One day, I happened to meet an Englishman in the street. 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! You don't say!" I was puzzled (困惑的), 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. The Great Wall is wonderful!" "Yes, it is one of the wonders in the world." 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.
"Didn't 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 (惯用语). "
