News of the Week (3/8/2015)
Social Issues

A hidden weapon in the armoury – will the government beat the breast?

weapon是「武器」，armoury是儲存武器的地方，即是「軍火庫」。breast是「胸部」，beat the breast一詞多義，首先是比喻用法 (metaphorical use)，解作「捶胸頓足」，例如為自己做的事感到悔疚、或者因為悲傷而用拳打自己的心口。另外，beat the breast直譯時beat便是解作「打」，看似沒有甚麼特別，但配合上半句的a hidden weapon in the armoury，其實帶出了政府認為胸部是武器。因此，這個標題有兩個解法，一是「政府會否為自己做的事感到悔疚呢？」，二是「政府會否『對付』這些『武器』呢？」。由此可見，這篇文章沒有既定立場，只是從社會的大小事情中談英語運用。

The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong last year received widespread media coverage around the world. In general, the campaign had a good press because of the surprisingly peaceful and civilised sit-in. The media commented that if it had taken place in another country, the odds are that it would have evolved into a riot which might have spiralled out of control. At the opposite extreme, however, the government do not seem to appreciate how civilised Hongkongers are and accused a woman of assaulting a police officer with her breasts during another protest.

Floored by the absurdity of the conviction, a host of Hongkongers expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment over the way the government govern Hong Kong and, probably more importantly, how they view Hongkongers. A police officer was captured in a video where he brandished his much-more-potent-than-breasts truncheon, but he later explained in court that the truncheon was only an extension of his arm and was just used to pat a citizen. If a truncheon could be regarded as the extension of a body part, it would stretch belief that breasts are seen as weapons which could land a citizen in court.



Glossary:
1. weapon [n.] 武器
2. armoury [n.] 軍火庫; 武器庫
3. widespread [adj.] 廣泛的
4. coverage [n.] 新聞報道
5. have a good press [ph.] 受到新聞界的好評
6. peaceful [adj.] 和平的
7. civilised [adj.] 文明的
8. sit-in [n.] 靜坐示威
9. odds [n.] 機會; 可能
10. evolve [v.] 演變
11. riot [nn.] 騷亂; 暴動
12. spiral out of control [ph.] 急劇地失控
13. at the opposite extreme [ph.] 截然不同; 完全相反
14. accuse [v.] 控告; 指責
15. assault [v.] 攻擊; 襲擊
16. protest [n.] 抗議
17. floor [v.] 令…驚訝
18. absurdity [n.] 荒謬
19. conviction [n.] 判訣
20. a host of [ph.] 大量; 很多
21. govern [v.] 管治
22. brandish [v.] 胡亂地揮動
23. truncheon [n.] 警棍
24. pat [v.] 輕拍
25. stretch belief [ph.] 難以置信
26. land [v.] 令…陷入…



*The picture shows that the police officer was, as he put it in his account, using a truncheon as the extension of his arm to touch and pat the pedestrians.