call the shots

他们背后还有人指使。

They have other people behind them calling the shots.

不理解，请教点评

My comments:

If you have other people behind you calling the shots, you’re just doing what you are told to do. In other words, they’re the ones who make the decisions, not you.

Still in other words, they’re the ones who are in the position of power. You are not.

Calling the shots is probably an idiom borrowed from the army, where soldiers line up and aim at a target and cannot shoot before hearing for orders from their superiors. Only after hearing the order of “Fire!” do they let the bullets fly, so to speak.

And he who gives the orders of “Fire” is the one who calls the shots. And apparently he’s the one who’s in charge. The soldiers are merely obeying orders.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（张欣） 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.