2013-08-08
Source: http://news.hkheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=249464§ion_name=wtt&kw=126
Another one bites the dust. This time it's Development Bureau political assistant Henry Ho Kin-chun. He bit the dust just one day after Executive Councillor Franklin Lam Fan-keung also bit the dust. Executive Councillor Barry Cheung Chun-yuen-Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's confidant-had also bitten the dust several months ago. To "bite the dust" means to die in battle when referring to soldiers. But it can also mean to fail at something, such as your career. A confidant is a person you trust completely with your secrets. Ho, Lam, and Cheung all bit the dust (their political careers ended) because of scandals involving them.
B
ut Development Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po refuses to bite the dust even though many people believe he lied about the scandal involving his ownership of land in the northeast New Territories. How many more senior people in government with skeletons in the cupboard will be forced by public pressure to bite the dust? Will anyone dare join the government if there is a chance the media will find out about their skeletons in the cupboard? As I have explained before, the expression “skeletons in the cupboard” means shameful secrets that people want to hide.
Now that the media has dug up so many skeletons in the cupboards of senior government officials, I don’t think many people would want to join Leung Chun-ying’s administration. But I am sure Tam Man-ip would happily join if Leung offered him a job. He is the man who had 12 tonnes of rubbish in his 500 square-foot flat in Central. The flat was so stinky (smelly) and full of cockroaches and flies that neighbors (neighbours in British English) angrily complained. It took government workers nine hours to clear the rubbish. Tam Man-ip has no skeletons in his cupboard. He just had stinky rubbish in his flat, which he did not hide. If C.Y. Leung appoints him as an executive councillor, he will be able to give the government good advice on how and where to store Hong Kong’s rubbish now that the Legislative Council has refused to approve more funding to expand landfills.
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又有人陣亡（bites the dust）了, 這次是發展局政治助理何建宗。他剛好在行政會議成員林奮強陣亡（bit the dust）的次天就敗下陣來（bit the dust）。梁振英的心腹（confidant），行政會議成員張震遠，在數個月前也碰得一鼻子灰（bitten the dust）。To bite the dust解作士兵戰死沙場，但亦可解作一敗塗地、前途盡毁。Confidant就是你推心置腹的密友。何、林和張因為醜聞纏身，政治前程就此斷送，簡直兵敗如山倒（bit the dust）。
但發展局局長陳茂波拒絕陣亡（bite the dust），即使許多人相信他在新界東北的業權醜聞上撒謊。到底還有多少政府高官，隱藏着不可告人的秘密（skeletons in the cupboard），最終在公眾壓力下被迫陣亡（bite the dust）？當傳媒大有機會揭露陰私（skeletons in the cupboard），究竟還有沒有人敢加入政府？正如我以前解釋過，skeletons in the cupboard就是一些不可告人的醜事。
現在，傳媒已經揭露那麼多政府高官的陰私（skeletons in the cupboard），我不認為有多少人會想加入梁振英的班子。但我肯定，梁要是聘請譚文業，他定必欣然接受。譚就是那個在中環五百平方呎的單位內，堆滿十二噸垃圾的人。那單位惡臭難聞（stinky），佈滿蟑螂和蒼蠅，迫得鄰舍憤而投訴。政府工人得用上九小時才清理好垃圾。譚文業顯然沒有甚麼「家醜不出外傳」（skeletons in his cupboard）。他只不過在單位內堆滿臭氣熏天（stinky）的垃圾，但並沒有試圖掩藏啊。既然現在立法會拒絕撥款擴建堆填區，要是梁振英委任他為行政會議成員，他定能好好建議如何和往哪兒安置香港的垃圾吧。 mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