1. The number of foreign tourists who visited the country in the first quarter this year reached over three-point-four million, almost 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
올해 1분기에 우리나라를 찾은 외국인 관광객 수가 340만명을 돌파해, 팬데믹 이전의 90% 가까운 수준을 회복한 것으로 나타났습니다.
Expression ]
▶first quarter this year : 올해 1분기
▶pre-pandemic levels : 팬데믹 이전의 수준
2. The number of Koreans working at least one additional side job while employed full-time surpassed 500,000 in the first quarter of the year, with a significant portion being people in their 60s and older.
올해 1분기에 국내에서 최소 1개 이상의 부업을 한 적이 있는 취업자 수가 50만 명을 넘어선 가운데, 이 중 상당수가 60대 이상인 것으로 집계됐습니다.
Expression ]
▶side job : 부업
▶significant portion : 상당 부분, 상당수
3. The Japanese yen surged after diving to a new 34-year low past 160 per dollar on Monday as a forecast-beating US inflation reading dented expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year.
예상치를 웃도는 미국 인플레이션 수치로 올해 연방준비제도의 기준 금리 인하 조치에 대한 기대감이 꺾이면서, 월요일인 어제, 엔/달러 환율이 장중 한때 34년 만의 최저치인 160엔을 돌파했습니다.
Expression ]
▶dive : 급강하하다, 급락하다
reading: (계기의) 눈금 표시, 도수, 수치
▶dented expectations : 기대를 꺾다[훼손하다, 약화시키다]
4. A US airline company's booking system has repeatedly confused a 101-year-old woman for an infant due to the software’s apparent inability to correctly input her actual birth year — 1922 — defaulting to 2022 instead.
미국의 한 항공사 예약 시스템이 101세 여성의 실제 출생연도인 1922년을 인식하지 못해 2022년으로 자동 설정함에 따라, 해당 승객이 유아로 잘못 등록되는 일이 반복적으로 일어났습니다.
Expression ]
▶infant : 유아
▶default : (컴퓨터) 디폴트로 되다
- default to something: 디폴트에 의해 (자동적으로) ...가 되다 (If a computer defaults to a way of operating, it automatically uses it if you do not intentionally change it.)
5. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has swept through Southeast Asian countries over the past week, pushing temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius and forcing thousands of schools to instruct students to stay home.
지난 주 동남아시아 각국에 이례적인 폭염이 덮치면서 기온이 45도까지 오르고 수많은 학교가 휴교 조치를 단행했습니다.
Expression ]
▶exceptionally hot weather : 이례적인 폭염
▶instruct : (특히 격식을 차려·공식적으로) 지시하다
------------------------------------------------
NEWS COVERAGE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
San Francisco Celebrates Its New Public Toilet
Heather Knight
c.2024 The New York Times Company
San Francisco closed the lid Sunday on the saga of a $1.7 million public restroom. To commemorate the commode’s installation, residents celebrated at a “potty party” they called the Toilet Bowl.
Lookie-loos lined up in the Noe Valley Town Square to give the loo a whirl. A band played songs including “Sloop John B” by the Beach Boys. (“This is a song about a john!” the band leader explained.) Children sipped lemonade and ate chocolate cupcakes while they tossed bean bags into plastic training potties on the ground.
[Expression]
closed the lid on the saga of: ...의 대장정에 마침표를 찍었다
commode: (좌석 아래에 변기가 있는) 변기 겸용 의자 (a piece of furniture that looks like a chair but has a container in the seat that people who are ill or old can use as a toilet)
potty: (비격식) 어린이/유아용 변기 (그 외 '시시한', '약간 미친 듯한' 등의 뜻도 있음) (a bowl, sometimes with a handle, that young children sit on and use as a toilet)
▶lookie-loo = (미국) (속어) 구경꾼 ((US, informal + often disparaging) a person who goes somewhere or stops to look at something (such as the scene of an accident); an intrusively curious onlooker — usually plural)
▶give the loo a whirl = 화장실을 한번 이용해보다
- give something a whirl: (좋은지·할 수 있는지 보기 위해) ...을 한번 해 보다[시도하다] (to attempt to do something, often for the first time)
- loo: (영국) (비격식) 화장실
▶john = (비격식) (특히 미국) 화장실
San Francisco may have been a laughingstock over the news that it planned to spend $1.7 million to construct a single public restroom with a sink and toilet, getting skewered by late-night comedians and inspiring the “it” costume at Halloween parties.
