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We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong.
我们大家都有过事事不顺心的日子
A day may begin well enough,
一天开始时 可能还不错
but suddenly everything seems to get out of control.
但突然间似乎一切都失去了控制
What invariably happens
情况经常是这样的
is that a great number of things choose to go wrong at precisely the same moment.
许许多多的事情都偏偏赶在同一时刻出问题
It is as if a single unimportant event set up a chain of reactions.
好像是一件无关紧要的小事引起了一连串的连锁反应
Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal
假设你在做饭
and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time.
同时又在照看孩子
The telephone rings
这时电话铃响了
and this marks the prelude to an unforeseen series of catastrophes.
它预示着一连串意想不到的灾难的来临
While you are on the phone,
就在你接电话时
the baby pulls the tablecloth off the table
孩子把桌布从桌子上扯下来
smashing half your best crockery and cutting himself in the process.
将家中最好的陶瓷餐具半数摔碎 同时也弄伤了他自己
You hang up hurriedly and attend to baby, crockery, etc.
你急急忙忙挂上电话 赶去照看孩子和餐具
Meanwhile, the meal gets burnt.
这时 饭又烧糊了
As if this were not enough to reduce you to tears,
好像这一切还不足以使你急得掉泪
your husband arrives, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.
你的丈夫接着回来了 事先没打招呼就带来3个客人吃饭
Things can go wrong on a big scale
就像许多人最近
as a number of people recently discovered in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney.
在悉尼郊区帕拉马塔发现的那样 有时乱子会闹得很大
During the rush hour one evening
一天傍晚交通最拥挤时
two cars collided and both drivers began to argue.
一辆汽车撞上前面一辆汽车 两个司机争吵起来
The woman immediately behind the two cars happened to be a learner.
紧跟其后的一辆车上的司机碰巧是个初学者
She suddenly got into a panic and stopped her car.
她一惊之下突然把车停了下来
This made the driver following her brake hard.
她这一停使得跟在后头的司机也来个急刹车
His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake.
司机妻子正坐在他身边 手里托着块大蛋糕
As she was thrown forward,
她往前一冲
the cake went right through the windscreen and landed on the road.
蛋糕从挡风玻璃飞了出去掉到马路上
Seeing a cake flying through the air,
此时 一辆卡车正好从后边开到那辆汽车边上
a lorry driver who was drawing up alongside the car,
司机看见一块蛋糕从天而降
pulled up all of a sudden.
紧急刹车
The lorry was loaded with empty beer bottles
卡车上装着空啤酒瓶
and hundreds of them slid off the back of the vehicle and on to the road.
成百只瓶子顺势从卡车后面滑出车外落在马路上
This led to yet another angry argument.
这又引起一场唇枪舌剑的争吵
Meanwhile, the traffic piled up behind.
与此同时 后面的车辆排成了长龙
It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again.
警察花了将近一个小时才使车辆又开起来
In the meantime, the lorry driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles.
在这段时间里 卡车司机不得不清扫那几百只破瓶子
Only two stray dogs benefited from all this confusion,
只有两只野狗从这一片混乱中得到好处
for they greedily devoured what was left of the cake.
它们贪婪地吃掉了剩下的蛋糕
It was just one of those days!
这就是事事不顺心的那么一天
