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.

國泰航空又因為好與壞的原因而上新聞。在上一個聖誕節和元旦期間，它只是因為壞原因而上新聞，就是它取消了無數的航班。然後它又取消至二月底前每天數十班航班，以避免在農曆新年期間要取消更多的班次。它總共取消了差不多800班航班，但解釋是因為太多機師病倒了。那是個幼稚的藉口（puerile excuse）。它破壞了許多乘客的假期計劃，真夠忘恩負義（ bit the hand that feeds it）。

A puerile excuse就是幼稚、一點說服力也沒有的藉口。To bite the hand that feeds you是恩將仇報、忘恩負義，惡待那些你賴以為生的人。最新關於國泰的新聞涉及一則給政府的報告，當中承認是差劣的規劃導致航班取消。國泰能夠解釋其錯誤，真是要向它hats off——這個習語解作向某人致敬或恭賀。而今次國泰的好消息，是它全年共賺97億8千萬元，是四年來首度轉盈。再次恭賀（hats off）國泰啊。

政客和旅遊業界力促國泰用其一部分盈利，去做些機票折扣，以回饋納稅人和政府在新冠疫情期間的救援。但國泰行政總裁林紹波卻是忘恩負義（bit the hand that feeds Cathay），他跟立法會說，航空公司需要更有智慧地將盈利用得其所。身為忠誠的乘客，我最近亦搭乘其商務客位從台北到香港，雖然只是短短的一程。國泰在台北機場的地勤以及機上的空中服務員，都待我極之好。但我跟許多其他人一樣，也認為國泰的機票比其他航空公司無理地貴得多。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