VOA慢速英语--'Butterfly Effect' and Chain Reactions

 

Now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.

I am not going to lie to you: Not all bugs¹ are created equal.

We like some insects and hate others.

For example, if you see a big cockroach² 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.

So today, we are not going to talk about cockroaches³. Let’s talk about butterflies instead!

Butterflies are beautiful both in their appearance and movements.

They flutter. This means they move their wings back and forth⁴ very quickly. The word “flutter” even goes very nicely with the word “butterfly.” Butterflies flutter by.

Other things can flutter, like a sail on a boat that flutters in the wind. Flutter can also mean to move in an uneven⁵, irregular way. When two people are in love, you can say their hearts are “all a flutter.”

This fluttering movement led to the expression “to have butterflies in your stomach.” This means you feel nervous. It feels like you have butterflies fluttering around inside you.

A Monarch⁶ butterfly rests on a flower, September 2018, in the U.S. state of Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

To have butteries in your stomach is a common expression, so much so that we often just say we have butterflies. For example, if I am nervous before speaking in public, I can say, “I’m so nervous! I have butterflies!”

Butterflies can also flutter from one place to another. They do not spend too much time on one flower or plant. Some people do this as well. They flutter about, not spending too much time in once place too long … like a butterfly.

That is where we get the term “social butterfly.” We use it to describe a person with a lot of friends and a lot of social engagements, like parties and get-togethers.

These two butterfly expressions are fairly common and you can use them in any situation. But today, we will talk about another butterfly expression, one that is a little more … philosophical⁷.

We call this the Butterfly Effect.

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.

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.

For example, let’s say that one night you agree to meet friends at the movies. On they 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.

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.

Now, you may hear other expressions that mean about the same thing. We also have the ripple⁸ effect. If you throw something into a body of still water, it cause ripples⁹ in the water, one leading to the next.

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.

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.

We usually use “to snowball” only for bad things. We use the others for both good and bad events. And you can use all of these in either formal or informal situations.

One big difference is that we can say something dominoed, or snowballed or even rippled¹⁰. Although that one is less common. However, we do not say something butterflied. For example, “The man could not have known that his not going into work would domino into a very interesting day.”

These expressions are all chain reactions. They all mean that one thing leads to the next, to the next and so on.

And that is the end of this Words and Their Stories.

Until next time … I’m Anna Matteo.

And I’m Bryan Lynn.

All you gotta do is …

Get in the middle of a chain reaction

You get a medal when you're lost in action

Words in This Story

flutter – v. to flap the wings rapidly butterflies fluttering among the flowers : to move with quick wavering or flapping motions a sail fluttering in the wind : to vibrate in irregular spasms¹¹ his heart fluttered : to move about or behave in an agitated¹² aimless manner She nervously¹³ fluttered around the office.

philosophical – adj. of or relating to the study of basic ideas about knowledge, right and wrong, reasoning, and the value of thing

ripple – n. the ruffling of the surface of water : a small wave a usually slight noticeable effect or reaction

1 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cockroach   

n.蟑螂

参考例句：

• A cockroach can live several weeks with its head off.蟑螂在头被切掉后仍能活好几个星期。
• She screamed when she found a cockroach in her bed.她在床上找到一只蟑螂时大声尖叫。

3 cockroaches   

n.蟑螂( cockroach的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At night, the cockroaches filled the house with their rustlings. 夜里，屋里尽是蟑螂窸窸瑟瑟的声音。 来自辞典例句
• It loves cockroaches, and can keep a house clear of these hated insects. 它们好食蟑螂，可以使住宅免除这些讨厌昆虫的骚扰。 来自百科语句

4 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

5 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

6 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

7 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

8 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

9 ripples   

逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moon danced on the ripples. 月亮在涟漪上舞动。
• The sea leaves ripples on the sand. 海水在沙滩上留下了波痕。

10 rippled   

使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The lake rippled gently. 湖面轻轻地泛起涟漪。
• The wind rippled the surface of the cornfield. 微风吹过麦田，泛起一片麦浪。

11 spasms   

n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 )；抽搐；（能量、行为等的）突发；发作

参考例句：

• After the patient received acupuncture treatment,his spasms eased off somewhat. 病人接受针刺治疗后，痉挛稍微减轻了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The smile died, squeezed out by spasms of anticipation and anxiety. 一阵阵预测和焦虑把她脸上的微笑挤掉了。 来自辞典例句

12 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

13 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。