Wall Street Journal - USA
By YUZO YAMAGUCHI TOKYO -- Toshiba Corp. said Wednesday it will name Norio Saskai as new company president in June, becoming the latest Japanese electronics ...
fortune (CHANCE) Show phonetics
noun [C or U]
1 chance and the way it affects your life:
He had the (good) fortune to train with some of the world's top athletes.
The family's fortunes changed overnight.
2 tell sb's fortune to discover what will happen to someone in the future, for example by looking at the lines on their hands or using a special set of cards
The buds are tree's hostages to the future - the promise a tree makes to itself that there will be a tomorrow, another year.
"芽苞是樹木對未來的抵押 -- 樹木用芽苞答應日自己還有明天，還有來年。 (1984年5月的讀者文摘 （頁105）
hostage to fortune 語出莎士比亞 "馬克白"
an action or statement that is risky because it could cause you trouble later:
The Prime Minister was extremely cautious, saying nothing inflammatory and giving no hostages to fortune.
give hostage to fortune いつ失うか知れない（はかない）ものを背負い込む.Idiom
- To take an action or make a statement that is risky because it could cause you trouble later.
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- He was very cautious with his words and gave no hostages to fortune.
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[edit] Quotations
- 1837, Francis Joseph Grund, The Americans, in Their Moral, Social and Political Relations, page 169, Marsh, Capen and Lyon
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- Thus, a married man will be sooner trusted than one who is single ; because “he has given hostage to fortune,” and possesses what Bacon calls “an impediment to mischief.”
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- 1982 July 1, Mr. M. O’Leary, Dáil Éireann, volume 337, Houses of the Oireachtas, Ireland [1]
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- As I say, there are no answers to date on these serious issues.... It is understandable in human terms that a Government would wish to survive, to do better things perhaps, but so far this House has been left in total ignorance of the policy package to be offered by this Government and their day-to-day operation on which this vote of no confidence is based, on their mishandling of the economy. We can give no hostage to fortune. On their work so far they do not deserve a vote of confidence here today.
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- 2001 November 13, John O'Donoghue, Dáil Éireann, volume 543, Houses of the Oireachtas, Ireland [2]
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- I hope the other report will be completed at a very early date, but to put a timescale on it would be to give hostage to fortune and I am not prepared to do that.
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hostage Show phonetics
noun [C] ━━ n. 人質; 抵当.
someone who is taken as a prisoner by an enemy in order to force the other people involved to do what the enemy wants:
She was taken/held hostage by the gunmen.
The terrorists have seized 20 hostages and are threatening to kill one a day unless their demands are met.
(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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