甩開膀子干四化。
Coats off for our four modernizations.

不理解，請教點評

My comments:

Coats off for our Four Modernizations?

This is not very difficult to get to grips with, actually, if you’re old enough to understand what the Four Modernizations are, or were.

Never mind. Let’s talk about “coats off”. If you participate in any physical labor, such as digging up holes for planting trees, you’ll be taking off your coat after a few minutes of hard working.

That’s assuming, of course, that you’re working hard and beginning to sweat profusely.

Hence, “coats off” implies that people are working hard on their job at hand.

Even when that job is one that’s as lofty and abstract as the so-called Four Modernizations, apparently.

Still, a good metaphor it is – especially when you actually heard the slogan – and quite often too – back in the day.

To wit, the late 1970s and early 1980s.

What about the Four Modernizations, then?

They are…. Oh, well, never mind.

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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.