May 22 5月22日

The Gossip 流言蜚语

"Look! Caleb is back!" said Sherry. “看！卡列布回来了！”雪莉说。

Tim and Natalie stopped chatting. 提姆和娜塔莉停止了聊天，

They watched Caleb pass them in the hall. 他们看着卡列布在走廊上从他们身旁走过，

He was looking down at the floor. 他低头看着地板。

"He didn't come to school for five weeks," said Sherry. “他有五个礼拜没来上学了，”雪莉说，

"There is a rumor he did something really bad. “有个传闻说他做了一件很不好的事情，

Maybe he stole something." 说不定他偷了东西。”

"Really? I thought something bad happened to his family?" said Tim. “真的吗？我以为是他家里发生了什么不好的事情，”提姆说，

"Maybe someone died." “说不定有人去世了。”

Natalie listened to her friends. 娜塔莉听着她的朋友所说的话。

She started to say that maybe Caleb did something bad to his family. 她正开口要说卡列布搞不好对他的家人做了什么不好的事情，

But she stopped. She knew that probably wasn't true. 但是她克制住了。她知道自己要说的话大概不是真的。

She and her friends liked to gossip. 她和她的朋友喜欢说长道短。

They talked about everyone, even people they hardly knew! 他们谈论所有人，甚至包括他们不太认识的人！

But that was OK, wasn't it? 可是这样没关系，不是吗？

They just want to know the truth, right? 他们只是想要知道真相，对不对？

Still, Natalie felt bad. 尽管如此，娜塔莉还是觉得心里不安，

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about it," she said. “也许我们不该谈论这件事。”她说。

"Why shouldn't we talk about it? “我们为什么不能谈论这件事？

We aren't hurting anybody," said Tim. 我们又没有伤害任何人，”提姆说。

But Natalie knew that wasn't true. 可是娜塔莉知道实际上不是如此，

If Caleb heard them, he would be hurt. 卡列布要是听到他们说的话，一定会觉得很受伤。

Natalie listened while her friends kept talking. 娜塔莉听着她的朋友继续说着，

"Maybe he was kicked out of school for five weeks," said Sherry. “也许他被赶出了学校五个礼拜，”雪莉说，

Natalie often talked with her friends like this. 娜塔莉经常和她的朋友这样聊天，

But maybe it was time to change. 可是或许是改变的时候了。

What would you do? 你会怎么做？