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Run its course的意思

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Reader question:

Please explain “run its six years’ course” in this sentence – In other words, the law was to run its six years’ course.

My comments:

It means that the law, whatever that is, is good for six years. Therefore, you’ve got to abide by it for the six full years – before it expires.

Look at “the course” as you look at a river course. Observe the river. It runs from higher places to the lower. If it meets a mountain in its way, it simply goes sideways with no fuss, that is, without complaining or attempting to force its way through. Thus and therefore nothing can stop a river from running its full course. Always seeking the low spot, all rivers prevail, accomplishing their mission either by running into the sea or, as the case may be, vanishing in a desert.

In short, if something runs its course, it gets to complete its natural cycle of birth and death; if something is allowed to run its course on the other hand, they’re left alone. In other words, they are left to their own devices – allowed to do or die of their own accord, without human effort or interference.

Here are two media examples:

1. Cuba Embargo’s Usefulness Has Run Its Course

If I were a betting woman, I would bet that if The Miami Herald were to ask Cuban Americans what U.S. foreign policy has been the least successful over the last half century, the overwhelming answer would be none other than: Cuba.