disaster：都怪星星
When something goes terribly wrong, we call it a disaster. But the word itself contains an old idea: that our luck is controlled by the stars.
"Disaster" comes from the Italian word disastro. The "dis-" at the start means "bad" or "against", and "astro" means "star" – the same root you can see in "astronaut", "astronomy" and "asterisk", the little star-shaped symbol (*) on your keyboard. So a disaster was, quite literally, a "bad star".
Hundreds of years ago, many people in Europe believed in astrology. They thought that the positions of the stars and planets influenced events on Earth and in people's lives. If the stars were in a good position, things would go well. If they were in a bad position, terrible things might happen. A disaster, then, was a misfortune caused by an unlucky arrangement of the heavens.
"Disaster" isn't the only English word with this background. "Influenza", the full name for the flu, comes from the Italian for "influence". In the past, people believed that outbreaks of the disease were caused by the influence of the stars. And when we say someone is "ill-starred", we mean they're unlucky.
Today, very few people blame the stars when things go wrong. Scientists can explain earthquakes, storms and floods without looking at the night sky. But the words remain, carrying an old belief that the universe was quietly deciding our fate.
當事情糟糕透頂的時候，我們會說那是一場 disaster（災難）。可是這個字本身，藏著一個古老的觀念：我們的運氣是由星星決定的。
「disaster」來自義大利文單字 disastro。開頭的「dis-」意思是「壞的」或「相反的」，「astro」意思是「星星」——在「astronaut」（太空人）、「astronomy」（天文學）和「asterisk」（鍵盤上那個星形的小符號 *）裡，都看得到這個字根。所以，disaster 的字面意思就是「壞星星」。
幾百年前，歐洲很多人相信占星術。他們認為，星星和行星的位置會影響地球上發生的事，也會影響人的一生。如果星星的位置好，事情就會很順利；如果位置不好，可怕的事情就可能發生。所以，disaster 就是由天象不吉利造成的不幸。
有這種背景的英文單字，不只「disaster」一個。「influenza」是流感（flu）的全稱，它來自義大利文的「影響」。過去，人們認為這種疾病的爆發，是星星的影響造成的。而當我們說某人「ill-starred」（星運不佳）時，意思就是這個人運氣不好。
現在，很少有人會在出事的時候怪罪星星了。科學家不用觀察夜空，也能解釋地震、風暴和洪水。可是這些字留了下來，承載著一個古老的信念：宇宙正在悄悄地決定我們的命運。