soft target
先日、パリで起こったテロに関する記事からです。夕方の某ニュース番組で耳にした表現をとりあげます。
NEW YORK — At first glance on Saturday, New York’s Penn Station looked like it always does, crammed with people rushing to be somewhere else, many of them clustering under the departures sign and waiting for their track to be called. On second glance, you would have seen the soldiers.
They were arrayed around the concourse in camouflage uniforms, bulked out with body armor. One leaned against a wall with an assault rifle clutched to his chest, barrel down. They were there in case terrorists showed up.
Security has tightened because Penn Station is an example of what is known, chillingly, as a “soft target.” It is a gathering place for civilians. There are no metal detectors, no checkpoints where you have to take off your belt and shoes. Civilians are expected to help with security by being alert. “IF YOU SEE SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS OR UNUSUAL SAY SOMETHING!” reads the safety card tucked into seat-back pockets on Amtrak trains.
But when fear takes hold, everything is suspicious, everything unusual. Eccentricities that might once have been charming can be unnerving. That heavyset, raggedy guy walking around the concourse, talking to himself, making eye contact with strangers. Lunatic? Undercover cop? Or just a guy walking off a hangover?
それは“soft target”です。今回、少なくとも６カ所が襲撃を受けました。いずれもテロ対策が難しいソフトターゲット（競技場周辺、ホテル、劇場など）と呼ばれる場所です。番組内でその道の専門家は「無防備な警備のゆるい場所」と説明をしていました。
辞書を確認してみると、「soft target : 格好の標的、餌食（無防備な民間人など）」とありました（『Wisdom英和辞典第３版』三省堂）。英英では、“a person or thing that is easy to attack or criticize --- LDOCE”と定義されています。最近の日本をみてみると、ソフトターゲットが狙われた事件に「地下鉄サリン事件」があります。（Chris）
