テーマ 30

注意深さと怠慢.

Care, Diligence & Laziness

帰国子女・インターナショナルスクール生のための、デジタルSAT の無料単語教材。独学で進められます。

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使ってみる — 4問

おぼえたかどうかではなく、文に合う語を選べるかを試します。選択肢はすべて、このテーマの語です。意味の遠い語は混ぜていません。だから「よい意味か、わるい意味か」と「どのくらい強いか」で絞るのが、そのまま解き方になります。

01
In the museum's acquisition files from the 1920s, the historian Dalia Osman found condition reports that were never rushed: each registrar was allowed a full hour per object, and no line of the form was left blank. The reports themselves, however, were . Page after page repeats the phrase "no change noted," even for canvases whose varnish had visibly yellowed — as though the form, and not the painting, were the thing being examined.
- cursory cursory は「速すぎて細部を見落とす」という非難ですが、本文は "never rushed" で、1点につき丸1時間かけたと明記しています。速さが問題ではないので入りません。
- meticulous meticulous は「細部まで綿密」という褒め言葉です。varnish の黄変を見落としている上、however が前文の丁寧さと対立する内容を要求しているので、プラスの語は入りません。
- perfunctory 時間も行数も満たしているのに "no change noted" を繰り返し、"as though the form, and not the painting, were the thing being examined" と続きます。中身への関心がなく形式だけを満たす仕事＝perfunctory が正解です。
- punctilious punctilious は規則や手続きを几帳面に守ることで、"no line of the form was left blank" に合いそうに見えます。しかし however はその几帳面さと対比される欠点を求めているので、同じ長所を言い直す語は入りません。
02
For forty years Nathaniel Byrd was the Royal Society's most reliable reader: he answered every manuscript within the week, and his marginal checks of other men's arithmetic were famous. It is all the more startling, then, that with Caroline Hale's 1811 paper he was — her sheets reached him in the morning and went to the printer the same afternoon, without his once setting the calculations beside her tables. Nothing was endangered by the omission: the compositor queried the single figure that disagreed, the printed paper was clean, and no reader was ever misled. It was one afternoon out of forty years, and nothing like it happened again.
- dilatory dilatory は仕事を引き延ばす癖を指しますが、この一件で彼は遅れていません。「her sheets reached him in the morning and went to the printer the same afternoon」とあり、むしろ普段より速く手放しているので、先延ばしを表す語は使えません。
- indolent indolent は根っからの怠け者という性格を表します。しかし「he answered every manuscript within the week」と四十年間の働きぶりが示され、さらに「It was one afternoon out of forty years, and nothing like it happened again.」と一度きりだと念を押しているので、習慣的な怠惰ではありません。
- negligent negligent は義務を怠って実害や危険を招いたときの重い非難です。ここは「Nothing was endangered by the omission」、そして「the printed paper was clean」「no reader was ever misled」と被害がゼロだったことを繰り返しているため、この強さの語は合いません。
- remiss 「without his once setting the calculations beside her tables」とあり、いつもの照合という義務を一度だけ果たさなかった状態です。「Nothing was endangered by the omission」「It was one afternoon out of forty years」と軽い一回きりの手抜かりとして描かれているので、remiss がちょうど合います。
03
When Inés Vargas published her study of a Galician fishing village in 1974, reviewers praised the precision of her household surveys and the accuracy of her maps. Her fieldnotes show a researcher in a way those reviews did not capture: she went back to every family a second time to confirm that they still wished to be named, and she burned the pages describing a feud she had promised to leave out of print, although those pages would have made her central chapter far stronger.
- fastidious fastidious は「満足しにくい・好みがうるさい」人という含みの語です。本文には彼女が細部に不満を言ったり要求が高かったという描写はなく、描かれているのは約束を守る姿勢です。
- meticulous meticulous（細部まで綿密）はすでに reviewers が "the precision of her household surveys and the accuracy of her maps" として褒めた点です。"in a way those reviews did not capture" は、それとは別の側面を表す語を求めています。
- punctilious punctilious は規則や手続きの厳守を指します。彼女は規則に従ったのではなく、自分の本が弱くなるのを承知で自分の約束を守りました。本文に規則の話は出てきません。
- scrupulous scrupulous は meticulous に道徳的な正しさが加わった語です。同意を取り直し、"would have made her central chapter far stronger" な原稿を約束のために燃やした行動は、まさに良心による綿密さです。
04
In 1957 the epidemiologist Ruth Akana had to decide whether to name a suspected well before her second round of samples came back. She had no quarrel with the samples already in hand; what she distrusted was her own timing. Akana was : before she spoke, she followed the announcement forward to its likely ends — a panic, a sealed well, a town with no other water — and set those against the cost of another week's silence. Her caution had nothing to do with watching for the next outbreak, which was already in front of her, and nothing to do with working longer hours than her colleagues; it was a habit of asking, before acting, what the act would set in motion.
- assiduous assiduous は「たゆまず勤勉に働く」ことですが、本文は "nothing to do with working longer hours than her colleagues" と労働量を明確に否定しています。問題は働き方ではなく判断の仕方です。
- circumspect circumspect は「自分の行動がもたらす結果を先読みして用心する」語です。"a habit of asking, before acting, what the act would set in motion" がこの定義そのもので、正解になります。
- fastidious fastidious は細部に満足せず注文をつける態度ですが、"She had no quarrel with the samples already in hand" とあり、彼女はデータの細かさには文句をつけていません。
- vigilant vigilant は「危険がないか見張る」ことですが、本文は "Her caution had nothing to do with watching for the next outbreak" とはっきり否定しています。危険はすでに目の前にあります。

