ricochet off/into 復習
６日、埼玉県小川町鷹巣の関越自動車道上り線で、止まっていたダンプカーにワゴン車が追突しました。この事故でワゴン車に乗っていた男性２人が死亡しました。
Two killed after minivan rear-ends truck stopped on expressway
SAITAMA —A man and a woman were killed on Friday morning when the minivan they were riding in rear-ended a small truck that had stopped on an expressway.
According to police, the accident occurred at around 7:30 a.m. on a three-lane section of the Kanetsu Expressway in Ogawa, Saitama Prefecture. Fuji TV reported that the truck had stopped in the center lane due to engine trouble and its two occupants had gone to the edge of the expressway when the minivan, carrying four occupants, rear-ended it, then ricocheted into the guard rail.
Police said a man in the front passenger seat of the minivan and a woman in the back seat were killed, while the male driver of the minivan and another woman passenger in the back seat suffered heavy injuries. Police have not yet released their names and said the two people killed were in their 20s or early 30s. The man and woman who had been in the truck were not injured, police said.
Police said the truck’s hazard lights were on at the time of the accident.
今回取り上げる表現は、ricochet into（/ríkəʃèɪ/）です。『ウィズダム英和辞典』(第３版、三省堂)には、１.「(弾丸・石などが)跳飛する、はね飛ぶ(off)」２.「〈声などが〉こだまする、響きわたる、反響する(off)」３.「(弾丸のように)あっちに行ったりこっちに行ったりする」４.「(サッカーなどで)〈ボールが〉(選手に当たって)方向が変わる」が載っていました。おそらくは、１の意味で用いられているのだと思います。
Macmillan Dictionary.comでは、“if a moving object ricochets, it hits a surface at an angle and immediately moves away from it at a different angle”と定義されていました。
この単語は、後ろに”off”を持ってくることが多いようですが、今回の記事では後ろに”into”がきています。ここでは、”run into"「(車が)〜と衝突する」と同じ”into”の用い方をしているのだと思います。この”into”は第６義にある、「〚衝突・遭遇・攻撃〛(激しく)〈物・人など〉にぶつかって；(偶然)…に遭遇して；(言葉・暴力で)〈人〉を攻撃して」にあたります(『ウィズダム英和辞典』)(Blue Sky)
“ricochet off”が過去に取り上げられおりましたので、そちらもご覧ください。
