Cats and Secrets

貓與秘密

In English, there is a common idiom “let the cat out of the bag.” It means to tell a secret. But where did this idiom start?

在英語中有一個(gè)成語叫做“把袋子里的貓放出來”，這個(gè)成語的意思是說出某個(gè)秘密。那么這個(gè)成語又是怎么來的呢？

It came from a section of England. Long ago, people there went from town to town to sell things like vegetables, clothes, and pigs. They had strong beliefs about honesty. They didn’t like lying. One day, a man went to the section’s center to sell things.

這個(gè)成語來源于英格蘭的一個(gè)地區(qū)。很久以前，人們互相去到彼此的城市售賣諸如蔬菜，衣服和豬等商品。大家都很誠(chéng)實(shí)，不喜歡撒謊。有一天，這個(gè)地區(qū)的中部來了一個(gè)賣東西的商販。

“I have a baby pig for sale! It won’t cost much,” he said. He held the animal above his head. His style was different from honest people’s style. He was a master of tricking people and lying.

“我有一只小豬仔要賣！我要價(jià)不高，”他說。他把豬仔舉過頭頂。他和這些誠(chéng)實(shí)的人做法不同，他善于騙人和撒謊。

A woman named Beth scanned his pig. He offered her the pig for one gold coin. That was a very small amount. Beth gave him the coin. He put it in his pocket. He walked ahead of Beth to get the pig.

一個(gè)叫貝斯的女人端詳了一下他手里的豬仔。他把豬賣給了貝斯，只收了一個(gè)金幣，這個(gè)價(jià)算很便宜很便宜了。他接過貝斯給的金幣放進(jìn)口袋，走在貝斯前面去抓豬仔。

He gave her a closed bag and said, “Here’s your pig.” He then left very quickly.

他把一個(gè)系好的袋子給了貝斯并說道：“這就是你買的豬仔。”說完很快就離開了。

Beth looked at the bag’s surface. It was moving. She opened it to let the pig out. A cat was inside! “He tricked me! That isn’t proper,” she said.

貝斯看著袋子，發(fā)現(xiàn)里面的東西在動(dòng)。她解開袋子把豬仔放出來。結(jié)果卻出來一只貓！”他騙我！騙人是不對(duì)的?！八f。

Later, the man returned to trick more people. Beth saw him and the memory of the cat came back. She told her friends. They stopped him. But no one knew what to do next.

后來，那個(gè)男人再次回到這個(gè)地區(qū)騙了更多的人。貝斯看到了他就想起上次那只貓的事情。她把這件事告訴了朋友。大家把這個(gè)男人攔下了。但誰也不知道接下來改怎么辦。

Someone said, “We need an independent and fair person to decide that.” They went to the judge. Beth told him about the cat in the bag.

有人說：“我們要找一個(gè)不相干而又公正的人來決定怎么處置他?！彼麄?nèi)チ朔ㄍ?，貝斯把袋子里裝貓的事說了一遍。

The judge asked, “Is there evidence? Can you demonstrate how he did it?”

法官問道：“有證據(jù)嗎？你們能演示一下他是怎么騙人的嗎？”

Look in his bag, said Beth. She opened it and let a cat out of the bag. They learned the man’s secret, and he went to jail.

“檢查他的袋子，”貝斯說。她打開袋子，里面跑出來一只貓。大家識(shí)破了這個(gè)男人的詭計(jì)，他也因此鋃鐺入獄。

That’s how the idiom “let the cat out of the bag” came to mean to tell a secret.

這就是“l(fā)et the cat out of the bag”這個(gè)成語含義的由來。

單詞

above prep.在…上面

ahead adv.向前地

amount n.總額

belief n.信仰

center n.中心

common adj.普通的

cost v.花費(fèi)

demonstrate v.展示

different adj.不同的

evidence n.證據(jù)

honesty n.誠(chéng)實(shí)

idiom n.成語

independent adj.獨(dú)立的

inside n.里面，內(nèi)部

master n.大師

memory n.記憶

proper adj.適當(dāng)?shù)?/p>

scan v.瀏覽

section n.部分

surface n.表面