a) Life is what you make of it.
Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.
b) When troubles come, they come together.
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c) Things happen and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Well done ! That’s the right answer.
“That’s the way the cookie crumbles” means you don’t always get what you want in life. Things sometimes happen and there’s nothing you can do about it. C’est la vie !
French translation
Ce sont des choses qui arrivent. C’est la vie.
How NOT to translate : *C’est comme ça que le cookie s’émiette !
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Examples in context
’At 85, Alex Katz is hailed by some as the most important painter in the US. But acclaim came relatively late in life, perhaps because his work doesn’t fit convenient categories. An exhibition of his work has just opened at Turner Contemporary in Margate. Although Katz has made a highly successful career as a painter, and his work can be found in important collections around the world, he was in his 60s before he gained a reputation internationally. Does he ever wish the big success - and big money - had come earlier ? "Not really : it’s just the way the cookie crumbles. I concentrate on my work. These days it’s mainly flowers."’
BBC News, 9th Oct. 2012
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‘NGF Chairmanship Election : How the cookie crumbled
President Goodluck Jonathan’s design to install a chairman for Nigerian Governors’ Forum failed at the weekend because of suspected protest votes from angry governors who detested the president’s decision to switch his support from Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State to Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State without properly communicating the change to his supporters.’
Pointblancknews.com, 26 May 2013
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Everyday usage
I never win anything, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
The traffic is always really bad at the this time. I am always late. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
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