Hurdles overcome, on the track and in space

　僕は英辞郎を使って英語を読みまくり、インターネットラジオのNHKのラジオジャパン英語ニュースで時事英語を聞きまくってます。（＾＾；また、VOAでヴォイスレコーダーにDLしたMP3音声とテキストも楽しんでます。
参考「こんな感じで英辞郎を使ってます」

Hurdles overcome, on the track and in space

08/12/2005

Human imagination takes a humorous bent when it creates the rules of sports. This is clearly the case with hurdles. I mean, it's kind of funny that running on flat ground is deliberately made difficult by placing obstacles one after another.

2005年08月11日（木曜日）付
【天声人語】

　平らな地面に、わざわざ高い枠を置く。ひとつだけではなく、その先にもそのまた先にも置いておく。ハードルが立ち並んだ障害競走のコースには、人間がスポーツのルール作りで見せるユーモラスな一面が映っている。

According to "Haadoru" (Hurdles), a book by Ken Miyashita from Baseball Magazine Sha Co., this particular sport originated in Britain. The rise of the Enclosure Movement for pastoral land, which peaked in the 18th and 19th centuries, gave birth to an equestrian race using the enclosures. The first hurdle race as we know it today took place in the mid-19th century as an Oxford-Cambridge collegiate competition event. Sheep enclosures were used as hurdles.

　英国に源流があるという。牧羊業などで土地の「囲い込み」が起きた後、できた垣根を使った馬による競走の時代があった。現在のような競走の元は、１９世紀半ばのオックスフォード対ケンブリッジの大学対抗戦のレースだった。羊の囲いが使われた（宮下憲『ハードル』ベースボール・マガジン社）。

In the wee hours of Wednesday, I awoke from a restless sleep and switched on the TV. The 2005 World Track and Field Championships were on, and Japan's Dai Tamesue was just about to run in the final of the men's 400-meter hurdles. It was raining in Helsinki. While I thought that the weather itself was a hurdle of sorts, the starting gun boomed.

　昨日の未明、寝苦しさで起きてテレビをつけると、陸上の世界選手権を中継していた。為末大選手が出る４００メートル障害の決勝が始まるところだった。ヘルシンキはどしゃぶりだ。これも一つの障害かと思った時、号砲が響いた。

Athletes' legs are beautiful as they leap over each hurdle. One leg is fully stretched while the other is lifted swiftly. The upper body is bent forward, and the eyes are trained on the track ahead. I was reminded of a lithe animal hunting down its prey.

　選手がハードルを越える瞬間の形が美しい。足を思い切り伸ばし、一方の足を素早く持ちあげる。前傾した上体と道筋を読む目が、獲物を追うしなやかな動物のようだ。

When Tamesue was nearing the finish line, his lips parted slightly as if in a smile. The race became a dead heat just before the end, and Tamesue collapsed across the finishing line to win a bronze medal. For him, this was a triumph that came in the wake of a long slump and other personal misfortunes that included the death of his father. His face was wet with tears, sweat and rain.

　最終コーナーを回る頃、為末選手の口がかすかに開き、ほほえんだように見えた。最後はもつれたが倒れ込んで銅メダルを手にした。不振、不運、父の死を経て「勝利」をつかんだ。雨と汗と涙の入り交じるゴールインだった。

Meanwhile, the space shuttle Discovery landed safely Tuesday in the United States. Astronaut Soichi Noguchi's beaming face mirrored his satisfaction with the completion of a tough mission.

Noguchi's performance was in space and Tamesue's was on the ground. But having cleared their respective hurdles, both men gave encouragement to those who watched.

　宇宙からは、野口聡一さんたちのスペースシャトルが、無事ホームインした。難しい任務をしっかり果たしたという満足の笑みもいい。天と地と、ふたりの道は違っても、ハードルを乗り越えた姿には、周りをも力づける輝きが宿っている。

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 11(IHT/Asahi: August 12,2005)