辦公桌後的人
這一家最貼近字面：先有那群坐在桌子後面、領薪水辦事的人。
government officials · noun · C2
The officials who are paid to do the work of a government, company, or other large group, rather than people chosen by a vote.
官僚
核心畫面
One way to hold it: rows of desks, each with an official behind it, and your paper has to cross every single desk before anything can happen.
一排一排的辦公桌，每張桌子後面坐著一位辦事的人，而你的那張申請單必須一張桌子一張桌子地傳過去，全部蓋完章事情才算成立…更多收起
一排一排的辦公桌，每張桌子後面坐著一位辦事的人，而你的那張申請單必須一張桌子一張桌子地傳過去，全部蓋完章事情才算成立。這個字的字面就是「辦公桌治理」——bureau 是辦公桌，-cracy 是統治（跟 democracy 的 -cracy 同一個）。所以它先是「這群坐在桌子後面的人」，接著才變成「他們造出來的那整套流程」。理解這個字的關鍵在於：權力不在某一個人手上，而在那條桌子排成的隊伍裡。From the word’s history
French bureaucratie: bureau ('desk, office', originally the baize cloth covering a desk) + -cratie ('rule'), coined in the 18th century.
這個字十八世紀造於法文 bureaucratie：bureau（辦公桌、辦公室，最早指鋪在桌上的那塊粗呢布）加上 -cratie（統治，跟 democracy 的 -cracy 同源）。字面意思就是「辦公桌的統治」，這也正好說明了為什麼這個字天生帶著一點嘲諷——當初造它的人就是在說：現在管事的不是國王也不是人民，是那排桌子。
Wiktionary / Online Etymology Dictionary — bureaucracy (French bureaucratie, bureau + -cratie, coined c. 1818)
Two branches
那套跑不完的流程
人一多、桌子一多，關卡就變成主角：從「這群人」轉成「他們製造出來的那套規矩」。
complicated official system · noun · C2
A complicated official system with many rules and steps that you have to follow, often in a way that feels slow, confusing, or annoying.
官僚主義
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
bureaucracynoun/bjʊəˈɹɒk.ɹə.si/
- 1
Government by bureaus or their administrators or officers.
- However, when Britain left the European Union, ferries started to ply a direct sea link from Ireland, to save hauliers from custom's bureaucracy of driving via Britain.
- 2
businessA system of administration based upon organisation into bureaus, division of labour, a hierarchy of authority, etc., designed to dispose of a large body of work in a routine manner.
- At that time the administration replaced the system of patronage in the civil service with a bureaucracy.
- Each of the most provocative selections is facing criticism that they lack the expertise and experience to run the vast, specialized bureaucracies that would be under their control.
- 3
The body of officers and administrators, especially of a government.
- The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy. (apocryphal quip)
- 4
derogatoryExcessive red tape and routine in any administration, body or behaviour.
- The head of the civil service promised to clamp down on bureaucracy.
- "If we can capture anything from this awful situation, it is that ability to trust people to do certain things for themselves and to look out for each other, and to give them the tools to do their job as well as they can without having to go through endless bureaucracy to achieve it, which very often just delays and dilutes and doesn't add much value.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。