VOA慢速英语: 命运让我们聚在一起？

Has Fate Brought Us Together?
命运让我们聚在一起？
 Is it fate that brings us together today?
今天命运把我们聚在一起？
No, not fate. It is simply time for Words and Their Stories.
不，不是命运，只是到了词汇掌故的时间。
Or maybe it is fate. Maybe just this morning you said to someone, “You know, I really wish VOA Learning English would do a show on the word ‘fate.’” And here we are. Now, that would be fate.
也许是命运的安排。也许早晨你对某个人说：“我真心希望美国之音慢速英语会有一个关于“fate”的一期节目。今天我们就来讲讲命运。”
Fate is a word that can be hard to understand. Fate, to describe it simply, means that something is meant to be.
命运是个很难理解的词语。简单的描述“fate”就是应该成为的那个样子。
Fate is a word that has weight. It has power. When we say sealed one’s fate we mean a person has done something that has guaranteed a certain end result -- usually a bad one. Sometimes the result is even a fate worse than death, such as in this example:
命运是个有分量的词汇。当我们说“sealed one’s fate”意思就是一个人做了某事，但是导致一个坏的结果。有时这种坏结果是比死亡还糟糕的命运。
A: He totally destroyed his business and now he’s going to jail. And for him, prison is a fate worse than death.
A：他毁了自己的生意，现在住进了监狱。对他来说，监狱就是比死亡还糟糕的一种命运。
B: Well, if he would rather die than go to prison, he should not have stolen that money from his investors. When he did that, he sealed his own fate.
B：如果他宁可死也不愿意住监狱的话，他应该把投资者的钱给转移走。如果那样的话，他就决定了自己的命运。
The Merriam-Webster dictionary says fate is a “power that is believed to control what happens in the future.” In fact, fate is so powerful that people are warned not to tempt fate.
韦氏字典里说：“命运是一种能够控制未来发生什么事的力量。事实上，命运很强大，人们被警告不能去挑战命运。”
To tempt fate means to do something that involves a risk. Or, it means to be too sure about something. That extreme confidence may cause something unpleasant to happen.
向命运挑战就意味着陷入危机。或者说一定会发生什么事。过分的自信也许会导致一些不愉快的事情发生。
Here is a true story. While on vacation in Thailand I met a woman who tempted fate by swimming around a rocky coastline at night. We warned her that she would not make it. And she didn’t. She floated in the ocean all night. A fishing boat rescued her the next morning. She was lucky. Her fate could have much different.
这是个真实的故事。在泰国度假的时候，我遇到一位女士，她在晚上一个多岩石的海岸线游泳来挑战命运。我们警告她不能这样做，但是她不听劝告。一整晚她都漂在大海里。第二天早上，一条渔船救了他。她很幸运，她的命运可能与别人不同。
Fate can also change quickly and send your life in a direction you did not plan. When we say something is a twist of fate, we mean something strange or unexpected has happened. But more than that – the outcome was meant, or fated, to happen.
命运变化如此之快，会把你送到另一个你未曾计划的方向。当我们讲命运的扭转，意思是一些奇怪或者意想不到的事发生了。但除此之外，结果或许是注定要发生。
When something goes wrong, we often say it was ill-fated, or doomed from the very start. For instance, the Titanic started its ill-fated journey with much celebration and excitement.
发生一些不好的事时，我们通常会说时运不济，或者注定要倒霉。例如：泰坦尼克号在那么多的欢呼和庆祝中开始了注定悲剧的命运。
No one thought for a moment that its fate would be to lie at the bottom of the ocean. But by a terrible twist of fate, the great ship hit a huge block of ice in the ocean and quickly sank.
没有人会想到泰坦尼克号会以沉于大海的命运而终结。但是在命运的转折点，这艘船触碰到海洋中的冰川，很快沉没。
A twist of fate does not always mean something bad is meant to happen. Sometimes fate is romantic. Fate and love often go hand in hand. Many people trust fate when looking for their life partner, their soul mate. Others may use online dating services. This man trusted fate.
在命运的转折点并不意味着总是会有坏事发生。有时候命运也很浪漫。命运与爱情是相伴而出现。很多人在寻找另一半、灵魂伴侣的时候会相信命运。其他人也许会使用在线约会。这类人相信命运。
A: How did you meet your wife?
A：你怎么遇见你的妻子的？
B: I met my wife completely by accident. She boarded the wrong airplane and was sitting in my seat. As soon as I saw her … I can’t explain it … I knew we would be married one day.
B：遇到我妻子纯粹是意外。她登错机了，然后坐在我的座位上。我见到她的那一刻，无法用言语解释，我知道将来有一天我们会结婚。
A: Hmm. Was it an accident? Or a strange twist of fate?
A：嗯。只是个偶然？还是神奇命运转折点？
B: I’ve never thought about it that way. Maybe I was destined to meet her all along.
B：我从未这样想过，也许我注定要遇见她。
Fate may have served that couple well. But sometimes fate leaves a lover out in the cold.
命运也许很眷顾这对夫妻。但是有时候，命运也会让爱人被冷落。
I’m Anna Matteo.
我是安娜·马特奥。
Is there a time when the hand of fate changed the course of your life? Do share … in the comments section!
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Words in This Story
romantic – adj. relating to, or involving love between two people
destined – adj. certain to do or to be something
leave out in the cold – expression to leave someone in a bad position