下面我们要讲的一个俗语,它的含义我敢肯定人人都讨厌。这就是 red tape。Tape 是带子的意思。Red tape 是指官僚主义,或文牍主义。换句话说,red tape 就是人们在和政府或官方机构打交道时往往会遇到的拖延、混乱等令人烦恼的障碍。那末,这和红带子又有什么关系呢?这是因为在古时候官方的文件一般都用红带子捆起来的,这样红带子就和官僚主义连在一起了。现在我们来举个例子:
例句-4: "With all the red tape I ran into at city hall, it took me three months to get my business license."
这个人说:“我在市政厅遇到了各种官僚主义的麻烦。我化了整整三个月才拿到营业执照。”
下面我们再来举一个有关 red tape 的例子:
例句-5:"You can't believe how much red tape there is in getting a visa. You have to get a birth certificate and other personal papers and fill out a bunch of complicated forms and have an interview. After that you wait and wait."