中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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Reader’s question: Obama administration kicking construction when it's down
Could you explain “kick someone/something when it is down”?
My comments:
Here, it is suggested that the Obama Administration’s new policies will be unfavorable to US construction workers. In normal circumstances, that’s okay.
That’s not okay, OK?
OK. In normal circumstances, that’s bad. These days, it is worse, compounded by two years of recession and all the hardships construction workers have suffered because of it.
That’s why the administration’s policy proposals are likened to “kicking someone when they’re down”.
In normal circumstances, to be knocked down in, say, the boxing ring is ok.
It’s no okay (I got you). In normal circumstances, to be knocked down in a fight (any fight) is bad. To be kicked then (when you’re on the floor and powerless to fight back) is worse.
The equivalent Chinese expression is “dropping a piece of rock into the well after seeing someone falling into it.”
A lot of people are very good at doing that.
Bad, I mean. They’re very bad.
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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 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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