在做汉译英时，英语学习者常常会头痛于一些“中国特色词汇”的表达。刚刚谈过一个“公款旅游”，有网友又询问如何表达时下的“面子工程”、以及报刊杂志中所谈到的“浪费成风”、“文山会海之风”？

看下面一段外电报道，或许会对我们有所启发。

"The fad¹ of wastefulness² ... the mountains of documents and seas of meetings,image projectsand other acts that hurt the people's feelings, ignore their sufferings and damage their interests, should be resolutely³ rectified," the Morning Post said.

Reports of local governments spending heavily on trade fairs, concerts and even sacrificial rituals to court investors⁴ and fame, regularly appear in Chinese newspapers and are a major source of public discontent.

外电中的“image project”指的就是“面子工程、形象工程”。如果仔细阅读上段报道，您还会发现“浪费成风”、“文山会海”相应的英文表达为：“the fad of wastefulness”，“the mountains of documents and seas of meetings”。

在表达“浪费成风”时，外电中的“fad”比较贴切地表达了“一时盛行的风气”。此外，在时尚词汇里，“fad”也是高频率字眼，特指“一时的风尚、一时的狂热”，如：Trawling shops for ribbons, beads⁵ and buttons is seen as a hot fad for this autumn. 今年秋季，出售花边、小珠子和钮扣等手工饰品的商店将会十分火爆。