名人教英文：从拉布战谈critical reading (2)
上周引用了小女早前在《南华早报》对于立法会拉布战的评论。她说，提出过千项修订的议员"have truly refined the art of specificity"（把形容细致的艺术升华），用了讽刺（irony）的修辞法，但不等于作者对拉布采取敌视（hostile）的态度。
文章续指出，虽然建制派占议会大多数，能把修订逐项否决，但拉布终究阻碍立法过程：
although the majority will has so far prevailed (占上风), with the amendments (修订案) being rejected one by one, this situation is most certainly not a victory for our democracy. activity that does not advance (推进) a bill (草案) and serves no purpose but to indefinitely delay voting prevents lawmakers from exercising their role as elected representatives of the people. the most crippling (害处极大的) result of a filibuster (拉布) is its obstruction (妨碍) to the legislative process.
有人建议修改议事规则 （rules of procedures）来防止拉布，小女却认为怎样修改也不能杜绝类似情况：
procedurally, there is no lasting solution to this problem. the boundlessly creative (创意无限的) minds of the opposition can easily come up with new antics (花招) to achieve the same effect, examples of which need not be reproduced here lest (免得) they inspire (引起) further mischief (恶作剧). but take a step back from the rules and proceedings (程序) and we see a game of tit-for-tat (以牙还牙) in which everyone suffers and nobody benefits, save those who manage to profit from ridiculing (嘲讽) the political stand-off (对峙).
这场拉布战其实是「以牙还牙」的报复游戏，没有人是赢家。尽管如此，女儿认为，反对派拉布，是合乎理性的策略：
indeed, our troublemakers can be called many things, but "irrational" is not on my list. the discussion of whether their defiance (反抗) is good or bad may very well be moot (无实际意义的) because defiance is their only rational strategy. the government's unwillingness to co-operate is so compromising to their cause (理念) and the dignity (尊严) of their position that the most reasonable response is retaliation (报复) at their own expense.
上文的compromising不是指「妥协的」或「折衷的」，而是指「会损害声誉的」或「令人尴尬的」。政府寸步不让，反对派如不作出行动，必会被人质疑，他们唯有「反攻」，即使自己也要付出代价（at their own expense）。
英语单词词汇学习：
crippling 造成瘫痪的、损害极大的
prevail 占上风、战胜
tit-for-tat 以牙还牙