In the days and weeks leading up to a typhoon, the weather can sometimes be very dry. There will be no rain for some time, and then the typhoon hits. A typhoon brings lots and lots of rain.
In English, people use the saying "when it rains, it pours" to talk about times when things like this happen. It means that once something happens that hasn't happened in a long time, it happens in large amounts. For example, let's say that no one in your family gets sick for many months and then you all get sick in the same week. That is what is meant by "when it rains, it pours."
What the saying really stresses is the feeling that nothing ever happens in normal amounts. It feels like it is always all or nothing. Either there is a typhoon, or else it is very dry, but nothing in-between.
PHOTO: EPA
(Emily Shih, Staff Writer)
颱風逼近的前幾天或幾星期，氣候有時會非常乾燥，好一陣子都不會下雨，不過之後颱風一來就會帶來豐沛的雨量。
英文中，當這種事發生時，大家就會說「when it rains, it pours（不雨則已，一雨傾盆）」，意指很久沒發生的一件事，一出現就來勢洶洶，例如，你家數月來無人生病，之後卻都在同一個星期掛病號，這就是「when it rains, it pours」。
這句諺語真正要強調的是一種任何事都無法來得剛剛好的感覺，不是全有，就是全無。要不就是颱風，要不就很乾燥，完全沒有灰色地帶。
（翻譯︰鄭湘儀）
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