名人教英文：虚应故事
to go through the motions
虚应故事
yorick: how did your job interview go?
约里克﹕你求职面试的情况怎样？
pina: it went really well and i think i was the best candidate. but guess what.
皮纳﹕一切都很好，我应是求职者之中最优秀的，但结果你不会猜得到。
yorick: well, if you were the best, you must have got the job.
约里克﹕嗯，假如你是最优秀的，那就一定获得聘用。
pina: that's what you would have thought. but i found out later that it went to the son of the boss's best friend.
皮纳﹕你当然会这样想，但我后来发觉，获聘者是那公司老板最好朋友的儿子。
yorick: so the interview was a sham.
约里克﹕然则那面试是假的。
pina: yes, they were just going through the motions.
皮纳﹕不错，他们只是虚应故事。
yorick: but why waste everybody's time?
约里克﹕但为什么浪费大家的时间？
pina: because the rules say that the job had to be publicly advertised.
皮纳﹕因为根据规定，这个职位必须公开招聘。
to go through the motions直译是「把动作做一遍」，本来是指演员的演出，但现在引伸用来说「敷衍的做（某事）」或「虚应故事」，例如﹕the government is going through the motions of consulting the public on the matter（政府正就这件事咨询公众，但无非虚应故事）。
guess what是guess what has happened（猜猜发生了什么事）或guess what is going to happen（猜猜将会发生什么事）的缩写。要告诉人家一些出乎意料或有趣的事，往往先用这两个字带出，例如﹕guess what - the company will pay every one of us a bonus of $50,000 at the end of this year（你知道吗？公司今年底会给我们每人五万元红利）。
sham指「假冒为……的人、物」，这或说是从shame（羞耻）一字演变而成，例如﹕(1) he is no billionaire - he is only a sham（他不是个什么亿万富翁，只是个扮富翁的骗子）。(2) his illness is a sham（他的病是假的）。sham还可作形容词或动词，指「假的」或「假装」，例如﹕(1) she was wearing a string of sham pearls（她佩戴一串假珍珠）。(2) he is not ill; he is only shamming（他不是病了，只是装病）。
最后不妨谈谈candidate（候选人）一字。从前罗马公民竞选公职，一律身穿白袍，表示正直无邪。而拉丁文candidus意思就是白色。今天，英文candid（坦白）、candidate二字以及candour、candidature等同根词语，都是由此而来。