名人教英文：可供角逐
up for grabs
可供角逐
meryl: are you going to vote for dave harwin?
梅里尔﹕你会不会投票给戴夫．哈文？
annar: why do you ask? is there an election or something?
安纳﹕怎么这样问？是有选举还是什么？
meryl: yes, the student council elections will be held next month.
梅里尔﹕是有选举。学生会将于下个月选出。
annar: how many posts are there?
安纳﹕有多少个职位？
meryl: there are six posts up for grabs and dave is standing for publicity officer.
梅里尔﹕共有六个职位可供角逐。戴夫竞选宣传组长。
annar: i'll certainly vote for him. he's good at publicising things.
安纳﹕我一定会投票给他。他很懂得宣传。
up for grabs的grab，指「突然抓住」或「抢夺」，作名词或动词都可以，例如﹕(1) the thief made a grab at / for her handbag（那贼人突然出手抢她的手提包）。(2) the thief grabbed her handbag and ran away（那贼人一手抢去她的手提包，跑掉了）。(3) losing my balance, i grabbed at the handrail（我站不稳，跌倒时伸手抓向栏杆）。留意grab作名词，其后可用at或for带出要抓住的东西；作动词，直接受词（object）是指「抓住（某事物）」，用at带出受词则是指「伸手去抓（某事物）」。
up for grabs是俗语，指「可供自由争夺」，例如﹕there are many training opportunities up for grabs in the company（公司有不少培训机会，雇员可以自由争取）。
梅里尔说﹕dave is standing for publicity officer。用stand说「竞选」，是英式英文；美式多说run，例如﹕is he standing for (或running for ) president / presidency？（他会不会角逐总统职位？）stand for或run for之后，用「职位」（如presidency）、「任职者」（如president）或职位所属机构都可以，例如﹕dave is standing for publicity officer / the post of publicity officer / the student council（戴夫竞逐宣传组长职位 / 学生会一个职位）。
publicity和propaganda都有「宣传」的意思，「宣传运动」叫publicity campaign或propaganda campaign都可以。不过，自从戈培尔（joseph goebbels）一九三三年出任纳粹德国 minister of propaganda（宣传部长）之后，propaganda一字变得有夸张、虚假含义，所以现在多用publicity一字说「宣传」。