実況チャットに、ありしあ様から「サーシャ・コーエン（Sasha Cohen）全米に出場するようです」ってあって、「へぇ～やっぱ出るんだ」と、そんなコーエンのニュースを読んでみたりしました。

ありしあ様リンクのニュースの元ネタはシガゴ・トリビューンのニュース記事。

これ、ニュース記事タイトルがいいんですよね。

Sasha Cohen: “I am going to compete at nationals”

willじゃなくて、be going to が使われてます。実際、コーエンがこう言ったからでしょうね。

デ、中学生時代に戻る（笑）

ご存じのように「未来」を表す時に使うwill。似たような言葉にbe going to～ってのがあり、よくテストなどで、willを使った文を同じ意味に変えなさいってあって、空白が幾つかあって、そこにbe going toとか入れるやつありました。逆とかも。

でも、willとbe going toでは、微妙に意味というかニュアンスが違う。

ということは中学では習わないはずなんですが（同じ意味で教えて貰ったような気がします。違う意味だとニュアンスの問題なので中学生だと混乱するはず）、この「will」ではなく「be going to」ってとこに意味があるサーシャ・コーエンの発言。

I am going to compete at nationals.

って、直訳すると、「compete」が「参加する」で「nationals」が「全米選手権」のことなので、「私は全米選手権に参加するつもり」とか「参加する予定です」って感じですかね。

ほんで、「will」と「be going to」の違いを思い出す。

ニュアンスの違いなので、言葉で説明するの難しいのですが、まぁ、簡単に説明すると、

willは、その時に決めたことに対して使う。例えば「これからメシ食べる？」って聞かれて「食べる」って決めたとき。メシを食べるのは未来のことで、今決めた。

be going toは、既に決めている予定について使う。例えば、「帰って何する？」と聞かれて「Fを覗く」とか。Fを覗くことはルーチンワークで既に決まっている予定なので。

ニュアンスの説明って難しいなぁ（笑）

要は、be going toは「既に決まっている予定について（使う）」ってとこがミソ。

という風にwillとbe going toの違いを解釈しているのですが、違うかも知れない（笑）

このあたりは、英語に堪能な海外諜報部員等に確認したかったり。

でも、この記事では、その解釈が正しいというままで突っ走ります（笑）

実際、あんまり気にしないなぁ。日本人が使う英語の場合、ネイティブもわかってくれるはず。

そんなこんなで、コーエンがbe going toを使って「全米選手権に出る（参加する予定）」って発言しているニュース記事を読んで「むむむ！」となったわけです。

元ネタニュース記事では、インタビューしたのかな？

懐疑的な質問とかもしてあって、アリッサ・シズニー選手やアシュレイ・ワグナー選手の談も載っていたりします。

結構突っ込んだ内容といえば内容なのかなぁ。

わーいわーい！ってな内容じゃないですよね。

そして、Absolutelyを使うサーシャ・コーエン。

やっぱ、よく使うよなぁ、アブスルゥートゥリー。

長いのですが、引用します。

そして、例のように例の如く、訳文は載せません（笑）

意味ねぇ～。

I wasted no time getting to the point with Sasha Cohen when she responded to my Monday message for her to call.

After wishing her Happy New Year, I asked, “Are you going to compete at nationals?”

“Yes,” she said, “I am going to compete at nationals.”

A couple minutes later, after Cohen told me about her arrival plans and her plans for the programs she would skate at the U.S. Championships in Spokane, I doubled back and asked, “You have no doubt, barring a car accident or something bizarre, that you will be competing at nationals?”

“Absolutely,” she said.

It is still unclear whether even such unequivocal declarations so close to the event — the women’s competition begins Jan. 21 — will end the “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude about Cohen’s participation in her first competition since winning a bronze medal at the 2006 World Championships. Prior to that in 2006, she won the Olympic silver medal and U.S. championship. Sasha

That attitude was reflected by another U.S. skater, Ashley Wagner, when asked about the impact Cohen would have on an event where the women will be battling for two spots on the 2010 Winter Olympic figure skating team.

On three separate occasions during a Monday conference call, Wagner used the word “if” when referring to Cohen’s presence at nationals.

