在这两天的媒体有关周永康的报道中，“白手套”一词吸引了不少人的注意。什么人可以被称为“白手套”，他们的作用又是什么呢？

The innocuous-sounding euphemism "white gloves" generally refers to a middleman or outfit that launders dirty or corrupt money under a seemingly legitimate front - dirty hands concealed by a pair of white gloves.

听起来不褒不贬的委婉语“白手套”指充当“黑钱”漂白的中间人，或是实际从事“非法”事务的“合法”外衣，意即，隐藏在白手套中的肮脏的手。

The expression, coined in Taiwan, is catching up fast on the mainland as rampant corruption is exposed at all levels of the bureaucracy.

这个说法源自台湾，不过随着各级腐败行为被大肆揭露，这个表达在大陆迅速蹿红。

Indeed, just as there are mistresses behind every corrupt senior official, there is also "a pair of white gloves" in the wings to help their families make their fortunes and manage them.

的确，就像每个高级腐败官员背后都有情妇一样，他们的周边也一定有“一双白手套”帮助他们的家属敛财和理财。

The pay-off for the white gloves, who are usually smooth-talking businessmen, is the chance to enrich themselves even more fabulously by leveraging ties to powerful politicians and gaining inside information.

充当白手套的通常都是巧舌如簧的生意人，他们得到的回报是通过与有权势的官员搭上关系并获取内部消息来为自己获取更多利益。

Corrupt officials deliberately keep some distance from their white gloves to give them room for deniability. The facilitators usually take care of the parents and children of the powerful and provide lucrative opportunities for their relatives to make easy money.

腐败官员一般会跟他们的白手套们刻意保持距离，以使自己有否认的空间。白手套们自会照看好官员的父母和子女，并为他们的亲友提供大把轻松赚钱的机会。

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）