up to one’s eyes in

ノーベル生理学・医学賞に選ばれた大隅良典教授の人生をかけた研究と, その人柄が語られています。

Beard symbolizes Ohsumi’s life in research

Yoshinori Ohsumi’s beard is one of the signature features of the 2016 Nobel Prize laureate for Physiology or Medicine, and reflects the length of his life as a researcher.

Ohsumi began growing his beard in his late 20s. “It’s gradually become totally white,” he said at a Monday press conference after the announcement of the award.

The scientist said his wife, Mariko, advised him to tidy up the beard Monday morning. “So I shortened it just a bit,” Ohsumi said.

中略

“I understand he was up to his eyes in work. Nevertheless, he really didn’t get involved in raising the kids,” she recalled.

“My husband is a sloppy and mysterious person,” Mariko said. “I always wondered how a lazy, careless person like him could be successful in his experiments. I’m so much more organized,” she said jokingly.

以下省略

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003259415

今回取り上げる表現は “up to his eyes in” です。

『リーダーズ英和中辞典』(研究社)で調べると, “up to the [one’s] eyes” = “<口> up to the ears” と記されていたため, 後者の表現を引いたところ, 「<口><仕事に>没頭して, 忙殺されて」とありました。 “~ears” の後に “in” が続くと, 「…が山ほどあって, …に埋もれて」という表現になるそうです。

Cambridge Dictionary. には “be up to your ears in something” で, “to be very busy, or to have more of something than you can manage” と定義され, “I’m up to my ears in work.” と例が挙げられていました。

大隅教授は長年にわたり, 妻・万里子さんに支えられながら, 自身の研究に向かって一心不乱に取り組み, 今回のような大輪を咲かせたことがわかります。(Cayu)