評論
打印
Sally 早上遇到同事 Lisa, 馬上湊上前去，很神秘地說：
Sally: Did you hear the news about Tom and his wife?
Lisa: No....what happened?
S: Well, Jane told me that Tom has been having an affair! I heard his wife caught him at a hotel with another woman!
L: Really? That's a shocker! I always thought Tom was a loyal, devoted family man.
S: Hey Mary, did you hear about Tom?
Mary: No, what happened? Is he okay?
S: Well, keep this under your hat, but it seems Tom has been having an affair! Everyone's talking about it!
Sally 告訴 Lisa，她聽說 Tom 搞婚外情，被他太太在旅館里捉奸。Lisa聽后很吃驚，說 That's a shocker! 意思是這件事太出人意料了，因為她一直覺得Tom是個很忠實的居家男人 family man. 這時另外一位同事 Mary也加入討論。Sally 又把這個小道消息告訴 Mary, 還讓她 keep this under your hat 意思是保密。
Mary: You know, to be perfectly honest, I'm not really keen on office gossip. For one thing, how do we even know the rumor is true? Did you hear it straight from the horse's mouth?
S: Not exactly. Jane said that Phyllis told her that they overheard a conversation between Katy and her friend Samantha about Tom's affair.
M: Well, that doesn't sound like a very accurate source. I really think you should take this rumor with a grain of salt.
Mary說，自己對辦公室里的這些八卦不感興趣。I'm not keen on office gossip. 她問Sally, Did you hear it straight from the horse's mouth? Mary在這里用到了一個習(xí)慣用語， straight from the horse's mouth. 意思是從當(dāng)事人本人，或是可靠消息來源那里得到的消息。Sally承認(rèn)，是輾轉(zhuǎn)好幾撥人，聽到的小道消息。Mary說，you should take this rumor with a grain of salt. 意思是那就不能全信了。，To take something with a grain of salt 意思是帶著懷疑的態(tài)度，有所保留。 Lisa 聽后說：
L: But Mary, everyone gossips in the office. It's part of office culture.
M: That may be true, but sometimes gossip can be counterproductive and even dangerous. Did you ever play the "telephone game" when you were a kid?
L: Um....no. What's the "telephone game?"
M: Everyone sits in a circle and you start with a sentence of information. For example, "John hates chocolate cookies." Then each person whispers that sentence to the next person in turn.
Lisa 覺得，辦公室里大家都喜歡傳八卦，It's part of office culture. 是辦公室文化的一個部分。Mary 卻覺得，gossip can be counterproductive. 這樣做只會有消極效應(yīng)。Mary 問 Lisa 小時候玩沒玩過 "telephone game"電話游戲，大家做成一圈，一個挨一個地把一句話用耳語的方式傳給自己旁邊的人，看傳到最后會變成什么樣子。
n. 謠言，傳聞
vt. 謠傳
