他的脸马上阴下来,不客气地打断我的话:“哼,你干的那些事判个十年八年的完全够格儿。这么处理你够宽大的了,可你对自己的罪行却一点没认识.
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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About the author:
Zhang Xin(张欣) 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.