文件要人代讀，邊聽邊睡，不看就批，錯了怪人;對事情心中無數，又不愿跟人商量，推來推去，不了了之;對上則支支吾吾，唯唯諾諾，對下則不懂裝懂，指手劃腳，對同級則貌合神離，同床異夢。

They want others to read documents; the others read and they sleep; they criticize without looking at things; they criticize mistakes and blame people; they have nothing to do with mistakes; they do not discuss things; they push things aside and ignore it; they are yes men to those above them; they pretend to understand those below them, when they do not; they gesticulate; and they harbour disagreements with those on their same level.

請教譯文點評

My comments:

Yes men are people who, in short, say “Yes” all the time.

Understandably we are talking about people who are showing total obedience to their superiors, especially in government. Yes men are, in fact, everywhere but they do especially well in bureaucratic institutions where individual initiatives are less valued than fawning on those who have greater powers.

These people may be bullies to their own subordinates, but they always appear to agree with their superiors.

Again, in bureaucratic organizations, yes men may move faster up the ladder because a lot of people in positions of power like to surround themselves with these people.

Still, it takes a lot to be a yes man. Sometimes, for example, he has to conceal his real feelings towards the boss.

Make that often times.

Or always, perhaps.

I don’t know for certain, though. Apparently only yes men know, for sure.

Related stories:

Call the shots

Carry the day

Asia pivot

credibility-sapping

tell-tale fingerprints

pluck a brand from the burning

for the sake of it

She's fair game!

Longevity has its place.

lose three stone是什么意思？

vintage mother

down the road

take sth in stride

Sour puss 酸貓？

Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

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.