詹姆斯·乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》中有一段对一个爱尔兰人（一个船主）的描写：

Skin-the-Goat, assuming he was he, evidently with an axe to grind, was airing his grievances in a forcible-feeble philippic anent the natural resources of Ireland or something of that sort which he described in his lengthy dissertation as the richest country bar none on the face of God’s earth, far and away superior to England, with coal in large quantities, six million pounds worth of pork exported every year, ten millions between butter and eggs and all the riches drained out of it by England levying taxes on the poor people that paid through the nose always and gobbling up the best meat in the market and a lot more surplus steam in the same vein.

萧乾与文洁若的译文是:

——剥山羊皮——假定就是那位老板——显然是别有用心。他以色厉内荏的申斥口吻，就爱尔兰的天然资源问题什么的，发泄了一通牢騷。他在一席冗长的论说中描述爱尔兰是天主的地球上无与伦比的富饶国家，远远超过英国，煤炭产量丰富，每年出口的猪肉价值六百万英镑，黄油和鸡蛋则共达一千万英镑。但是英国却向爱尔兰的穷苦人民横征暴敛，强迫他们付出惊人的巨款，并把市场上最好的肉掠夺一空。另外还说了不少诸如此类夸张的话。

这描写中的“with an axe to grind”是一个常用成语，其基本形式是“have an axe to grind”，有时写为“have an ax to grind”，在各种书籍、报刊文章、甚至漫画中都时常出现。各部字典、辞书对这成语有一定解说，但各部字典、辞书对其意思的解释（至少从表面看）又不尽相同。本文结合各部字典、辞书之说，以及书籍报刊中的实例来做一个综合总结，将这成语的几种相近但不尽相同的意思归纳如下：

1. 对某人某事有强烈的不满、怨恨，并不余遗力地发泄出来。这种解释出现于麦格劳·希尔出版社（McGraw Hill）的美国成语字典（NTC's American Idioms Dictionary）。axe在这里就表示怨恨、怨言；而grind在这里就表示发泄怨恨、发表怨言、发脾气，包括（用语言）诋毁、攻击怨恨的对象。这可能是这成语最原始的意思。这不太难理解，因为斧头的确是很能伤人的武器，磨得越锋利，就越能伤人。

2. 持有某种强烈的观点、主张，并不余遗力地努力使别人接受。这种解释出现于剑桥在线英语字典、麦克米兰（macmillan)在线英语字典、朗文（Longman）在线英语字典。我们可以把这种意思理解为第一种意思的引伸、推广，即认为某人持有某观点、主张，实际来源于不满、怨恨；或甚至认为这些观点、主张无异于不满、怨恨；亦即暗示那些强烈的观点、主张有深刻局限，是基于个人情绪、狭隘的立场、先入为主的判断等，而不是理性、开放、公正、客观、系统、全面的思考和研究。换句话说，axe在这里就表示成见、偏见、陋见；而grind在这里就表示顽固坚持、顽固推行。不过这不等于说那些观点、主张背后一定有不可告人的自私目的。这是这成语最常见的用法。

3. 有什么事情要同别人讨论、争论。这种解释出现于麦格劳·希尔出版社（McGraw Hill）的成语字典（NTC's American Idioms Dictionary），但我没有能够在任何报刊书籍中找到明显的实例，因而怀疑这只是前面两种意思的一种幽默或自嘲、自谦用法。

4. 有某种暗藏的、常常是自私的目的。这种解释出现于韦伯斯特（Merriam-Webster)在线英语字典、科林斯（Collins)在线英语字典、布拉克·马斯克出版社（Blackmask）的成语字典（Dictionary of Phrase and Fable）、美国传统成语字典(The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms)。

下面是一些具体报刊书籍中的实例，有上下文帮助我们更好地理解这个成语的意思。

例一
【摘自“纽约客”杂志2012年的一篇文章。当文章作者对他的被采访的对象 - 一个基金会的负责人 - 提到一封有人对基金会不利的来信时，那个被采访的对象辩解说这种来信都是不可信的，因为来信人是个因为无能而被基金会开除的人，这种人自然是会“have an axe to grind”，即心怀怨恨要发泄、报复。】

When I mentioned this letter to Neilson, he scoffed. “It’s just nonsense,” he said. “Obviously, any employee who’s been removed from their position due to performance issues is going to have an axe to grind.”

