(我對你很失望!)
B:Why do you say so? I don't understand what you mean.A:I have told you to keep the secret,but now many people know it.( 我已經告訴過你要保守秘密,但現在很多人都知道了。)B: I think you got me wrong. I didn't spill the beans.從上面的語境對話中可以看出,"spill the beans"並不只是表面看到的「豆子灑了」的意思,而是表示「洩露秘密」。那為什麼豆子灑了跟洩露秘密有關呢?現在再從其文化背景進一步了解和學習。
據說,古希臘一些社團收新社員的辦法,是讓舊社員投票來決定的。在投票的時候,他們若把白豆放進罐裡,則表示贊成;若放的是黑豆,則表示反對。由於這是秘密投票,點票前大家都不知道結果。如果罐子不小心被打翻,豆子灑出來,那麼大家就認為這個秘密已經被洩露了。所以"spill the beans"後來就被人們引申為"洩露秘密","說露嘴"。 下面,我們通過幾個例子,一起學習一下這個成語的用法。eg1: Don't tell her anything because she has a terrible habit of spilling the beans.eg2: We are going to hold a surprise birthday party for our foreign teacher. Please don't spill the beans.(我們打算給我們的外教舉辦一個驚喜的生日晚會,請不要洩露這個秘密。)eg3: If others tell us a secret, we shouldn't spill the beans. Otherwise, we will lose their trust.(如果別人告訴我們一個秘密,我們不應該洩露出去,否則,我們就會失去他們的信任)eg4: He was killed by the enemy in cold blood because he refused to spill the beans.1.Lucy was going to get engaged to her boy friend , but she didn't tell it to her friend Amy, because she was afraid that Amy would spill the beans.She wanted to keep the secret for a while.2.張先生破產了,但他不想讓他妻子知道,他叫朋友不要洩露秘密。你有過把秘密告訴身邊人並讓他(她)保守秘密的經歷嗎?請用英語分享給大家。