Vicki: Hello and welcome to Real English, where you can find out about English words and expressions that might not be in your dictionary. I’m Vicki.

Helen: 大家好，我是 Helen。Vicki, do you know my friend Jack¹ Smith?

Vicki: No, the name rings a bell but I don’t think I’ve met him.

Helen: It rings a bell?

Vicki: Yes, that’s an expression that means² that something sounds vaguely³ familiar to you.

Helen: 虽然这个表达直接的翻译是铃铛响了，它实际上是说让人回想起什么事，好像听说过那樣的。

Vicki: You use that expression when you don’t know much about the person the other person is talking about, but you have heard of them before.

Helen: 那这个表达只适用于说人吗？

Vicki: No, you can use it with all sorts of things – here are some examples.

Example 1

A: I love that new song by the Plain White Tees – do you know it?

B: Not really, the name rings a bell but I can’t remember the song.

A: It’s called Hey There Delilah.

Example 2

A: Does anybody know where Faversham is?

B: Yeah, it rings a bell – isn’t it somewhere in Kent?

Example 3

A: I’m thinking of writing an article about book clubs – have we done anything on that before?

B: It doesn’t ring a bell – I don’t think so.

Helen: 我们刚才听到了品牌，城市还有作文的题目。看来这个铃铛响了的表达可以在很多情况下使用。

Vicki: You can use it to talk about anything that you remember hearing about before, but you don’t know very much about it.

Helen: 这个表达还可以作为一个否定语来用，意思就成了从来没听说过这个人，或者这回事儿。

Vicki: It doesn’t ring a bell. That means you’ve never heard of it.

Helen: 大家记住了吗？ 今天我们学到的表达是:

Vicki: It rings a bell.

Helen: 意思就是好像听说过某个人或者某件事。就像如果你听到过某人的名字，但是从来没见过这个人，你就可以用这个表达了。

Vicki: Anyway, join us next time for more Real English. Bye.

Helen: 我們下次節目再见。