stack the odds
ガンに関する興味深い研究が発表されました。ガンになりやすい要因として,例えば喫煙,肥満などの生活習慣などが上げられてきました。しかし,この研究によるとガンになる確率は単なる不運により生じる場合が多いと述べております。取り上げる表現は"stack the odds"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版(三省堂)』では"stack the cards[deck, odds]"で,「を不利な[有利な]立場に置く」という意味がありました。"odds"には「困難,見通しの暗さ」などの意味があるため,「困難な場所に置く」=「不利な立場におく」という形になるのだと思いました。(Ume)
Most cancer types 'just bad luck'
Most types of cancer can be put down to bad luck rather than risk factors such as smoking, a study has suggested.
A US team were trying to explain why some tissues were millions of times more vulnerable to cancer than others.
The results, in the journal Science, showed two thirds of the cancer types analysed were caused just by chance mutations rather than lifestyle.
Cancer Research UK said a healthy lifestyle would still heavily stack the odds in a person's favour.
In the US, 6.9% of people develop lung cancer, 0.6% brain cancer and 0.00072% get tumours in their laryngeal (voice box) cartilage at some point in their lifetime.