中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
他的臉馬上陰下來，不客氣地打斷我的話：“哼，你干的那些事判個十年八年的完全夠格兒。這么處理你夠寬大的了，可你對自己的罪行卻一點沒認識.
My comments:
Imagine a child reaching for the food before everyone is seated round the family table. That’s when the child’s mother or father may give him a slap on the wrist.
See the point?
A quick slap on the wrist is much better than, say, a slap on the face. Chinese children wanting table manners might have got a slap in the face or a thump on the head, especially in the past.
But the point is, a slap on the wrist is a gentle or mild rebuke, criticism or punishment, not at all severe.
In our example, the guilty person could’ve got 10 years in jail for what he did. Instead, he got a slap on the wrist.
In other words, he got away with it.
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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。
About the author:
Zhang Xin（張欣） 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.
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