新概念英語第三冊
Lesson 36 A chance in a million
1 . 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，於是便在距此50英里外的一座村子裡定居下來，直至當日。
2 . 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.在19世紀，小說家常在小說結尾處給讀者準備一系列的巧合——大部分是牽強附會，極不可能的。
3 . Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed.與此同時，他所在部隊被擊潰，他的所有檔案材料全部毀於戰火。
4 . Modern readers would find such naive solution totally unacceptable.現代讀者會覺得這種天真的結局完全無法接受。
5 . We are less credulous than we used to be.我們不再像以往那樣輕易相信別人了。
6 . Yet, in real life, circumstances do sometimes conspire to bring about coincidences which anyone but a nineteenth century novelist would find incredible.不過，在現實生活中，有時確實會出現一些巧合，這些巧合除了19世紀小說家外誰也不會相信。
7 . he stooped to talk to a workman.After they had gone on,途中，停下來與一個工人交談，接著他們繼續往前走去。
8 . Though Mrs.Busssman fully acquainted with this story, she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right.儘管巴斯曼夫人熟知這個情況，但她仍然認為自己的想法仍有百萬分之一的可能性。
9 . After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit.戰爭即將結束時，他負傷被送進醫院，並與部隊失去聯繫。
10 . The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot.醫院遭到轟炸，漢斯步行回到了西德。
11 . 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，
12 . When the brothers were reunited, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive.兄弟倆團聚之時，漢斯說明了他活下來的經過，
13 . Readers happily accepted the fact that an obscure maidservant was really the hero's mother.當時的讀者卻愉快地接受這樣一些事實，一個低賤的女傭實際上是主人公的母親；
14 . 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.主人公一位長期失散的兄弟，大家都以為死了，實際上一直活著，並且正在策劃暗算主人公；如此等等，
15 . While on a walking tour with his wife,一次，他與妻子徒步旅行。
16 . found a brother who was thought to have been killed twenty years before.巴斯曼如何找到了據信已在20年前死去的兄弟的事。
17 . Franz poured scorn on the idea, pointing out that his brother had been killed in action during the war.弗朗茲對此不屑一顧，指出他兄弟已經在戰爭中陣亡了。
18 . Mrs.Bussman commented on the workman's close resemblance to her husband and even suggested that he might be his brother.巴斯曼夫人說那工人與她丈夫相貌很像，甚至猜測他可能就是她丈夫的兄弟。
19 . Needless to say, the man's name was Hans Bussman and he really was Franz's long-lost brother.不出巴斯曼夫人所料，那人的名字真是漢斯。巴斯曼，他確實是弗朗茲失散多年的兄弟。
20 . A few days later, she sent a boy to the workman to ask him if his name was Hans Bussman.幾天後，她派了一個男孩去問那人是否叫漢斯。巴斯曼。
21 . When I was a boy, my grandfather told me how a German taxi driver, Franz Bussman,當我是個孩子的時候，我祖父給我講了一位德國出租汽車司機弗朗茲。