3 red tape
Red tape并不是红色带子的意思，而是指官僚主义。换句话说，red tape 就是人们在和政府或官方机构打交道时往往会遇到的拖延、混乱等令人烦恼的障碍。那么，red tape官僚主义的含义是从何而来的呢？这是因为在古时候官方的文件一般都用红带子捆起来的，这样红带子就和官僚主义连在一起了。
例句：With all the red tape I ran into at city hall, it took me three months to get my business license.
我在市政厅遇到了各种官僚主义的麻烦。我花了整整三个月才拿到营业执照。
又如：You can't believe how much red tape there is in getting a visa. You have to get a birth certificate and other personal papers and fill out a bunch of complicated forms and have an interview. After that you wait and wait.
你简直不会相信，要拿到一个签证会遇到多少官僚主义的麻烦。你先要拿到你的出生证和其他有关你个人的证件，然后填一大堆复杂的表格，接着还要去面谈。办完这些事以后，你还得一等再等。