It appears that people, at some level, think that they can exert willpower over it and control it.

这说明在某种程度上,人们认为他们可以通过意志力控制结果

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

And if this myth of origins were the fabrication of a later writer, then surely they would have written the story in such a way as to give their ancestors a less tenuous hold or claim, connection, to the land.

如果这个神话的开端是后世作者伪造的，那他们当然会像这样在故事中赋予其祖先较强的控制力,或者说所有权，建立其与这片土地较为紧密的联系。

耶鲁公开课 - 旧约导论课程节选

They already held Siberia and they reached the Pacific Ocean in the 1640s.

他们已经控制了西伯利亚,在15世纪40年代,其势力已经到达太平洋西岸

耶鲁公开课 - 欧洲文明课程节选