What does this phrase means?

[laser2302]

Hello Friends,

Have a look at the following paragraph:

连一次体育彩票都没有中过的陶同学日前在半个多月的时间内一口气收到了二十三条手机中奖短信，奖品种类包括汽车、电脑、冰箱、彩电、手机等物，价值金额累计高达103.6万元！接踵而至的一笔笔“飞来横财”让陶同学哭笑不得，因为这一条条极具诱惑力的手机短信只不过是些不法分子敛财的陷阱。

Can anyone tell me what does 接踵而至的一笔笔“飞来横财” means in the sentence? I'm unable to figure it out at all.

Thanks

[flup13]

there has two chinese proverbs 接踵而至 and 飞来横财

接踵而至 means things happen one after another in a very close time.

飞来横财 means you get some money or any benefits out of people's expection including your own's

[florazheng]

1)

接：then, following

踵：heel

而：it is a conjunctive word only

至：arrive

接踵而至: if a thing happened, the other things followed its footsteps and arrived.

接踵而至= in the wake of, the following

2）飞来横财= pie from the sky:mrgreen: (the unexpected money from the sky you got)

飞来：fly from the sky; get something from the sky

横：unexpected

财：fortune, money

[florazheng]

there has two chinese proverbs 接踵而至 and 飞来横财

I beg differ. They are not proverbs but idioms.

[dsrguru]

Assuming they're 成語, florazheng is right. An idiom is a language-specific way of phrasing something, whereas a proverb is a saying or adage. 成語 are more like idioms, and of course they usually consist of four syllables.

I can't help with the translation, but I assume flup13 and florazheng are correct.

[trien27]

飞来横财 can be translated as "windfall", or an unexpected fortune. For example: I knew someone who had a niece. He said she was a waitress and was serving this old couple. She spoke with this couple, and soon this couple wrote her a check so she could attend college. You could say the check in this situation = a "windfall" or 飞来横财.

接踵而至 =

1. to follow hard at heel

2. in the train of

Source: http://tw.dictionary.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&p=%E6%8E%A5%E8%B8%B5%E8%80%8C%E8%87%B3

接踵而至的一笔笔“飞来横财

= windfalls that come one after another. In other words, it's money that keeps coming in times that you didn't expect it to.

This statement above can be used to describe a man who has won the lottery, not once but twice in a row in 2 different states in the United States!

Edited July 26, 2008 at 10:50 PM by trien27

[JoannaW]

接踵而至 come on the heels of

飞来横财 windfall