今日取り上げるのは単語そのものは初歩レベルですが、何となく含蓄のある表現です。昨日取り上げた文のちょっと後にあった文です。
Unlike the dogs in the Seligman experiment, the panther displays his paralysis not by lying still, but by constantly moving. Just like the helpless dogs, however, he cannot see past his confinement: "It seems to him there are / a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world." Whether the bars are real or metaphorical, when one has no control, it is as if nothing exists beyond the pain of this loss.
"see past" は文字通り解釈すると「過去を見る」ですが、ここでは時間的な過去の意味では変です。 "see past" と言う慣用句があるか調べたが見当たりません。しかし、慣用句に "can't see beyond the end of your nose" があり、"can't see past the end of your nose" とも言うことが分かり、その意味を辞書で見ると、
・Cambridge Idioms Dictionary: : if you can't see beyond the end of your nose, you think so much about yourself and what affects you that you do not see what is really important These people are so busy making money, they can't see beyond the end of their nose.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Fig. to be narrow-minded; to lack understanding and perception. She is so selfish she can see no further than the end of her nose. You don't care about any one but yourself. You can't see any further than the end of your nose.
と書かれていました。引用文の "cannot see past" はこの慣用句 "can't see past the end of your nose" の意味で使われていると思いました。
Unlike the dogs in the Seligman experiment, the panther displays his paralysis not by lying still, but by constantly moving. Just like the helpless dogs, however, he cannot see past his confinement: "It seems to him there are / a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world." Whether the bars are real or metaphorical, when one has no control, it is as if nothing exists beyond the pain of this loss.
"see past" は文字通り解釈すると「過去を見る」ですが、ここでは時間的な過去の意味では変です。 "see past" と言う慣用句があるか調べたが見当たりません。しかし、慣用句に "can't see beyond the end of your nose" があり、"can't see past the end of your nose" とも言うことが分かり、その意味を辞書で見ると、
・Cambridge Idioms Dictionary: : if you can't see beyond the end of your nose, you think so much about yourself and what affects you that you do not see what is really important These people are so busy making money, they can't see beyond the end of their nose.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: Fig. to be narrow-minded; to lack understanding and perception. She is so selfish she can see no further than the end of her nose. You don't care about any one but yourself. You can't see any further than the end of your nose.
と書かれていました。引用文の "cannot see past" はこの慣用句 "can't see past the end of your nose" の意味で使われていると思いました。
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