Jessica在北京學(xué)中文，她的中國(guó)朋友要是遇到了不知道用美語(yǔ)怎么說(shuō)的詞，就會(huì)來(lái)請(qǐng)教她。今天是怡茹要問(wèn)的：道聽(tīng)途說(shuō)。

YR: Jessica, Congratulations! And I'm mad at you!

Jessica: What? Why? What's going on?

YR: 我聽(tīng)說(shuō)你交了個(gè)特帥的男朋友！所以當(dāng)然恭喜你一下嘍！不過(guò)，咱倆是好朋友，你居然瞞著我，所以我生氣啦！

Jessica: What boyfriend? Where did you hear it?

YR: 大家都這么說(shuō)啊。就是……啊……怎么說(shuō)來(lái)著，street words say...

Jessica: Do you mean "word on the street"?

YR: 對(duì)！Word on the street is you've got a new boyfriend! 坊間傳言，你交了新男友哦！

Jessica: Gosh! This is pure rumor! Yiru, you must tell me who told you this. I need to dispel this rumor!

YR: 我也是道聽(tīng)途說(shuō)，這樣吧，你告訴我道聽(tīng)途說(shuō)用美語(yǔ)怎么說(shuō)，我就告訴你傳謠言的人是誰(shuí)！

Jessica: Deal! 道聽(tīng)途說(shuō)……Let me see...Okay, you can say "I heard something through the grapevine." Grapevine is spelt g-r-a-p-e-v-i-n-e.

YR: 哦，grapevine是葡萄藤的意思，I heard it through the grapevine 就是“通過(guò)葡萄藤聽(tīng)來(lái)的消息”，也就是道聽(tīng)途說(shuō)嘍! 還有別的說(shuō)法么？

Jessica: You can also say "a little bird told me." For example, if you don't want to tell others the source of your information, you can say "Let's just say I know because a little bird told me."

YR: 哈哈，真可愛(ài)，A little bird told me, 小鳥(niǎo)告訴我的！

Jessica: 好啦，現(xiàn)在你可以告訴我了吧？Who's spreading the rumor?

YR: Well, let's just say a little bird told me!

Jessica: Hey! That's cheating, Yiru! Besides, if you say "a little bird told me," usually it means both you and I actually know the source of the information, but neither of us wants to say it. 可我現(xiàn)在不知道啊！

YR: 原來(lái)，在用a little bird told me的時(shí)候，大家對(duì)消息來(lái)源其實(shí)都心知肚明，只是故意不說(shuō)。好吧，那我告訴你吧，其實(shí)---I heard the rumor through the grapevine!

Jessica: Hey!

YR: 今天我們學(xué)的內(nèi)容包括：第一，坊間傳言可以說(shuō)Word on the street is...;

第二，道聽(tīng)途說(shuō)可以說(shuō) I heard it through the grapevine;

第三，大家心照不宣地不挑名消息來(lái)源，可以說(shuō) A little bird told me.

相關(guān)閱讀

“Grapevine” 小道消息

英語(yǔ)中這樣傳播謠言

Chinwag 閑談

“Ear”的相關(guān)英文表達(dá)

（來(lái)源：VOA英語(yǔ)教學(xué) 編輯：旭燕）