又中又英｜To bite the hand that feeds you

Cathay Pacific is in the news again for good and bad reasons. It was in the news for only bad reasons last Christmas and New Year when it cancelled numerous flights. It then cancelled about a dozen flights daily until the end of February to avoid further cancellations for the Lunar New Year. In total, it cancelled about 800 flights but explained many pilots had become ill. It was a puerile excuse. Cathay bit the hand that feeds it by ruining the travel plans of passengers.

A puerile excuse is a childish or unconvincing excuse. To bite the hand that feeds you means to behave badly towards people you depend on. The latest news about Cathay involved a report to the government which admitted bad planning had caused the cancellations. Hats off to Cathay for explaining its mistakes. This expression means to congratulate or praise someone. The positive news for Cathay this time was an annual profit of $9.78 billion, the first in four years. Hats off to Cathay again.

Politicians and the tourism sector have urged Cathay to use some of its profits for fare discounts as a way of thanking taxpayers and the government for rescuing it during Covid. But CEO Ronald Lam Siu-por bit the hand that feeds Cathay by telling the Legislative Council the airline needs to use profits wisely. As a loyal passenger, I recently flew business class from Taipei to Hong Kong even though it was a short flight. Cathay’s Taipei airport ground staff and flight attendants on the plane treated me extremely well. But I agree with many others who feel Cathay’s fares are unreasonably higher than other airlines.

国泰航空又因为好与坏的原因而上新闻。在上一个圣诞节和元旦期间，它只是因为坏原因而上新闻，就是它取消了无数的航班。然后它又取消至二月底前每天数十班航班，以避免在农历新年期间要取消更多的班次。它总共取消了差不多800班航班，但解释是因为太多机师病倒了。那是个幼稚的借口（puerile excuse）。它破坏了许多乘客的假期计划，真够忘恩负义（ bit the hand that feeds it）。

A puerile excuse就是幼稚、一点说服力也没有的借口。To bite the hand that feeds you是恩将仇报、忘恩负义，恶待那些你赖以为生的人。最新关于国泰的新闻涉及一则给政府的报告，当中承认是差劣的规划导致航班取消。国泰能够解释其错误，真是要向它hats off——这个习语解作向某人致敬或恭贺。而今次国泰的好消息，是它全年共赚97亿8千万元，是四年来首度转盈。再次恭贺（hats off）国泰啊。

政客和旅游业界力促国泰用其一部分盈利，去做些机票折扣，以回馈纳税人和政府在新冠疫情期间的救援。但国泰行政总裁林绍波却是忘恩负义（bit the hand that feeds Cathay），他跟立法会说，航空公司需要更有智慧地将盈利用得其所。身为忠诚的乘客，我最近亦搭乘其商务客位从台北到香港，虽然只是短短的一程。国泰在台北机场的地勤以及机上的空中服务员，都待我极之好。但我跟许多其他人一样，也认为国泰的机票比其他航空公司无理地贵得多。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