“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream."
Words & Expressions
1. credulous/ˈkredʒələs/, always believing what you are told, and therefore easily deceived =gullible
eg. He charmed credulous investors out of millions of dollars.
2. coincidence/koʊˈɪnsɪdəns/, when two things happen at the same time, in the same place, or to the same people in a way that seems surprising or unusual→coincide,coincidental
by coincidence
By coincidence, John and I both ended up at Yale.
sheer/pure coincidence(=completely by chance)
It was sheer coincidence that we were staying in the same hotel.
not a coincidence/more than coincidence(=not chance, but deliberate)
I think it is more than coincidence that all the complaints have come from the same group of people.
3. wildly improbable/ɪmˈprɑːbəbəl/, a. not likely to happen or to be true=unlikely, OPP:probable; b.surprising and slightly strange=unlikely
--a film with an improbable plot
--It seems highly improbable that he had no knowledge of the affair.
--improbable combinations of colours
4. obscure/əbˈskjʊr/, a. not well known and usually not very important; b. difficult to understand
--an obscure poet
--The details of his life remain obscure.
--obscure legal phrases
--For some obscure reason, the group is very popular.
5. wickedly/ˈwɪkɪdli/, behaving in a way that is morally wrong=evil; spoken, very good
--a wicked witch
--That’s a wicked bike!
--It also plans to build up its strength in wealth management (for the truly,wickedly rich).
6. plot/plɑːt/, a. a secret plan by a group of people to do something harmful or illegal. b. STORY/FILM the events that form the main story of a book, film, or play
plot to do something:a plot to bomb the UN headquarters
plot against: a plot against the king
--The court heard how she and her lover hatched a plot(=planned a plot)to kill her husband.
--The plot to overthrow the military government was foiled(=prevented from being successful).
an assassination plot
--The plot was a little confusing.
--We discover that Jack isn’t as innocent as he seems, as the plot unfolds(=gradually becomes clearer).
7. downfall, a. complete loss of your money, moral standards, social position etc. or the sudden failure of an organization; b.something that causes a complete failure or loss
--His lack of experience had led to his downfall.
--Jeremy's honesty had been his downfall.
8. conspire/kənˈspaɪr/, a. to secretly plan with someone else to do something illegal=conspiracy; b. if events conspire to do something, they happen at the same time and make something bad happen.
conspire (with somebody) to do something:All six men admitted conspiring to steal cars.
conspire against:There was some evidence that he had been conspiring against the government.
conspire to do something:Pollution and neglect have conspired to ruin the city.
conspire against:Emily felt that everything was conspiring against her.
9. bring to a conclusion=jump to conclusions=draw a conclusion
We're in no rush to bring this to a conclusion.
It would be unwise to draw firm conclusions from the results of a single survey.
10. pour scorn on somebody/something, to say that something or someone is stupid and not worth considering
The programme poured scorn on the concept of "a new world order."
11. be fully acquainted with something, to know about something, because you have seen it, read it, used it etc.
--She was well acquainted with classical literature.
12. needless to say, used when you are telling someone something that they probably know or expect
Needless to say, we're on a very tight budget.
13. become of (人或事物的)结果是(怎样)，遭遇(如何)，(某事)发生在(某人)身上；(某人)出了(什么事)；(人或事物)到哪儿去了[只出现于直接或间接的问句中，与作主语的 what 或 whatever 连用]：
What is to become of me if you go away?如果你走的话，我的结果将是怎样呢?
I don't know what will become of me if my husband divorces me.如果我丈夫与我离婚，我真不知道我会有什么样的遭遇。
Whatever became of that nice girl who neighbored nearby? 住在邻近的那位可爱的女孩后来怎样了?
Sentences
We are less credulous than we used to be.
人们不再像以前那样轻易相信别人了。
A novelist would bring his story to a conclusion by presenting his readers with a series of coincidences--most of them wildly improbable.
小说作者常在故事结束的时候给读者呈现一系列的巧合，大部分在现实生活中是极不可能发生的。
Pronunciation
unacceptable /ˌʌnəkˈseptəbəl/连读
