襟亚这年轻人稳重而寡言，操心办事，按时上下班，对衙门里的例行公事从不感到厌烦，孙亚就受不了这一套。
经亚沉稳而安静，细小的事情也颇为经心，自己的事情总是尽到职责，对经常办理的公事从不感到厌烦或是反对，荪亚则不行。
Chinya was a steady and rather quiet young man, who worried about small things, and attended to his duties regularly, and he never felt a sense of rebellion against office routine, as Sunya would have.
他从不考虑生活的意义是什么，就是说，从不问这样的日程有何意义：一个青年人每天早晨按时起床，走同样的路到同一个衙门，同意见相仿的同一批人议论同一件事，通过一件公事，从司里层层转到小书记那里，再层层上呈给主管，然后送往另一个部的另一个司，公事里的拟议说不定总共只有四句话，十六个字，加上照录来文的主体，前面冠以“等因”，后面殿以“奉此”――声称凭这个治理国家。
经亚向来不问人生到底是为了什么。
也就是说，不问为什么一个青年人要早晨在一定时间起床，走同样远的一段路，到同样的办公室，跟老是抱有同样意见的人讨论同样的问题，把公文交到那一科的小职员，再送到主管官长，然后再送到另一衙门的另一科，这件公文里也许有一项建议，这项建议也许是有四句话，或许是一共十六个字，这项建议也许是加在主文上，而那项主文也许是引用别的机构送来的公文的几句话，上面冠以“实据”，下面以“奉此”作结，而称这种公文是统治全国的东西。
He never inquired into themeaning of existence, that is to say,themeaning of a young man's getting up at a regular hour every morning, goingthesame distance to thesame office, and discussingthesame subjects with thesame people of thesame opinion, passing a document through a department down to theminor clerks and up again to thechief,then on to another department in another ministry, with perhaps a recommendation con-sisting of four sentences or sixteen syllables altogether, added to themain part which consisted of a quotation from another incoming document, bracketed off by a "Whereas" at thebeginning and a "Therefore" at theend―and calling it govern-ingthecountry.
他看不出其中的可笑之处，全部过程无非都是照抄而已，因为无论以其长度和内容而论，一件公事的主体都是照录来文，至于拟议通常是提请行文所达的衙门注意，对前述事项予以“明裁”。
其实他没看出这种公文的可笑之处，因为全部过程只是抄写而已。
因为引括来文作为此公文的主要部分，不管是在内容，或是在与附加部分的长度相比，都是来文为主，而附加的建议往往也只是请对方机构注意，并对原文主旨敬请明察而已。
He did not seethehumor of it, that thewhole process was no more than copy work, sincethequotation from theincoming document wasthemain part both in length and in substance andtherecommendation usually consist-ed of "callingtheattention" of thebureau addressed in thedocument and suggest-ing that it exercise its "noble judgment" in dealing with theaforesaid communica-tion.
经手此事的前一衙门的拟议总是原文照录，成为引文中的引文。
原来最初处理此项事务的机构所做的建议，只是被引用在引用的文字中，所以公文的主体是引用原文，这原文是引括在另一公文之中，而此另一公文是又被引用的，这样的公文并不罕见。
Therecommendation made by thebureau previously handlingthematter was incorporated as a quotation within a quotation, and documents were by no means rare that embodied a quotation within a quotation within another quotation.
因此公事往往是引文中套有几重引文，标准的正式公文程式大致如此： 所以典型公文的正式结构，可以大略如下说明之：
Thustheformal structure of a typical official document was in outline as follows:
案奉某部令开“……”等因， “案奉某部令开‘……'等因，
WHEREASthesaid Bureau had received a communication from such--and-such a Ministry to theeffect that...
奉此，理应呈请钧署如此如此等因， 奉此，理合呈请钧署如何如何。”
THEREFOREtheBureau had decided to forward it to this Office:
准此，除附呈原件外，窃审该局拟议尚无不合， 等因，准此，除将该件附呈外，窃查该局意见尚无不合，
THEREFORE, besides forwardingthesame to such-and-such a party, it is considered right and proper by this Office to call your Bright Attention to theabove.
是否有当，理合呈请明察钧裁 是否有当，理合呈请钧核示遵。
Whether what is herein proposed is right or not, we pray for your Noble Judgment.
“明察”、“钧裁”等字样非抬头另起不可。
“钧核”和“明察”总是毕恭毕敬的写在纸上的顶端。
Thewords "Bright Attention" and "Noble Judgment" are always respectfully written at thetop of thepage.
中国公文程式里包含的处世哲理可用大小官僚中简短明白的八个字来表述：不求有功，但求无过。
中国办公的诀窍儿，官场用对称和谐温文尔雅的两句话表达出来了，就是：“不求有功，但求无过。
”
Thephilosophy behind Chinese documentary grammar was suavely expressed by all officials in eight succinct well-balanced words: Not praying for merits; only praying no demerits.
这番道理又可用这三句话来表述：多做多错，少做少错，不做不错。
这个哲学另一个说明是：“多做，多错；少做，少错；不做，不错。
”
In another formthesame philosophy was expressed as fol-lows―Do more, err more; do less, err less; do nothing, err nothing .