中国网站品牌栏目（频道）
Could you explain "thank one' stars for"?
My comments:
In other words, the careless resident thanked his lucky stars - for the good luck of having such good neighbours.
"One's lucky stars" is an idiom grown out of the ancient belief in the influence of stars over human life. That's why people talk so much of fates and destinies, gods and goblins. And whenever something seemingly out of human control occurs, they raise their hands and look up to the sky – for answers or blessing.
The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms points one of the first uses of this phrase to Ben Jonson's play Every Man Out of His Humour (1599): "I thank my Stars for it."
Pretty old, in other words.
Related stories:
Bury the hatchet& have an ax to grind
本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。
About the author:
Zhang Xin（张欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.
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