36_A_Chance_in_a_Million

36 A Chance in a Million¶

We are less credulous than we used to be. In the nineteenth century, a novelist would bring his story to a conclusion by presenting his readers with a series of coincidences--most of them wildly improbable. Readers happily accepted the fact that an obscure maidservant was really the hero's mother. A long-lost brother, who was presumed dead, was really alive all the time and wickedly plotting to bring about the hero's downfall. And so on. Modern readers would find such naive solutions totally unacceptable. Yet, in real life, circumstances do sometimes conspire to bring about coincidences (which anyone but a nineteenth century novelist would find incredible).

When I was a boy, my grandfather told me {how a German taxi driver, Franz Bussman, found a brother (who was thought to have been killed twenty years before)}. While on a walking tour with his wife, he stopped to talk to a workman. After they had gone on, Mrs. Bussman commented on the workman's close resemblance to her husband and even suggested that he might be his brother. Franz poured scorn on the idea, pointing out that his brother had been killed in action during the war. Though Mrs. Bussman was fully acquainted with this story, she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right. A few days later, she sent a boy to the workman to ask him if his name was Hans Bussman. Needless to say, the man's name was Hans Bussman and he really was Franz's long-lost brother. When the brothers were reunited, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive. After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit. The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed. Hans returned to his family home, but the house had been bombed and no one in the neighbourhood knew {what had become of the inhabitants}. Assuming that his family had been killed during an air raid, Hans settled down in a village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since.

Words¶

credulous /ˈkrɛdʒələs/ 轻信地
coincidences /koˈɪnsədənsɪz/ 巧合
improbable /ˌɪmˈprɑbəbəl/ 不大可能地
obscure /əbsˈkjʊr/ 不起眼的
maidservant /ˈmedˌsɝvənt/ 女佣
presumed /prəˈzumd/ 假定
wickedly /ˈwɪkɪdli/ 居心叵测地
plotting /ˈplɑtɪŋ/ 密谋
naive /ˌnaɪˈiv/ 天真地
circumstances /ˈsɝkəmˌstænsəz/ 情况
resemblance /rɪˈzɛmbləns/ 相似
suggested /səˈdʒɛstɪd/ 暗示
scorn /skɔrn/ 挖苦
acquainted /əˈkwentɪd/ 使了解
reunited /ˌriuˈnaɪtɪd/ 团聚
wounded /ˈwundɪd/ 受伤
lost /lɔst/ 牺牲
inhabitants /ɪnˈhæbətənts/ 居民
raid /red/ 空袭

Expressions¶

It seems (highly/wildly) improbable that ... ……似乎极不可能
be presumed dead/innocent/guilty 被推定为死亡/无罪/有罪
presume that+句子假定……
plot to do sth. 暗中谋划做某事
plot against sb. 密谋对付某人
lead to sb’s downfall 导致某人垮台
bring about sb’s downfall 致使某人垮台
it be naive to believe/think … 相信/认为……很天真
sb. be naive enough to believe/think... 某人天真到相信/认为……
it be unacceptable to do 做……是不可接受的
conspire to 共同促成
it is incredible (to sb.) that… （对某人来说）……令人难以置信
it is incredible how… ……令人难以置信
it is incredible to do sth. 做某事令人难以置信
bear...a close/strong/striking resemblance to sb./sth. 与某人/某物极为相似
bear little/no resemblance to sb./sth. 与某人/某物几乎不相像
resemblance to … 与……相似
pour scorn on 对……嗤之以鼻
pour scorn on idea/suggestion/plan/advice acquaint 对想法/建议/计划/忠告嗤之以鼻
sb. with sth. 使某人了解某事
sb. be acquainted. with… 某人熟悉……
be reunited with sb. 与某人重逢
assuming that… 假定……
it seems/is reasonable to assume that... 有理由认为……
a chance in a million 百万分之一的机会
bring... to a conclusion 使……结束
sb. accept the fact that bring about 接受……的事实
and so on 等等
anyone but 除了……之外的任何人
be thought to 被认为
stop to do 停下来去做
comment on 评论
suggest that 暗示
there is/was a chance that+句子有可能……
needless to say 不用说
towards the end of 接近结束时
be separated from 与……分离
make one’s way back = return to 返回
What become of = What happen to 发生了什么事

to do 非谓语¶

	主动	被动
一般	to do	to be done
进行	to be doing
完成	to have done	to have been done
完成进行	to have been doing