☆英検一級/準一級　　ライティング指導

英検ライティング指導のクラス: 少しずつ受講者が増え、手応えを感じています。社会問題などについて、自分自身の考え方をまとめ/発表する良い機会になっていると好評です。　受講費は、添削/書き直し2,000円　or 4,000円（添削/書き直し/１時間のディスカッションクラス付)です。受講を希望されます方は、伊藤まで。　

☆Spinoza

高校時代、世界史の授業で、デカルトやスピノザなど、17世紀を代表する哲学者(合理主義）に興味を抱いた事がありました。なかでも、スピノザの宗教感に強く魅せられました。アインシュタインが自身の宗教感は、スピノザに重なると表明していたことに起因するのかもしれません。英検一級/準一級の必須ボキャブラリー, Atheist（無神論者）/Pantheist(汎神論者）について調べていたら、とても、興味深い文章を見つけました。

“When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the question students asked him most was: Do you believe in God? And he always answered: I believe in the God of Spinoza.

Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.

According to Spinoza, God would say: “Stop praying. I want you to go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I’ve made for you.

“Stop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That’s where I live and there I express my love for you.

“Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don’t blame me for everything that others made you believe.

“Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can’t read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son’s eyes—you will find me in no book!

“Stop asking me, ‘Will you tell me how to do my job?’ Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry or bothered. I am pure love.

“Stop asking for forgiveness, there’s nothing to forgive. If I made you, I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies, and best of all, free will. Why would I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How could I punish you for being the way you are, if I’m the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?

“Respect your peers, and don’t give what you don’t want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life—alertness is your guide.

“My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, not a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now—and it is all you need.

“I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.
You are absolutely free to create in your life. It’s you who creates heaven or hell.

“Live as if there is nothing beyond this life, as if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist. Then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is an afterlife, rest assured that I won’t ask if you behaved right or wrong, I’ll ask, ‘Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?’

“Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don’t want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.

“Stop praising me. What kind of egomaniac God do you think I am? I’m bored with being praised. I’m tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That’s the way to praise me.

“Stop complicating things and repeating as a parrot what you’ve been taught about me. Why do you need more miracles? So many explanations?

“The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.”

☆Court Packing

NY通信、最新号が届きました！

BEIGO Watch [193] : Court Packing 米語 Watch [193] : Court Packing 　各位、マンハッタンの冬の風物詩、ロックフェラー・センターのクリスマスツリーの点灯式は、無観客で行われました。　２０２０年の師走は例年とは全く違うものになりそうです。　それは恐らく日本でも同じことなのでしょう。 その中でも、健康に気をつけて楽しみを見つけて行きましょう。 　 　米語Watchをお送りします。　
米語Watch（週刊NY生活紙、朝日ウィークリー紙に連載中)- Court Packing 米最高裁の構成を政治的に操作すること 　大統領選挙の結果、バイデン氏が勝利しました。　新政権が何をもたらすのか・・・中でも、Court Packing の可能性が、話題になっています。Courtは裁判所で、Packは詰め込むことですが、1937年にルーズベルト大統領がニューディール政策遂行のため最高裁判事の数を増やそうとしたことがCourt Packingと呼ばれ、この表現が定着しました。 　最高裁の判事（通例のJudgeではなくJusticeと呼ぶ）の定員は１８６９年に９人と立法化されました。　現在、６人が保守派、３人が進歩派です。この内、３人はトランプ氏が指名した保守派の判事で、とりわけバレット判事は今回の大統領選挙の直前に指名されたことから、民主党サイドには強い反発があります。　（２０１６年オバマ大統領が、進歩派のガーランド判事を最高裁に指名しようとした時、大統領選が９ヶ月後に迫っているとして共和党が審議に応じなかった） 　最高裁判事の定数は、法律で変えることができます。　実際、最高裁の定員を３人増やし、進歩派の判事を指名することで、最高裁のバランスを回復することを期待する民主党員は多いのです。　もし民主党が１月に行われるジョージア州での二席の上院議員決選投票で勝てば、Court　Packingが現実の視野に入ってくるでしょう。そうならなくとも、アメリカ社会での最高裁の影響力を考えるとき、バイデン新政権のもとで、Court Packingが大きい論点になり続けるのは間違いありません。

☆Business English Salon w/Ian Article(2020/12/05)

Do You Make These Mistakes at Work?
How to stop shooting yourself in the foot
John P. Weiss

There were people in my law enforcement career who seemed determined to fail. Despite mentoring, instruction, gentle correction, and discipline, they consistently chose the low road.
What’s the low road? An appetite for excuses, blame, and underperformance. An aversion to personal responsibility.
“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”― Theodore Roosevelt
Not long after being promoted to the rank of police sergeant, I was sent to a supervisory school. There, among many subjects, I learned the art of performance appraisal. How to honestly evaluate subordinates and provide constructive, actionable feedback.
Most employees wanted to improve, and they were open to useful feedback. Some, unfortunately, resisted.
This was frustrating to me because I had taken the time to build rapport with them. I always pointed out their good qualities and successes at work. In short, I developed trust with them. Yet they refused to own their mistakes or change behavior.
Striving for mediocrity
I watched a fair number of bright and promising employees repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot, thereby killing their prospects for broader career development and promotion.
“No one gets ahead by striving for mediocrity.”― Glenn C. Stewart
It was frustrating to see employees with great potential who succumbed to mediocrity and the path of least resistance. Sometimes they were lazy. Other times, they became invested in a perceived wrong. Whatever the reason, they consistently fell short.

