Retribution is a hard, serious punishment that comes back onto a person for a very bad act — the feeling is “you did this, so this comes back to you.” It is a heavy, rather old and formal word.

Retribution is a hard, serious punishmentRetribution（報應）是一種嚴厲、嚴肅的懲罰 that comes back onto a person for a very bad act因為做了很壞的事而回到那個人身上——the feeling is "you did this, so this comes back to you"那種感覺是「你做了這件事，所以這就回到你身上」。It is a heavy, rather old and formal word這是一個很沉重、有點古老、正式的詞。

You meet it in news about crime, in talk about God or fate paying someone back, and in stories. It is not a small telling-off.

You meet it in news about crime你會在犯罪新聞裡遇到這個詞，in talk about God or fate paying someone back在講上天或命運報應某人的話題裡，and in stories還有故事裡。It is not a small telling-off它不是小小唸一頓而已。

People often mix it with revenge, though they are not quite the same: revenge is what a person does because they are angry; retribution is talked about as if justice itself, or the world, is paying the person back.

People often mix it with revenge人們常把它跟revenge（報復）搞混，though they are not quite the same但兩者不太一樣：revenge is what a person does because they are angryrevenge是一個人因為生氣而做的事；retribution is talked about as if justice itself, or the world, is paying the person backretribution則是被講成好像正義本身、或整個世界，在對那個人做出報應。

Though actually, in a real courtroom today you will more often hear “punishment” or “sentence”; retribution is the big idea behind “they should pay for what they did.”

Though actually不過其實，in a real courtroom today在今天真正的法庭上 you will more often hear "punishment" or "sentence"比較常聽到的是「punishment（處罰）」或「sentence（判刑）」；retribution is the big idea behind "they should pay for what they did"retribution是「他們應該為自己做的事付出代價」這個大概念背後的說法。