S1E01 Open Government
polling booth 投票点
My whole career is going down the drain. 我的事业在走下坡路（down the drain还可以表示it is wasted or produces no results）
Top tip for the Department of Administrative Affairs is Jim Hacker. 一把手（顶级的职位）
We did cross swords when the minister gave a grilling over the estimates in the public accounts committee. (cross swords with sb 交锋, grilling 审问）
This Department has got to cut a great swathe through all this stuffy Whitehall bureaucracy. We want a new room, we are going to throw open the window, let in a bit of fresh air, cut through all the red tape, streamline this creaking old bureaucractic machine. 冲破紧绑官僚体制的束缚、让这台嘎吱作响的旧官僚机器重焕活力 (red tape 繁文缛节: excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules; cut a swathe throught sth: to destroy a large amount of sth)
Opposition laughter and Government cries of shame.
Her Majesty does like the business of government to continue even when there are no politicians around.
I gather he did his boxes like a lamb last weekend? 顺从的
We must head him off this Open Government nonsense. 阻止
Everyone of them would have been a laughing stock in three months had it been for the most rigid and impenetrable secrey about what they are up to. 笑柄
political dynamite 政治炸药
invoice 发票bill
It's about time they would be jolted out their commericial complacency. (jolt sb into/out of sth: to give sb a sudden shock or surprise.eg: His sharp words seemed to jolt him out of his depressions. jolt原意是颠簸、震动
We are being fobbed off with second rate Amerian junk. (fob sb off: 搪塞、哄骗+with)
But all hell's just broken loose at Number Ten. 乱套了
Couldn't we hush it up? 遮掩过去
I unaccountably omitted to rescind it. 我不知为什么忘了废除它
S1E02 The official visit - Everyone has his price.
TPLAC - Tin Pot Little African Country 非洲弹丸小国
UDC - Under Developed Country
DC - Developing Country
LDC - Less Developed Country 欠发达国家
HRRC - Human Resources Rich Country
marginal constitutions 边缘选区
a squalid vote grubbing exercise 肮脏的拉票活动
place a huge order with British Government 签一大笔单子
foreign embassies 大使馆宴会
KBE - Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire 第二等高级英帝国勋爵士
Shameful Political Typical Inevitable
Shall we scramble? No, it's not secret, it's on the news! 我们应该封锁吗？
an ordinary Burandan with an eye for the main chance 敲竹杠 哈哈哈
He might take liberties. 他可能会动手动脚
The repercussions are too hideous to contemplate. 后果可怕得难以预料
Enigma 谜团 哈哈哈（Mystery）
I am going to have eggs all over our faces. 这下脸上挂不住了
A catastrophe. A tragedy. A cataclysmic, apocalyptic, monumental calamity. 这词汇量哈哈哈
This is not I like to advise the Captain of the Titanic after he's struck the iceberg.
Humpy叫你如何应对外交危机：
1. Do nothing 2. Issue a statement deploring the speech 3. lodge a protest 4. Cut off the aid 5. Break off the diplomatic relations 6. Declare war
结果：1. Implicitly agree the speech 2. Look foolish 3. Be ignored 4. Which we don't give them any 5. Can't negotiate the oil-rig contracts 6. Overreact
Standing Committe 常委会
The offending paragraph may be a bargaining counter 讨价还价的本钱
I think you carry more weight. 哈哈哈你更重要
a demeaning title 低三下四的职位hhh（Permanent UnderSecretary）
profoundly embrassing 相当的尴尬
I wonder if there is anything that might persuade the president to consider recasting that sentence and transfering the emphasis from the specific instance to the abstract concept, without, of course, in any way, impairing the conceptual integrity of the theme.