例二
【摘自“纽约客”杂志2002年的一篇文章。文中的“我”即文章作者是一个采访者，被采访的对象也是一个记者。当该文章作者问被采访者为什么要使用这么多匿名人士做他的消息来源时，被采访者说那些为他提供消息的人如果公开姓名，会有丢工作的危险。该被采访者辩解说，虽然他的消息来源是匿名的，但他做了很多核实工作，也研究了这些提供消息的人的动机，肯定了他们“don’t have an axe to grind” - 没有什么暗藏的动机。这是前面列举的第四种意思。】

Let me ask you something that people who read your pieces often wonder: Is it necessary to have so many unnamed sources?

It’s the way it works. People in sensitive positions want to tell the truth, but they don’t want to lose their jobs. They want to say what’s going on, but they have a wife, a kid, a mortgage. I think that the fact that they do try to tell the real story is a high form of patriotism. One good thing about our system, with the press and its freedoms, is that there are channels available for them. Our responsibility is not to abuse it — to vet what they say, to find facts to back it up, to get a sense of their motives and make sure that they don’t have an axe to grind. The reason people speak to me is that I protect people, and they talk to me. But I know people who’ve lost clearances for speaking to me, which for some people means that they can’t work. Anonymous or not, over the years my sources have been proved to be reliable. There’s the credibility of my sources, and there’s my credibility—both with my readers and with the sources themselves—built up over thirty-five years.

例三
【摘自十八世纪英国文学家亨利·菲尔丁的一部传记。这里说到菲尔丁在他的一部书的序言中抱怨人们硬要把他说成一首题为“The Causicade”的诽谤诗的作者。（菲尔丁很能搞笑，事实上那诗的确是他做的。）】

He had another axe to grind in the preface. He had been accused of writing a scurrilous poem, The Causicade (1744), inspired by:
the resignation of Sir John Strange from the office of Solicitor-General . . . [In the poem], many of the Judges and more prominent members of the Bar come in for ridicule and offensive references, and each of them was made to utter a panegyric on himself as the most fit person for the vacant post. Fielding angrily disavowed any knowledge of The Causicade's authorship. Though he naturally hoped for the approval of his colleagues in the law quite independently of any wish to defend himself against accusations that he had written The Causicade, he may nevertheless have been stimulated by the false charges to begin writing an ambitious legal work, An Institute of the Pleas of the Crown, which he announced for publication early in 1745. It never appeared. Murphy tells us that after Fielding's death, two folio volumes on the subject were in the possession of Fielding's half-brother John.

例四

【摘自“Psychiatric Times”一篇谈论刊物编辑的文章。作者说到一个总编不应该简单地拒绝有利害冲突的稿件。举例说有个编辑说过，当他面对有争议的稿件时，他会让有“strongly opposing view ”甚至有“axe to grind”的人来审稿，这样才能发现稿件的弱点；这样做是让“bias”服务于“truth”。读这个段落，我们不难体会到“have axe to grind”就是有比“strongly opposing view ”更强的观点，而这些更强的观点可以说充满“bias”。】

Yet the job of the editor-in-chief is not to banish any psychiatrist - however brilliant and informed - who may have a potential COI. Rather, it is the editor-in-chief’s job to know of potential conflicts and to make executive decisions accordingly. One very experienced journal editor told me that in certain cases, it is useful to have a controversial article reviewed by someone who is known to have a strongly opposing view - maybe even an “axe to grind” - in order to ferret out weaknesses in the article. This amounts to using someone’s bias in service of the truth - so long as the bias is known, weighed carefully, and not allowed to determine the article’s fate.