But Sunday, the city got the last laugh.
[Expression]
▶laughingstock (laughing stock) = 웃음거리, 조소의 대상 (a person or group that is ridiculed)
▶have the last laugh = 최후에[결국에는] 웃다[이기다/성공하다] (to finally get an advantage from an argument or disagreement, when it seemed that you would not)
“We wanted to, you know, really roll with it,” said Zach D’Angelo, dressed as a giant roll of toilet paper with a red plunger as his hat. D’Angelo, host of Tuesday night trivia at a pub down the street, served as the Toilet Bowl’s emcee — or, as he put it, the Grand Poobah.
“I am flush with excitement!” he exclaimed before he started telling toilet jokes that he said he had gotten from his 7-year-old nephew.
[Expression]
▶roll with = …와 같은 방향으로 움직여 충격을 줄이다, (난관 등을) 받아들여 대처하다 (lessen the impact by moving in the same direction) (To accept adversity and cope with it)
※roll with the punches: 힘든 상황에 적응하다[...에 유연하게 대처하다] (to be able to deal with a series of difficult situations)
plunger: (손잡이 끝에 흡착 고무판이 붙어 있는 부엌·목욕탕) 배관 청소 용구 (흔히 '뚫어뻥'이라 불리는 기구)
poobah (poo(h)-bah): 많은 직책을 겸한 사람; (직함이 많은) 지위가 높은 사람, 대관(大官); 거만한 인물 (본문의 경우 poo의 의미까지 포함된 이름) (someone who has a lot of, or too much influence or who thinks they are more important than they really are)
▶flush = (사람의 얼굴이) 붉어지다, 상기되다; (변기의) 물이 쏟아지다[물을 내리다] (본문에서는 두 가지 다 의도된 표현)
Just as puzzling as the price tag was the timeline. The city said it would take two to three years to install the restroom, even after it secured the state funds.
Neighbors and a local journalist (well, me) began to question the details of the project. City officials explained the toilet would have to be approved by numerous city commissions. It would also be subject to environmental review. All that, plus the high cost of construction in the city, made the project expensive and time-consuming.
Politicians began distancing themselves from the bathroom brouhaha. Gov. Gavin Newsom took back the state money.
[Expression]
▶distance oneself from = …으로부터 거리를 두다, 떨어지다
▶brouhaha = [ ˈbruːhɑːhɑː ] 난리 법석 (a lot of noise or angry complaining about something)
In the end, the new red restroom in the Noe Valley Town Square was worthy of celebration. On Sunday, a woman doled out toilet trivia. Local librarians handed out free copies of children’s books titled “Everyone Poops” and “Time to Use the Potty.” There was a toilet-themed costume contest with whoopee cushions as prizes.
Three San Francisco politicians — Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, state Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Matt Haney — addressed the crowd. Haney posed for a photo in front of the bathroom.
“It’s not gold-plated, but it’s worth its weight in gold,” he said with a laugh.
[Expression]
deteriorate: 악화되다, 더 나빠지다
▶dole something out (to somebody) = (...에게) ~을 조금씩 나눠 주다
poop: (동)똥을 싸다, 방귀를 뀌다 (명)응가(=poo); (어린애·동물의) 똥
whoopee cushion: 뿡뿡 쿠션(앉으면 방귀 소리가 나는 고무 쿠션, 장난으로 쿠션 밑에 깜)
▶It’s not gold-plated, but it’s worth its weight in gold = (이 화장실이) 금테를 두르진 않았어도, 금값은 한다(아주 귀중한 시설이다) (이래저래 비용과 노력이 많이 들어간, 꼭 필요했던 시설임을 함축한 말)
- gold-plated: 도금을 한 (covered with a very thin layer of gold)
- worth your/its weight in gold: 아주 유용한[귀중한] (to be very useful or helpful)