'Butterfly Effect' and Chain Reactions
英语词语：蝴蝶效应和连锁反应
http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/butterfly-effect-and-chain-reactions-82448.html
2019-07-15
导读：在英语里，连锁反应（chain reactions）有很多种说法，有蝴蝶效应（butterfly effect）、涟漪作用（ripple effect）、多米诺骨牌效应（ domino effect）、滚雪球效应（ snowball effect）等，其中除滚雪球效应（ snowball effect）是只用来描述坏事外，其他说好事或坏事时都可以用。
1）I am not going to lie to you: Not all bugs are created equal.
We like some insects and hate others.
我不骗你：上天造虫子的时候，不是对所有的虫子都一视同仁。有些虫子我们喜欢，有些虫子我们恨得不行。
图片来自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.
比如说：如果你看到一只大蟑螂爬过地板，你可能就急匆匆找杀虫剂去了；但是如果你看到一只明艳的蝴蝶落在窗外的一朵花上，你可能就不会用杀虫剂喷它。
cockroach：英 [ˈkɒkrəʊtʃ] 美 [ˈkɑːkroʊtʃ] n. 蟑螂
3）Butterflies are beautiful both in their appearance and movements.
蝴蝶不止长得好看，动作还很美。
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.
蝴蝶振翅而飞，它们来来回回地迅速挥舞着翅膀。“flutter”（振翅）和“butterfly”（蝴蝶）合在一起用时，非常优美：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（鸟或昆虫）拍（翅），振（翅），鼓（翼） 2. [V + adv./prep.] (of a bird or an insect 鸟或昆虫) to fly somewhere moving the wings quickly and lightly 飞来飞去；翩翩飞舞
e.g. The butterfly fluttered from flower to flower. 蝴蝶在花丛中飞来飞去。
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.”
其他的东西也可以flutter，如船上的帆迎风破浪；”flutter”还可以表达：不均匀、不规则的运动，如当两个人相爱了，你可以说他们的心“怦怦乱跳”（”all a flutter”）。
flutter：[V] (of your heart, etc. 心脏等) to beat very quickly and not regularly 怦怦乱跳；扑腾
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.
蝴蝶效应是一种理论，说：一个很小的行为会引起超大的多个事件。例如：蝴蝶挥动翅膀可能会有很大的影响，如在世界的另外的地方会发生一场暴风雨。
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.
但这种表达不仅仅为伟大的思考者——哲学家——使用，我们所做的每一个很小的决定都有可能在我们自己的生活中产生蝴蝶效应。
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，假设有天晚上，你跟朋友约好去看电影；在去的路上，你看到一个人的自行车坏了，你停下来给他帮忙；结果你迟到了错过了电影。但是这位男士很是感激，给你留了他的名片、邀请你改天吃午餐。
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.
后来发现他是个图书出版商，他很乐意看一看你刚刚写完的书。 你的一个小小的助人的举动让你的生活发生了不一样的变化。
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.
你可能还听过其他的类似表达，如ripple effect（涟漪作用）；如果你往静止的水里扔个东西，水面会荡起涟漪，一件事情会引发另外一件事情。
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.
还有多米诺骨牌效应（ domino effect）：多米诺是一种游戏，你把多米诺骨牌一个一个整齐地码在一起，推倒其中一块，这块骨牌倒向下一块，再下一块，不停地倒，直到最后一块倒下。
stack (sth) (up)：to arrange objects neatly in a pile; to be arranged in this way（使）放成整齐的一叠（或一摞、一堆）
图片来自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.
滚雪球效应（ snowball effect）是：坏事一件接着一件。想象一下一个雪球从山上滚下来，越滚越大，因为雪越滚越多。
13）We usually use "to snowball" only for bad things. We use the others for both good and bad events.
“滚雪球”通常只用来说坏事；其他表达既可以用在好事上，也可以用在坏事上。
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.
有个很大的区别是：我们可以说某个事情“dominoed”、“snowballed”、甚至“rippled”。虽然“rippled”不太常用。但是我们不说某个事情“butterflied”。
15）These expressions are all chain reactions. They all mean that one thing leads to the next, to the next and so on.
这些表达都是“连锁反应”（chain reactions），意思都是“一件事情引发了另一件事情，再一件事情，无休无止”。
本材料源自www.51voa.com，经过本人节选、后期翻译而成，若有翻译的不妥当的地方，欢迎指正
關鍵字: 滚雪球 Butterflies 蝴蝶效应
