'Butterfly Effect' and Chain Reactions
英語詞語：蝴蝶效應和連鎖反應
http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/butterfly-effect-and-chain-reactions-82448.html
2019-07-15
導讀：在英語裡，連鎖反應（chain reactions）有很多種說法，有蝴蝶效應（butterfly effect）、漣漪作用（ripple effect）、多米諾骨牌效應（ domino effect）、滾雪球效應（ snowball effect）等，其中除滾雪球效應（ snowball effect）是隻用來描述壞事外，其他說好事或壞事時都可以用。
1）I am not going to lie to you: Not all bugs are created equal.
We like some insects and hate others.
我不騙你：上天造蟲子的時候，不是對所有的蟲子都一視同仁。有些蟲子我們喜歡，有些蟲子我們恨得不行。
圖片來自bing.com
2）For example, if you see a big cockroach run across the floor, you might run for the insecticide spray.But if you see a brightly colored butterfly landing on a flower outside your window, you probably will not spray it with poison.
比如說：如果你看到一隻大蟑螂爬過地板，你可能就急匆匆找殺蟲劑去了；但是如果你看到一隻明豔的蝴蝶落在窗外的一朵花上，你可能就不會用殺蟲劑噴它。
cockroach：英 [ˈkɒkrəʊtʃ] 美 [ˈkɑːkroʊtʃ] n. 蟑螂
3）Butterflies are beautiful both in their appearance and movements.
蝴蝶不止長得好看，動作還很美。
4）They flutter. This means they move their wings back and forth very quickly. The word "flutter" even goes very nicely with the word "butterfly." Butterflies flutter by.
蝴蝶振翅而飛，它們來來回回地迅速揮舞著翅膀。“flutter”（振翅）和“butterfly”（蝴蝶）合在一起用時，非常優美：蝴蝶翩翩起舞。
flutter：英 [ˈflʌtə(r)] 1. [V , VN] when a bird or an insect flutters its wings, or its wings flutter , the wings move lightly and quickly up and down（鳥或昆蟲）拍（翅），振（翅），鼓（翼） 2. [V + adv./prep.] (of a bird or an insect 鳥或昆蟲) to fly somewhere moving the wings quickly and lightly 飛來飛去；翩翩飛舞
e.g. The butterfly fluttered from flower to flower. 蝴蝶在花叢中飛來飛去。
5）Other things can flutter, like a sail on a boat that flutters in the wind. Flutter can also mean to move in an uneven, irregular way. When two people are in love, you can say their hearts are "all a flutter.”
其他的東西也可以flutter，如船上的帆迎風破浪；”flutter”還可以表達：不均勻、不規則的運動，如當兩個人相愛了，你可以說他們的心“怦怦亂跳”（”all a flutter”）。
flutter：[V] (of your heart, etc. 心臟等) to beat very quickly and not regularly 怦怦亂跳；撲騰
6）The butterfly effect is a theory. It claims that one small action can lead to major events. For example, a butterfly fluttering its wings can have a great effect -- like producing a storm -- in another part of the world.
蝴蝶效應是一種理論，說：一個很小的行為會引起超大的多個事件。例如：蝴蝶揮動翅膀可能會有很大的影響，如在世界的另外的地方會發生一場暴風雨。
7）But this expression is not just used by great thinkers, you know, philosophers. Every small decision you make can have a butterfly effect in your own life.
但這種表達不僅僅為偉大的思考者——哲學家——使用，我們所做的每一個很小的決定都有可能在我們自己的生活中產生蝴蝶效應。
8）For example, let's say that one night you agree to meet friends at the movies. On the way, you stop to help a man with a broken bicycle. This makes you late and you miss the movie. But the man is thankful. He gives you his card and invites you to lunch.
例如，假設有天晚上，你跟朋友約好去看電影；在去的路上，你看到一個人的自行車壞了，你停下來給他幫忙；結果你遲到了錯過了電影。但是這位男士很是感激，給你留了他的名片、邀請你改天吃午餐。
9）As it turns out he is a book publisher who offers to look at a book you have just finished writing. Your stopping to help him led to events in your life happening very differently.
後來發現他是個圖書出版商，他很樂意看一看你剛剛寫完的書。 你的一個小小的助人的舉動讓你的生活發生了不一樣的變化。
10）Now, you may hear other expressions that mean about the same thing. We also have the ripple effect . If you throw something into a body of still water, it cause ripples in the water, one leading to the next.
你可能還聽過其他的類似表達，如ripple effect（漣漪作用）；如果你往靜止的水裡扔個東西，水面會蕩起漣漪，一件事情會引發另外一件事情。
11）Then there is the domino effect. Dominoes is a game where you stack up domino tiles close to each other. You push one which falls into the next, which falls into the next, and so on and so on – until they are all down.
還有多米諾骨牌效應（ domino effect）：多米諾是一種遊戲，你把多米諾骨牌一個一個整齊地碼在一起，推倒其中一塊，這塊骨牌倒向下一塊，再下一塊，不停地倒，直到最後一塊倒下。
stack (sth) (up)：to arrange objects neatly in a pile; to be arranged in this way（使）放成整齊的一疊（或一摞、一堆）
圖片來自bing.com
12）The snowball effect is when something small gets worse and worse over time. Imagine a ball of snow rolling down a hill getting bigger and bigger as it collects more snow.
滾雪球效應（ snowball effect）是：壞事一件接著一件。想象一下一個雪球從山上滾下來，越滾越大，因為雪越滾越多。
13）We usually use "to snowball" only for bad things. We use the others for both good and bad events.
“滾雪球”通常只用來說壞事；其他表達既可以用在好事上，也可以用在壞事上。
14）One big difference is that we can say something dominoed, or snowballed or even rippled. Although that one is less common. However, we do not say something butterflied.
有個很大的區別是：我們可以說某個事情“dominoed”、“snowballed”、甚至“rippled”。雖然“rippled”不太常用。但是我們不說某個事情“butterflied”。
15）These expressions are all chain reactions. They all mean that one thing leads to the next, to the next and so on.
這些表達都是“連鎖反應”（chain reactions），意思都是“一件事情引發了另一件事情，再一件事情，無休無止”。
本材料源自www.51voa.com，經過本人節選、後期翻譯而成，若有翻譯的不妥當的地方，歡迎指正
關鍵字: 蝴蝶 蝴蝶效應 Butterflies
