Tragedy was shortly to overtake him, however.是什么意思？

Tragedy was shortly to overtake him, however.

然而，不幸将很快降临到他的头上。

tragedy

n. 悲剧，惨剧，悲剧文学，悲剧理论，悲剧表演艺术，悲剧式作品；

例句
Shakespeare has accustomed us to a mixture of humor and tragedy in the same play.
莎士比亚让我们习见了同一场戏目中的悲喜交错。

was

v. 用来表示某人或某物即主语本身，用来表示某人或某物属于某一群体或有某种性质（ be的过去式 ），在，存在，不受干扰；

例句
There was a terrible sadness in her eyes...
她眼神中流露出深深的悲伤。

shortly

adv. 立刻，马上，简单地，扼要地，唐突地，简慢地，在即；

例句
I'm shortly to begin a course on the modern novel.
我不久将要选修一门现代小说课程。

to

prep. 向，朝着，到，关于，属于；adv. 朝一个方向的，到某种状态，关闭；

例句
I suggest you leave it to an expert...
我建议你把它留给专家来解决。

overtake

vt. 追上，赶上，压倒，（不愉快的事）突然降临；

例句
He tried to overtake three cars on a blind corner and crashed head-on into a lorry.
他试图在一个死角处超过前面的三辆车，结果一头撞在了一辆卡车上。

him

pron. (he的宾格)他；

例句
They said goodbye to him as he got aboard the train at Union Station.
当他在联合火车站登上火车之际，他们向他道别。

however

adv. 不管到什么程度，无论如何，然而，可是；conj. 不管怎样；

例句
The fact remains that inflation, however you measure it, is unacceptably high...
必须承认，无论怎么衡量，通货膨胀率都高得难以接受。