例五

【摘自TS·艾略特致一个作者的征稿信。艾略特说他想要的是“have no political axe to grind”的人做的“more detached articles”。由此我们不难体会“have an axe to grind”就是与“detached”相反。“detached”是“超然”的意思，“have an axe to grind”当然就是“执迷”。】

Also: some time ago I saw an excellent article by you in Bifur on contemporary British politics. I have been wondering if you would consider writing something about politics for the Criterion. I do not want real professionals like Laski or the abler younger men of any party, so much as more detached articles by people like yourself, who have no political axe to grind, and are primarily students of literature, the arts and philosophy. Such a person might for instance, do a good essay on such a subject as Disarmament, or on the more general political conclusions to be drawn from the Simon report.

例六

【摘自“大西洋”杂志2009年的一篇文章。文章讨论几个可能的美国最高法院大法官候选人，谈到候选人Wood没有“ideological ax to grind”（意识形态方面的偏执），因而最可能被反对派接受。】

Of all these candidates, Wood and Karlan are probably the brightest lights, and Wood would be most palatable to conservatives. Cato's Ilya Shapiro, a former Wood student, said that she'd offer a "seriousness of purpose and no ideological ax to grind, this making her the best nominee for supporters of constitutionalism.

例七
【摘自威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆短篇小说 《一个有良心的人》。毛姆说道德家们的主张是出于既定立场而不是事实，他们甚至为了推广自己的主张而歪曲事实。】

Moralists have an axe to grind; they must draw a moral. They think that if they say a thing often enough people will believe it. They are apt to state that a thing is so when they consider it desirable that it should be.

例八
【摘自弗里德里希·哈耶克（Friedrich Hayek）在的《通往奴役之路》（The Road to Serfdom）。哈耶克在该书的序言中解释为什么他要写这么一本反对计划经济的政治书，说因为那时提倡计划经济的大多是些“have an axe to grind ” - 固执于偏见 - 的人。】

This is the fact that the majority of economists have now for some years been absorbed by the war machine, and silenced by their official positions, and that in consequence public opinion on these problems is to an alarming extent guided by amateurs and cranks, by people who have an axe to grind or a pet panacea to sell.

例九
【摘自愛德華·摩根·福斯特《霍华兹庄园》。主人翁亨利·威尔科克斯认为拒绝安适的人都是出于偏执。】

"Self-denial is all very well as a means of strengthening the character. But I can’t stand those people who run down comforts. They have usually some axe to grind"

例十
【摘自亨利·詹姆斯《大使》。这里的“with his or her axe to grind”应该理解为“每个人都有他的观点、主张”。】

"Other persons in no small number were to people the scene, and each with his or her axe to grind, his or her situation to treat, his or her coherency not to fail of, his or her relation to my leading motive, in a word, to establish and carry on"

我所见到的对这成语的中文翻译，有萧乾、文洁若在乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》中（“with an axe to grind”）所译的“别有用心”，和某中文译者（网上所见，译者不确，疑为王明毅、冯兴元）在哈耶克的《通往奴役之路》中（“have an axe to grind”）所译的“居心叵测”。我认为都很勉强。《尤利西斯》中的那个爱尔兰人显然就是对大英帝国心怀深怨于是毫无遮掩地发泄出来，并非口是心非，谈不上“别有用心”。（萧乾先生也许是在某个年代常因为有跟主流意识形态不合的言论而被带上“别有用心”的帽子，久之对“别有用心”一词的理解出现了偏差。）哈耶克只是指责他的对手偏狭固执，不等于指责对手“居心叵测”。“偏狭固执”不过是人性的弱点，而“居心叵测”就近于邪恶了。真是如翻译家何兆武所言，翻译跟传话一样，转一道手就打一个折扣，肯定和原著有很大的区别。我们还是效法何兆武先生努力学习外语，自己读原文吧 - 今日之世，学外语倒是比何先生那年代容易得太多太多了。