又中又英 | Throws people under the bus | 褚簡寧

　　It is very upsetting to see a traffic accident victim pinned down under a bus. I covered serious traffic accidents during my younger days as a frontline reporter. One accident I covered many years ago as a TV reporter was so tragic that it still haunts my memory sometimes. An entire family was killed in a car accident on the first day of Chinese New Year. I am much older now and don’t have the stomach to cover such things anymore. The expression “pinned down” used this way means being trapped and unable to move.

　　If something haunts your memory, it means you keep on remembering an unpleasant memory. If you don’t have the stomach for something, it means you don’t have the courage or desire to do something unpleasant. Being thrown under the bus can also haunt someone’s memory. The expression “thrown under the bus” has nothing to do with traffic accidents. To throw someone under the bus means to betray, blame, or abandon a friend, colleague, or ally for personal gain, revenge, or to protect yourself.

　　America’s left leaning media and YouTubers often use the expression when they discuss US President Donald Trump. They say he often throws people under the bus when they disagree with him or when they are no longer useful to him. They point to Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as the latest example. She had hoped Trump would make her Venezuela’s new leader after the US captured Nicolás Maduro. She even gave Trump her Nobel Peace Prize. But Trump threw her under the bus by making Maduro’s vice president Delcy Rodríguez the new leader.

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　　目睹交通意外傷者給壓在（pinned down）巴士底下，令人非常難過。我年輕的時候做前線新聞記者，會報道嚴重的交通意外。許多年前我做電視記者的時候，曾報道過一宗意外，悲慘得它纏繞在我記憶之中，偶爾仍會想起（haunts my memory）。那是農曆大年初一， 一整個家庭在一場車禍中喪生。我現在年紀大了許多，已不再有膽量（don’t have the stomach）去報道這樣的事情。習語“pinned down”在這裏是指被困其中而動彈不得。

　　若某事haunts your memory，意即你總會記起一段不快的往事。若你don’t have the stomach for something，意即你沒有勇氣或渴望去做某樣不愉快的事。Being thrown under the bus也可以長留某人記憶中而揮之不去（haunt someone’s memory）。習語thrown under the bus卻跟交通意外毫不相關。To throw someone under the bus是指為了個人利益、報復又或保護自己，而出賣、嫁禍或背棄一個朋友、同事或盟友。

　　當美國的左傾媒體和YouTubers談論到特朗普的時候，就不時用上這個習語。他們說，當某些人不認同他，或他們對他來說再無用處時，他便時時犧牲他們（throws people under the bus）。他們點名委內瑞拉反對派領袖瑪麗亞．科麗娜．馬查多為最新例子。美國抓捕了尼古拉斯．馬杜羅之後，她曾希望特朗普會使她成為委內瑞拉新任領袖。她甚至將自己的諾貝爾和平獎贈送給他。然而，特朗普卻讓馬杜羅的副總統德爾西．羅德里格斯當上新領導，完全拋棄了馬查多（threw her under the bus）。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