Are you waiting with bated breath? Many Hong Kong people are waiting with bated breath for a very important decision this coming Sunday by the National People's Congress. The abbreviation (shortened form) of the National People's Congress is NPC. A reader recently pointed out to me that an abbreviation is different from an acronym. An acronym is an abbreviation that is formed with the first letters of words to become a word that can be pronounced. For example, APEC is the acronym for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Hong Kong is a member of APEC. This year's APEC leaders' meeting will be held in November in Beijing.
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he NPC is not an acronym because it cannot be pronounced as a word. This Sunday the NPC is expected to make a very important decision on political reforms in Hong Kong. We will know what kind of democracy the central government will allow Hong Kong to have. The pan-democrats have said they will go ahead with the Occupy Central protest if the NPC decides to only allow a form of democracy that they consider as not true democracy. If Occupy Central goes ahead, 10,000 protesters will block the streets in Central, bringing traffic and business to a standstill. That is why many Hong Kong people are waiting with bated breath for this Sunday's NPC decision.
If you are waiting with bated breath for something, it means you are waiting very anxiously and excitedly for something. People who are anxious or excited often hold their breath. That is how the expression "bated breath" originated. Students always wait with bated breath for their exam results. Many people spell the word "bated" incorrectly. They wrongly spell it as "baited breath". The word "bait" has a totally different meaning. It can be used in several ways. The small piece of food that people put on a hook to catch fish is called bait (noun). The word can also be used as a verb. For example, some news reports said money was used to bait (verb) people to join the anti-Occupy Central march.
你是否屏息（bated breath）以待？許多香港人也在屏息（bated breath）靜待，全國人民代表大會今個周日的重要決定。National People's Congress的縮寫（abbreviation）是NPC。最近有位讀者向我指出，abbreviation跟acronym是不一樣的。Acronym是每字取其首字母，結合成可讀出來的縮略詞。例如，APEC就是Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation（亞太經濟合作會議）的首字母縮略詞（acronym）。香港也是APEC的成員之一。今年APEC領袖會議會在十一月於北京召開。
但NPC就不是首字母縮略詞（acronym），因它不能讀成一個字。本周日，預料全國人大會就香港政改作出重要的決定。我們將會知道，究竟中央政府容許香港擁有怎樣的民主。泛民說，若人大決定只容許某種民主形式，在泛民看來並非真正的民主，他們就會進行佔中抗議。若佔中真的發生，一萬名示威者會堵塞中環街道，令交通和商業活動陷於癱瘓。因此，許多香港人也在屏息靜氣（bated breath），等待本周日人大的決定。
若說你在waiting with bated breath，即是你在焦急而興奮地等待某事。緊張或興奮的人，常常會閉氣，這就是習語bated breath的來由。學生常常會屏息靜氣（bated breath）地等待考試結果。許多人會把bated這個字串錯了，串成"baited breath"。Bait的意思截然不同，可以有好幾個用法。用來釣魚的誘餌就是bait（名詞）。這個字也可作動詞用。譬如，有些新聞報道說，有人以金錢餌誘（bait，動詞）人去參與反佔中遊行。
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