中国网站品牌栏目（频道）
My comments:
This is an idiom that originates from playing cards, the deck being a pack of cards. To stack the deck means to shuffle and arrange the cards before dealing them.
To gain an advantage, sometimes a player cheats by arranging the cards in a certain way so that he will make sure of drawing, for example, more aces for himself.
Hence, the dishonest connotation in this phrase. In the above example, the speaker suggests that someone may have "arranged" things behind his back to hurt his chances of promotion.
Either that or "just fate" – a good excuse.
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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.
I can't get ahead at my office. Someone has stacked the cards against me. Do you really think that someone has stacked the deck? Isn't it just fate?
