Michael Chugani 褚简宁 - the cards are stacked against you｜又中又英

It was a no-brainer that John Lee Ka-chiu would win last Sunday's chief executive election. When former financial secretary John Tsang Chun-wah ran against Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in 2017 the cards were stacked against him. It was a no-brainer he would lose. The cards were not stacked against Lee Ka-chiu last Sunday because it was a one-horse race. He was Beijing's choice to become the next chief executive which meant he was guaranteed victory. The expression "no-brainer" means you don't even have to think about a particular thing because it is so obvious. Hong Kong people did not have to think about who would win the election because it was obvious that Lee Ka-chiu would win.
If the cards are stacked against you it means you are unlikely to succeed in something because of difficulties or unfairness. The cards were stacked against Tsang Chun-wah in the 2017 election because Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was Beijing's choice. But the cards were not stacked against Lee Ka-chiu because Beijing wanted a one-horse race. A one-horse race is a competition or election in which only one person has a real chance of winning or just one person competing in the competition. One of Lee Ka-chiu's campaign slogans was "We and Us". This is confusing because "We and Us" have the same meaning.

There is only a grammatical difference in when to use "we" and when to use "us". For example, it is correct to say "We were not allowed to vote." It is incorrect to say "Us were not allowed to vote." It is correct to say "The vote count did not include us." It is incorrect to say "The vote count did not include we." The examples show "us" and "we" are the same but used differently in terms of grammar. Perhaps Lee Ka-chiu should have used "We are together” or “Together makes us strong."

实在不用脑也想得到（no-brainer），李家超会在星期日的特首选举中胜出。二○一七年，前财政司司长曾俊华要与林郑月娥竞逐特首之位，当时形势对他很不利（the cards were stacked against him），想都不用想（no-brainer）他会落选。但在刚过去的星期日，李家超并非处于不利的情况（the cards were not stacked against Lee Ka-chiu），因为这场赛事在起跑前胜负已分（one-horse race）。他是北京钦点做下任特首的，意味着他必然胜出。习语"no-brainer"是指某一件事显而易见，不用动脑筋也能想得到。谁会胜出选举，香港人事前不必多想，因为很显然李家超会当选。
  如果 the cards are stacked against you，意即因为困难或不公的情况，你成功的机会很少。在二○一七年的选举中，曾俊华处于极为不利的情况（the cards were not stacked against Tsang Chun-wah），因为林郑月娥就是北京的选择。然而，李家超并非处于不利的情况（the cards were not stacked against Lee Ka-chiu），因为北京要一场「一马赛事」（one-horse race）——a one-horse race就是在一场比赛或选举中，一人独占优势，唯独他有机会胜出，又或那场比赛只有一人参与。李家超其中一句竞选口号是"We and Us"，它令人非常困惑，因为"We and Us"明明就有着相同的意思啊。

何时用"we"，何时用"us"，两者只有文法上的差异。譬如，说「我们不得投票」："We were not allowed to vote"是正确的，但说成"Us were not allowed to vote"就不正确了。说「投票结果并无包括我们在内」："The vote count did not include us"是正确的，但说成"The vote count did not include we"就不正确了。这些例子说明，"us"和"we"都是指「我们」，只是在文法上有不同的用法。或许李家超应该说成"We are together”（「我们在一起」）又或“Together makes us strong"（凝聚一起，令我们更强大）。
Michael Chugani 褚简宁