I have a question ! Could you ,please,tell me what does this phrase mean:" For what may lie ahead of us in our own future on Earth. " I don’t arrive to understand the meaning . Thanks a lot for your answer !
“For what may lie ahead of us” refers to future events. The future can be thought of as a winding path, with events waiting for us at different locations on the path. In that sense, the events “lie ahead of us”.
“in our own future on Earth” means that the concern is with the future of humanity on this Earth.
So the phrase is considering what events humanity will encounter as its future on Earth unfolds.
I understood well . I thought that is a idiomatic expression . Thanks a lot to explain me this text .
Agisson,
I think for “je n’arrive pas,” you could better translate that as: I’m having trouble (i.e. not succeeding, not managing), instead of “I don’t arrive.”
I have a question! Could you please tell me what this phrase means: “For what may lie ahead of us in our own future on Earth.” I’m having trouble understanding the meaning.
“people see the fall of Easter Island society as … a worst-case [scenario] for what may lie ahead of us (in our own future on Earth).”
I think perhaps you were hung up on the word “lie”. Just read that as “be.” What may be ahead of us. What our future might be. “what may [be] ahead of us in our (own) future on Earth” is redundant because “what is ahead” is the future. As xophist points out, our “own” future = the future of all humanity, as opposed to the future of the Rapanui people of Easter Island.
what may lie ahead of us in our own future on Earth = what the future might hold for all of humanity = what the future for all of humanity might be
There are people who view the decline of the Rapanui people of Easter Island as … la loi de l’emmerdement maximum pour notre société et pour l’avenir de notre planète terre.
Please forgive me, my French is old and rusty,
Bruce