2025年8月16日「モバイル英語学習」第891号(英語のエッセイ): The 2025 Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing

Notes
2025 World Humanoid Robot Games 世界人形ロボット競技大会;
Chinese opera costumes  中国伝統劇 (京劇) 京劇の衣装;
Tai Chi 太極拳;
Wing Chun 咏春拳;

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The 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games started in Beijing on August 14. This was the first time these games were held. More than 280 teams from 16 countries brought over 500 humanoid robots. The robots joined in games like football, kickboxing, and dancing.

The opening show mixed machines and art. Sixty small robots wore Chinese opera costumes and moved together. Other robots practiced Tai Chi and Wing Chun with human performers. Some robots showed hard moves like standing on one leg or spreading their arms like wings. Another part of the show turned the stage into a fashion runway. Robots and human models walked together and showed clothes that mixed Chinese culture with new designs.
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2025年7月26日「モバイル英語学習」第889号(英語のエッセイ): Earth’s Fastest Day Recorded in 2025

millisecond ミリ秒, 1秒の1000分の1を表す非常に小さな時間単位。
precise精密な
gravitational pull 重力の引力
leap second: うるう秒, 地球の自転速度の変化に合わせて、標準時を調整するために加えられる1秒。
subtract 引く/差し引く
Antarctica 南極大陸)、氷に覆われている。

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This summer, Earth is spinning a little faster than before, making days slightly shorter. On July 10, 2025, the day was 1.36 milliseconds shorter than usual. While we can’t feel these changes, they affect atomic clocks, GPS systems, and the internet, which rely on very precise time.

The length of a day can change slightly because of the Moon’s gravitational pull, weather patterns, and movement inside the Earth’s core. Scientists use atomic clocks to measure time accurately. In the past, they sometimes added a “leap second” to adjust the time, but now, for the first time, they may need to subtract one instead.

Climate change and melting ice in places like Antarctica and Greenland can also change how Earth spins, just like a skater spinning faster when pulling their arms in. It’s still difficult to predict how Earth’s speed will change in the future.
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