在做汉译英时，译者常常会头痛于一些“中国特色词汇”的表达。如何表达时下报刊杂志中所谈到的“面子工程”、“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 fad of wastefulness ... the mountains of documents and seas of meetings, image projects and other acts that hurt the people's feelings, ignore their sufferings and damage their interests, should be resolutely rectified," the Morning Post said.

Reports of local governments spending heavily on trade fairs, concerts and even sacrificial rituals to court investors 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, beads and buttons is seen as a hot fad 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。