English in the News: Going through the Motions

Going through the Motions 敷衍了事

This is Bill Quinn with English in the News. Today’s key phrase is “going through the motions”.

Have you ever had a time in life, maybe at work or school, when you weren’t excited about what you were doing? Maybe you just showed up for work or school, but your heart and mind weren’t really committed to the job or studies. If so, then maybe you were just “going through the motions”. “Going through the motions” means that we are doing just enough to get by, but we aren’t focused on achieving a goal or improving things. In this situation, we don’t care about the outcome or result—our body is present, but we’re not putting much thought or emotion into what we’re doing.

Sometimes at work, people might be “going through the motions” just to collect a paycheck. At school, students could be “going through the motions”, just hoping to pass a course, and not really trying to get a good grade. Even in relationships we can be “going through the motions”, simply hanging around but not putting much effort into making the relationship better.

不論上學或是工作,有時候會覺得怎樣都不起勁,只想勉強及格,不願意多做,就可以用 “going through the motions敷衍了事”這個說法,也就是擺擺樣子. motion是動作,表示只有做例行的動作, 實際上根本沒有用心.