(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Hello and welcome to another episodes of Words and Their Stories, a VOA Learning English program.
Each week we explore the stories behind common American words and expressions. We try to give you useful information.
But some of the most exciting information comes not online or from your phone or in a text. Some of the most exciting information comes to you by way of "the grapevine"
That is so because reports received through "the grapevine" are supposed to be secret. The information is very "hush-hush." It is whispered into your ear, with the understanding that you will not pass it on to others.
You feel honored and excited. You are one of the special few to get this information. You cannot wait. You must quickly find another ear to pour the information into. And so, the information, secret as it is, begins to spread – like a vine. Nobody knows how far the vine will spread.
The expression "by the grapevine" is more than 100 years old. But it seems like a new expression; it hasn't changed a bit and is often used in conversations.
The American inventor Samuel F. B. Morse is largely responsible for the birth of the expression. Among others, he experimented with the idea of telegraphy, sending messages over a wire by electricity.
When Morse finally completed his telegraphic instrument, he went before Congress to show that it worked. He sent a message over a wire from Washington to Baltimore. The message was: "What God hath wrought." This was on May 24, 1844.
And with those words, telegraphy was born. Everybody heard the news with great excitement. Everybody, it seems, but the author of "Walden," Henry David Thoreau. He wondered if men had anything to say that was worth sending by electricity. But Thoreau was a loner, a dreamer. Few shared his ideas.
Quickly, companies began to build telegraph lines from one place to another. Men everywhere seemed to be putting up poles with strings of wire for carrying telegraphic messages. The workmanship was poor and the wires were not often put up straight.
One was so badly built that people joked about it. They said it looked like a grapevine. A large number of the telegraph lines looked just as funny, going in all directions, as crooked as a grapevine. And so the expression "by the grapevine" was born.
Some writers believe that the phrase would soon have disappeared, were it not for the American Civil War. Soon after the war began, military commanders started to send battlefield reports by telegraph.
Then something strange happened. Besides these true reports, all sorts of wild rumors and false stories were being received in different places. These false reports spread quickly. They spread so fast that people believed there were "grapevine telegraphs" sending messages from a number of different places.
One soon heard the phrase, "by the grapevine" to describe false as well as true reports from the battlefield. There was a mystery about these reports. People wondered where the secret information came from. It was like a game: Was it true? Who says so?
Now, as in those far off Civil War days, getting information by the grapevine remains something of a game. A friend brings you a bit of strange news. It may be so shocking that you ask, "Where did you hear that?" The answer may be, "I heard it through the grapevine."
You have decide if it's true or not.
I'm Anna Matteo.
重点解析
1.put up 提供；建造；举起；提高；推举，提名；供给…住宿；直接行动
Protesters have been putting up barricades across a number of major intersections.
抗议者们已在许多主要十字路口搭建了路障。
2.supposed to be 被认为是
We are meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it.
我们应该会这样继续下去，但是我们输了。
3.all sorts of 各种各样的
To be a good teacher, you have to interact well with all sorts of students.
要成为一个好老师，你必须能和各种各样的学生很好地交流。
参考译文
大家好，欢迎来到新一期的VOA学英语《词汇掌故》节目。
每周我们探索常用美语表达背后的故事。我们尽量给你提供有用的信息。
但一些最令人兴奋的信息不是来源于网络，或者你的手机，或者你的本子，而是来源于小道消息（the grapevine）。
这是因为通过“小道消息”收到的报告应该是保密的。信息是非常“秘密的（hush-hush）”。它是通过耳边低语告诉你的，同时也意味着你不可以把这个消息传给别人。
你感觉很自豪，很兴奋。你是少数知道这个信息的其中一个。你迫不及待。你必须快速找到另一个人把这个信息讲出去。于是，本来是秘密，开始传播起来——像一根藤蔓。没有人知道这根藤蔓会延伸到哪里。
短语“小道消息（by the grapevine）”已经有100多年的历史了。但它看起来像个新兴短语；它一点儿也没变而且经常用于谈话。
美国发明家萨缪尔·芬利·布里斯·摩尔斯和这个表达的产生有很大的关系。他有很多发明，其中就包括他对电报的发明——通过电线来传播信息。
当摩斯最终完成他的电报装置之后，他在国会展示了电报的操作过程。他在华盛顿通过电线发送一条消息到了巴尔的摩。这条消息是“上帝杰作”。那天是1844年5月24日。
伴随着这些文字，电报就此诞生了。每个人听到这个消息都极其兴奋，似乎是每个人，但是《瓦尔登湖》的作者亨利·戴维·梭罗怀疑人们说的话值不值得用电来传送。但梭罗是一个孤独的人，一个梦想家，所以没有人分享他的想法。
很快，公司开始在各地建设电报线路。人们似乎到处竖电线杆拉线传输电报信息。由于施工质量差，电线没有被拉直。
其中一根拉得太差，人们都拿它开玩笑。他们说这电线看起来像葡萄藤。大量的电报线看起来很有趣，四处纵横，像蜿蜒的葡萄藤。所以短语“by the grapevine”就诞生了。
一些作家认为如果不是美国内战，这个短语早消失了。内战开始后不久，军队指挥官开始使用电报传递战地情报。
然后一些奇怪的事情发生了。除了这些真实的情报，各地接收到了各种各样的谣言和假的故事。这些假的情报很快传播出去。它们传播的如此之快以至于人们认为是从许多不同的地方发送电报信息。
人们很快就听到了“小道消息”，这个词指的是战场上的虚假和真实报道。有一个关于这些报道的谜团。人们怀疑这些秘密的信息出自哪里。这像个游戏：“这个报道真的吗？谁这么说的？”
如今，内战已经离我们远去很久了，通过小道消息获得的信息仍然有种游戏的感觉。一个朋友带给你有些奇怪的消息。也许消息太震撼，你问道，“你是在哪听到的这个消息？”答案也许是，“这是小道消息。”
是真是假你早已知晓。
我是安娜·马特奥。
