陳詞濫調？
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不管政客怎麼努力地要裝出一付平常人的模樣，但他們卻總也避免不了地搬出一大堆行話、套話、空話、大話。
大選臨近，BBC新聞網綜合讀者反饋，給大家特別製作了這個"陳詞濫調集"。
Black hole - Sounds scary doesn't it? Imagine having one in your public finances...
黑洞----聽著真嚇人。試想一下，公共資金出現了一個黑洞……
Bottom up - A useful argument clincher, if you are having trouble explaining how your policy differs from that of a rival. It's simple, your policy is "bottom up" - as opposed to Top down
自下而上----用來辯論很有用。如果你解釋不清楚自己的政策與對手的政策到底有什麼區別，很簡單，只需要說我的政策是"自下而上"，你的是"自上而下"就可以了。
Doorstep, the - A quasi mythical land where subjects mysteriously "come up" - unless they are subjects that might cause embarrassment to your party ("Well it's not coming up on the doorstep, Jeremy...").
門檻-這塊神秘的土地上經常神秘地產生一些問題，當然了，這裡絕對不會出現可能讓自己的政黨尷尬的問題，（嗯，我並沒有在選民家門前聽到這個問題……）
Hard-working families - Probably the most over-used phrase of the 2005 election. It's the lazy families we feel sorry for...
努力工作的家庭----可能是2005年這屆大選中被濫用最嚴重的一個詞。
Investment - Formerly known as "public spending", this is now "pouring in".
投資----原來叫做"公共開支"，現在這筆錢正在"洶湧而來"。
Real people - People who live "out there" in the "real world". Politicians at election time are obsessed with meeting this exotic species, even though it always seems to be surrounded by camera crews and reporters.
真正的人民----住在"真實的世界"中的人們。大選時，政客特別願意會晤這組奇異的生靈。但是類似的會晤卻總有記者在場，總有鎂光燈閃耀。
Top down - The biggest sin in modern politics is to have a policy that is "top down" - power must be seen to be in local people's hands.
自上而下----現代政界最大的罪過就是自己的政策是"自上而下"的：權力必須掌握在地方人民的手中。
Timing - As in "you have to question the timing of this announcement".
時機：舉例說明，你無法不懷疑（他們）為什麼選擇這個時機發表這條消息……
Turnout - It's a turnout election. That's what everyone is saying. Is there any other kind?
投票率----這次大選是一次由投票率決定的大選。每個人都這麼說，好像還有其他種類的大選？
I'd like to make this perfectly clear：They all use it and it seldom is.
我想把話徹底說清楚：人人都這麼說，但很少有人做得到。
The sums don't add up - the lazy retort to the taxation, spending and saving plans of any other party. Instead of giving an accurate mathematical analysis of why the sums don't add up, the retort is used as proof in itself. it is used frequently by politicians; some of whom are supposed to be the country's finest lawyers and economists.
數字對不上號：攻擊對方的稅收、開支等政策時最簡單、省力的方法。無需準確分析，只要批評對方"數字對不上號"即可。政客經常使用這個字眼，其中有些人甚至還是這個國家最出色的律師或是經濟學家。
in real terms： For example: Politician "Yes, there are more people on the dole since we took office, but IN REAL TERMS, there is actually no one out of work at all!"
從真實意義上講：舉個例子，政客說，"是，我們執政以來領救濟金的人多了，但從真實意義上來講，現在沒有工作的人其實一個也沒有。"
inquiry：We like inquiries. So much that we've even had an inquiry into inquiries!
調查：人們喜歡調查，特別喜歡調查，因此我們需要專門搞一個調查各項調查的調查。
Working people： The dreaded word "class" is omitted from this phrase by politicians in an attempt not to appear patronising, and as a result ends up being even more so.
勞動人民："階級"這個詞，政治家不可輕易使用，以避免顯得居高自傲。結果呢？顯得更傲慢！
We aim to.... As soon as you here a politico say we "aim to reduce...(unemployment / waiting lists etc)" then you know straight away jack is going to be done apart from lip service.
我們的目的是……一聽到政治家用這個詞"我們的目的是要減少（失業率等等）"，你馬上就知道了，除了空話，什麼實事也不會有人乾。
Public Opinion, or the British Public - this usually means the opinions of a small elite of journalists writing for the tabloid press.
公眾觀點或英國公眾----這個詞通常指的都是那一小撮給流行小報寫稿子的記者。
Up and down the country - Why not throughout the nation? Used when a politician needs to appear statesmanlike and non-partisan.
舉國上下----為什麼不乾脆說全國呢？政治家想要顯得特別重要、特別有風度的時候酷愛此詞。
I think I've already answered that question - meaning "I've already given a rather dodgy answer, please don't ask me that one again because I obviously prefer to avoid the whole topic." Also, "We need to get down to the REAL issues" - meaning "I don't want to talk about this difficult area, I want to talk about some simplistic truisms about motherhood and apple pie so you can't fail to approve of my party."
我想我已經回答了那個問題----意思是，我已經給了你一個模模糊糊的答案，別再問我了，難道還不明白嗎，我就是不想談這個問題。 這種情況下，政客經常說的另外一句話是"我們需要看看真正的問題"，意思是"我不想談論這個很困難的話題了，我想談一些簡單的問題，比如說如何當媽媽了，如何做餡餅了等等，這樣你無法不同意我們政黨的觀點"。
the vast majority of the British public....Oh Yeah?! Prove it!!
絕大多數的英國人----真的？證據呢？
The "ordinary man in the street" or "ordinary men and women" - very patronising. Who are the people who are so different and not ordinary?
街頭巷尾的普通人----聽著真傲慢，那些不普通的人都是誰呢？
We have no plans to.... This is used so that if a party decides to do what it did not plan to do, it can just claim to have changed its plan. Except that no-one is remotely impressed by the protestation...
我們沒有xxxx的計劃----這個詞的用意是，一旦一個政黨決定要乾自己原來沒有計劃幹的事，它就可以說自己改變了計劃。其實，誰在乎他們如何玩弄字詞呢？
Full inquiry-- We have so many "Demands for a full inquiry" when a political catastrophe has been exposed， how many 'Partial inquries' or 'I'll give my best 30 minutes inquiries' the tabloids may have missed？
全面調查----一個政治災難曝光後，群眾要求"全面調查"的呼聲高漲，那些"不完全調查"和"30分鐘調查"哪裡去了呢？
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