阅读理解
One
day I happened to meet an Englishman in the street and soon we began to talk.
As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be
very surprised, gently shaking his head and saying "You
don't say!". I was
puzzled, and I thought, "Perhaps
this is not a right thing to talk about."
So I said to him, "Well,
shall we talk about the Great Wall? Have you ever been there?"
"Certainly!
Everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave here without seeing it. The
Great Wall is wonderful!" "Yes,
it is one of the wonders in the world. And people of many countries have come
to visit it." As I
went on telling him more about it, he stopped me again, "You
don't say!"
I
couldn't help asking, "Why do
you ask me not to talk about it?"
"Well,
I didn't ask you to do so,"
he answered, greatly surprised.
"Did
you say 'You don't say!'?"
I asked again.
Hearing
this, the foreigner laughed loudly. He began to explain,"
'You don't say!' means 'Really'. Perhaps you know little about English idioms."
Wow!
How foolish I was! Since then I have been careful with English idioms.