In my column last week I said Hong Kong people were waiting with bated breath for the decision by the National People’s Congress on what kind of democracy we can expect. The NPC (abbreviation for National People’s Congress) made its decision four days ago. Pan-democrats are extremely (very) dismayed by the decision. They have angrily rejected the NPC’s decision on political reforms as fake democracy. They have said the reforms are so conservative (careful, cautious) voters won’t have a genuine choice of candidates in Hong Kong’s first chief executive election through one person, one vote. The democracy camp will now rely on the Occupy Central civil disobedience protest to pressure the central government to change its mind.
This means Hong Kong people will once again have to wait with bated breath, this time to see when the Occupy Central protest will start and where it will be held. Many will also wait with bated breath to see if the Occupy Central protest can pressure the central government to change its mind. As I explained in my column last week, to wait with bated breath for something means to wait anxiously and excitedly for it. To be dismayed means to be very disappointed, upset or distressed. The word “reject” can be used in different ways but in this case it means to refuse to accept something because it is not good enough.
Now that the pan-democrats have rejected the NPC's decision on political reforms, their plan is to hold regular protests culminating in the Occupy Central protest, during which 10,000 people will try to bring Central to a standstill. The expression “culminate in” is used when an ending, high point, or climax is reached. For example, Superman movies always culminate in the hero Superman winning in a fight against the villain (bad person). Many people believe Occupy Central will culminate in violence. I hope not.
上星期，我說香港人都在屏息（bated breath）靜待全國人大的決定，看我們可期盼一個怎樣的民主。NPC（National People’s Congress全國人大的縮寫）四天前下了決定了。泛民派對其決定極其（extremely）失望（dismayed），他們憤怒地拒收（rejected）人大對於政改的決定，斥之為假民主。他們又稱，這個改革非常保守（conservative），首個以一人一票選特首的選舉中，選民根本不能真正的選擇候選人。現在，民主派得靠佔中公民抗命示威，去向中央政府施壓，迫使其改變主意。
換句話說，香港人又得屏息靜氣（bated breath），今次等待的是佔領中環到底會於何時何地發生。正如我上星期在專欄中解釋過，to wait with bated breath就是焦急而興奮地等待某事。Dismayed即是很失望、沮喪或難過。Reject這個字可以有許多不同用法，但在這裏則解作拒絕接受不夠好的事物。
現在泛民拒絕接受（rejected）人大就政改的決定。他們的計劃是舉辦恆常的示威抗議，以佔中示威告終（culminating in），以一萬人嘗試令中環陷於癱瘓。習語culminate in是用以表示某事已告終結、達至頂點或高峰。例如在超人電影中，高潮（culminate in）就是超人大英雄戰勝壞蛋（villain）。許多人相信佔中會以暴力告終（culminate in）。我希望不會吧。
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