“I am skeptical,” Wagner said.  “I think it’s very hard to be out of competition for three years and have your first competition be nationals.  (But) I’m not counting her out.  She’s part of the equation.

“If she does show up, I think she will really be prepared for the challenge.  It might make things more difficult (in the Olympic quest).”

Reigning U.S. champion Alissa Czisny had similar feelings on another Monday teleconference.

“For me, it would be difficult to come back after four years,” Czisny said.  “I take the spring and summer off, and I have to get back into the competition mode.  To take four years off and then come back is pretty impressive.  It will certainly make the competition more exciting and interesting.  Sasha Cohen is such a great skater, and I still look up to her.”

Since I broke the story last spring that Cohen would try a comeback, questions about her sincerity have grown because she withdrew from both her planned Grand Prix competitions with injuries and equipment problems.

“I do realize that (there has been skepticism about my competing), but that’s the nature of life, and so be it,” Cohen said Monday.  “I’ve worked so hard.  I’ve really put myself on the line for this. I have dedicated my whole life for this.

“I want to be there.  I want to make the (Olympic) team.  I want to skate great.  I may be nervous, but I’m really excited, and I’m feeling really good about it.”

Cohen, who turned 25 in October, said she has returned to her old coach, John A.W. Nicks, after developing tendinitis in her leg in October. She had switched to Rafael Arutunian at the start of the comeback.

“Rafael helped me a lot, but it was time for me to go back to what had worked,” she said.

She hopes to do six triple jumps — including all types but the triple axel, which she never has done — in the free skate.  Her planned combination in the short program is triple lutz-double toe, and she will do triple flip-double toe and triple salchow-double toe-double toe in the free skate.

“I would have liked to have a triple-triple, but other than that, I really like how I’m skating,” she said.  “I’m doing all the elements, getting the levels on the spins, jumping well and strong.”

I asked her how much harder the comeback has been than she expected.

“Sometimes it’s great, (but) the injuries and equipment problems have been a nightmare for me, very stressful,” she said.  “I have been just putting one foot in front of the other no matter how hard it has been, and it has been paying off now.  It has been a very frustrating fall, and it’s nice to be skating well again. The difference is amazing.”

Cohen said she will arrive in Spokane two days before the women’s event begins.  While her first practice won’t be a media circus like the first Tonya – Nancy practice in Norway, there will certainly be a sizeable crowd on hand to see if Cohen’s belief in herself is realized.

As the recent U.S. Olympic Committee slogan put it:  “Amazing Awaits.”

■Sasha Cohen: “I am going to compete at nationals”
（Chicago Tribuneニュースブログより。2010.01.04　06：55）

アリッサにしても、ワグナーにしても、コーエンを立てつつ、やっぱ厳しいんじゃない？ってな感じかな。

厳しいってのは、トリノ五輪以後競技会に出場しておらず、バンクーバー五輪のため全米選手権に出場する（予定）なコーエンの結果について。かな。

4年前のミシェル・クワン状態だなぁ。

日本でもお馴染みな、ラファエル・アルトゥニアンにコーチ頼んだんですよね。でも、11月で解消しているみたいです。

それは、別ニュース記事にありました。ニューヨークタイムズの記事。

Cohen looked to Arutunian to improve her jumping skills. But the partnership, though somewhat fruitful, ended in late November, she said.

■Cohen Remains the Wild Card in Women’s Skating
（The New York Timesより。2010.01.06）

引用した最後にありますね。

ended in late Novemberって。

「11月の終わりに（コーチ関係が）終わった」って。

せっかくなので、この記事も引用します。

どうなんだろうなぁ。最初のニュース記事よりも内容的には辛辣というか厳しいのかなぁ。よく読み込んでいないから、わかんないや（笑）

そして、この引用も原文のまま（笑）

Nearly four years have gone by since Sasha Cohen, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, competed in an official figure skating competition. But with the 2010 Vancouver Games about month away, she appears set to break that drought.

Cohen, 25, is scheduled to compete at the United States’ national championships, which begin next week in Spokane, Wash. The event doubles as the Olympic trials for figure skating, and the women’s competition begins Jan. 21.

Despite fighting injuries throughout the fall, Cohen said Tuesday that she would be at the nationals, ready to show the public that she is back, as good as ever.

Her competitors are not as sure.

