fickle finger of fate 与 水滴石穿

The fickle finger of fate！听上去就很有意思的一个习语，直译过来不就是”命运那变幻无常的手指“，那说白了就是在讲人生的无常嘛。这是个美国的俚语，在美国习语词典里的解释就是原话，The vicissitudes of life; life's ups and downs; destiny's capricious play.说的都是人生的无常，造化弄人，天命弄人。

Everyone felt sorry for him 'cause his house burned down. However, a week later, thanks to the fickle finger of fate,  he won a large sum of money on the lottery.

He was fucked by the fickle finger of fate，with all his effort still he couldn't have won her heart.

水滴石穿这个成语如果你在百度去查会找到很多翻译。其中大部分是直译。说实话，我对用直译的办法去翻译中文里的成语、习语是觉得不可取的，但在考试里可能直译是对的，而意译则要冒些风险。但就个人看法，就应该成语对成语地去在英文里寻找可以意译的习语才对。水滴石穿，绳锯木断，铁杵磨成针，其实说的都是一个意思，一些行为看似渺小不起眼，但坚持不懈，持之以恒，连续地去做最后却能完成那些看似不可能的任务。英文里其实就有一个很契合的现成意译，就是 little strokes fell great oaks. 英文的解释如下，Large and seemingly impossible tasks can be completed or accomplished through small, steady efforts. You can complete a large and intimidating task by steadily doing small parts of it. 基本说的是一件事。

oaks 是橡树，这是世界上最大的开花植物，great oak 那当然是相当巨大一棵树了。重复微小的动作都能最终撼动并把橡树放倒，这比喻和水滴石穿、绳锯木断、铁杵磨成针都有异曲同工之妙。而且橡树在西方文化里本来就是强大和壮悍的象征，不列颠群岛的德鲁伊们认为橡树是至高之神的象征。

This is a lot of work, but don't worry, little storkes fell great oaks, just keep doing it every day and you gonna finish it at last.