against the clock 復習
メキシコ中部で起きた地震で倒壊した学校では必死の救出活動が続いています。
Rescuers rush to save trapped girl in Mexico
Mexican rescuers raced against the clock on Wednesday to save a 12-year-old girl trapped beneath a collapsed school and reach other possible survivors buried in rubble in central Mexico following the country’s most deadly earthquake in three decades.
At least 237 people were killed by the 7.1-magnitude quake that struck about 150 kilometers southeast of Mexico City on Tuesday afternoon, 32 years after a 1985 quake killed thousands.
Rescue workers were able to communicate with the girl, identified only as Frida Sofia, who responded that there were two other students nearby but she could not tell if they were alive, according to broadcaster Televisa, whose cameras and reporters had special access to the scene.
以下省略
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003955994
against the clockを取り上げます。直訳で考えても、時間に逆らおうとする様子が想像できます。『ライトハウス英和辞典』（第5版 研究社）で引くと「時計（時間）と競争で」とありました。例として “work against the clock” で「締め切りに追われて仕事する」と説明されています。
LDOCEには “if you work against the clock, you work as quickly as you can because you do not have much time” や “if you run, swim etc against the clock, you run or swim a particular distance while your speed is measured” と定義されており、ある一定の距離を走ったり泳いだりする時間を計測されている状態を表すこともできることがわかりました。
記事には “Mexican rescuers raced against the clock” とあり、レスキュー隊が時間と闘いながら救助を続ける姿が読み取れます。72時間の壁という言葉がありますが、一刻も早く救出しようとする様子がraceにも表れているのではないかと感じました。（aqua）
