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http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20494 Notes on Susan
It is the aspect of Sontag that is most difficult to take: the longing, or the pretense, to be a witness, a melancholic standing in the ruins of history, despite the circumstances of her life. As a critic, she was a Roland Barthes who dreamed of being a Walter Benjamin, and moreover, a Walter Benjamin who dreamed of being a Russian novelist. But she was born too late, and in the wrong place.
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assault weapon 対人殺傷兵器 handgun 拳銃
background check 身元調査、身元確認、素行調査、
moment of silence 黙祷の時間
In 1994 President Bill Clinton approved a bill banning assault weapons (covering semi-automatic rifles plus high-capacity magazines for handguns) and the year before that a bill imposing a requirement for background checks.
chilid-proof 子供が操作できない、子供にとって安全な
Guns could be made much safer, with the mandatory fitting of child-proof locks.
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give ~ a run for one's money 〜が手応えを感じるくらい健闘する、〜を相手に善戦する
Indian and Chinese firms are now starting to give their rich-world rivals a run for their money.
make one's mark 有名になる、名を成す、頭角を現す、成功する、出世する
Brazilian and Russian multinationals are also starting to make their mark. The Russians have outdone the Indians this year, splashing $11.4 billion abroad, and are now in the running to buy Alitalia, Italy's state airline
white goods 白物（家電）、大型家電製品
India's Ranbaxy is still minute compared with a branded-drugs maker like Pfizer; China's Haier, a maker of white goods, is a minnow next to Whirlpool's whale.
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business-as-usual 旧態依然
Slowly, however, they lost patience with what they saw as the government's loose ethics and plodding, business-as-usual approach to the urgent challenges of national development.
rout 大敗させる、完勝する
In mid-July 1994, Kagame's RPF finally routed the Rwandan army and put an end to the genocide.
. Lesser criminals, those who killed in their villages or guided death squads, may serve limited prison terms or none at all if they confess before local assemblies and show credible remorse
in the top quartile 上位4分の1に入っている
in high-sounding words 仰々しい言葉で
All this may seem at odds with the stated commitment of Ivy League and other elite colleges to the high-sounding principle of "need-blind" admissions.
