pathological 復習
約320万人の人がギャンブル依存性が疑われる状態になったことがあるということが調査により判明しました。
An estimated 3.2 million Japanese addicted to gambling
Around 3.2 million Japanese have likely suffered from gambling addiction, a government survey shows, amid renewed concern about pathological gambling since a law to legalize casinos took effect last year.
An interim report on the survey, released Friday, said 3.6 percent of respondents were suspected of having developed gambling addiction at some point, a proportion that works out to around 3.2 million people nationwide.
It also said that 0.8 percent — equivalent to around 700,000 people — likely were addicted at some point in the past year, with the average age at 46.5. Among them, pachinko accounted for the most money spent on gambling, at an average of \58,000 per month. The survey of 10,000 adults received valid responses from 4,685. People between ages 20 and 74 were randomly selected for face-to-face interviews at 300 locations.
以下省略
pathological /p`æθəlάdʒɪk(ə)l/ を取り上げます。後ろにgamblingが続くことをふまえると、「依存性のある」といった意味になるかと思いました。『ライトハウス英和辞典』（第5版 研究社）で引くと「1（医学）病理学（上）の 2（略式）病的な、異常な（ほどの）」とありました。例として “a pathological liar” で「病的なうそつき」が取り上げられています。LDOCEには “pathological behaviour or feelings happen regularly, and are strong, unreasonable, and impossible to control” や “a mental or physical condition that is pathological is caused by disease” などと定義されています。したがって pathological gamblingは「病的賭博」または「ギャンブル依存性」という意味になるかと思われます。（aqua）
