The next story could be about you!
长舌夫，长舌妇——Were you? Are you? Will you be?
Without a doubt, we like to hear rumors. They add to the excitement of our day, right? Hearing a story about someone else in a way makes us feel good. It feels good to spread a rumor; it feels good to hear a rumor; it feels good to know the gossip! But have you ever had someone start a rumor about you? Rumors can hurt! Rumors hurt our self-esteem, they can bring us to tears; they can even damage our reputations and our relationships with others. Don’t be the one who spreads the rumors, because believe it or not the next story you hear could be about you!
I heard it through the grapevine?
Voices whisper throughout our classrooms, I heard so and so did this, I heard this happened to so and so. The process of spreading a rumor can be referred to as the grapevine because we don’t always know where the rumor started. Just like we don’t know where a grapevine begins. But rumors can hurt both the person spreading the rumor and the person who is being talked about! Sometimes they can even cause us to get into trouble. They can cause us to get into trouble with our parents, friends, the government or even our teachers. Don’t believe everything you hear
It’s quite surprising how many rumors we hear throughout our lifetimes. But these stories usually aren’t true. Each time these stories are passed along, details seem to change. Parts of the stories are added while other parts are lost. Spreading rumors allows us
to turn into little storytellers, but it hurts other people! We tell about stories about love, about passion, about failure, about almost anything and everything. But they are always stories about other people, sometimes even our own friends.
We never seem to think about who we are hurting or what might happen after we spread these rumors. Sometimes the reputations of our classmates or teachers can be damaged. We should try not to believe everything we hear, because sometimes what we hear isn’t true. Our actions today might come back and hurt us tomorrow. So be careful, because we might be the next characters in someone else’ story.
Notes:
rumor n. 谣言，传闻
gossip n. 闲话
self-esteem n. 自尊
reputation n. 名誉，名声
passion n. 激情，热情
character n. 人物
grapevine n. 葡萄藤
(“the grapevine”常指“谣言”，如I heard it on the grapevine. 意思是：我是从小道消息听到的。

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without a doubt 毫无疑问
For daily talk
Do you think that rumors can hurt? If yes, please support it with your own experiences.
Rumors exist everywhere in the world. Why?
Please find some Chinese idioms, proverbs and sayings about rumors.。