2021/12/11(土) SMC
Here are the summary of the meeting. (No photos)
Word of the Day _SM Yu. Narisawa
The presenter introduced the word “legend” as the Word of the Day. With the inspiration of the “man of the year for sports”, Ohtani Shohei, the word came to his mind, he said. During his speech he played a song from Niel Sedaka who is literally a living legend. He is currently 82 years old.
Lecture
<Common Phrases Quiz>_SM Noro
. Get the bit between one's teeth : to do what you have decided to do in a forceful and energetic way:
She wasn't that interested at first, but she loved it once she got the bit between her teeth.
. pull something to bits: British English informal to criticize something strongly
The critics pulled his new play to bits.
. make somebody’s hair stand on end: to make someone very frightened
. not turn a hair: to remain completely calm when something bad or surprising suddenly happens
. wave a magic wand: to make a bad situation better, even though this is impossible
I can’t wave a magic wand and change what happened.
you want will not happen
If you’re not careful, you can wave goodbye to any pay rise this year.
. scratch your head: informal to think carefully about a difficult question or problem
This crisis has politicians scratching their heads and wondering what to do.
. you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours: spoken used to say that you will help someone if they agree to help you
Table Topics Speeches (Omitted)
Prepared Speeches
<A trip to Sapporo>_SM Yo. Narisawa
(Here is the quoted passage of the speech.)
Last week my husband and I went to Sapporo in order to see my son's family.
This was the first time for us to see his wife and baby. We didn't know what his wife like. So I felt a little nervous before meeting her. But as soon as we entered the front door, his wife warmly welcomed us with a broad smile. Her smile eased my tension in the blink of an eye. And what's more, when I saw their baby, I felt he was the prettiest baby in the world! My son cooked dinner in the evening. The next day we went to 定山渓 with his family. We all quickly opened up to each other and talked freely. We fully enjoyed ourselves there. Through this trip, I saw a lot of heartwarming scenes of my son and his wife looking after their baby. I felt relieved to know how they were so happy. We had a very pleasant time!
<Is crying bad? >_SM Takahata
She talked about an essay posted on the Asahi Shimbun’s reader’s column, “Hitotoki.” The essay was about the opening speech of a sports festival made by the principle of the writer’s grandchild’s kindergarten. The principal asked the kids to promise not to cry even if they fall down. The writer questioned why children are not supposed to cry and wondered if crying is really so bad. She introduced another article about “Crying Room” in Madrid where anybody can enter and cry and can call people who listen to them with the phones provided. She said we should tell kids that if you feel pain or sad, you can cry and patience is not always a good thing, which can make our society easier to live in.
<Getting used to things>_SM K. Narisawa
His speech was made up of three parts. First, he talked about how adorable the cabin attendant was on the fight back home. Their business smile and their gracious demeanor were something to be noted. Unlike ordinary people who seldom have an experience of flying in the air, they seemed to take the taking off as a matter of fact. It may be a matter of getting used to the fear of flight, though we usually would have a fright (a play on words )
How wonderful for us to get used to speaking English without fear! It may also be a matter of getting used to it.
<Baseball legends>_SM Eda
#Babe Ruth
He hit 714 carrier home runs, unbroken for decades, with two twenty games or more winning seasons as a pitcher. He also became home run king 12 times, still unbroken.
#Ted Williams
He hit 521 carrier home runs and 2654 carrier hits. He spent almost five years in service for WW2 and Korean War. If he hadn't been in the service... A lot of people believe he was the
best hitter ever. He is also known as the last hitter whose batting average is 400 or over.
#Cy Young
He had 511 carrier wins, still unbroken. His fastball was so fast that it was like a cyclone,
which is why his nick name is 'Cy'. Honoring him, the best pitcher of the year is given 'Cy
Young Award'.
#Hank Aaron
He was an African American, who broke the carrier home run record of Babe Ruth. He received lots of death threat in and outside ball parks. He hit 755 home runs.
#Satchel Paige
He was an African American pitcher, spending most of his carrier in the 'Nigro League'. He once pitched against then Major League all stars and won one to nothing.
He later joined the Major League at the age of 42.
#Nolan Ryan
He pitched seven carrier no hitters, unbroken. His pitch exceeded 100 miles per hour for the
first time in the world. He had 5714 carrier strike outs and 383 strike outs a season, both
unbroken. He won 324 carrier wins.
#Ichiro Suzuki
He had 10 consecutive years of 200 hits or more, unbroken, during those seasons he received 10 golden glove awards and 10 appearances in All Star Games. He had over 3000 hits in the Major League only. He broke the most hit season record after about 90 years.
I hope Shohei Otani will be counted as a legend in 10 years.
Next in-person meeting
2022/1/8
Oyama Community Center (Small Room)
Coordinator: SM Noro, Word of the Day: SM Takahata, Lecturer: SM Yu. Narisawa
Reported by YAMAZAKI
