他的臉馬上陰下來，不客氣地打斷我的話：“哼，你干的那些事判個(gè)十年八年的完全夠格兒。這么處理你夠?qū)挻蟮牧耍赡銓ψ约旱淖镄袇s一點(diǎn)沒認(rèn)識.

His face darkened as he cut me off:" They could have given you ten years for what you did. It was a slap on the wrist, especially considering you refused to admit your guilt.

請教譯文點(diǎn)評

My comments:

Imagine a child reaching for the food before everyone is seated round the family table. That’s when the child’s mother or father may give him a slap on the wrist.

See the point?

A quick slap on the wrist is much better than, say, a slap on the face. Chinese children wanting table manners might have got a slap in the face or a thump on the head, especially in the past.

But the point is, a slap on the wrist is a gentle or mild rebuke, criticism or punishment, not at all severe.

In our example, the guilty person could’ve got 10 years in jail for what he did. Instead, he got a slap on the wrist.

In other words, he got away with it.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點(diǎn)，與本網(wǎng)立場無關(guān)。歡迎大家討論學(xué)術(shù)問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發(fā)布一切違反國家現(xiàn)行法律法規(guī)的內(nèi)容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） 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.