infest 復習

　ビッグベンの大規模な補修工事が続いています。

Britain’s Parliament to get much-needed repairs

This isn’t a metaphor: Britain’s Parliament is a mess.

The 19th-century building is crumbling, leaky, infested with vermin and riddled with asbestos.

After years of dithering, lawmakers voted Wednesday to move out of the building to allow several years of major repairs. The plan will cost billions, but experts say the alternative could be catastrophic.

“This debate arguably should have taken place about 40 years ago,” House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom told lawmakers, adding that the building “is in dire need of repair.”

Legislators voted to back a call for lawmakers and staff to leave the building by the mid-2020s — a plan known as a “full decant” of Parliament. It’s estimated the repairs will take six years and cost about £3.5 billion ($5 billion).

以下省略

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004218310

　infest /ɪnfést/ を取り上げます。inが頭にあることか、時計塔の中に住み着いているという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）で調べると、「（普通は受身で）（害虫、ねずみ、盗賊、病気などが）（…）にはびこる」とありました。
　LDOCEには “if insects, rats etc infest a place, there are a lot of them and they usually cause damage” や “if a place is infested with things or people you do not want, there are too many of them there” と定義されています。その場にいて欲しくない人やもの、動物などがたくさんいる様子がわかります。

　工事完了には時間がかかりそうですが、無事に終了した姿を見る日が楽しみです。（aqua）

infestation - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から
croc-infested - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から