各種語(yǔ)言都有一套特殊的政治詞匯，美國(guó)英語(yǔ)也不例外。美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)議員在通過(guò)各項(xiàng)法案時(shí)經(jīng)常要投票表示自己的立場(chǎng)。但是，有些議員在面臨有爭(zhēng)議的法案時(shí)往往感到難以做出決定。美國(guó)人把這種情況叫做：on the fence。Fence就是“籬笆”。On the fence的意思也就是“騎在籬笆上，左右不定”，也就是說(shuō)，還沒(méi)有決定投贊成票，還是反對(duì)票。下面就是一例：
Sorry, friend: I can't tell you right now how I will vote on the new tax bill. I'm still on the fence: I'm looking for more information before I decide which way I'll jump.
朋友，對(duì)不起，我現(xiàn)在還不能告訴你我對(duì)這個(gè)有關(guān)稅收的新法案如何投票。我還沒(méi)有決定。在我決定站在哪一邊以前，我還要了解更多的情況。
難以做出決定是正常的。但是，on the fence也可能指那種兩面觀望，看準(zhǔn)了如何行動(dòng)才對(duì)自己有好處的所謂“騎墻派”。下面就是一個(gè)典型的例子：
That man has managed to stay in office for ten years by being a regular fence-sitter. He never makes up his mind how to vote on an issue until he's sure whether most voters are for or against it.
那個(gè)人在投票前總是要先看準(zhǔn)了大多數(shù)選民是贊成還是反對(duì)，然后才決定投什么票。就這樣，他竟然當(dāng)了十年議員。
Sorry, friend: I can't tell you right now how I will vote on the new tax bill. I'm still on the fence: I'm looking for more information before I decide which way I'll jump.
朋友，對(duì)不起，我現(xiàn)在還不能告訴你我對(duì)這個(gè)有關(guān)稅收的新法案如何投票。我還沒(méi)有決定。在我決定站在哪一邊以前，我還要了解更多的情況。
難以做出決定是正常的。但是，on the fence也可能指那種兩面觀望，看準(zhǔn)了如何行動(dòng)才對(duì)自己有好處的所謂“騎墻派”。下面就是一個(gè)典型的例子：
That man has managed to stay in office for ten years by being a regular fence-sitter. He never makes up his mind how to vote on an issue until he's sure whether most voters are for or against it.
那個(gè)人在投票前總是要先看準(zhǔn)了大多數(shù)選民是贊成還是反對(duì)，然后才決定投什么票。就這樣，他竟然當(dāng)了十年議員。