頭條日報 頭條網 - The sweeteners from the mustachioed FS by Michael Chugani

Did you receive any sweeteners from the mustachioed financial secretary? John Tsang Chun-wah doled out HK$34 billion in sweeteners in his budget last week. He even gave himself sweeteners. People who own flats won't have to pay rates for the first two quarters of the year, up to a ceiling of HK$2,500 per quarter. Tsang Chun-wah owns a flat in Wanchai. I don't think it's a coffin-sized flat because he earns more than HK$300,000 a month. It must be a luxury flat. This qualifies him for the maximum HK$2,500 discount in rates per quarter, which means he will have a sweetener of HK$5,000. Taxpayers will have a tax discount of up to HK$20,000. Since Tsang Chun-wah earns so much money he will certainly qualify for the maximum refund. This means he has given himself sweeteners totaling HK$25,000.

        I

think the financial secretary should use the HK$25,000 to find a hair stylist. His salt and pepper hair looks dreadful. He needs a modern cut. A hair stylist is different from a barber. A barber just cuts a person's hair but a stylist will also cut the hair into a style that suits a person. If you have salt and pepper hair it means you have some black and some white hair. The word dreadful means awful or terrible. Artificial sugar to sweeten coffee or tea is called a sweetener. It comes from the word sweet. People love tax and rates refunds. That is why they can also be called sweeteners.

        The adjective mustachioed comes from the noun moustache, which means the hair some men grow above their upper lip. The hair men grow on their chin and around the face is called a beard. To dole out means to give out or hand out something. Tsang Chun-wah handed out money by giving tax and other refunds. That's why these sweeteners can also be called handouts. Unlike other men his age, the financial secretary has a lot of hair, which means a stylist can find a very modern style for him. Even Longhair Leung Kwok-hung now has a modern hair style after it was cut short while he was in prison.

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        你可有從小鬍子（mustachioed）財政司司長那裏得到甚麼甜頭（sweeteners）？曾俊華上星期在他的《財政預算案》中派（doled out）糖（sweeteners）三百四十億港元，連他自己也嚐到一點點甜頭（sweeteners）。擁有物業的人在本年度首兩季都不用交差餉，每季上限為二千五百元。曾俊華在灣仔有物業，按他每月賺多於三十萬來看，我不認為那單位會是一個棺材般大小，那一定是個豪宅。這就讓他有資格獲得每季二千五百元的最高豁免，也即是說，他能享有五千元的甜頭（sweeteners）。納稅人亦享有最高二萬港元的稅款寬減。曾俊華賺那麼多錢，他也必然有資格享用最高稅款減免。也即是說，他給了自己總共二萬五千港元的甜頭（sweeteners）。

        我認為財政司司長好應用那二萬五千港元去找個髮型師（stylist）。他那黑白相間（salt and pepper）的頭髮看來很糟糕（dreadful）。他要一個較為新潮的髮型。Hair stylist跟barber是不一樣的，Barber只是理髮師，stylist卻是髮型師，會為客人設計適合的髮型。若你有salt and pepper hair，即是指你黑髮中夾雜白髮。Dreadful即是糟糕或可怕的。在咖啡或茶裏放的甜味劑就是sweetener，來自sweet這個字。人們愛極了稅款與差餉減免，因此它們也可以被稱為sweeteners。

        形容詞mustachioed來自名詞moustache，是指男人在上唇上留的小鬍子。男人在下巴和面上留的鬍鬚則叫作beard。To dole out就是分發或派發東西。曾俊華以減稅或其他退款的方式派錢，因此這些甜頭（sweeteners）也可以被叫作handouts。不像其他同年紀的男人，財爺有濃密的頭髮，那意味着髮型師（stylist）可以為他找到很新潮的造型。即使長毛梁國雄坐牢被剪短了頭髮以後，現在也擁有一個新潮的髮型了啦。

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

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Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=321518§ion_name=wtt&kw=126