【英语语言学习】为什么巧合每天都在发生？

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

 

Coincidences confound us. Miracles amaze us. And the chance that the same person could be hit by lightning three different times, well, that just defies explanation. Or does it? David Hand is an emeritus¹ professor of mathematics at Imperial College in London. And he has written a book called "The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles and Rare Events Happen Every Day." He joins us from the BBC studios in London. Thanks so much for being with us.

 

DAVID HAND: Thank you very much for inviting² me.

 

MARTIN: So, I'm going to put you to the test and ask you to explain what the improbability principle is. You've written an entire book on this, but I'm going to ask you to distill³ it down to a few sentences.

 

HAND: OK. So, we've all experienced strange coincidences, perhaps bumping into a friend in a strange city or having a dream and then having the thing happen the next day. We've all heard of people being struck by lightning or people winning lotteries⁴ - never us, unfortunately, but we've heard of people winning lotteries. The improbability principle says that those very rare events, those very strange coincidence, in fact should be expected to happen. Now, that sounds like a contradiction. That's what the book does really. It takes that statement of the improbability principle, splits is up into its components⁵ and describes why you do get these very rare events happening lots and lots of the time.

 

MARTIN: Are we predisposed to want to see coincidence in our lives, to see that seemingly random⁶ events are actually connected in some way? Is that a human trait?

 

HAND: That's spot-on, I think. Here's an example. We go to quite a lot of conferences, and in 2012, I went to the Royal Statistical⁷ Society conference, checked into my hotel, and the receptionist said, oh, you're the second David Hand to check into the hotel today. And I thought that's very strange. It might have been people with other similar names or anagrams of the names. You wouldn't have noticed. But we did notice that, so we are predisposed to notice these things. Yes.

 

MARTIN: You write another story in the book. Something had happened to the actor Anthony Hopkins, which I found to be absolutely amazing. Could you recount that tale and what you find significant about it?

 

HAND: So, Anthony Hopkins was one of the stars in a film called "The Girl from Petrovka." And he went to London to buy a copy of the book so that he could read about the book and the character and so on. But he couldn't find a copy of the book. None of the bookstores stocked it. But then on his way home on the tube station in London, he came across a copy of the book on the seat next to him. Absolutely incredible. Later, when he met the author and told the author this story, the author told him that a year or so before he'd lost a copy of the book in London and it was a particular copy that he'd been annotating⁸ to change the English into American spellings and things like that, and he'd lost it on the Tube. And when Anthony Hopkins showed him the copy of the book that he'd found on the tube months later, it turned out to be exactly the same book. So, somehow, this book had traveled through space and time in a loop, in a circle. I think that's one of my favorite examples.

 

MARTIN: I mean, that's a crazy story. So, I hear that and I think the universe was conspiring⁹ to help Anthony Hopkins. And you, David Hand, hear that and what kind of probability is embedded¹⁰ in that scenario¹¹?

 

HAND: So, I think how many people lose books, how much traveling do these people involved do? And the chance of it happening to Anthony Hopkins in particular is incredibly low. But a chance of it happening to somebody is quite high.

 

MARTIN: What about miracles, divine intervention¹²? Some people just say the stars might align¹³ or the universe is conspiring in their favor. Is that something you've looked at?

 

HAND: It is. But I regard miracles as an attempt to explain these highly improbable events. But it's not really necessary to resort to that sort of explanation if you take into account the number of opportunities for these rare events to occur or one of the other laws of the improbability principle. You can see that you should expect this sort of thing to happen.

 

MARTIN: So, does that mean, David, that you are a difficult person to amaze?

 

HAND: I don't think so. You know, obviously, I'm collecting lots more of these stories now. I'm delighted when I come across them. I've got just as much as sense of wonder still. But what it does mean is that I then think, well, how could this be? Is it that improbable? How can I explain it? Should I have expected something like to happen, if not this particular thing?

 

MARTIN: But it doesn't kill the romance for you of the coincidence?

 

HAND: No, absolutely not, absolutely not.

 

MARTIN: David Hand's new book is called "The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles and Rare Events Happen Every Day." Thanks so much for talking with us, Professor Hand.

 

HAND: Thank you very much indeed. Thanks.

 

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

 

MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.

1 emeritus   

adj.名誉退休的

参考例句：

• "Perhaps I can introduce Mr.Lake Kirby,an emeritus professor from Washington University?"请允许我介绍华盛顿大学名誉教授莱克柯尔比先生。
• He will continue as chairman emeritus.他将会继续担任荣誉主席。

2 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

3 distill   

vt.蒸馏，用蒸馏法提取，吸取，提炼

参考例句：

• This standard set determine the method of petroleum products distill.本标准规定了测定石油产品蒸馏的方法。
• Distill the crucial points of the book.从书中提炼出关键的几点。

4 lotteries   

n.抽彩给奖法( lottery的名词复数 )；碰运气的事；彩票；彩券

参考例句：

• Next to bullfights and soccer, lotteries are Spain's biggest sport. 除了斗牛和足球以外，彩票是西班牙最热门的玩意儿。 来自辞典例句
• Next to bullfight and soccer, lotteries are Spain's biggest sport. 发行彩票在西班牙是仅次于斗牛和足球的最大娱乐活动。 来自辞典例句

5 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

6 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

7 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

8 annotating   

v.注解，注释( annotate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Historians are checking and annotating the History of the Former Han Dynasty. 史学家们在校点《汉书》。 来自互联网
• This great flowering of annotating and indexing will alter the way we discover books, too. 注解和索引的大繁荣也会改变我们发现书籍的方式。 来自互联网

9 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

10 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

11 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

12 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

13 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。