[00:00.04]We try to give you useful information.#
我们试图为你提供有用的信息。#
[00:03.39]But some of the most exciting information comes not online or from your phone or in a text.#
但是一些最令人兴奋的信息并非来自网上或你的手机或是文字。#
[00:13.04]Some of the most exciting information comes to you by way of “the grapevine”.#
有些最令人兴奋的信息通过“小道消息”传给你。#
[00:20.11]That is so because reports received through “the grapevine” are supposed to be secret.#
之所以如此，是因为通过小道消息渠道获得的传闻理应是秘密的。#
[00:27.14]The information is very “hush-hush.”#
这些信息都神神秘秘的,#
[00:30.23]It is whispered into your ear, with the understanding that you will not pass it on to others.#
它被低声传入你耳朵的同时，都默认你不会再传给他人。#
[00:37.09]You feel honored and excited.#
你感到荣幸和兴奋。#
[00:40.53]You are one of the special few to get this information.#
你是为数不多的知情者之一。#
[00:45.07]You cannot wait.#
你迫不及待。#
[00:46.70]You must quickly find another ear to pour the information into.#
必须赶紧把这消息告诉他人。#
[00:51.49]And so, the information, secret as it is, begins to spread, like a vine.#
这样，作为秘密的这个消息开始像藤蔓一样蔓延开。#
[00:59.22]Nobody knows how far the vine will spread.#
没人知道它能传多远。#
[01:03.28]The expression “by the grapevine” is more than 100 years old.#
By the grapevine（通过小道消息）这句短语已有1百多年历史。#
[01:09.11]But it seems like a new expression.#
但是它就像一条新短语。#
[01:12.58]It hasn’t changed a bit and is often used in conversations.#
它一点也没改变，并且经常在对话中用到。#
[01:17.41]The American inventor Samuel F B Morse is largely responsible for the birth of the expression.#
美国发明家萨慕尔．摩斯 (Samuel F. Morse)对这句短语的诞生负很大一部分责任。#
[01:25.96]Among others, he experimented with the idea of telegraphy, sending messages over a wire by electricity.#
其中，他进行了电报试验， 通过电缆传送消息。#
[01:35.16]When Morse finally completed his telegraphic instrument, he went before Congress to show that it worked.#
当摩斯最终完成了他的电报装置，他在国会进行了展示。#
[01:43.59]He sent a message over a wire from Washington to Baltimore.#
他通过电缆从华盛顿发了一条消息到巴尔的摩。#
[01:48.91]The message was: “What God hath wrought.” This was on May 24, 1844.#
消息内容就是：“上帝创造了何等奇迹？”这是在1844年5月24日。#
[01:57.76]And with those words, telegraphy was born.#
随着这条消息发出，电报诞生了。#
[02:01.81]Everybody heard the news with great excitement.#
似乎每个人听到这条消息都非常兴奋，#
[02:05.48]Everybody, it seems, but the author of “Walden,” Henry David Thoreau.#
除了《瓦尔登湖》的作者亨利·大卫·索罗（Henry David Thoreau）。#
[02:11.22]He wondered if men had anything to say that was worth sending by electricity.#
他搞不懂人们有什么好说的，值得发条电报。#
[02:17.28]But Thoreau was a loner, a dreamer.#
但是梭罗是一位孤独的人，是一个梦想家。#
[02:21.08]Few shared his ideas.#
很少有人知道他的想法。#
[02:23.29]Quickly, companies began to build telegraph lines from one place to another.#
很快，各个公司开始兴建从一个地方到另一个地方的电报线路。#
[02:30.04]Men everywhere seemed to be putting up poles with strings of wire for carrying telegraphic messages.#
到处都看到人们在栽电线杆拉线用于传输电报信息。#
[02:38.34]The workmanship was poor and the wires were not often put up straight.#
由于施工质量差，电缆常常没有被拉直。#
[02:44.45]One was so badly built that people joked about it.#
一些线路施工如此之差，人们嘲笑它。#
[02:48.88]They said it looked like a grapevine.#
他们说，电缆看起来像葡萄藤。#
[02:52.40]A large number of the telegraph lines looked just as funny, going in all directions, as crooked as a grapevine.#
大量的电缆线通往四面八方，就像葡萄藤一样歪歪曲曲的，看上去很滑稽。#
[03:00.99]And so the expression “by the grapevine” was born.#
这样就诞生了by the grapevine这个短语。
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