感謝灼見名家傳媒創辦人文灼非邀請我撰寫英語學習的專欄。本欄文章的內容屬於中、高等程度,適合準備應考中學文憑試的學生參考,學習關於詞彙的建立、改善文章的流暢、一般同義詞應用、詞語配搭以及實用文法技巧等,希望可以學以致用,內容也適合在職人士參考。
天有不測風雲,人有旦夕禍福
Accidents will happen in the best regulated families.(即使在最有規律的家庭,也難免發生意外。)
出事是難免的,正如英文成語所謂 “accidents will happen”. You can use this phrase to make someone feel less guilty when they have just damaged something that does not belong to them: “Oh well, accidents will happen. I can always buy another one. It does not matter and you should not worry.”
說到 accident(意外),一般比 disaster(災難)輕微,有人為的不幸和厄運 misfortune,”a chapter of accidents” is a series of misfortunes。也有天意的 chance,所謂偶然,或 coincidence(巧合)。
Accident/Chance/Coincidence 的分別
These are all words for things that happen or the force that causes them to happen.
Accident(不測事件,意外遭遇)is something that happens unexpectedly and is not planned in advance.
Accident-prone(特別易出事故的)means more likely to have accidents than other people.
A fatal accident 是死亡事故,an accidental meeting 是偶然相遇,more by accident than by design 是偶然的,不是故意的(not planned):Because of luck and not because of skill the footballer kicked the ball and, more by accident than design, it found its way into the net.
Chance(機遇、機會、時機)is the way that some things happen without any cause that you can see or understand: The results could simply be due to chance. 這是你成功的大好機會:This is your big chance = Your opportunity for success.
Coincidence(巧合)is the fact of two things happening at the same time by chance, in a surprising way: a strange/an extraordinary/a remarkable coincidence(奇怪的/不同尋常的/驚人的巧合):The boy and the girl met through a series of strange coincidences.
“An accident waiting to happen”(隱患)is an idiomatic phrase used to describe a potentially dangerous situation that could very easily turn into a disaster.
Disaster
Disaster 可以解作不幸(a very bad situation that causes problem):Losing your job doesn’t have to be such a disaster.(丟了工作不一定就是大難臨頭。)
Disaster 也可解作 a complete failure(徹底失敗的人或事):The play’s first night was a total disaster.(這齣戲頭一晚的演出就徹底失敗了。)
Something that is likely to go badly wrong or resulting in trouble(後患無窮),可以用 “a recipe for disaster”。
Disaster(災害)有不同的類型:financial disaster(嚴重的財政危機)、an air disaster(空難)、environmental disaster(環境災難)等,其中最主要的是天災(A natural disaster is one that is caused by nature.)。
自然災害,大家最熟悉的的例子很多,最常見的有:tsunami(海嘯)、earthquake(地震)、volcanic eruption(火山爆發)、avalanche(雪崩)、landslide(山崩)、hurricane(颶風)、tornado(龍捲風)、drought(嚴重乾旱)、famine(飢荒),都是 acts of God。
地震地帶的頭條新聞經常見報,遠一點的有日本6.3級的大地震(earthquake),最近的是四川雅安7級地震的大災難(catastrophe)。
東京位於地震帶(Tokyo is within an earthquake-prone region),高層建築物,都以防禦地震設計,減低地震發生時受到的損害(Most of the tall buildings in Tokyo have been designed to withstand earthquakes.)Few buildings survived the earthquake intact. Most suffered damage of some kind or other. Hundreds of people were buried alive in the earthquake.
2004年印度洋大地震, 一般稱印度洋海嘯(Indian Ocean Tsunami)或南亞海嘯。The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake with an epicentre(震央)off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
描寫大災難常見的一些新聞標題,包括:
Climate change wreaks havoc on coral reef worldwide causing a lot of damage, destruction, or confusion.(氣候變化對珊瑚礁造成全面嚴重危害。)
Hurricane rips through western Florida.(颶風强烈移動,橫掃佛州西部。)
Coal mine caves in following flood, but no lives survive.(礦場受洪水影響而坍塌,多人被困於其中而無一生還。)After the catastrophic floods the government declared a state of emergency.(洪水發生後政府已宣布進入緊急狀態。)
Bush fires in southern Australia wipe out whole towns of an entire area(山火蔓延南澳州,破壞了整個地區的城鎮), the whole area is declared a disaster area.(政府宣布整個城市為災區。)
Ethiopia is in the grip of severe drought.(埃塞俄比亞受制於嚴重旱災。)”In the grip of” means experiencing something unpleasant that cannot be stopped.