heartrending

東京メトロ銀座線の青山一丁目駅で視覚障害のある男性が線路に落下し、死亡した事故を受け、事故を防ぐ対策が求められています。

Steps needed to ensure safety for the visually impaired at train stations

A visually impaired man died after he fell onto the tracks and was run over by a train at a subway station in Tokyo. It was a heartrending accident. Steps should be taken to prevent a recurrence.

The accident happened at Aoyama-Itchome Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. The station’s platform is barely three meters wide and has many large round pillars. The man, who was walking with a guide dog, is said to have lost his footing as he approached the edge of the platform just before a pillar.

People with guide dogs commonly have the dog walk between themselves and the tracks, but the dog was on the man’s other side when the accident happened. Although the station staff recognized the danger and told the man via the public-address system to step back from the edge of the platform, the accident could not be prevented.

Each year, visually impaired people are involved in more than 70 falls from station platforms. According to one survey, nearly 40 percent of visually impaired people have experienced such a fall. All railway operators must acknowledge that they cannot afford to wait any longer to take measures to prevent these accidents.

Platform screen doors installed along platform edges are the most effective tools to prevent people from falling onto the tracks. However, such doors have not been installed at the site of the accident.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003160359

以下省略

今回取り上げるのは “heartrending” です。heartrendingを『ライトハウス英和辞典』（第5版　研究社）で調べてみますと「（普通は限定）胸も張り裂けるような、悲痛な」という意味があることがわかりました。LDOCEには “making you feel great pity [= heartbreaking]” とありました。日本語と同様にひどく心を痛めるというニュアンスがあることがうかがえます。heartrending にはrendという語が含まれており、rendを調べてみますと、他動詞で「（文語）（…）を引き裂く、ちぎる、かきむしる（乱す）」（『ライトハウス英和辞典』）とありました。heartとrendが合わさることで、心が引き裂かれるような状態を表すことができるのだなと思いました。（aqua）