A Chance in a million 百萬分之一的幾率
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.
19. 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.
漢斯重返故里，但他的家已被炸毀，左鄰右舍誰也不知原住戶的下落。
語言點(diǎn)1:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:but后面的分句說明漢斯返回家鄉(xiāng)后看到的情景。What引導(dǎo)賓語從句。
語言點(diǎn)2:family home的意思是“故里，老家”，相當(dāng)于hometown。
語言點(diǎn)3:become of在此理解為“遭受的情況是…”。
20. 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.
漢斯以為全家人都在空襲中遇難，于是便在距此50英里外的一座村子里定居下來，直至當(dāng)日。
語言點(diǎn)1:fifty miles away作village的后置定語，說明村子有多遠(yuǎn)。
語言點(diǎn)2:settle down的意思是“定居”（長期居住在某地而不隨意搬家）。
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.
19. 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.
漢斯重返故里，但他的家已被炸毀，左鄰右舍誰也不知原住戶的下落。
語言點(diǎn)1:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:but后面的分句說明漢斯返回家鄉(xiāng)后看到的情景。What引導(dǎo)賓語從句。
語言點(diǎn)2:family home的意思是“故里，老家”，相當(dāng)于hometown。
語言點(diǎn)3:become of在此理解為“遭受的情況是…”。
20. 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.
漢斯以為全家人都在空襲中遇難，于是便在距此50英里外的一座村子里定居下來，直至當(dāng)日。
語言點(diǎn)1:fifty miles away作village的后置定語，說明村子有多遠(yuǎn)。
語言點(diǎn)2:settle down的意思是“定居”（長期居住在某地而不隨意搬家）。