tide us over 渡过难关 to restore confidence
He is asking us to give him 50 million pounds so that he can buy our oil rigs with our money. Blackmail
You're proposing to buy you way out of political involvement with 50 million pounds of public money? 买政治上的出路
S1E03 The economy drive 节约运动
carry out the government's pledge to slim down the civil services and to wipe out the interferences of White Hall and Townhall busybodies. (cut down)
Inland Revenue 国内税收部门
do a time and motion study (a business efficiency technique. When conducting a time and motion study, experts monitor each step of the work process, attempting to determine a reasonable average time to complete each part of a particular task.) 研究效率最高的工作方法，工效研究，时间与动作
The public doesn't know about wasting government money. We are the experts. :)
I am fully seized of your requirements, minister. 完全理解您的要求 （be seized of 理解，be seized with/by terror/desire被恐惧占据）
I'll go and set the wheels in motion. 运作起来
I'm aghast that the news got out. 太震惊了！
Are you saying that the northwest Regional Controller boobed by saving so much money? 犯傻
have a bit of ferret around 四处调查一下（雪豹）
He is ferreting, it's a roving brief. 四处侦查
British Leyland measures their success by the size of their profits, or more accurately, they measure their failure by the size of their losses. We don't have profits and losses. We have to measure our success by the size of our staff and our budget.
Suppose everyone went around saving money, irresponsibly all over the place.
Politicians need panic. They need panic. It's their subsitute for acheivement.
Operation Hair Shirt 自讨苦吃行动（Hair Shirt 指苦行僧穿的粗布衣服，指自我惩罚）
These facts are a frightening indictment of bureaucratic sloppiness and self-indulgence. 官僚作风和自我放纵的可怕控诉
When the chips are down, the ballons are up and the lights go out... 危机来临，局势动荡...（when the chips are down和when the ballons are up 都是指危机出现的时候，指the situation gets difficult and the trouble begins）
It does cause profound resentiment if those at the top continue to enjoy comforts and convienence that they withdraw from those below them, not to mention the deeply damaging publicity.
Economy begins at home. 节约从我做起！
chauffeur 专职司机，专门为别人开车的人
Hitch hike搭便车 thumb
All they are instereted in is poaching each other's members and getting themselves on the tele, and they can't keep their big mouths shut. 热衷于互相挖墙脚
they are all on the fiddle. 他们个个好逸恶劳（on the fiddle 欺诈勾当，贪小便宜）
overwrought as a newt 过度兴奋如同笨蛋（overwrought: very upset, worried and nervous）
S1E04 Big Brother
Are we creating a police state? 我们正在迈向一个极权国家？
Dead silence now, please.
build up a dossier on you 建立你的档案库
Recently there's been mounting concern over this powerful, even totalitarian weapon that the computer revolution has put into the Government's hand. (totalitarian极权主义completely controlled by the government)
Let's be quite clear about this without beating about the bush. 旁敲侧击、拐弯抹角（beat about the bush 来源于，猎鸟的人们对着草丛打枪，而不是直接从鸟窝里把鸟打下）
Bob's got him on the run. 他在回避Bob的问题（on the run 逃走、奔波）
- I thought I waffled a bit. - You stonewalled superbly, Minister. ( waffle 空话连篇，跟beat about the bush意思接近，也指unable to decide. eg: Stop waffling and get to the point./ waffle on this issue; stonewall: to delay a discussion or decision by talking a lot and refusing to answer questions. eg: Nixon stonewalled the Watergate investigation.)
Conference of Municipal Treasurers 市财政会议
You just have to cope as best as you can. 你要使出浑身解数摆平
Either you get them by the throat or they get you by the throat. 你不先发制人就会被骑在头上
My lips are sealed. 我必须守口如瓶
Humphrey got you undercontrol?
When I did cotton on to his technique, there was the election. (cotton on: to begin to understand 领会, eg: Sarah soon cottoned on to what he was trying to do.)
Sir Humphrey's stalling technique: 拖延战术
Ministers settle for that? 大臣们止步不前了？
creative inertia 创造的惰性 political inertia 政治惰性
He's wiped the slate clean. 他都抹去了（a clean sheet/slate 过去无过错记录的）
They are the Opposition in exile, and the Civil Service are the Opposition in residence. (in residence常驻的，take up residence开始居住) 在野、在朝
nose to the grindstone 埋头苦干、努力工作（eg: Jim had decided he was going to keep his nose to the grindstone.）
outcry: an angry protest by many ordinary people 公众强烈抗议
- You are being totally frustrated at every stage of the game by the Civil Service machine?
