中国网站品牌栏目（频道）
甩开膀子干四化。
Coats off for our four modernizations.
My comments:
Coats off for our Four Modernizations?
This is not very difficult to get to grips with, actually, if you’re old enough to understand what the Four Modernizations are, or were.
Never mind. Let’s talk about “coats off”. If you participate in any physical labor, such as digging up holes for planting trees, you’ll be taking off your coat after a few minutes of hard working.
That’s assuming, of course, that you’re working hard and beginning to sweat profusely.
Hence, “coats off” implies that people are working hard on their job at hand.
Even when that job is one that’s as lofty and abstract as the so-called Four Modernizations, apparently.
Still, a good metaphor it is – especially when you actually heard the slogan – and quite often too – back in the day.
To wit, the late 1970s and early 1980s.
What about the Four Modernizations, then?
They are…. Oh, well, never mind.
Related stories:
Take something with a pinch of salt
本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。
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.
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