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September 2, 2021
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| He was watching one of his favorite regular television programs that discussed the world economy and business. During the program they would introduce unique pictures and/or videos from abroad. This time it was a video of a smiling young woman in a flight attendant costume also wearing a pink jacket and a red muffin-shaped hat. She was holding some cardboard signs with hand written sentences. The first read, "Moving the UAE to the UK Amber List". He didn't understand the 'amber' part, because amber is used as the color of glasses, dark yellow. She was standing outside. In the background there was only the blue sky, no other objects. There seemed to be a gentle breeze, because her hair was moving a little. She started to flip the sign cards. The next card read, "has made us feel," she flipped again, "on top of the world", then, "Fly Emirates", then, "Fly better". He didn't know what 'emirates' meant. She was still smiling. Then, the camera started to draw back. She was standing on the top of some tall object. The camera went up, looking at her from above, he could see the woman on a high tall pole, soon it became a tower, then it became a building, a sky scraper. The camera started to show the downtown area of the city, then the surroundings became a desert. Now he only could see the woman as a dot. Soon the phrase, "SEE YOU IN DUBAI", along with the logo of 'Emirates' appeared. He figured out that Emirates was the name of a commercial airline company in the UAE. The commentator explained that you could see this video on YouTube, and there was another video in which you could see how the movie was made. He said that she was  supported by a pipe. He had been in the observation room of that building, the pole is on top of it. The building is about 800m tall. He added that he had watched another video in which a tennis player played tennis on another tall building. People in Dubai like those type of things. He said, "Even for a stewardess, it was quite a challenge. For me, just seeing this is scary enough.""Me, too," he thought. He didn't like high places, he was kind of 'acrophobic'. This thing reminded him of a TV program that he watched some time ago. It was a unique show broadcasted by the BBC in England. The BBC might be good at making unique shows, because he had watched a TV show named 'Sewing Bee', in which amateurs who liked sewing and had confidence about their skills competed to make various themed clothes within a time limit. In the show, people who suffered from acrophobia gathered and did various challenging events together in order to conquer their acrophobia. They started from small things like climbing ladders at home, and proceeded to harder things like climbing a temporary stair set outside of a construction site. The final challenge was that they climbed a tower and posted a banner reading 'I LOVE YOU, HELLEN' or something like that, on top of the tower; of course, it was outside. It was the challenge for one of the attendants who wanted to show his girlfriend. The doctor and trainer who supported him said that their helping each other would make them overcome their fears. The funny part of the show was that a middle aged woman couldn't climb a ladder only four steps at first, but then she did more difficult things later. He didn't know when he had become acrophobic. When he was a child, he would play and go up on high walls with his friends. After becoming an adult, he was driving on his motorbike on a mountain side. His motorbike was an off-road type, so its seat was kind of high. When he came to a place in the road which had a cliff, his handles started to shake and shudder. In his country, the driving course is on the left, so he could see the deep gorge from his seat directly. After that, he came to feel fear in high places. He had no problem for airplanes, though. But he laughed at the woman on the ladder, though. Maybe it's hard to understand others' fears. Maybe it was another thing that the BBC's program wanted to tell. Maybe vaccinations are the same. For some people getting a shot would feel more painful than what others' thought. So the government needs to persuade them with sincere explanations. |
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No.444
*acrophobic : 高所恐怖症の
*acrophobia : 高所恐怖症
*conquer : 征服する、克服する
*persuade : 説得する
*sincere : 誠意のある