Care, Diligence & Laziness — 24語24 words

このテーマの全語です。定義を隠して、よい意味・わるい意味・中立の三つに分けてみるのが、いちばん効く使い方です。分け間違えた語が、そのまま自分の弱点になります。

Every word in this theme. The best use of it is to cover the meanings and sort the list into positive, negative and neutral. Whichever ones you put in the wrong pile are exactly your weak spots.

内訳：よい意味 12語／わるい意味 7語／中立 5語。強さはこのテーマの中での相対です。テーマをまたいで比べる数字ではありません。

12 positive, 7 negative, 5 neutral. Strength is ranked within this theme only — the numbers are not comparable across themes.

語Word	向き+/−	強さStrength	意味Meaning
aspire v	＋	●●	to aim at something ambitious — 高みを目指す
assiduous adj	＋	●●●	working hard and steadily — たゆまず勤勉
attain v	＋	●	to reach a goal — 到達する
circumspect adj	＋	●●	cautious about consequences — 用心深い
complacency n	−	●●	smug satisfaction that blinds you to danger — 慢心・自己満足
cultivate v	＋	●	to develop something carefully over time — じっくり育てる「nurture」は弱いものを守って育てる語、cultivate は能力や関係を時間をかけて築きます。nurture is what you do for something weak that needs protecting as it grows; cultivate is building up an ability or a relationship through steady work over time.
cursory adj	−	●	done so quickly that details are missed — ざっと見ただけ
deliberate adj	0	●	done on purpose and with thought — 意図的で慎重
dilatory adj	−	●●	inclined to drag things out — 先延ばしの「indolent」は根本的に怠け者、dilatory は引き延ばす癖を指します。indolent describes someone lazy by nature; dilatory describes the habit of stretching a task out and putting it off.
diligent adj	＋	●●	steadily careful in one's work — 勤勉な
fastidious adj	0	●●	hard to satisfy about details — 細かいことにうるさい「meticulous」は仕事の丁寧さ、fastidious は満足しにくい人という含みが出ます。meticulous praises how carefully the work is done; fastidious describes a person who is hard to please about details.
immerse v	＋	●●●	to absorb yourself completely in something — 没頭する
indolent adj	−	●●●	habitually lazy — 怠惰な
meticulous adj	＋	●●●	attending to every small detail — 細部まで綿密
negligent adj	−	●●●	careless about a duty — 怠慢な
nurture v	＋	●	to help something grow — 育む
perfunctory adj	−	●●	done as a formality, with no real interest — おざなりな「cursory」は速すぎて雑、perfunctory は形だけで気持ちがありません。cursory means it was rushed so details got missed; perfunctory means it was gone through as a formality with no interest behind it.
perusal n	0	●	a careful reading over — 熟読
prudence n	＋	●●	caution born of good sense — 思慮分別
punctilious adj	0	●●●	insistent on exact observance of the rules — 規則に几帳面「meticulous」は細部全般、punctilious は規則や礼儀の順守にこだわります。meticulous covers small details of any kind; punctilious is about exact observance of rules and correct form.
remiss adj	−	●●	failing in a duty through carelessness — 義務を怠る「negligent」は重い非難、remiss は一度の手抜かりを軽く指す語です。negligent is a serious charge of failing a duty; remiss points lightly at a single lapse.
scrupulous adj	＋	●●●	painstakingly careful and principled — 良心的で綿密「meticulous」に道徳的な正しさが加わった語です。scrupulous is meticulous plus a moral standard: the care is not only about accuracy but about doing right.
strenuous adj	0	●●●	demanding great energy — 骨の折れる
vigilant adj	＋	●●	watchful for trouble — 油断なく警戒

次にやること

Words in Context 文脈から語を選ぶ・12問

おぼえた語を、実際の設問で選べるようにする手順です。向きと強さで絞る練習をここでします。