文件要人代读，边听边睡，不看就批，错了怪人;对事情心中无数，又不愿跟人商量，推来推去，不了了之;对上则支支吾吾，唯唯诺诺，对下则不懂装懂，指手划脚，对同级则貌合神离，同床异梦。

They want others to read documents; the others read and they sleep; they criticize without looking at things; they criticize mistakes and blame people; they have nothing to do with mistakes; they do not discuss things; they push things aside and ignore it; they are yes men to those above them; they pretend to understand those below them, when they do not; they gesticulate; and they harbour disagreements with those on their same level.

请教译文点评

My comments:

Yes men are people who, in short, say “Yes” all the time.

Understandably we are talking about people who are showing total obedience to their superiors, especially in government. Yes men are, in fact, everywhere but they do especially well in bureaucratic institutions where individual initiatives are less valued than fawning on those who have greater powers.

These people may be bullies to their own subordinates, but they always appear to agree with their superiors.

Again, in bureaucratic organizations, yes men may move faster up the ladder because a lot of people in positions of power like to surround themselves with these people.

Still, it takes a lot to be a yes man. Sometimes, for example, he has to conceal his real feelings towards the boss.

Make that often times.

Or always, perhaps.

I don’t know for certain, though. Apparently only yes men know, for sure.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（张欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.