画像引用：Where Does The Phrase ‘Red Tape’ Come From?
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以下は笑い話で一読後ニヤリとしていればよい類のものですがこれをまじめに英語で解釈してみませんか？英会話の話題としてもご利用ください。
An efficiency expert stalked up to two clerks in a Government office in Washington. “What do you do here?” he asked one.
The clerk, fed up with red tape, buck-passing, forms, office politics and, above all, efficiency experts, growled: “I don’t do a thing!”
The interrogator nodded, made a note, then turned to the other clerk. “And you, what’s your job here?” The second man, following his fellow worker’s lead, replied, “I don’t do a thing either.”
The efficiency expert’s face lighted up. “Hmmmm,” he said knowingly, “duplication!”
（トークラインのご利用者様にお送りしている９月８日付のHANDOUTの一部で、The Reader’s Digestからの転載です）
