chute
海上で炎上したイタリアフェリーの救助が続けられております。いまだに120名以上が甲板で待機しているそうです。火災も続いており，一方で甲板の気温は低いという状況であるようです。悪天候の中ヘリコプターにより救助活動が行われております。
今回取り上げる単語は"chute"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）によると「シュート（ごみ･郵便物･石炭･穀物などを滑らせて落とす装置），(…を[が])シュートを使って滑り落とす[滑り降りる]」などという意味がありました。ここでは"escape shute"とあるため避難のためのシュートということですね。学校などの建物にも避難用のシュートが置いてありますね。(Ume)
Italy ferry fire: Scores awaiting rescue
More than 120 people are still awaiting rescue on the deck of a blazing Italian ferry amid freezing temperatures off the Greek island of Corfu.
Helicopter crews have been winching small groups of people to safety despite gale-force winds.
The Italian coast guard said 356 of the 478 people on board had been evacuated by early Monday after a fire broke out on a car deck on Sunday.
One person is confirmed dead but a passenger has said he saw more bodies.
The Italian navy said that the body of a Greek man and his injured wife had been removed from the ship, Norman Atlantic which had been travelling from Patras in Greece to Ancona in Italy.
It is unclear how the man died but the Greek coastguard told AP that both passengers had been found trapped in a lifeboat escape chute.
The first rescue ship carrying 49 people arrived at the Italian port of Bari early on Monday morning.
A Turkish man who was on board told local reporters that he was sure that he had seen more bodies.
