Today's Numbers
By DOUGLAS LUMMIS
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今日の数字
ニュース記事に数字の上での裏付けが入っていないと信頼しない読者もいるようだ。それを記者のほうも分かっていて、数値や調査結果などをたくさん盛り込み、自分の書いた記事を権威づける。筆者は、ある日の新聞から、いろいろな数値が入った記事を取り上げてみせる…。
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Some people believe the news only when
it comes with numbers. Newspaper reporters know this and put lots of
numbers in their articles. They especially like
to mention statistics and survey results. It gives their writing more authority.
In today's paper (from October 16) I found a lot of articles with numbers. I
will summarize some of them here. See if you
can figure out what they all mean.
Of the people answering a newspaper survey, 71
percent said they had little or no interest in the
coming Diet
election. Of those in their 20s, only 9 percent said they were very
interested. (By the time you read this the election will be over, and you will know the result of this
disinterest).
Bankruptcies in Japan exceeded 1,100 for
the 20th straight month. A survey found that
one in 13 board
members in listed banks is a former bureaucrat of the Finance Ministry or other government organ. Meanwhile, the dollar rose to ¥112.18, the highest rate since January, 1994.
Ten people have died in the most recent Ebola
epidemic in Gabon. (In the last epidemic in February, 21 people died.)
In the seven years since the fall of the Berlin
Wall, only 4 percent of the marriages in Berlin have been between people
from the former eastern and western sectors.
Boxer Yasunori Hamada knocked out Toshiaki Tsutada within 10 seconds of
starting the first round, breaking the Japan
record by two seconds.
The classified advertisement section featured an apartment for foreign businesspersons
in Minami Azabu. The apartment has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a maid's
room, large living and dining rooms, a two-car garage, and a terrace. The rent is ¥1,900,000 per month. (At today's rate,
that is $16,937.)
The government of the Republic of Korea has brought criminal charges against 444 students
arrested during the August demonstrations
favoring reunification of the two Koreas. The
government has demanded three-year prison sentences for
the first 63 who are now on trial.
Benjamin Truehaft, a California piano tuner, has
sent his second shipment of pianos to Cuba. His
"Send a piana to Havana" project sent 23 pianos
to Cuba last year. The U.S. government warned
that he could be fined up to $1.3 million and jailed for up to 10 years for his activities.
Indonesian President Suharto visited East Timor, which his government invaded and annexed
20 years ago killing 260,000 people (so the newspaper says; probably more).
Suharto made a speech "emphasizing his
government's achievements in building roads
and schools."
A new Japan-U.S. joint venture announced that
it will begin broadcasting 100 (repeat: one hundred) TV channels from next
autumn. A survey found that 26 percent of Americans watch TV while eating
dinner. Another survey shows that for the first time a majority of the people in the U.S. are overweight. It is
speculated that the cause of this is less exercise, due at
least partly to the invention of the TV remote
control.
Shukan ST: Nov. 8, 1996
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