There’s no judgment here, just disappointment that I was unable to help these employees. Heck, I’ve made some of the same mistakes in my career, but eventually changed course.
Here are some of the mistakes you want to avoid at work.
Inconsistency
You’ve probably heard or read the advice, “Underpromise and overdeliver.” Sounds reasonable, but according to research, it’s not very good advice.
People value others who deliver on their promises but don’t care that much if they over-deliver on their promises. An article in Eurekalert.com used the following example:
“If you are sending Mother’s Day flowers to your mom this weekend, chances are you opted for guaranteed delivery: the promise that they will arrive by a certain time. Should the flowers not arrive on time, you will likely feel betrayed by the sender for breaking their promise. But if they arrive earlier, you likely will be no happier than if they arrive on time, according to new research.”
I don’t see much harm in overdelivering on promises, but what’s most important is CONSISTENCY in meeting your promises. Employees who can be counted on to consistently follow through on assignments are golden.

In my career, there were always a handful of employees who became indispensable, go-to people because they consistently followed through on assignments.
Other employees sporadically achieved great things, but they were inconsistent. If you want to stand out at work and not shoot yourself in the foot, worry less about being an occasional superstar and focus more on consistently doing good work.
Emotional immaturity
I could write a book about this one. Emotionally immature employees take things personally, often play the martyr, and fail to take responsibility for their actions.
Such individuals cannot work around their feelings to achieve positive outcomes. They expend more energy resisting or fighting things they don’t want to do or disagree with, rather than getting their work done.
I recall one employee who worked very hard at finding loopholes in our minimum standards of performance. He often did the least work possible and blamed others for his low productivity. The effort he put into resisting work was far more than simply doing his job. Needless to say, he was eventually fired.
“Maturity: Be able to stick with a job until it is finished. Be able to bear an injustice without having to get even. Be able to carry money without spending it. Do your duty without being supervised.” -Ann Landers
Focus on doing an honest day’s work for a day’s pay. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by letting your emotions get the best of you.
Negativity
There will always be things in life to complain about. No doubt, you know people in your work who grumble endlessly about everything. Ask yourself, how much fun are they to be around?

Better to be the little train that could than the negative one who quit.
Successful, well-adjusted people don’t waste energy on negativity. They work around setbacks and obstacles. They don’t quit. They focus on the goal, not the challenges.
“See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.”
― Eckhart Tolle, “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment”
Don’t be one of those negative souls at work, bringing everyone down. You’ll only shoot yourself in the foot. Optimism can be a force multiplier, whereas negativity can become a cancer at work.
Gossip
People love to talk about other people, especially when it’s negative. They’ll even do it via text messages.

I knew a young banker named Wayne who shared the following story. He was at work when his boss arrived, a bit late. Wayne received a text from a co-worker, speculating that their boss had “tied one on again,” the night before.
Wayne’s boss had a problem with alcohol, and everyone knew it. Wayne texted back to his co-worker, stating, “Yep, the boss is late for work again. I’ll bet she’s still drunk.”
Unfortunately for Wayne, he accidentally used a group text in his response. Not long after, his boss called Wayne into her office. Wayne was mortified. He felt terrible.
Wayne felt even worse when his boss apologized for being a poor example and admitted that she was struggling with her alcohol addiction.
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
Who are we to talk about others behind their backs? Do we think we are superior to them? Is it fair to judge, when we know little about their backgrounds, circumstances, and struggles?
If you want to shoot yourself in the foot at work, gossip about other people. It won’t take long before others and even your supervisor will figure out that you’re a gossip. And then they’ll think less of you.
Impatience
We live in an instant gratification world. As a result, we’ve become more impatient.


We can order food and have it immediately delivered to our home. With a few clicks and swipes on our phones, we can purchase goods and have them delivered, or hail a ride to take us anywhere we want.
Technology has made our lives easier and brought many conveniences. As a result, we forget that most things of value in life take time to achieve.
If you want an athletic body and six-pack abs, it’s not going to happen overnight. It will take many months of regular training and an improved diet.
If you want to make more money, you’ll have to invest time and energy in developing rare and valuable skills. That means furthering your education, practicing, and applying your new abilities in ways that get you noticed. All of which takes time and sacrifice.
“A certain amount of impatience may be useful to stimulate and motivate us to action. However, I believe that a lack of patience is a major cause of the difficulties and unhappiness in the world today.” -Joseph B. Wirthlin
Impatient employees shoot themselves in the foot because they’re not willing to put in the time and make the sacrifices necessary to grow. Developing patience within yourself will serve you well, in dealing with other people and learning new skills.
All we have is our character
There are many other mistakes you can make at work, like dishonesty, backstabbing, etc. In the end, all we have is our character. Our reputations hinge on our work ethic and how we treat others.
Don’t shoot yourself in the foot with inconsistency, emotional immaturity, negativity, gossip, and impatience.
Embracing hard work, decency, and virtue will take you far in the workplace, and other areas of your life. Best of all, you’ll become a role model for others, which is how we make the world a better place.

☆お仕事帰りの英会話

12/8 火曜日から、Stephen先生（スコットランド出身。カナダなどでの長期在住歴有。）が担当してくださる事になりました。TOEFLのクラスや、英文技術文書の校正（大学/研究機関）、地方自治体の姉妹都市交流プログラムなどで活躍されています。趣味は、ギター/ハイキングとの事です。どうぞよろしくお願いいたします！