Grammar · Chapter 38
不料: and then, out of the blue…
(以为 / 本想 …)，不料 + turn
不料 is '…but then it turned out otherwise': first what the person counted on, then the twist: 她以为考试很难，不料题目比平时还简单. It's a written connector of news and stories; in speech you would say 没想到. Don't add a 'but' after 不料 — the turn is already inside the word.
Examples
- 我本想早点出门，不料半路下起了大雨。 Wǒ běn xiǎng zǎodiǎn chūmén, búliào bànlù xiàqǐ le dàyǔ. I meant to leave early, but unexpectedly it began to pour halfway there.
- 她以为考试很难，不料题目比平时还简单。 Tā yǐwéi kǎoshì hěn nán, búliào tímù bǐ píngshí hái jiǎndān. She thought the exam would be hard, but to her surprise the questions were even easier than usual.
- 本以为要排队，不料人不多。 Běnyǐwéi yào páiduì, búliào rén bù duō. We expected a queue, but there were not many people.