九月十三日

Brown-nosing Culture

Over the past few days, Taiwan has been shrouded in the “brown-nosing culture.” Some examples of these are the “brown-nosing questions,” the “brown-nosing bridge,” and the “brown-nosing troops.” With so much negative wordplay going around, it isn’t hard to understand why Premier Frank Hsieh is telling the general public to mind their “personal hygiene.”

The rise of this brown-nosing culture can be traced to this year’s senior examination for lawyers, where 78 out of 100 questions have something to do with President A-bian. Yet another brown-nosing drama is related to the Hsuehshan ( Snow Mountain ) Tunnel’s temporary bridge, which was built on a NT$1.5 million budget, solely for the transportation convenience of A-bian and some high ranking officials. The “brown-nosing troops” refer to the Hsinchu air base troops who were forced to give up their holiday to rehearse songs and troop formation to welcome the president.

It would be fair to say that the real victims here are the horses. There they were, living their lives without bothering anybody, and yet, they are now associated with “brown-nosers.” We can’t help but wonder: do our ancestors hold a grudge against these creatures? You see, a lot of our negative idioms have something to do with horses, such as: “every ass likes to hear himself bray,” “old and unaccomplished,” “to give something away,” “badly battered,” and “to suffer an accidental setback”…

馬屁文化

最近台灣籠罩在一片「馬屁文化」中：馬屁題、馬屁橋、馬屁軍… 處處馬屁聲，難怪謝院長要大家多注意「個人衛生」。

這次的「馬屁題」，指的是台灣今年舉行的律師考試國文科試卷中，100分的考題竟有78分與阿扁總統有關。「馬屁橋」指的則是雪山隧道的有關單位為了阿扁總統及高官的交通方便，特地花了150萬元所搭建的一座便橋。「馬屁軍」指的則是新竹空軍基地為了歡迎阿扁總統視察基地，要求官兵犧牲休假排練歡迎歌曲和隊形。

平心而論，這些事件最大的受害者是可憐的馬兒。好端端的一隻動物，也沒招誰惹誰，現在竟然與「馬屁精」扯上關係，使人不禁懷疑我們的老祖先可能與馬有仇，不然怎麼有這麼多不好的成語，都與馬兒有關呢：「馬不知臉長」、「馬齒徒增」、「露出馬腳」、「人仰馬翻」、「馬失前蹄」…。

單字

1.          brown-nosing (adj.) 拍馬屁的；諂媚的

2.          shroud (v.)籠罩

3.          troops (n.) 軍隊

4.          wordplay (n.) 俏皮話

5.          trace (v.) 追溯

6.          senior examination for lawyers 律師高考

7.          temporary bridge暫時搭建的橋；便橋

8.          high ranking official 高階官員

9.          rehearse (v.) 預演；演習

10.      formation (n.) 隊形；形成之物

11.      ancestor (n.) 祖先

12.      grudge (n.) 惡意；怨恨

13.      negative (adj.) 負面的

14.      unaccomplished (adj.) 無成就的；無技能的

15.      setback (n.) 挫折；倒退