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。

ram into 復習

千葉県八街(やちまた)市でトラックが登校中の小学生の列に突っ込みました。

Truck runs into school kids in Chiba Pref., injuring 4

A truck ran into a group of children heading for school in Chiba Prefecture on Wednesday morning, injuring four of them.

The four are second- to fifth-grade students at Choyo Elementary School in Yachimata, Chiba Prefecture.

Of them, a third-grade boy, 9, suffered a serious head injury, but the wound is not life-threatening, according to local police. The other three had minor injuries.

The truck rammed into a group of 11 children from behind around 7:10 a.m. while they were walking to school in line on a sidewalk by National Highway Route 409 in Yachimata, the police said.

The police arrested the 19-year-old male driver, from the city of Mobara in the prefecture, who claims to be a construction worker, for negligent driving resulting in injuries. He admitted the allegation, saying that he was driving the truck while talking with a man in the passenger’s seat.

The accident occurred on a straight section of the road, which has one lane in each direction. The site of the accident is about two kilometers north of Yachimata Station of East Japan Railway Co.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003323975

今回取り上げるのは “ram into” です。ramは名詞では去勢していない雄羊という意味がありますが、動詞で用いられるとどのような意味になるのでしょうか。『ライトハウス英和辞典』(第5版 研究社)で調べると、他動詞で「1(車などに)突っ込む、突き当たる 2(物)を詰め込む、押し当てる(in, into, on)、(知識、考えなど)を詰め込む、たたき込む」などの意味が見つかりました。LDOCEには “to run or drive into something very hard” や “to push something into a position, using great force” などと定義されており、強い衝突を表す際に用いられるようです。
今回は小学生の列に突っ込んだ時の衝撃の強さを“ram into” で表現しています。

この表現は過去に先生が取り上げていらっしゃいました。(aqua)
ram into - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心:言葉の森から