Unexpected Item Found in the Check-in Area －チェックインエリアで見つかった思わぬアイテム－

Have you ever been stopped by overzealous security staff at an airport?

One time when I travelled from Tokyo to the UK via Dubai, a member of security at Narita Airport seemed to get really suspicious of my white cane (used by blind people.)  She thoroughly inspected the cane, made me take my shoes off, patted my body all over, and then gave me really confusing instructions that a blind person could not understand.

“Ugoite kudasai,” she said, which means, “Please move.”

“Move how?” I was thinking.  “Do you want me to dance or something?”

I heard later that she was pointing to the side, to show me in which direction to move.  But how was a blind person supposed to see that?  Maybe she was trying to test if I was really blind or was just pretending!

But I have some sympathy with security staff at airports.  Passengers do sometimes act strangely, and they sometimes do try to bring aboard dangerous items.

There was a story a couple of weeks ago from Israel.  An American family who were on holiday there found an unexploded shell lying on the ground, at the site of a former war between Israel and Syria.

The tourists wanted to take the unexploded shell back to America as a souvenir.  So when they got to the airport, they took out the shell and asked, “Can we put this in our suitcase?”

When a security guard saw the item, she tried to get people to evacuate the area in case it exploded.  Unfortunately, some people misunderstood and assumed that the airport was under attack from terrorists, and people began running away in panic.  One man fell off the escalator and had to be taken to hospital.

The amazing thing is that, after the confusion and panic had died down, the American family were allowed to board their flight back to the US (without the unexploded shell.)

And I made it back to the UK with my cane too, quite excited to have been touched all over by a female security guard.  I always try to look a little suspicious when I go to airports now.

 

Vocabulary:

overzealous – having or showing too much energy or dedication to a cause or principle

For example, “The staff at the bank made me fill out the form again because I stamped my name in slightly the wrong place.  I think they were overzealous in applying the rules.”

 

Give Me a Grandchild, or Give Me Death! －我に孫を与えよ、しからずんば死を！－

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

The opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s novel, “Anna Karenina” 

It was revealed this week that an ageing Indian couple - 61 and 57 - are suing their only son and his wife.  The reason that they are demanding around 525,000 Pounds in compensation is “mental cruelty”.  Their son and his wife, who are 35 and 31 respectively, have been married for six years, and still have no plans to start a family. 

The ageing Indian couple are so desperate to enjoy playing with a grandchild that they are demanding back the costs of educating and supporting their son financially if a grandchild is not produced within the next year. 

Even if this strategy of maximum pressure is successful in forcing their son and daughter-in-law to have a child, it is hard to imagine the couple bringing the baby round to its grandparents to play.  Who knows what crazy tactics Grandma and Grandpa would use next? 

“Look at the baby, Dad.  Isn’t he cute!” 

Grandpa pulls out a gun.  “Son, you know that I’ve always wanted two grandchildren… Now take your clothes off.”

 

Vocabulary:

alike – the same

compensation – money given to a person who has been unfairly hurt or has suffered unfair damage

[A] and [B] are [C] and [D] respectively – [A] is [C], and [B] is [D]; [A] and [B] are [C] and [D] in the same order as is written

 

Being Thrown in at the Deep End －窮地に立たされる－

“I’ve got a serious situation here.  My pilot has gone incoherent,” said a passenger, who was trying to control the plane.  “I have no idea how to stop the airplane.  I don’t know how to do anything.” 

The plane was flying at 9,000 feet in the air when the pilot suffered a sudden illness and lost consciousness.  One of the passengers then managed to operate the radio to ask for help.  An air traffic controller on the ground then managed to help the passenger, who had no idea what he was doing, to land the plane in Florida. 

This is a true story, which was reported this week.  Thankfully, the flight from the Bahamas landed successfully, and the passenger and air traffic controller are being hailed as heroes. 

This is a pretty extreme example of being thrown in at the deep end. 

I don’t recommend it as a way to teach someone to swim, but the phrase comes from the idea of simply throwing a child in at the deep end of the swimming pool, and hoping that their survival instinct will somehow make them start kicking and struggling so desperately that they learn to swim in moments. 

When I was a child, and visiting my uncle in Australia, he suddenly picked me up and threw me in at the deep end of his swimming pool.  I knew how to swim, but I had never been in the water with my clothes and shoes on before.  They were quickly soaked with water and my body seemed incredibly heavy.  For a few moments, I was sure I was going to drown.  Oh how my uncle laughed as I struggled to the side of the pool and climbed out, water dripping from my clothes. 

There is a phrase used about language study which is similar to “being thrown in at the deep end.”  Homestay trips abroad offer “immersion English.”  To be immersed in water is to be completely covered and surrounded by water.  For a non-native speaker to be immersed in English means that they are completely surrounded by English speakers, and so they cannot rely on their native language. 

Would you be able to stay calm and quickly learn how to fly?  Or would you crash and burn?

 

Vocabulary:

to be incoherent – to be making no sense.  For example, “After drinking too much alcohol, my friend started mumbling nonsense.  He was completely incoherent.”

to lose consciousness – for the mind to lose awareness, and to lose control of the body.  For example, “His head was hit by a baseball, and he lost consciousness and fell to the ground.”

to be hailed (as a hero) – to be cheered and congratulated (and called a hero).  For example, “After publishing his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein was hailed as a genius.