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: 中文字幕一区二区三区视频在线 | 日本视频一区二区三区 | 久草首页在线观看 | 美女张开腿让人捅 | 日本一区二区三区高清在线观看 | 韩国黄色一级毛片 | 国产精品久久久久久免费播放 | 中文字幕波多野不卡一区 | 国产日产久久 | 日韩久久久精品中文字幕 | 亚洲欧美久久一区二区 | 六月丁香婷婷天天在线 | 亚洲免费小视频 | 国产日韩一区二区三区在线观看 | 看国产一级毛片 | 99久久精品国产免看国产一区 | 亚洲图片一区二区 | 99在线视频免费观看 | 老司机免费福利午夜入口ae58 | 高清欧美不卡一区二区三区 | 欧美性猛交xxx免费看人妖 | 在线观看一级毛片免费 | 特黄大片aaaaa毛片 | 亚洲国产精品67194成人 | 欧美日韩中文国产一区二区三区 | 欧美一级做一a做片性视频 欧美一级做一级爱a做片性 | 特级毛片免费视频播放 | 国产真实一区二区三区 | 亚在线| 国产片一级片 | 一区二区三区国产精品 | 国产亚洲毛片在线 | 亚洲免费国产 | 免费一区二区 | 久久成人18免费 | 国产精品反差婊在线观看 | 久久综合香蕉久久久久久久 | 国产下药迷倒白嫩丰满美女j8 | 老司机一级片 | 精品久久久久不卡无毒 | 免费国产a国产片高清不卡 免费国产不卡午夜福在线 免费国产不卡午夜福在线观看 |