- It's actually marvellous, efficient, professional organisation, capable of enormous energy and speed. It's staffed by many talented, dedicated people who do everything in their power to help the Governmen, make its policies into law.
- Thank you for the commercial.
- The Civil Service and I are in completely accord over this whole business......
- Why didn't you say so in the first place and put people's minds at rest、
- I didn't believe that the Civil Service could meet our deadlines.But they conviced me they can. In fact, my Permanent Secretary has staked his reputation on it. If not, heads will roll. Anyway, Assistant Heads. (heads will roll 指将受到严厉惩罚)
S1E05 The writing on the wall 大白天下
Don't quibble, Bernard. 别转牛角尖（quibble: to argue about small unimportant details 斤斤计较、吹毛求疵 eg: Let's not quibble over minor details./ I've just got a few minor quibbles.）
How do you know it says the opposite if it's totally unintelligible? 不知所云的
Humphery的拖词：As far as we can see, looking at it by and large, taking one time with another, in terms of the average of the departments, then in the final analysis it is probably true to say that, at the end of the day, in general terms, you will probably find that, not put a too fine a point on it, there probably wasn't very much in it one way or the other. （纵观全局，也许不中听）
Good of you to pop in. 你能来太好了（英式口语中常表示 去，eg: Why don't you pop by the next time your're in town?）
You don't seem to be replying. Bernard, are you trying to be impertinent? 你看起来吞吞吐吐的，你在搪塞我吗？（pertinet=relevant, impertinent也可以指rude and not respectful，cheeky）
Not without getting huffed. 想玩转就难了（huff and puff 气喘吁吁，强烈反对，in a huff 气恼 eg: After a lot of huffing and puffing, he eventually gave in to our request./ She stormed out in a huff.）
Jim教你怎么搪塞时间哈哈哈：In due course, at the approriate juncture, in the fullness of time, when the moment is ripe, when the necessary procedures have been completed, nothing precipitate
delaying "tactics" That would mistake lethargy for strategy. 这会把消极当积极（lethargy, lethargic: lazy, sluggish, lacking energy.）
as your standard bearer not as your pall bearer 要给您扛旗，而不是抬棺材
It is crystal clear. 再清晰不过了
This could be the PM's master stroke in one fell swoop. Approbation. Elevation and Castration. 招安、封爵、架空（castrate: to remove the testicles of a male 也可以指 丧失力量）In defeat, malice. In victory, revenge.
得知DAA要被废除之后用坏了appalled, appalling这个词
As for you, Bernard, if your Minister bites the dust, our reputation as a high flyer, such as it is, will be hit for six 你的大臣落了地，你现在的好名声也打了水漂（bite the dust: to die, fail or be defeated. eg: Italy's championship hopes eventually bit the dust; knock/hit sb for six: affect sb strongly in a bad way. eg: Losing his job really knocked him for six.）
Mustn't all flap around like a lot of wet hens. 不能像老母鸡似的自乱阵脚
It's the last nail in my coffin. 这是给我落井下石（nail in sb's coffin: something bad to help destory success or hopes有点像last straw. eg: Observers fear that this strike will be another nail in the coffin of the industry.）
Humphrey says about the European policy：
The PM isn't going to rock the boat until it's in the bag. 首相不能最后阴沟里翻船（萌萌的Bernard还说you don't put boats in the bags.哈哈哈喜欢一直quibble的Bernard）
shutting stable doors after horses have bolted 木已成舟的事情（当马儿已经跑了你才去关门，有点像亡羊补牢）
The PM smile at it, not smile on it. (smile at it 嘲笑，smile on 微笑）
When you got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow. 当你切中要害的时候，他们的意志和头脑也就为你所制了。
S1E06 The right to know
other assorted underlings 下属
It's folly to increase your knowledge at the expense of your authority.（It would be folly to do sth 做某事很蠢）
steer our legislation through Parliament 让我们的立法得以通过（steer sth through/to: be in charge of and make decisions掌管、带领 eg: McKinney steered the company through the recession; steer sb towards/away from/through sth: guide. eg: Helen tried to steer the conversation away from herself.）
breadwinner: who earns the money
We are not above the nature. We are all part of it.
