命運使我們走到一起

Fate有命運、天命、結局、覆滅、災難、死亡的意思。有人相信命運天注定，有人相信命運掌握在自己手里，而我相信是命運使我們走到一起，加入到CS這個大家庭里。在本期《小詞大義》，我們來腦補一下關于fate的短語：abandon sb. to his fate（聽任某人由命運擺布）；as sure as fate（千真萬確地）；decide one’s fate（決定某人的命運）；fix one’s fate（決定某人的命運）；go to one’s fate（死亡；自取滅亡）；have sb.’s fate in one’s hand（掌握著某人的命運）；meet one’s fate（死；送死；遇到命里注定要成為自己妻子的女人）；No flying from the fate.（[諺]劫數難逃）；please the fates（如果情況許可；若是一切順利）；share the same fate（遭受同樣的命運）；take one’s fate into one’s own hand（掌握自己的命運）。

Fate is a word that can be hard to understand. Fate， to describe it simply， means that something is meant to be.

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：

A： He totally destroyed his business and now he’s going to jail. And for him， prison is a fate worse than death.

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.

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.

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.

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 been much different.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A： How did you meet your wife？

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.

A： Hmm. Was it an accident？ Or a strange twist of fate？

B： I’ve never thought about it that way. Maybe I was destined to meet her all along.

Fate may have served that couple well. But sometimes fate leaves a lover out in the cold.

seal sb.’s fate 意思是決定某人的命運。

a fate worse than death 意思是比死還糟糕的命運。

tempt （one’s） fate 意思是冒險，冒不必要的險。

a twist of fate 意思是命運之轉折；命運的扭轉。

ill-fated 意思是不幸的；遭受厄運的。