smoke-filled room字面意思烟雾弥漫的房间，引申为（少数人密谋决策的）密室；密谈室。

【例句】
The deal was cut in a smoke-filled room.
这笔交易是在密谈室里敲定的。

The smoke-filled rooms are still producing the candidates for most offices, despite all the reforms.
尽管进行了所有的改革，但密谈室里仍产生了大多数职位的候选人。