又中又英｜take a breather

In my previous column I wrote about spending Christmas in San Diego, California and visiting a nearby town called San Clemente where I had lunch with wine. I said I would explain why I had wine even though I don’t drink alcohol with lunch. But I decided to take a breather and will explain why I had wine in my next column. Today I will focus on a juicy scandal involving Legislative Council members and top government officials. I rarely write about politics here but last week’s juicy scandal is the talk of the town.

The expression“take a breather”means taking a short rest from exercises such as jogging. But it also means taking a quick break from things such as work. The word“juicy”means full of juice such as an orange. But it also means something so interesting that it attracts much attention. If something is the talk of the town it means everyone is talking about it. Everyone is talking about the birthday party of Witman Hung Wai-man, a local delegate to China's National People's Congress. The government has warned against large gatherings because of Omicron but over 180 guests attended the restaurant party, including 13 top officials and 19 legislators.

Two coronavirus-infected people attended the party. All guests were sent to Penny's Bay for a 21-day quarantine, including the police commissioner, the home affairs secretary, and the immigration director. But it emerged one of the two guests was not infected. All those who left the party before the infected guest arrived were therefore released from quarantine. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has refused to take responsibility for the behaviour of the officials yet ordered Cathay's chairman to take responsibility for flight attendants who didn't fully self-quarantine and later tested positive. This is double-standards. The expression“the buck stops here”means the top person should take responsibility. Cathay's chairman did by apologizing but maybe Lam's English is not good enough to understand what this expression means.
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在上一篇文章中我写到，我在加州的圣地牙哥度圣诞，以及游览附近一个名叫圣克莱门特的小镇，在那儿我吃午餐的时候喝了酒。我说我会解释，为何即使我惯常不会在午膳期间喝酒，那天怎么还是喝了酒呢。但我决定歇一歇（take a breather），在下一篇专栏中，自会再说我为何在午餐时喝酒。今天我会集中讨论一件牵涉立法会议员及政府高官、相当刺激有趣的（juicy）丑闻。我很少在这专栏谈政治，但上周这听得人津津乐道（juicy）的丑闻，实在是全城热话（the talk of the town）。

习语「take a breather」是指在做运动，例如缓步跑一会后，喘一喘气，稍事歇息；但它也可解作办某些事，例如工作的途中，稍为止住，停一停。Juicy是指多汁的，例如一个丰富多汁的橙，但它也解作某事非常引人入胜，引起许多人的注意。若某事是the talk of the town，意即城中人人都在谈论这件事。港区全国人大代表洪为民的生日派对，人人议论纷纷。因着Omicron病毒，政府已警告勿再举办大型聚会，但有超过一百八十个嘉宾出席了那在餐厅办的派对，当中包括了十三名高官及十九名立法会议员。

两个感染新冠病毒的人士出席了派对，所有嘉宾都被送去竹篙湾接受二十一天隔离检疫，当中包括警务处处长、民政事务局局长，以及入境处处长。但最终证实，该两名确诊者的其中一位并未受到感染，于是所有早于确诊嘉宾到临前已离开派对的宾客，都可免受隔离检疫而获准离开。就着此事，特首林郑月娥拒绝为官员的行为负责，但之前国泰航空空中服务员并未完全遵从家居隔离的规定，后来确诊，林郑却又责成国泰主席，要为该机组人员的行为负责——这是双重标准。习语「the buck stopshere」，意即最高决策人是责无旁贷的。国泰主席确有道歉以示负上责任，但或许林郑的英文未够好去明白这个习语的意思吧。

中译：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚简宁