on the brink of#4
今日のグーグル検索画面にも映像が流れておりますが，ドイツでベルリンの壁崩壊25周年セレモニーが開かれました。記事の中で気になった単語は"on the brink of"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）をみると「（重大な局面）に至る間際で，瀬戸際で」などという意味がありました。"on the blink"と綴りが似ておりますがこちらは「（機械が）壊れている，調子が悪い」という意味なので全く異なります。（Ume）
Germany marks anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall
More than a million visitors have descended on Berlin for the weekend of festivities that will culminate later on Sunday at the Brandenburg Gate.
The monument itself was inaccessible during the partition of Germany and is seen as a symbol of the country's reunification.
On Saturday, people posed for photos in front of the few remaining graffiti-daubed slabs of the wall, or read information boards about life under Berlin's 28-year division.
Others admired the art installation of almost 7,000 white balloons, pegged to the ground and winding along a 15km (nine miles) stretch of the wall's route.
At the bustling Potsdamer Platz, which was once cut in two by the wall, a small crowd watched archive footage of East German demonstrators chanting: "We are the people."
Geraldine Bray, 68, visiting from the UK, said the memory of 9 November 1989 had stayed with her.
"I was at home making the evening meal and put on the news. It was very, very memorable," she said.
Striking a more sombre note, Mr Gorbachev, 83, warned on Saturday that the world was on the brink of a new Cold War.
