꼴불견 (eyesore) [머리는 스님들 머리를 방불케 (border on ~) 할 정도로 삭발했고, 검은 교복을 걸친 (dressed in ~) 나의 모습은 여대 교정 안에 너무도 안 어울리는 (out of place) 모습이어서 내가 여대 교정 안에 있었다면 나의 모습은 여대 교정 안에서 꼴불견이었을 것이다]; 금남지역 (off-limits to men)
Taking a break from studies at her Korean university, a female student is in a two-year college diploma program here in Canada. Her Korean university is only for female students. For three years I had passed the university by on my way to and from my high school.
안성맞춤 (tailor-made for ~) [처형은 차들이 띄엄띄엄 있어서 (sparsely populated with ~) 스트레스 해소책 갈구하는 (crave an antidote to ~) 사람들에게 안성맞춤인 것 같은 캐나다 고속도로 운전하는 것에 신 났다]; 주 목적인 ~하는 것 말미에 (on the sidelines of ~); 아주 훌륭한 (terrific)
This past summer my elder sister-in-law awakened me out of my Canadian life into thinking about what it would be like to live in Korea. She was visiting us on the sidelines of being together with her daughter, who was graduating from an Ivy League MBA program. During the visit, she and my wife drove on their long-awaited 1,700 km trip from Toronto to Prince Edward Island, Canada’s smallest Atlantic province known for being the background of the novel Anne of Green Gables. Accustomed to traffic jams almost everywhere in Korea, she was excited with driving on Canadian highways so sparsely populated with vehicles as to appear to be tailor-made for those craving an antidote to a stressful life. At the same time, she was wondering why, unlike Koreans, Canadians apparently stay home to the point of leaving terrific highways underused.
마음껏 (at will) [청소년, 성인을 위한 영어교육은 그들이 마음껏 영어로 자신들 의견을 표현할 수 있도록 돕는 것을 중심으로 펼쳐져야 (revolve around ~) 한다]; 홀대하다 (shortchange); 허비하다 (squander); 오랫 동안 들끓은 (long-simmering) 환멸 (disillusionment with ~)
To the visitors to my English blog:
As of yesterday, my English blog got, by far, past the landmark of two thousand in the accumulated number of visitors. Given the fact that just 40 days ago the blog was launched and that just less than 3 weeks ago the landmark of one thousand was reached, it’s remarkable. Without your support, this kind of achievement would never materialize. Continue reading
과거자랑 (rest on one’s laurels) [과거업적자랑만 하고 현재 일 열심히 안하고, 남보다 우월하다고 (superior to ~) 남들은 들러리 서게 (play second fiddle to ~) 운명되었다고 시대착오적 (anachronistic) 사고방식으로 산다 (operate under the notion of ~)]; 겸손 (humility); 교만 (arrogance)
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Today in his NYT column, Mr. Nicholas Kristof suggests that hiking brings home to hikers the view of humans as “not lords of the universe but components of it.” I like the view because it is effective at generating and nurturing humility in me. If I operated under the notion of myself as the lord of the universe, I would be so arrogant as not to come to terms with the inevitable last moment of my life. I would be so anachronistic as to think of myself as superior to other people; to be so deep into a sense of entitlement as to think of other people as doomed to play second fiddle to me. In what would predispose myself to self-destruction, I would be concerned with resting on my laurels, having no use for intellectual humility, i.e., humbly practicing life-long learning and learning from others. Continue reading
NYT English 