordable amounts.
They go home and demand that the US introduce the same kind of health insurance system immediately.
S: Salmans talks about food banks and food pantries.
Did you ever donate to facilities like that when you were in the States, Heather?
H: Yes, just like Salmans, my family would donate through our church.
I also remember there being collection drives at my middle school and high school in Oregon.
The teachers would caution us to bring really useful items like canned vegetables and soups and such.
They’d say, “Don’t bring bottles of barbecue sauce or stuff like that. We’re trying to collect things that people really need.”
My family would also donate clothes to charity.
And that’s something I continue to do now.
Every six months or so, I send clothes that my daughter has outgrown to a charity that holds low-cost bazaars.
S: The vignette also talks about how the causes of poverty in America differ from many developing countries, where it’s often the result of corruption, political instability or war.
People defined as poor by the U.S. government often own cars, computers and watch cable television.
They also have bigger living spaces than a lot of people in other countries.
H: True. And that’s not a completely modern phenomenon from what I gather.
I was reading in a British newspaper the other day about the 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath by American author John Steinbeck.
According to the article, I saw it was briefly banned in the Soviet Union because it depicted how even the poorest of Americans could own a car.
S: Yes. Poverty is a relative concept.
Poverty may not always be related to the fulfillment of basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter.
The definition of “poor” primarily revolves around the purchasing power of an individual with respect to the average population.
We can’t say, “We’re not poor compared to those people in that country.”
H: Especially if a person finds themselves significantly disadvantaged within their society.
If people are cut off from various opportunities that others enjoy, particularly from the time they’re children, it can trap them in a vicious cycle that’s hard to break out of.
Words and Expressions
purchasing power: 購買力
vicious cycle: 悪循環
お読み下さり、ありがとうございました♪
