eerily 復習
本日の裏ゼミでは、ユナイテッド航空の飛行機内で、乗客のペットの犬が死亡したという悲劇的な出来事を伝えた記事を読みました。
United Airlines apologized on Tuesday after a dog died on a flight during which it was stored in a passenger’s overhead compartment. A witness said that a flight attendant had ordered the pet owner to put the dog in the compartment before the plane took off.
The dog, a black French bulldog that was traveling in a pet carrier, was placed in the compartment shortly before United Flight 1284 left Houston for New York at around 6 p.m. Monday, said Maggie Gremminger, 30, who was seated behind the pet owner. She said the owner was instructed to put her dog there shortly after she boarded with two children, one of whom was an infant.
“The pet owner was very adamant that she did not want to put the pet carrier up above,” Ms. Gremminger said. “She was saying verbally, ‘My dog is in here, no, this is my dog.’ The flight attendant, in response, really just continued to ask her to put it above because it was a hazard where it was, it was a safety emergency, someone could trip.”
Eventually, the pet owner, whom United declined to name, complied with the flight attendant. Ms. Gremminger said the owner was preoccupied by her infant during the flight and did not check on the pet, which fell eerily silent after barking during takeoff and as the plane ascended to its cruising altitude.
以下省略
気になった単語はeerily /ɪərɪlɪ/ です。単語の予測がつかず、発音も気になったので調べました。
『ジーニアス英和辞典』(第五版、大修館書店)では「不気味に」とあり、またLDOCEには “strange and frightening” と載っていました。
よってここでは、犬が不気味なほど静かになっていた様子を表現していると考えられます。
今回の出来事では、CAから犬を入れるゲージを頭上の荷物入れにいれるよう指示されたという部分が問題視されています。ユナイテッド航空のウェブサイトでも、そのような指示の記述は見当たりません。さらに、同航空ではこれまでにも同じような事故が起きていました。
同様の事態を二度と起こさない為にも、徹底的な調査をし、何が起こったのかという原因究明が望まれます。(sixth-dan)
be forced to play behind closed doors #2 - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から
