TOEICはもとより、日常業務でも登場しなかった単語や表現もたくさん出てきて、全て辞書やネットで確認しながら読む。こうした語彙を使いこなせたらいいんじゃないか、と。
KGB、MI6 、CIAはスパイ小説の舞台にもなりミステリアスな頭脳集団というイメージもあるが、官庁であることに変わりない。これらの組織のシーンを読んでいくと、おいおい、どこでも一緒じゃないか？？と思うような国境を超えた「お役所あるある」に出くわす。
せっかくなので備忘録をかねて、引き続きご紹介しよう。
出世・おいしい仕事・不運
Oleg Gordievsky was at the pinnacle of his career with hardly a blemish (汚点) on his record. Now, he had been promoted to chief of the KGB station in London, a plum posting (getting a desirable position, well paid with good conditions.)
Ex) An adviser in Hawaii? What a plum post! Congratulations!!
The many perks [特典（英) = benefits (米)] of KGB membership included access to various health spas and holiday centres.
He had just started a new job and he had this smoking bomb handed to him...He saw his last ambassadorship going down the tubes (be completely lost or wasted; fail utterly.)
Ex) Looks like Mr. Johnson's premiership is going down the tubes, after his Christmas parties under lockdown were revealed.
長老支配
Gorbachev was an energetic Russian leader in contrast to the narrow-minded Soviet gerontocracy (C, U 長老支配).
Ex) Japan is considered a gerontocracy, but the U.S. is more so if you compare the age of leaders in both countries -- Kishida (64); Suga (73); Biden (79); Trump (76); Pelosi (82). Well, in fact, Queen Elizabeth will turn 96 soon.
Fuji TV has encouraged employees in their 50s or older to retire in order to rejuvenate the company, but the head of the Fuji Sankei group Hisashi Hieda is 84. They are still a gerontocracy.
モラハラ
At a Christmas party, Bill Graver, the CIA's station chief in London, came sidewinding up to the MI6 Sovbloc controller. 'He grabbed me and pinned me up against the wall (壁に押さえつける) and said: "Can you tell me more about this source?...It's really shit hot."
ストレス
By Monday morning, Gordievsky was ragged (ボロボロ) from sleeplessness and strain.
掃きだめ
Ames's job title sounded impressive, but it was considered a backroom job in the CIA, a dumping ground (掃きだめ) for vaguely talented misfits (不適合者).
Every day, he left his small rented apartment, struggled through the commuter traffic (通勤ラッシュに耐えて), and then sat at his desk, brooding (くよくよと悩む) about the future. Ames was part of the furniture at the CIA, tatty (使い古した) but familiar.
大企業病
The KGB was a cumbersome beast, but it could move fast when it needed to.
cumbersome: slow or complicated and therefore inefficient.
Grushko had been insistent: since this was his department's problem, his department would solve it, and the fewer people outside the directorate who knew what was happening the better (for Grushko's career, among other things.)
[縦割り stove-piped (米) ; silo (英)]
仕事のやり方
His approach to his work was methodical, and fastidious. He was known to be a sticker for protocol. His punctilious legal mind would only be satisfied by catching the spy red-handed (現行犯で).
methodical: done in a careful and logical way
fastidious: being careful that every detail of something is correct (細かい）
sticker: （計画などに）執着する人
punctilious: very careful to behave correctly or to perform your duties exactly as you should (きっちりしている、完璧主義）
