#ギャップ橋渡しのeven

2010年代の後半くらいから､授業の中で明示的に指導している項目に、

  • ギャップ橋渡しのeven

と私が名付けているevenの用法があります。
Web上を探しても、私くらいしかそれらしい名称で呼んでいないので、なかなか私の教室の外の方に分ってもらうのが､難しいのですが、ツイッター（今ではＸ）の「英語ニュース引用RT140字紹介＆詳解」を続ける中で､結構な数の記事を取り上げてきたので、こちらで並べてみようと思います。

投稿の時期によって、または、その投稿時の状況によって、ハッシュタグがあったりなかったりするのですが、これなどが比較的初期のもので、まだ「ギャップ橋渡しのeven」というキーワード化の前の段階。2020年4月下旬です。

見出し英語は次のようなもの。

Coffee could be good for you, as long as you brew it correctly. It may even lengthen your life — if you prepare it with a filter, according to a new long-term study.
The healthiest way to brew your coffee – and possibly lengthen your life | CNN

解説で、「ギャップを埋めるeven」「evenのスロープ」という萌芽が見て取れます。

「現実味のcould」はas long as での条件設定で但し書き。「主観的可能性のmay」は本来may=may not。ここでは、書き手の意図と読み手の予想や思惑、予備知識との間のギャップを埋めるevenと一緒に使われているので要注意。まあ、読み手は、書き手の掛けたevenのスロープに乗るしかないんですよね。

書き手（話し手）と読み手（聞き手）との間に、共有できていない知識や情報のギャップがある時に、その溝にスロープを渡して行き来ができるようにするデバイス、小道具としてevenが働くわけですが、水が高いところから低いところに流れて行くのとはちょっと違って、書き手のいる高いところに、読み手はスロープ上を低いところから上がってくる、というイメージです。「橋は架けるけれど、こっち側まで上って来てね。そうすれば、私と同じ地平が見渡せるでしょ！」という書き手主導の捉え方です。

そこから約１年後のツイートがこちら。ここでは既にハッシュタグもでき上がっています。

見出しの英語はごくごく短いもの。

'Not clean, not green, not even healthy': Author slams salmon farming
www.abc.net.au

解説では、形容詞evenの語義を援用して、evenの働きを説明しています。

#ギャップ橋渡しのeven
#具体例は3が吉

豪州の方のABCニュースから「鮭養殖」の話題。
話し手・書き手にとっては主題への貢献度が高い情報だが、受け手との間に温度差が予想される場合に、そのギャップにかけるスロープのような役割を果たすのがeven。
まあ 、「平ら」になったと思ってくださいな。

以下、時系列で、時の上流に近い方から取り上げて行きます。

Italy is so far having greater success than many other European countries in limiting a second wave. New precautions like mask-wearing have become a widespread part of everyday life, even when it isn’t obligatory.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-covid-fatigue-fuels-infections-in-europe-italy-resists-the-second-wave-11600772400

These gifts will even please those people who have everything, and people who are picky.
https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/11/best-universal-all-purpose-gifts.html?via=rss_socialflow_twitter

Around the world, girls are doing better than ever. But the covid-19 pandemic could hobble progress for girls in poor countries, or even reverse it
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/12/19/covid-19-threatens-girls-gigantic-global-gains?

Ordering restaurant food for delivery only has surged in popularity since the outbreak of the pandemic. Now Applebee’s, Denny’s and other big chains are getting in the game. Will the trend carry on even after dining rooms reopen?
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-restaurants-79f4410c93bbee8ef681c217d7b60f97?


New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said baseball fans can not only get vaccinated at a Yankees or Mets game, they can even get a free ticket courtesy of the teams. ‘If you get a vaccination, they will give you a free ticket to the game,’ Cuomo said
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-governor-says-yankees-mets-give-tickets-fans-who-get-vaccinated-their-2021-05-05/


The pandemic, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant, is worse than ever in some parts of the world, even as wealthy countries let down their guard
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/world/asia/virus-delta-variant-global.html?


Data shows people are listening to Mariah Carey's smash Christmas tune "All I Want for Christmas Is You," more and more, even into October:
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/music/these-charts-show-spread-mariah-careys-classic-christmas-song-n1283619

Wayne Thiebaud, who painted shadows better than anyone, was such a gifted still-life painter that even avant-gardists eventually fell in love with his undisguisedly sweet subjects. He died yesterday, at age 101. RIP
https://twitter.com/deborahsolo/status/1475185304072040455

The upside is that hospitalizations and deaths remain far below last winter’s levels, or even the peak of the summer surge.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/Bay-Area-and-California-mark-record-high-spike-in-16749080.php


You can see it in the masks, in the seating charts and even in the distribution of water glasses. President Biden's staff is making extraordinary efforts to keep him from getting COVID-19, even as he strives to take the nation "from today to more normal.”
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-pandemics-kamala-harris-648f64eafd0b4f58e05f75e236b65e00?utm_source

Stonehenge has been studied for centuries, but new technologies are transforming our understanding of ancient landscapes—even places we thought we knew well.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/graphics/stonehenge-was-one-triumph-amid-a-prehistoric-building-boom-feature?


Even as world leaders gathered in Tokyo for the funeral of assassinated former Japanese PM Abe, there were protests against the lavish proceedings.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/shinzo-abe-japan-state-funeral-protests-unification-church-rcna49544?


The term atmospheric river is thrown around a lot. But what even is an atmospheric river?
How do these systems cultivate intense storms in California? In a warming world will we get less or more ARs?
We explain, without the hype for the @sfchronicle:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/atmospheric-river-california/


BREAKING: Tesco says its profit had nearly halved before tax in the last financial year, even as sales jumped
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1646401945748267009

Even a small amount of alcohol can make sleep worse. Here’s what drinking before bedtime does to your body, and how it could affect your overall health.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/eating-drinking-night-disrupt-sleep?


Even as El Niño fades, it doesn’t mean that California’s storms are going away.
https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/status/1758215370689712242


生息域が明確なものもあれば、やや漠然としたものもありますが、このくらい「現地」に近づくと、

  • ギャップ橋渡しのeven

の解像度も上がるのではないでしょうか？
ここでは、英語ニュースでの表現のみを取り上げていますが、英語ニュースに限らず、インフォーマルな会話であれ、アカデミックな言説であれ、このevenを使わずに済ませることがそもそも難しいので、「次に出会った時に、あ、あれだ、と気づく眼」を手に入れれば、インプットの精度も高くなり、アウトプットの質の向上にもつながるでしょう。

本日は､この辺で。

本日のBGM： Water (Tyla)

open.spotify.com