Annus horribilis
2020/12/31 04:12:42 網誌分類: 生活
That was the year Prince Charles and Princess Diana separated, scandal affected other royal marriages, and a fire destroyed more than 100 rooms in Windsor Castle. But 1992 was an annus horribilis only for the royal family. The coronavirus pandemic made 2020 an annus horribilis for the whole world. Nearly two million people have died from the virus so far. About 80 million have been infected globally. These figures are bound to go up. Feng Shui expert Michael Chiang Hong-man told me 2020 would be a terrible year when he came to my TV show last Lunar New Year of the Rat. He explained 2020 would be an unlucky year because Jupiter and Saturn would come very close to each other.
He was right. There were hill fires in the US and Australia and the pandemic affected the world. The two planets came the closest on December 21. They were the closest since the 17th century. They were so close that to the naked eye they looked like one very large and bright star. The expression "naked eye" is used to describe something that can be seen without the use of a telescope, microscope or other devices. For example, the moon is clearly visible to the naked eye. I really hope the coronavirus vaccine will make 2021 a much better year. Happy New Year!
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明天就是新年。全球都很欣喜可以擺脫（see the back of）二○二○年。沒有一年比二○二○年更糟的了。它實在是個annus horribilis。沒有人知道二○二一年會帶來甚麼，但我希望那不會是另一個annus horribilis吧！習語“see the back of”是指你很高興你不用再跟某人交手又或處理某個特定情況；習語“good riddance”都有相近的意思。我知道我說二○二○完結真是一大解脫（good riddance），是反映了許多人的心聲。拉丁習語“annus horribilis”意即可怕之年。英女皇伊利沙伯二世曾在一次演說中，用此語來形容一九九二年。
那一年，查理斯王子與戴安娜皇妃仳離，醜聞影響到其他皇室婚姻，還有溫莎城堡失火，損毁過百間房間。然而，說一九九二年是可怕之年（annus horribilis），僅止於對皇室來說。這場全球大流行的世紀疫情，令二○二○年對全世界來說都是可怕之年（annus horribilis）。迄今接近二百萬人死於這個病毒，全球已有約八千萬人感染過，這些數字還一定會攀升。風水堪輿大師蔣匡文在這鼠年的農曆新年，上來我的電視節目時，就已經說過二○二○年將會是糟透的一年。他解釋道，二○二○年會是不祥之年，因為木土相合——木星跟土星將會走得非常接近。
他是對的。在美國和澳洲都有山火，這場世紀疫情亦影響着全球。兩個星球於十二月二十一日走得最近，是自十七世紀以來走得最近的一次，近得用肉眼（naked eye）都能看到，它們像合成一個非常大和光亮的星體。習語“naked eye”就是指用肉眼都能看到的，而不用望遠鏡、顯微鏡又或其他器材的輔助。譬如，月亮是單憑肉眼（naked eye）就能清晰可見的。我衷心希望新冠病毒疫苗會令二○二一年變成更好的一年。新年快樂！中譯：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
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