Professor: Jeremy invited Heather to his party last weekend because she helped him cheat on his math homework. Today Jeremy is talking with his friend Allison about some of the gossip people have been saying since the party.
Gossip? 八卦闲话？哎呀，我也想听听!
Jeremy: Hey Allison, what’s up? Did you have a good time at my party last weekend?
Allison: Oh yeah, it was totally awesome. Although I’m sorry to hear that you broke up with Karen. You guys were such a great couple!
Jeremy: What? I didn’t break up with Karen. We’re still dating. Why did you think we weren’t together anymore?
Allison: What? Everyone is saying that you dumped Karen and are with Heather now.
Jeremy: What? That’s a complete fabrication. You shouldn’t believe hearsay like that.
哇，不知道party上发生了什么！Allison说，大家都在传，Jeremy dumped his girlfriend Karen–甩掉了自己的女友Karen, 和Heather成一对儿啦!
Professor: Exactly. But what does Jeremy say?
他说这些传言完全是fabrication–虚构的谎言。
Professor: That’s right. You can also use fabricate as a verb. For example, “Elliot forgot to do his homework, so he fabricated a story about his dog eating it.”
哦，fabricate是动词，就是“瞎编”的意思。对了，professor, Jeremy 说，Allison不该听信这种hearsay。 Hearsay是谣传的意思么？
Professor: Right. Now let’s see where this rumor came from.
Jeremy: Where did you ever hear such a crazy rumor?
Allison: Oh, I don’t know …. I suppose I heard it through the grapevine.
Jeremy: Oh come on, Allison. Tell me why people are saying that.
Allison: Well, you’ve never invited Heather to any of your parties before. And people have been seeing you two spending a lot of time together lately.
Jeremy: No, we haven’t!
Allison: Sure! People in math class say that you all have been talking very quietly and secretly in the back of class. And then there were some people who overheard you spending a long time begging her to come to your party.
原来，Jeremy以前从没邀请过Heather参加party，所以，这次Heather一去，大家都觉得肯定是有什么特殊原因!
Professor: That’s right. And why else have people started to think they’re dating?
因为大家看到Jeremy和Heather两个人老在教室后面嘀嘀咕咕，所以觉得俩人八成儿是好上了! 哈哈，他们哪里知道，这俩人是在偷偷商量抄作业的事儿呢!
Professor: Right. Say Winnie, have you ever heard of “the grapevine” before?
我知道，grapevine就是“口头消息”的意思。所以，Allison刚开始的时候说，她是从别人口中听到Jeremy和Heather交往的消息的。
Jeremy: What? I didn’t beg her. When I invited her, I just gave her some advice about what clothes to wear.
Allison: I don’t know Jeremy, isn’t that the kind of advice that a boyfriend usually gives? And what about your secret conversations in math class?
Jeremy: No! She was just giving me the answers to the math homework … Wait! I mean … she is my math tutor.
Allison: Your math tutor? I have to say, that sounds pretty fishy. Isn’t tutoring the usual excuse people use when they start dating?
Jeremy: Come on Allison, you have to believe me. This is all just a big misunderstanding.
尽管Jeremy费力澄清，可是Allison并不相信他的话，觉得他说的话很”fishy”–可疑!
Professor: Right. You can call something “fishy” if it sounds suspicious or unbelievable.
Jeremy: Eh … It’s really bad when people believe whatever they hear without asking for proof.
Allison: Well you know, everybody just wants to be in the loop. And when the gossip is really good, everybody wants to tell their friends.
Jeremy: Hmm .. Do you think we could start a good rumor? Like, that I’m the smartest student in school?
Allison: Sorry buddy, nobody is interested in good rumors. And that one definitely isn’t believable if you need a math tutor!
Allison说得对，人们只喜欢传坏事儿，看别人热闹。不过，professor, 什么叫“to be in the loop?”
Professor: Being in the loop is having the latest information.
哦，to be in the loop就是消息灵通！Professor Bowman, 下次你想给我们pop quiz的时候，一定要keep me in the loop，好不好？
Professor: Nice try!
这次的美语三级跳就播送到这里。