他的臉馬上陰下來，不客氣地打斷我的話：“哼，你干的那些事判個十年八年的完全夠格兒。這么處理你夠寬大的了，可你對自己的罪行卻一點沒認識.

His face darkened as he cut me off:" They could have given you ten years for what you did. It was a slap on the wrist, especially considering you refused to admit your guilt.

請教譯文點評

My comments:

Imagine a child reaching for the food before everyone is seated round the family table. That’s when the child’s mother or father may give him a slap on the wrist.

See the point?

A quick slap on the wrist is much better than, say, a slap on the face. Chinese children wanting table manners might have got a slap in the face or a thump on the head, especially in the past.

But the point is, a slap on the wrist is a gentle or mild rebuke, criticism or punishment, not at all severe.

In our example, the guilty person could’ve got 10 years in jail for what he did. Instead, he got a slap on the wrist.

In other words, he got away with it.

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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.