What exactly is meant by the word risk? The word is certainly used frequently in everyday conversation and seems to be well understood by those using it.
To most people, risk implies some form of uncertainty1 about an outcome in a given situation. An event might occur and, if it does, the outcome is not favourable2 to us; it is not an outcome we look forward to. The word risk implies both doubt about the future, and the fact that the outcome could leave us in a worse position than we are in at the moment.
Writers, particularly in America, have produced a number of definitions of risk.
Risk is the possibility of an unfortunate occurrence.
Risk is a combination of hazards.
Risk is unpredictability -- the tendency that actual results may differ from predicted results.
Risk is uncertainty of loss.
Risk is the possibility of loss.
Looking at the definitions there does seem to emerge some kind of common-thread running through each of them. Firstly, there is an underlying3 idea of uncertainty, what we have referred to as doubt about the future. Secondly4, there is the implication that there are different levels or degrees of risk. Thirdly, there is the idea of a result having been brought about by one cause or causes.
If a child is playing in the middle of a busy road; if a workman is using a machine while he is unaware5, that it is faulty and dangerous; if the pedestrians6 are unaware that a wall running alongside a pavement is a dangerous condition and about to collapse7, what will happen to them? There is an element of risk and uncertainty in each of these situations. The child may escape free of injury, the machine may hold out until the workman has finished using it and the wall may not collapse and injure passersby8. Alternatively, there could be serious injury in each case. Uncertainty can exist in the abstract, it is not dependent on being recognized as existing by those who may be most directly involved. Uncertainty is linked more to the event itself, rather than to any personal perception of the existence of uncertainty. 风险这个词的真的含义是什么?这个词在大家的平时会话中常常出现，它好像让人们所理解。
对大部分人来讲，风险指的是，在特定状况下某种结果的不确定性形式。某种事件或许会发生，假如发生，其结果对大家不利。它不是大家期望的结果。风险既包括着对将来的疑虑，又包括着发生的结果将使大家处于比目前更糟的境地。
很多学者，尤其是美国的学者，他们对风险的定义下了一些概念：
风险是不幸事故发生的可能性。
风险是切危险的综合体。
风险是一种没办法预测的，其趋势是，实质后果可能不同于预测后果。
风险是损失的不确定性。
风险是损失的可能性。
综合以上概念，有一种一同的思路贯穿于每一个概念之中，那就是大家已经提到过的对将来的疑虑。第二，概念意味着风险存在不一样的水准和不同级别。第三，概念包括如此个思想，即风险是因为某个缘由或某些缘由带来的一种结果。
假如一个孩子在繁华的道路中玩耍；假如一个工人正在用机器而不了解机器有问题或有危险；假如过往的行人不了解人行道旁的围墙处于危险状况并要倒塌，那样将会发生怎么回事?每种状况都有风险和不确定性的原因，孩子大概逃避伤害，机器大概不会发买卖外，围墙可能没伤害过往行人。与此相反，或许每种状况都可能发生紧急的伤亡事故。不确定性存在于抽象之中，它不依靠于那些有直接联系的人是不是承认它的存在，与不确定性联系的主如果事件本身，而不是大家对不确定性存在的认识。
相关文章推荐
