sit on one’s hands 毫無作為,不採取行動to take no action; be passive or hesitant 

1) Gas Prices Continue to Rise, and the Democrats in Congress Just Sit on Their Hands油價持續上揚,民主黨卻毫無動作  2) Later there was enthusiastic applause when President Bush said that Hamas was going to have to recognize Israel and disarm.  The Democrats did sit on their hands again when the President asked for reauthorization of the Patriot Act. They again sat on their hands when the President discussed the surveillance of enemy communications with agents in the US. 當布希總統說到哈瑪斯(巴勒斯坦激進派組織)必須承認以色列,並且解除武裝時,(國會成員)熱烈鼓掌. 但是當總統請國會再次同意授權政府執行”愛國法條”,民主黨議員確實都沒有拍手, 接著當總統談到要監聽恐怖團體跟美國國內的通訊時,民主黨也再度沉默以對. 3) Re-elected by a massive majority, French President Jacques Chirac wants to build his new term around a simple and unaccustomed new concept - action. Forced to sit on his hands during five years of "cohabitation" with the Socialists, the 69-year-old president was deeply frustrated by his enforced immobility. 以大勝贏得連任的法國總統席哈克,期望他第二任任期的主題是簡單明瞭卻不熟悉的四個字:[採取行動].六十九歲的席哈克過去五年被迫跟社會黨共生而毫無作為,他對這種靜止狀態深感挫折.