◎管淑平

China’s leadership faces a knotty choice in how to finish off fallen politician Bo Xilai without further damaging the Communist Party’s image：Purge him the old-fashioned way _ in secret _ or run him through a public trial.

中國領導階層在如何了結垮台政治人物薄熙來而不進一步傷害共產黨形象一事上，面臨棘手選擇：用老方法、秘密地整肅他，或者要他接受公開審判。

Analysts and a veteran party member say leaders are leaning toward a trial. But either way, the challenge is to prevent lurid allegations that Bo abused his power and that his wife was involved in the murder of a British businessman from upsetting a once-a-decade leadership transition just months away.

分析家和一名資深黨員說，領導階層現傾向審判。但不論用這兩者中哪一種方法，挑戰都在於防止有關薄熙來濫權、他妻子涉及一名英國商人遭謀殺案的聳動指控，打亂幾個月後就要登場的10年一次領導權轉移。

The leadership handover _ in which President Hu Jintao and most others will cede their posts to Vice President Xi Jinping and a new group of leaders _ will formally take place at a congress expected in the fall.

中共領導權將在預計今年秋天召開的黨代表大會上正式交接，國家主席胡錦濤和大多數其他官員將卸下職務，交棒給副主席習近平和新領導團隊。

The leaders have "decided to wrap up Bo’s case as early as August so as to clear the biggest political uncertainty ahead of the congress,’’ Wang Xiangwei, the editor of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, who is thought to have close ties to the Chinese propaganda apparatus, wrote in an editorial.（AP）

據信與中國宣傳機器關係密切的香港南華早報總編輯王向偉在一篇社論中寫道，領導人已經「決定最快8月結束薄熙來案，以便在大會前清除這個最大政治不確定因素」。（美聯社）

新聞辭典

mull：動詞，詳細地考慮。例句：Give me some time to mull these things over.（給我一些時間把這些事情考慮清楚。）

knotty：形容詞，棘手的、複雜難解的。例句：We have encountered many knotty problems with the current project.（我們手上這個案子遇到許多棘手問題。）

finish off：動詞片語，結束，完成，殺死。例句：The diease is not going to finish me off.（這場病要不了我的命的。）