heartland 復習

　カリフォルニア州で、豪雨による洪水の影響で孤立していた100人以上の人が救助されました。

Hundreds rescued from California floodwaters in San Jose

Rescuers chest-deep in water steered boats full of people, some with babies and pets, from a San Jose neighborhood inundated Tuesday by water from an overflowing creek.

Further north, farmers used tractors to shore up an endangered levee in California's agricultural heartland, officials opened a spillway at the Don Pedro reservoir for the first time in 20 years, and a Sierra Nevada highway threatened to collapse after the latest downpours swelled waterways, leaving nearly half of the state under flood advisories.

In San Jose, at least 225 residents were taken to dry land and rinsed with soap and water to prevent them from being sickened by floodwaters from the Coyote Creek that had traveled through engine fuel, garbage, debris and over sewer lines, San Jose Fire Capt. Mitch Matlow said.

Rescuers went door-to-door searching for people who needed to leave the neighborhood. Only residents who could prove they had been cleaned of the floodwaters were allowed to board buses to shelters.

"The water started to seep in the driveway, and then it started to creep up into the front door. It kept getting worse and worse," said Alex Hilario, who walked in knee-high water to get to his car and leave the area.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/creeks-rivers-top-banks-latest-california-storm-45625465

　記事の中で気になった単語は"heartland"です。直訳的に解釈すると、「心臓の土地」となるように、「中心地」という意味が予想できます。

『ジーニアス英和辞典』第4版(大修館)で調べてみると、「(経済、政治などの)中心地域」と載っていました。 つまり、「栄えている町」のことを指しています。

　LDOCEでは、"the most important part of a country or area for a particular activity, or the part where a political group has most support"と表現されています。

　 今回の場合、「農業の中心地」となります。(Akim)

heartland#2 - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から
the heartland - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から