常時英心:言葉の森から 1.0

約10年間,はてなダイアリーで英語表現の落穂拾いを行ってきました。現在はAmeba Blogに2.0を開設し,継続中です。こちらはしばらくアーカイブとして維持します。

pulverize 復習

イタリア南部で列車同士の衝突事故が発生しました。

Italy train collision kills at least 25

Reuters
BARI, Italy (Reuters) — At least 25 people died and dozens were injured on Tuesday when two passenger trains collided head-on at high speed in southern Italy, sending debris flying into surrounding olive groves.

Three carriages were torn apart by the violence of the impact after the two trains hit each other while travelling down the same stretch of track linking the small towns of Corato and Andria in the southeastern Puglia region.

Rescue operators raised the death toll to 25 on Tuesday evening after a day of frantic rescue operations, and warned that it could climb higher as some of the 50 injured were in serious condition.

中略

The crash happened at around 11:30 a.m. on a fiercely hot summer’s day.

Both trains were comprised of four carriages. The front carriages on each were pulverized as they slammed into one another. Sky Italia TV said one of the drivers had died, with no word yet about the fate of the other one.

“It looks like there has been a plane crash,” said the mayor of Corato, Massimo Mazzilli.

Rescue services parked their ambulances and fire trucks among the olive trees and set up a field hospital to treat the injured. The sound of crickets rang out as the first bodies were extracted from the site in metal caskets.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003075825

今回取り上げるのはpulverizeです。『ライトハウス英和辞典』(第5版 研究社)で調べてみますと他動詞で「1(格式)(…)を粉々にする、砕く 2(略式)(…)に圧勝する」という意味があることがわかりました。今回は1つ目の「粉々にする」の意味で用いられております。この語から衝突の威力の大きさを感じ取ることができます。LDOCEには “to crush something into a powder” とありました。

この表現は過去にも取り上げられておりました。

pulverized - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心:言葉の森から

pulverize - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心:言葉の森から

pulverize - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心:言葉の森から