Thanks you anyway for putting your case so persuasively. 谢谢你们这么有力的发言
Very polished perfermance. Gracious 有亲和力的
Unifying the administraion of the countryside means no loss of amenity, when apparently I've just signed a death warrant to an army of badgers.(无重大隐患 amenity: 便利设施; a death warrant 死刑）
No. This may well blow over, but it doesn't answer my basic question. (blow over 平息、消散)
The traditional allocation of executive responsibilites has always been so determined as to liberate the ministerial incumbent from the administrative minutiae by devolving the magenerial functions to those whose experiences and qualifications have better formed them for the better performance of such humble offices, thereby releasing their political overlords for the more onerous duties and profound deliberations which are the inevitable concomitant of their exalted position.
A demarcation dispute. 分工问题 You're fashioned for a noble calling. 更崇高的使命（demarcation: mark the border）
lie-in 睡懒觉 sit-in 静坐示威
For a short time you are getting the better of Humphrey, now they've done a snow job on you again. 他们又压倒你了（snow job 花言巧语、哄骗）
How do you become a Cabinet Minister, darling? You are such a clot. (笨蛋、呆子）
You've played right into Humphrey's hands. He must be utterly delighted. You've given him an open invitation to swamp you with useless information. 你正好上了他的当（swamp是沼泽的意思，be swamped by/with sth 陷入）
The end justifies the means, does it? 为目的不择手段
- If dadgers had votes, you wouldn't be exterminating them. Now you'd be at Hayward's Spinney, shaking paws and kissing cubs, ingratiating yourself the way you always do. (ingratiate yourself with sb: 讨好、巴结 eg: His policy is to ingratiate himself with anyone who might be useful to him.)
- But Daddy is in politics. He has to be ingratiating.
Fourword trick: 让大臣接受你的提案
Accepted: Quick Simple Popular Cheap; Throwned out: Complicated Lengthy Expensive Controversial
最终武器之 The decision is courageous.
Trouble at mill 后院起火
Make a clean breast of it 敞开胸怀的说吧
It's common practice. 司空见惯了
S1E07 The jobs for the boys 任人唯亲
a shining example of successful collabration between government and private industry 光辉典范
be swept under the carpet 这么大的工程怎么能捂得住？（sweep/brush sth under the carpet, sweep sth under the rug 掩盖某事）
The report's foresight had some insight in the light of hindsight? (hindsight: the ability to understand a situation only after it has happened 后见之明 eg: With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to criticize; foresight: the ability to imagine what is likely to happen 先见之明 eg: It was an example of the authorities' lack of foresight.)
It is responsible discretion exercised in the national interest to prevent unnecessary disclosure of eminently justifiable procedures in which untimely publication could severly impair public confidence.
Private projects are more socially responsible with government money, and government projects are more efficient with private investment. 更富有社会责任、更有效率
obscure your main point/ underline my main point 弱化/强调你的观点
You are a really wet blanket. Just go about stirring up apathy. 你太让人扫兴了，总是泼人冷水
I must beg, beseech and implore you not today. 小汉三恳求hhh
If it had been up to me, I'd help out like a shot. 我早就脱身了 (like a shot: do it very quickly)
quango 英国的半公营机构
on the shortlist 在入围名单上
It all boils down to the industry copartnership commission. 只剩下工业合作委员会 (boil down to 也可以表示归结为)
You are blathering, Bernard. 你在打岔(blather: to talk about unimportant things for a long time. 可以联想到之前用过的stonewall, swaffle)
clapcrap 陈腔滥调
Come off it, Hacker! We've got you by the short and curlies. 抓住你的小辫子(by short hairs, 也可以想到got you on the run)
It is the department's duty to protect the minister from the great tide of irrelevant information that beats against the walls of this Department day after day. 日复一日冲击部门的大量无关信息的干扰
Joe Soap 指dumb, not so intelligible
end the scandal of ministeral patronage 消除权力寻租
a very popular political move
He is a blithering idiot. 满口胡言的蠢材
A lesser man might try to wriggle out of it. But there is only one honourable course open. 软弱一点的人可能会想方设法摆脱它，但体面的方法只有一种
It takes two to quango. (It takes two to tango.) (∩_∩)
第7集
