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。

try one’s hand at

大自然に恵まれた北海道・利尻島に, ウニ採りの季節がやってきました。

Rishiri Island full of nature’s blessings

RISHIRI, Hokkaido — Rishiri Island off the coast of Hokkaido must be very cold in winter, but right now it’s comfortable, free from heat and humidity. It’s also the season for catching sea urchins.

I tried my hand at collecting sea urchins at Kamui Kaigan Park (Kamui coast park) in the town of Rishiri on the west coast of the island. I was nervous because I thought I’d have to dive into the sea like the ama female divers (featured in NHK’s hit morning serial TV dramaAma-chan”), but I was relieved when I heard that I’d catch sea urchins with a net while looking at the bottom of the sea through an underwater viewer from a boat.

I looked down into the clear sea from a boat anchored to the shore for use by visitors. It was fun just to look at the swaying seaweed, but I came to feel like I shouldn’t just do that. Sea urchins moved faster than I’d imagined, and if I was careless they’d quickly sneak in between rocks. I overturned the rocks using the net, and caught the urchins that appeared.

以下省略

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003099319

本日取り上げる表現は “try one’s hand at” です。

リーダーズ英和中辞典』(研究社)で調べると, 「(初めての試みとして)やってみる, 腕試しをする」とありました。Oxford-Dictionaries.comには “attempt to do (something) for the first time, typically in order to find out if one is good at it” と定義され, “a chance to try your hand at the ancient art of drystone walling” という例が挙げられていました。

「<…から>始まる」という表現を “start at” と示すように, 今回は “~hand at” と表現されていることで「着手する」というニュアンスが伝わってきます。(Cayu)