The announcement by the chairman of the Nobel Committee took the world by surprise.

VOA: standard.2009.12.10

They can't imagine -they don't have the power of imagination to think what the next crisis will be like, so it catches them by surprise.

他们无法想象,他们根本想象不出,下次危机爆发是什么样,所以危机发生时他们措手不及

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

This was a tremendous embarrassment to the Bank of England and Mervyn King, who was a very good governor of the Bank of England; but this apparently took him by surprise.

这使英格兰银行及其行长金默文,陷入窘迫境地,虽然他曾是英格兰银行非常杰出的管理者,但这次挤兑显然出乎他的预料

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

"So it is within that general framework of a romantic comedy that is going to end happily, we create the little moments that catch people by surprise."

VOA: standard.2010.04.30

Well, the reason for thinking otherwise, the reason for not being utterly dismissive of this suggestion, is that when people get ill, terminally ill, it often seems to take them by surprise.

其他的想法产生的原因，人们没有完全摒弃这个假设的原因，是当人们得病，病入膏肓时，这通常让人措手不及。

耶鲁公开课 - 死亡课程节选

The choice for the 2009 Peace Prize took the world by surprise.

VOA: standard.2009.12.10

Defamiliarization" means precisely pulling you up short or taking you by surprise, making you feel that what you thought was going to be the case or what you thought was the state of affairs is not the state of affairs.

陌生化“就是指让你“突然停下“,或者说，令你惊讶，猝不及防地，让你感觉,我以为会发生的,或者你原本以为事情处于这个状态，而事实却并非如此。

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选

Kasab had caught his lawyer by surprise when confessed in court.

VOA: standard.2009.07.23

This kind of took people by surprise.

这一点可能让人很惊讶

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

Earlier this week, Kasab took lawyers by surprise when he changed his plea to guilty and admitted that he sprayed gunfire at Mumbai's main train station after arriving in the city from Pakistan with other nine other gunmen.

VOA: standard.2009.07.23