久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

您現在的位置: Language Tips> Columnist> Zhang Xin  
 





 
Put on the spot?
[ 2007-12-25 16:39 ]


Reader question: What does this – Don't put me on the spot like that – mean?

My comments:

It means don't embarrass me like that.

If we are put on the spot, we're called out to answer a question or to solve a problem. It is usually a troublesome question, one we may not want to answer, or not to answer in public. Take the classroom for instance. Teachers ask students to answer questions in class. If it's a question we've got a ready answer for, we cannot wait to raise our hands. If not, we want to hide our heads in the drawer – we don't want to hear our names called out loud this time. In other words, we don't want to be put on the spot – we don't want to make a fool of ourselves in front of class.

Likewise a lot of public servants don't want to be summoned speak out in meetings. Public servants, those that really know what's best for them at any rate, get themselves trained not to call a spade a spade. To save face, skin or a job, they know not to speak their minds over sensitive issues, such as the sunshine, the rain or the snowstorm unless they know exactly what their boss's preference is – Then of course they'll say they like the way, say, the rain pours just to toe the boss's line. Obviously it's not easy to know exactly what the boss likes every time because like the average public servant, the boss changes his mind and often do it without warning. Therefore, no good public servant speaks the first thing on his mind in public – which often leads them to be accused of being vague or not telling the truth or plain lying. Lying won't do of course for many an honest bureaucrat. Hence, the safest route to take is for them to remain silent and pray not to be put on the spot whenever "serious issues" are being discussed. If they say nothing, they will say nothing wrong.

Anyways, take "the spot" as an awkward spot, a tight spot where there's little room for wriggle and maneuver. Similar sayings include being put "in a quandary", "in a tight corner" or "between a rock and a hard place".

Without further ado, here are a few media examples. But before the examples, dears, Merry Christmas!

1. Gordon Brown was put on the spot last week over a truly extraordinary act of serial illegality committed by his Government. In Brussels he was personally accused by senior members of the European Parliament of acting in flagrant defiance of both British and European courts – in a futile bid to appease a murderous tyranny that has recently stepped up its campaign of terror against its own people, and is also supplying arms used to kill British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (Brown under fire for illegal ban on dissidents, Daily Telegraph, December 23, 2007).

2. Opponent Is Put on the Spot Over Remarks About Clinton

The two recent debates between Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Republican opponent, John Spencer, may have lacked fireworks. Yesterday, however, the race was set astir by remarks that Mr. Spencer reportedly made before the first debate — comments about Mrs. Clinton's sexuality and physical appearance (New York Times, October 24, 2006).

3. In the final Democratic presidential debate of the year Thursday, both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama were put on the spot about leadership: whether she tended to be too secretive and insular, and whether he could mold a new foreign policy when many of his advisers had worked in Bill Clinton's White House (Democrats Soften Tone for Final Debate in Iowa, New York Times, December 14, 2007).

我要看更多專欄文章

 

About the author:
 

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

 
 
相關文章 Related Stories
 

 

 

 
 

本頻道最新推薦

     
  Put on the spot?
  “有參考價值”怎么說
  To look or not to look is the question
  When things don't add up
  Words and rhetoric

論壇熱貼

     
  開個題目大家扯:hotel & restaurant
  追求某人
  請教工商年檢如何翻譯
  How to translate “中國老字號”into English?
  "港股直通車"怎么翻譯?
  兩免一補怎么說?




主站蜘蛛池模板: 男人的天堂精品国产一区 | 欧美真人视频一级毛片 | 成年网在线观看免费观看网址 | 久久久久国产一级毛片高清板 | 国产女王女m视频vk 国产女王丨vk | 国产爽的冒白浆的视频高清 | 91成人网 | 成人三级视频在线观看 | 九九这里只精品视在线99 | 一级视频在线 | 午夜欧美成人香蕉剧场 | 免费看特级淫片日本 | 久久久久久国产精品免费免 | 日韩色在线 | 国产精品亚洲成在人线 | 欧美一级在线观看 | 国产大片线上免费看 | 国产成人女人视频在线观看 | 国产成人精品男人免费 | 国内美女福利视频在线观看网站 | 中文字幕亚洲精品 | www.99精品 | 欧美日韩国产成人精品 | 国产三区视频在线观看 | 国产小网站 | 日韩欧美国产视频 | 97在线免费视频观看 | 亚洲欧美一区二区三区四区 | 国产高颜值露脸在线观看 | 日本黄色美女网站 | 成人老司机深夜福利久久 | 精品国产自在在线在线观看 | 五月桃花网婷婷亚洲综合 | 日本无卡码免费一区二区三区 | 偷偷操不一样的久久 | 国产91免费在线 | 一级国产a级a毛片无卡 | 欧美黄色高清 | 欧美在线成人免费国产 | 久草社区视频 | 日韩不卡一级毛片免费 |