只要有官僚机构的地方，肯定就有走不完的办事程序。先提交申请表，然后准备各类材料，到不同的机构盖章，最后才有可能办成你想办的事。这样的官僚行政程序在英语里叫red tape。

Red tape is excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making. It is usually applied to governments, corporations and other large organizations.

Red tape指大量多余又官僚的规定和死板章程，这些章程会阻碍行动或决策，中文译作“繁文缛节”或“官僚程序”，多见于政府、公司集团以及其他大型组织机构。

Red tape generally includes filling out paperwork, obtaining licenses, having multiple people or committees approve a decision and various low-level rules that make conducting one's affairs slower, more difficult, or both.

这些官僚程序通常包括填表格、获取许可证、由多人或某个委员会商议批准某个决定，以及各种各样让办事程序漫长又困难的低级别规定。

It appears likely that it was the Spanish administration of Charles V in the early 16th century, who started to use the red tape in an effort to modernize the administration that was running his vast empire. The red tape was used to bind the important administrative dossiers that had to be discussed by the Council of State, and separate them from the issues that were treated in an ordinary administrative way, which were bound by an ordinary rope.

率先使用红带子（代表官方文件）的可能是16世纪初期的西班牙国王查理五世，他在国家管理现代化的过程中用红带子装订那些需要拿到国家议会讨论的重要文档，并以此来与其他通过普通行政程序处理的文档进行区分，普通文档都是用普通的绳子装订的。

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（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）

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