3. Why is mincing(装腔作势) around a subject called beating around the bush?
Medieval men may not have had the thrill of flinging Frisbees(飞盘), but they had a worthy counterpart, the challenging sport of batfowling(夜间捕鸟). A rare nocturnal(夜间的) sport, batfowling consisted of going into a forest or shrub-laden(布满灌木的) area and beating birds senseless with a bat(球棒). Batfowlers sought sleeping birds for their prey, but being true sportsmen, they didn't want to kill a defenseless bird. So before whacking it with the bat, they were kind enough to wake the bird up first, by stunning it with a harsh light, rendering the bird blind and temporarily helpless. "Sensitive" batfowlers caught the birds in nets rather than using the Darryl Strawberry approach.
Sometimes, though, the birds proved to be uncooperative, selfishly sleeping in bushes where they were invisible, instead of marching forward and offering themselves as ritual sacrifices. So batfowlers engaged servants or boys, known as beaters, to literally beat adjacent bushes to rouse flocks of sleeping birds. As the stunned birds awakened and fled in panic(惊恐), they would be attracted to the torch or lantern and be socked into unconsciousness by the batfowler.
Although the person today who beats around the bush might not have violence on his mind, he similarly conceals or avoids the real thing that concerns him. While he might pretend to be interested in the bush, he might be more interested in the bird, or worm, lurking inside.