[转载]BBC英语短语 - Snowball effect

A situation in which something increases in size or importance at a faster and faster rate.

“Snowball effect” 描述 “一个情况或事件的规模、重要性就像滚雪球一样不断扩大，变化的速度也在加快”。“Snowball effect” 有时会被用来描述 “一个失控的情况”。“Snowball” 也可以作动词使用，表示计划、问题等 “滚雪球般迅速增大”。

例句

She invested in some shares and used the dividend payments to buy new shares to increase her portfolio. It’s a sort of snowball effect.

她投资了一些股票，并用股息购买了新的股票，以增加她的投资组合。这是一种滚雪球效应。

I only invited ten people to my party, but they brought their partners, who in turn brought their friends. It was a snowball effect.

我只邀请了十个人来参加聚会，但他们都带来了自己的同伴，同伴们又带来了他们的朋友们。这就好比滚雪球效应一般，人越来越多。

Because we didn’t deal with the PR issue when the news broke, more claims were made. The situation really snowballed.

由于消息传出时我们没有及时处理公关问题，结果有更多人提出了索赔。情况真的就像滚雪球一样，越来越糟。