2月 22 2009
In the firing line
《泰晤士报》负责读者反馈的编辑 Sally Baker 在星期六的专栏中有这么一段：
Allowed a front-page headline “Bankers in the firing line” when, as Robert Colbeck, among others, pointed out: “If you are in the firing line you are the one doing the shooting. If you are being shot at (presumably the image the headline-writer was striving for) you are either under fire or in the line of fire.”
原来我也一直以为 in the firing line 是指“面对炮火”，遭到攻击的意思。经以上这位读者解释，in the firing line 其实是指处于“射击线”上向目标开火。一个是被打，一个个打别人，意义大相径庭。
但是把这个意思搞错的不只《泰晤士报》一家，几个例子：
Forbes.com: Britain’s Bonuses in the Firing Line 说的是银行奖金遭攻击
Daily Mail: Defenc funding in the firing line 说得是国防开支缩减
但在 BBC网站上的新闻标题是用对了这个词组：
BBC: Child soldiers in the firing line 说得是非洲的未成年士兵参战
