step into one’s shoes 復習

オーストラリアに住むジェームズ・ハリソンさんは60年間、ほぼ毎週のように自身の血をドナーとして提供してきました。その名も「黄金の腕を持つ男」として知られるこの方の血液には、非常に珍しい抗体が含まれており、その血液を母体に輸血することでこれまでに200万人以上の赤ん坊の命を救ってきたのだそうです。

Doctors still aren't exactly sure why Harrison has this rare blood type but they think it might be from the transfusions he received when he was 14, after his lung surgery. He's one of no more than 50 people in Australia known to have the antibodies, according the Australian Red Cross blood service.
"I think James is irreplaceable for us," says Falkenmire.

"I don't think anyone will be able to do what he's done, but certainly we do need people to step into his shoes," she adds. "He will have to retire in the next couple years, and I guess for us the hope is there will be people who will donate, who will also ... have this antibody and become life savers in the same way he has, and all we can do is hope there will be people out there generous enough to do it, and selflessly in the way he's done."

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/09/health/james-harrison-golden-arm-blood-rhesus/index.html

取り上げる表現は”step into one’s shoes”です。『ジーニアス英和辞典第４版（大修館書店）』には”fill [step into] O’s shoes”で「〈人〉に代わる、…の後がまに座る」という意味が載っていました。『Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries』を見てみますと、”fill somebody’s shoes/boots”で” to do somebody’s job in an acceptable way when they are not there”とあり、”step into somebody’s shoes”では”to continue a job or the work that somebody else has started”とそれぞれ別に定義されていました。似たような意味だと思われますが、前者の場合はその人の仕事を取って代わる、穴を埋めるというイメージが強いのに対して、後者の場合はその人の仕事や地位を引き継ぐというニュアンスが強くなるのではないかと考えました。(bookmark)

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/searchdiary?of=0&word=%22step%20into%22%20shoe