erratically 復習
全国の大手私鉄１６社のまとめによると、駅員や乗務員などが乗客から暴力をふるわれた事件やトラブルが昨年度、合わせて２２５件に上りました。
225 attacks on conductors, other staff reported by 16 train companies in 2015
TOKYO —Apparently people in Japan are finding it harder and harder not to assault their friendly neighborhood train station staff as incidents of assault are on the rise.
Japan’s 16 major train companies have compiled data from fiscal 2015 and found that, in total, there were 225 attacks on conductors and other staff. This would be the eighth consecutive year with over 200 assaults and 2015’s figure is three times that of 2000 when such statistics began.
You may have noticed some of the anti-violence posters hung around the nation’s stations in recent years. Honestly though, if it’s gotten to the point that posters are needed to remind people not to attack train conductors, we may have taken a wrong turn somewhere as a society.
Such posters include helpful tips like do NOT headbutt, throw beer on, nor pull the neckties of station staff.
Perhaps more surprising are the reported reasons for the assaults with “suddenly and for no reason” coming in at number one with 35%. This was followed by “approaching a drunk person” 21 percent of the time and “warning someone for being a nuisance” 13%.
This means if current trends persist a train station staff will soon be three times more likely to get attacked for saying “hello” than for confronting a person behaving erratically. Given as an example were reports of station attendants being punched in the face while helping passengers purchase tickets.
The real reason behind this steady rise in violence against train station staff is still unclear. Railways are trying to combat it by increasing police presence around stations and reminders like those pictures above focused at drunken passengers.
But with drunkenness only part of the problem and no real cause identified for the largest cause of the attacks, it seems as though railway workers will still be licking their wounds for some time to come.
今回取り上げる表現は、“erratically”です。『ウィズダム英和辞典』(第３版、三省堂)によると、形容詞の形の“erratic”で「｟通例けなして｠〈行動・人などが〉気まぐれな、とっぴな；〈動きなどが〉不規則な、不安定な」とありました。なので、副詞の“erratically”で、「気まぐれに；不規則に」となります。
Macmillan Dictionary.comでは“erratic”が、“changing often or not following a regular pattern, so that it is difficult to know what will happen next”と定義されていました。
今回の場合、記事の中でも例として挙げられているように、「理由もなく突然暴力を振るわれることがこのままだと増えそうだ」などと解釈できると思います。
今回の表現は以前、先生が本ブログにて取り上げられております。ぜひご覧ください。
(Blue Sky)
