When looking at a picture of John Symonds, one might be forgiven for taking his claim to be a so-called "Romeo spy" with a pinch of salt.

請(qǐng)教這句話如何翻譯

My comments:

In other words, don’t believe it fully. Have some doubt.

The expression taking something with a pinch of salt is almost certainly inspired by the fact that humans use salt to spice up many foods. In other words, salt makes food, especially the bland and less tasty type, palatable and easier to swallow.

Hence, figuratively speaking, if you take a piece of news with a pinch of salt, it means you don’t want to believe the story without reservation. The salt is supposedly what enables you to believe the story at all.

Still, the salt suggests you still only want to believe the story partially.

Today, when the media is inundated with news disguised in the form of rumors and advertisements, somebody somewhere is always using the mass media, the Internet especially, to advocate an idea or promote a product or service, I suggest that you keep a great deal of salt at hand.

And don’t be afraid to take anything suspicious with a large pinch of it.

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本文僅代表作者本人觀點(diǎn)，與本網(wǎng)立場(chǎng)無(wú)關(guān)。歡迎大家討論學(xué)術(shù)問(wèn)題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發(fā)布一切違反國(guó)家現(xiàn)行法律法規(guī)的內(nèi)容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.