“I’m skeptical; I don’t know about anyone else,” said Ashley Wagner, referring to the chance that Cohen would compete. Wagner, an 18-year-old from Alexandria, Va., is one of the skaters hoping to make the Olympic team.

“I think it would be very hard to have your first competition be nationals,” Wagner said Monday in a teleconference. “But I am not counting her out.”

She added: “If she does show up, I really think she’s going to be ready for this challenge. I don’t think she will show up unprepared.”

Alissa Czisny, 22, the reigning national champion, said that Cohen’s effort was admirable but that her task was not an easy one.

“For me, it would be difficult to come back after four years,” Czisny said. “I take the spring and summer off, and I have to get back into the competition mode. To take four years off and then come back is pretty impressive.”

Cohen, the 2006 national champion, understands why people might not believe she will show up for the competition. She has not officially tested herself since the 2006 world championships, where she won the bronze medal. Last fall, she was forced to pull out of both of her Grand Prix assignments with tendinitis in her right leg. After insisting she would be at Skate America in November, she pulled out of the competition just five days before.

For the moment, Cohen remains the wild card in the women’s event, which promises to be closely contested, with only two spots going to the United States women at the Vancouver Games. The team did not receive its usual three spots because of its poor performance at the world championships last March.

Also, in recent years no American woman has dominated the sport. There have been five different national champions in the last five years.

“Of course, I’m nervous about coming back because I’m finally putting myself out there for everyone to see,” Cohen said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “But if I skate the way I do in practice, I am confident that I will make the team.”

After several years of performing with the skating show “Stars on Ice,” Cohen announced last May that she would make a push for the 2010 Olympics. She said she would no longer train with her longtime coach, John Nicks, but with Rafael Arutunian, who once coached Michelle Kwan.

Cohen looked to Arutunian to improve her jumping skills. But the partnership, though somewhat fruitful, ended in late November, she said.

“I decided that I didn’t want to do anything new, and that I’d rather stay with what is comfortable,” Cohen said, explaining why she returned to Nicks.

Nicks, who began coaching Cohen when she was about 11, said Cohen was not the same skater he coached four years ago. At her age, Cohen must be gentler on her body, he said. The biggest challenge of her comeback has been dealing with injuries. Right now, she still has “a lot of muscle tenderness” in her right leg, stemming from her nagging injuries last fall, he said.

She must also be prepared for failure.

“The history is that comebacks haven’t been met with that much success, so that is not encouraging,” Nicks said. “But Sasha has been training very, very hard for the past month. That certainly helps.”

Nicks said that the public could expect to see the same Cohen who won the Olympic silver medal in 2006: the same thin, flexible body, basically the same content in her programs. (She plans to perform six triples in her long program.) The only difference would be that Cohen is much better in her interpretation of the music and in her sophistication and artistry, Nicks said.

Skaters like Wagner, who was only 14 when Cohen won silver in Turin, said they were prepared to see how they would do against a skating veteran. (Two other competitors at nationals, Mirai Nagasu, the 2008 national champion, and Caroline Zhang, the 2007 junior world champion, were 12 during the last Olympics.)

Wagner said that she and most of the other skaters had been competing under the current scoring system for a while now, which is valuable experience that Cohen lacks.

“I think that will work in our favor,” Wagner said. “If she does show up, it will be interesting to see what she will bring.”

■Cohen Remains the Wild Card in Women’s Skating
（The New York Timesより。2010.01.06）

ぶっちゃけ、よくわからんですなぁ。

全米選手権出場予定にはしているみたいですが、なんか、周りの空気が冷たいような気がする（笑）

気のせいか？

現実問題として、出場したにしても、結果は予想通りというか、そうなるはず。

勝負なのでわかんないんですが、それでも予想し易いといえばし易い。

厳しいなぁ。

それでも、出場するんなら応援する（笑）

厳しいことが一番誰よりもわかっているのが本人だから。それでも「出る」と。

絶対色々言われているはず（笑）

怪我とかもあるし。

というような記事なのですが、有志の方が「よし訳そう！」というのを期待していたりします（笑）

どうなんだろうなぁ、全米。

いずれにしても、2010全米選手権が注目の大会であることは間違いないですね。

これは楽しみ楽しみ。

ってなことで。